When It Comes to PR Strategy, Don’t Forget About Your Defense
Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships – at least, according to a now proverbial expression backed by the likes of ESPN. I must admit my knowledge of/interest in sports is about that of a grumpy cat’s, but I can still appreciate the value of this message and how it applies to other professions. IT […]
A Critical Look at Samsung’s Response to the Galaxy Note 7 Crisis
The Galaxy Note 7 was Samsung’s most sophisticated phone ever, and many industry experts predicted that it would challenge Apple’s dominance over the market. That idea went down in flames (pardon the pun) when Note 7 phones started spontaneously combusting in early September. The risk of explosion was so great that the Federal Aviation Administration […]
Why Journalists and PR Pros Need Each Other Now More Than Ever
As one of the most contentious and theatrical presidential elections in U.S. history unfolds before our eyes, many citizens are thinking about what it truly means to be a democracy. Equitable, factual media is one of the most significant markers of a democratic society, and for those of us working in the industry, it may […]
Lessons Learned From the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
Automobile recall stories have become more and more frequent in recent years, with dubious management decisions and cover ups causing damage to long-admired brands General Motors, Honda, and Chrysler. Most recently, Volkswagen made headlines for an emissions scandal that has already unseated the company’s CEO and promises to cost the Volkswagen billions of dollars in […]
How Twitter’s Seven Steps to Customer Service Relate to Your PR Practice
When customers have a bad experience with a brand, there’s a good chance they’re going to tweet about it. To help brands improve their customer interactions, Twitter recently released a 122-page customer service playbook. Clearly this is a serious topic since a social media platform known for brevity decided to devote more than a 100 […]
Lessons Learned From the Sony Security Breach
Not a week goes by when there isn’t a story in the news about a high-profile security breach. Inevitably, after each incident knowledgeable PR experts weigh in on how the crisis could’ve or should’ve been handled. There are always new lessons to be learned. Perhaps it’s the influence of the work that we do on […]
Lessons Learned: The Collision Between Politics and Public Health Policy
As fear of Ebola dominates news waves and this week’s elections, one of the most interesting—and polarizing—stories to hit is of quarantined American nurse Kaci Hickox. Testing negative for the disease after treating patients in West Africa, Hickox returned to her native Maine, where she has been forced by state politicians to undergo a 21-day […]
The Art of Apologizing on Twitter
As Twitter’s popularity and user base have rapidly grown in the last eight years, companies have used this as an opportunity to engage customers on the social networking and micro-blogging site. Twitter has become a medium for entertainment, news, product releases and reviews, as well as brand building. However, the instantaneous, small word-count tweet can […]
Lessons From Sochi’s PR Challenges
The closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last Sunday marked the end of one of the most memorable games in terms of PR. The little host town of Sochi, Russia, got off to a rocky start when many of its hotel rooms were only half finished at the start of the games and the controversial […]
PR Lessons From the Healthcare.gov Launch
When the Obama administration launched its healthcare website on October 1st the President’s most prized project quickly turned into an unmanageable disaster. Healthcare.gov was riddled with technical problems that made it almost impossible to use, causing enormous public backlash. But there are a few valuable PR lessons to be learned from healthcare.gov’s disastrous rollout. Launching […]