Netflix for Books
Recently I had an opportunity to catch up with Dustin Hubbard, founder and CEO of Paperspine, about his online book rental service. As you can imagine with the economic downturn, it is an interesting time for his 16-month-old start-up business. While many businesses have felt the ill effects of the recession, he has seen no […]
Working With Journalists
There are numerous factors to think about when pitching a story to a journalist, corresponding with them via e-mail or even speaking with them during interviews. Some of us have learned this the hard way, and some of us will learn from other’s mistakes. There are a number of journalists who have publicly blacklisted individual […]
Coca-Cola Fan Page Takes Facebook by Storm
Companies looking to leverage the power of Facebook to attract the masses may want to take a lesson from Coca-Cola fans Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski. With a fan base of 3.3 million users, Sorg and Jedrzejewski’s Coca-Cola Facebook fan page is one of the most popular pages on Facebook – second to Barack Obama […]
The AIG Bonuses: A PR Perspective
The news that insurance giant AIG will pay $165 million in bonuses to employees has not been warmly received. At a time when millions have lost their jobs and the recession worsens, the nation is outraged that taxpayer money is being spent on multi-million dollar bonuses for the very people who some believe largely contributed […]
Thoughts on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Even though we have known for weeks that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was likely to cease its print edition, it is still a shock to see the last print issue of the 146-year old newspaper, and know that 160 people will lose their jobs. I always enjoyed both the Seattle Times and the P.I. and found […]
Dan Hesseís Sprint Ads
Sprint Nextel has announced that it will no longer feature its CEO Dan Hesse in its television advertisements. You may remember the black and white ads featuring Hesse promoting the wireless revolution. For example, in one ad Hesse is shown working on a laptop in the back seat of a New York City cab to […]
Leveraging HARO to Gain Consumer Reaction to Starbucks VIA
After my experience trying Starbucks VIA, I was curious to see what other people think about the company’s instant coffee so I did an informal e-mail poll. I posted a query on Peter Shankman’s HARO to see what other consumers think of the new brew. We have successfully used this tactic before to secure customer […]
Starbucks VIA Ready Brew & Twitter
One of the very first things I do every morning is check Facebook, Twitter, read the news and drink coffee. It is a relatively peaceful morning ritual – except when my beloved dog Scout wants to play. The other morning while checking Twitter, I noticed that the word “Starbucks” was trending on the site. I […]
Parade and SELF Pick Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst
Last fall, Communiqué worked closely with Big Fish Games to build awareness and demand for Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, the fifth title in Big Fish Games’ blockbuster hidden-object adventure series. As part of those efforts we secured in-person meetings with consumer lifestyle media well in advance of the actual launch to provide these […]
Blogging Done Right: YouLookFab.com
We’ve written often about the importance of blogging to engage customers, share company news, establish thought leadership and improve search engine rankings. A great example of a blog that has improved – and even created – business for its author is YouLookFab.com, by Angie Cox. A former specialist buyer for ladies’ wear, Angie now runs […]