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So How Was That First Post 12 Years Ago?

  July 10, 2008 marks the day I published the first post on Ishmael’s Corner (below). Dusting off the post, I assumed my first attempt would come across as pompous or worse. Actually, it’s OK. Not great. Not a Pulitzer Price winner. But it does a decent job in explaining the blog’s aspirations. Keep in …more

Storytelling hammers the final nail in the coffin of Guy Fieri’s eatery

By Grace Hoffman, Editorial Assistant   It’s rare to read a restaurant review that is brutal, compelling and downright strange! Pete Wells dug in and made it happen … but how? The variety of tactics and his unwillingness to “go easy” on Guy Fieri’s restaurant is what makes this review rich material illustrating how storytelling …more

Interviewing Dead Celebrity Lifts Video Out of the Sea of Sameness

How do you interview a celebrity who has passed away? The San Francisco Giants and star pitcher in his day Tim Lincecum shows the way. I’ve always admired the marketing efforts from the San Francisco Giants acknowledging that some might miss the mark. If you live in the Bay Area and follow the Giants, you’ll …more

Communications Lessons from a Politician

I asked Silicon Valley veteran Dave Kellogg for his OK to republish this post. I met Dave some 10 years ago when he was CEO of MarkLogic. Here was a CEO who not only understood PR but seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, his internal communications team didn’t command the same understanding, and our client relationship …more

Not the Most Intuitive Mashup: Public Relations + the Chinese New Year

The Year of the Horse officially kicked off on January 31 with the 15-day celebration coming to an end today (known as the Lantern Festival) Our Singapore team saw an opportunity to bring the Chinese New Year and the PR profession together as an infographic, part of our push to experiment with visual storytelling using …more

When You Take A Photograph, Beware Of Hand Gestures

“Friday Levity” returns on Thursday (not necessarily back by popular demand). Check out the following photo from a Chinese website selling English language lessons. Always good for models in an advertisement to exude friendliness. The fellow waving “hi” to the reader looks fine. But the girl’s wave is so close to her face it looks like …more

B2B Video Storytelling Plays Off Dos Equis Campaign

Anyone can create a video and gain access to millions of viewers. The barriers to entry consist of nothing more than a video recorder and an Internet connection. But the rise of anyone-can-make-a-video has generated a fair amount of dreadful stuff. It’s especially challenging for a B2B company to create a video that stands apart …more