Archive: May 2013

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Why Startups Should Get the Storytelling Religion

  Every startup shares one common trait – They’re trying to disrupt the status quo. It’s hard. Legacy competitors in the space – in some cases huge companies with massive resources and years of operation – dominate. Their longevity begets MMM, market muscle memory, which adds to the challenge. It’s easy to fall into the …more

Huffington Post on the Hunt for a Visual Journalist

Thanks to my participation in the PR Newswire session on visual storytelling, the topic has kept top of mind and prompted a post on sources to inspire visual storytelling. You know how when you buy a new car, the following week it seems like every time you come to a stoplight and look left, you …more

Martin Luther King Shills for Rolex

I admire Martin Luther King. Last year I wrote about my favorite storytelling in the “I Have a Dream” speech. This post is less about Dr. King and more about the shepherds for the estates of the famous. I recognize there’s a revenue-generation component to these operations. Whether it involves  Elvis, Humphrey Bogart, or Martin …more

The PR-izing of BuzzFeed News Release Makes for a Dull Read

OMG BuzzFeed has gone Fortune and its Original Trust Content one better. Instead of cranking out BuzzFeed-like content for corporate-owned media, the publication will teach you how to draft stories like the pros. That’s right. You too can write scintillating headlines like “15 Reasons Taylor Swift Might Be a Cat” or “27 Better Ways to …more

Twitter Courts Journalists, Dialogue on LinkedIn and Stop Apologizing!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t work the phrase “those pernicious PR people” into this grab bag post. Still, here are three bursts related to communications, albeit each longer than 140 characters. Twitter Looks to Accelerate News Traction Much has been written on whether Twitter falls under the social media or news media category. The debate misses the …more

J. C. Penney Shows the Perils of Not Thinking Through Social Media

I penned this tweet last week: Some background – To show people it’s a new day at J. C. Penney, the company posted a video called “It’s No Secret” on YouTube in early May.  The 30-second spot acknowledged past mistakes and plans to change its ways. I took the position that if a company deploys …more

BuzzFeed Meets White House.

The White House has gone all in with owned media, recently adding Tumblr to its arsenal of 17 social media properties. It’s only a matter of time before Team Obama starts poaching talent from BuzzFeed. By studying the trajectory of the White House’s investment in owned media, we can predict what such a property would …more

A Tag Line Sets Corporate Strategy and Creates Shareholder Value?

Seeking Alpha delivers one of the best bargains in the communications business. Complete the registration form, and hear Seeking Alpha’s equivalent of “open sesame” – free access to thousands of transcripts discussing the financial performance of public companies. In spite of scripting that would impress the World Wrestling Federation, weird “storytelling” can still surface in …more

Helping Hand for Warren Buffet on Twitter

Everyone associates Warren Buffet with finance and being worth a gazillion dollars (give or take a zillion). I think of Buffet as the consummate storyteller. He turns self-deprecation into an art form with passages like this from his 2010 shareholders letter: And now a painful confession: Last year your chairman closed the book on a …more