Archive: August 2012

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Maximizing the Storytelling of a News Announcement Through Timing

I like to reverse-engineer news announcements and study how companies time the flow of information. Specifically, it’s interesting to scrutinize how companies play the use of an embargo. As I embarked on such an exercise involving the recent IBM mainframe news. I’m baffled by this riddle. Look at the date stamp from the Google Search …more

The Concept of the Story Page (complementing the home page)

Traffic to news sites increasingly comes in through the side doors, that is, from search and social means. Adrienne LaFrance recently wrote on this very topic for Nieman Lab: As with newspapers – which haven’t so much disappeared as been pushed off center stage – few are saying that homepages will disappear completely. But as …more

Snapshot Analysis: Storytelling in Apple’s Legal Complaint Against Samsung

The verdict just came down in the Apple/Samsung legal skirmish. Apple won ($1,051,855,000 in damages seems like a win to me). Rewinding the tape, it’s interesting to look back at how Apple initially framed its case. It stands to reason that Apple’s legal team wanted to grab the judge’s attention right from the start in …more

Intersection of SEO and Storytelling; Interview with Evan Bailyn

Anyone who writes a book called “Outsmarting Google” has my attention. Combine this technical expertise with a gift for storytelling and we move to a Q&A. Meet Evan Bailyn, founder of First Page Sage. I thought this passage on Evan from a Forbes feature was particularly revealing: All I do is I’m able to get …more

One-off Storytelling Works

Obviously, we’re passionate about applying storytelling techniques to our client campaigns. These are more than words. We walk the talk. Here’s an example from Jacqueline, one of our senior account executives in our Silicon Valley office. By Jacqueline Velasco The Hoffman Agency (Silicon Valley) Being solely reliant on press releases for coverage is a thing …more

Storytelling Lifts Job Description Out of the Fray

The language in most job descriptions is deadly dull. It’s as if 99 percent of companies borrow from the HR playbook, “Vanilla Job Descriptions.” Companies may tout people as their valuable asset, but they pay scant attention to the crafting of job descriptions for recruitment. I have a theory on the disconnect. The best writers …more

TV Report Triggers Burger Crisis at McDonalds in China

Chris Tang, our Asia Pacific managing director based in Beijing, has years of experience in advising clients during times of crisis. The crisis a few months ago involving McDonald’s caught her attention. Here, she shares a mini case study on the episode and what McDonald’s did right to avoid a long-term disaster. By Chris Tang …more