Thoughts on Corporate Social Responsibility

Recently Ellen Petry Leanse, head of enterprise marking communications with Google, sent me an article entitled “Leadership in the Age of Transparency,” published by Harvard Business Review (HBR). Ellen was on a panel I chaired at Enterprise Social 2.0 in Amsterdam and the article supported many of the remarks made in January by Ellen and […]

Facebook Applications & Strategic Communications

As the lines between traditional public relations and social media blur, we have been thinking about how our clients can leverage custom Facebook applications to drive awareness and engagement of their products and services. We did some research to get a handle on new apps for Facebook and asked people to tell us which ones […]

Reaching the Historically Underserved

Many companies and organizations struggle with how to best reach historically underserved communities. However, many organizations need to reach the communities if they are going to initiate change, drive new behaviors and educate people. Consider the work of our first lady, Mrs. Obama. She has a strong commitment to curbing childhood obesity and recently has […]

The Success of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

I was recently watching TV and stumbled across a CNBC segment called, “Business Model: Inside the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.” Given the state of the publishing world, I was immediately intrigued. If you have a minute and are interested in the future of magazine publishing, I would encourage you to watch the segment. You can […]

Breakfast with Pete Carroll

For those of you who know me, I am sure you can appreciate my excitement when I learned there was an opportunity to attend a breakfast talk with the new Seattle Seahawks Coach, Pete Carroll. As a college football fan I have long been enamored with the strength of the USC football program, as well […]

Inexpensive (But Effective) Perception Audits

Have you ever wondered how your company or nonprofit organization is perceived by the broader community? Or maybe you simply want to measure awareness of a particular feature on your new widget before you promote it in your next PR campaign? These are questions many of our clients ask as they work to make informed […]

“We’re a Lot Like You” PEMCO’s Campaign

If you live in the Northwest, you probably have seen PEMCO Insurance’s innovative marketing “We’re a Lot Like You” campaign. Maybe you even have a favorite profile, such as socks and sandals guy, the recumbent bike computer, relentless recycler or the Marymoor off-leash dog lady. Have you ever wondered about the history of this campaign? […]

Should Your School Be Using Social Media?

I serve on the Board of Trustees for Villa Academy, a private independent school in Seattle educating children in kindergarten through the eighth grade. In the past several months, I have been thinking about how Facebook could be used by Villa and other elementary and middle schools to help them achieve their top objectives. I […]

Thoughts From Enterprise Social 2.0

I recently returned from Amsterdam where I attended and presented at Enterprise Social 2.0. What a fabulous experience. The speakers and presentations were first rate. Here are some of the highlights from the gathering. Ramon DeLeon, Domino’s Pizza (@Ramon_DeLeon). This guy is an amazing presenter with outstanding energy; but beyond his exceptional presentation skills, he […]

Moderating a Panel

I have been thinking about the responsibilities of a panel chair as I prepare to moderate a panel on damage control later this month. Colleen and I have been doing a significant amount of speaking as we promote our book, “Strategic Public Relations.” In addition, many of our clients are asked to chair panels as […]