In this week's PR Roundup we examine the results of former President Trump's interview at the National Association for Black Journalists, if Boeing's new CEO will make a difference and the re-emergence of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Lessons from Trump’s Chaotic NABJ Interview
What happened: It seems like maybe, just maybe, for a week or so, that Vice President and now presidential candidate Kamala Harris might steal the media spotlight from former President Donald Trump. Just for a little while.
Well, on Wednesday night (July 31) Trump stole that spotlight right back with an inflammatory and occasionally confusing on-stage interview at the National Association for Black Journalists Conference. We’ll leave it up to the readers to decide if all publicity is good publicity, but chaos seemed to reign in online discourse before, during and after the interview.
First off, many NABJ members were not happy with the booking. According to Politico, on Monday, July 29 the NABJ announced Trump would visit the conference to discuss “the most pressing issues facing the Black community” with moderators Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; reporter Kadia Goba of Semafor; and Harris Faulkner, a Fox News anchor.
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, a co-chair of the event, announced she’d be stepping down from it after the decision, on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck,” Attiah posted. “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format.”
Then, during the interview, Trump repeatedly insulted and talked over the moderators, particularly Scott, calling her questions “rude” and “nasty.” He also continually deflected questions, made numerous accusations about Harris’s race, said he would pardon Jan 6. defendants and also argued that immigrants were taking all the “Black jobs.”
Political pundits did not view the interview as a positive for the Trump campaign. Veteran GOP political pundit Scott Jennings told CNN the former president “did crap the bed.”
Communication takeaways: Welp, there’s a lot to unpack here, however, we’ll start with the decision to conduct this sort of interview with the subject, in that arena.
Bradley Akubuiro, Partner, Bully Pulpit International, says nine out of ten times, you should avoid putting your principal into an antagonistic on-the-record environment. However, there can be exceptions.
“Occasionally, there are moments when direct engagement with those who disagree with a subject or who seek to hold them accountable is exactly the right strategy,” Akubuiro says. “This is as true for the CEO talking to Bloomberg after a significant product issue or a bad earnings miss, as it is for a political candidate trying to reset his relationship with a constituency that has felt alienated by his past words and actions.”
But Akubuiro believes that in order to succeed in these moments, subjects need to humble themselves, drop the defensiveness, and be open to find success, respect and increased credibility.
“Stand your ground but engage in good faith and take accountability for your missteps,” he says. “Be transparent, be human, and directly address the uncomfortable topics head-on while taking the opportunity to add context that might otherwise be missing if not for you being there to provide it personally. At times, it can win you the benefit of the doubt from some of the folks who hadn’t completely made up their minds about you.”
Unfortunately for former President Trump, Akubuiro notes, his performance at the NABJ conference did not comply with this.
“His combative responses, his insulting conspiracy theories, and his direct attacks on the very people he came to win over not only failed to win hearts and change minds, but it actually did the exact opposite—it cemented pre-existing concerns that black journalists and their audiences had about the former President prior to this week.”
It will be interesting to see the direction the campaign takes from here in the coming days.
Boeing Names New CEO
What happened: Speaking of ways to get out of hot water, Boeing, which hasn’t had the greatest year in terms of reputation in terms of quality and safety, named a new CEO this week. Robert K. Ortberg, known as Kelly, will take over the helm. According to The New York Times, Ortberg is a veteran of the aerospace industry, serving as a former chief executive at Rockwell Collins, which produced electric and technology systems for Boeing aircraft, amongst other companies.
Crises plagued Boeing over the last several years, including a January 2024 instance where a panel blew off one of their 737 Max 9 planes while in flight. In March, Dave Calhoun, current CEO, announced plans to step down at the end of 2024.
Communication takeaways: Occasionally after extremely impactful crises, you see organizations take quickly to changing leadership. Most recently we saw Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resign after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. George Jacob, CEO of San Francisco’s Bay Ecotarium, stepped down in May after concerns about his excessive spending on lavish travel. In September 2023, bp’s CEO, Bernard Looney, resigned after the board received and reviewed allegations relating to Looney’s conduct in personal relationships with company colleagues.
Wendy Vlieks, a communications expert in reputation, issue, and crisis management, says naming a new CEO signals a commitment to restore confidence, enhance operational stability and rebuild stakeholder trust.
“For communicators, CEO transitions offer a crucial opportunity to reset the narrative,” Vlieks says. “Boeing’s challenge is to balance acknowledging past issues with presenting a forward-looking vision.”
She noted the transition should involve effective communication which highlights the new CEO’s vision, commitment to quality and concrete steps to address past problems, reshaping public perception and restoring brand confidence.
“This moment demands transparent engagement with all stakeholders, showing renewed dedication and active implementation under new leadership,” she says.
And will a change always work to improve a company’s reputation?
“The effectiveness of these strategies often depends on how well they are implemented and if they align with actual organizational changes,” Vlieks says. “Consistency and authenticity are essential to repairing and rebuilding a damaged reputation.”
10 Year Anniversary of Ice Bucket Challenge
What happened: Time flies. Can you believe it’s been 10 years since the Ice Bucket Challenge to support ALS took over social media?
Well guess what? It’s back!
The Peter Frates Family Foundation once again filled up its buckets to reignite the Ice Bucket Challenge on Aug. 1 at Fenway Park in Boston. The family did this in order to honor the memory of Frates, who passed away in 2019 on the 10th anniversary of his initial deluge.
When it launched in 2014, the challenge emerged as the first viral fundraising campaign on social media (it literally forced platforms to create a “donate” button). Thousands of people engaged in the cold water exercise including former President Barack Obama and superstar Taylor Swift. The challenge raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to fight ALS.
Communication takeaways: Dan Mazei, Founder and Principal at Tangled Roots and PR lead for this renewed effort and says despite the amazing results the first time around, there’s still a “tremendous” amount of work to be done, which spurred the re-ignition of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
“It's now a "livable" disease, but there remains no medical cure, so more money is needed for research, and the costs of home care for patients is uninsurable—leaving families financially decimated, just for caring for their loved ones,” Mazei says.
He explained the reasoning behind once again utilizing the power of video to create a new viral challenge with a generation that gets it.
“In 2014, video was a new capability in social media,” he says. “The volume of posts from the Ice Bucket Challenge nearly overwhelmed Facebook at the time. Now, video accounts for well over half of total social media time—and there's been an enormous expansion of social platforms. The average TikTok user today may have been a young kid when the first Challenge went viral. Now they can be the pioneers of a new era and the generation that literally ends ALS.”
One Final Note
Welcome home Evan Gershkovich.
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.