Goldman Sachs just turned to Richard Siewert, Jr., former counsel to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to take the public relations reins. Obviously, Goldman Sachs felt something had to change. But they had no way of knowing the firm’s tarnished image would morph into a full-blown crisis. That’s what happened yesterday when Greg Smith’s op-ed, “Why …more
We’ve touched on how Apple has shaped a master/servant relationship with the media. More than a master of storytelling, Steve Jobs carefully controlled “supply” to ensure media “demand” was always there. This communications foundation has served Apple well over years. Which brings me to the question posed in the headline: Does the potential wrath of …more
Thanks to cloud computing, social media, the app ecosystem and 3-D printing to name a few, the barriers to bring new consumer products to market keep getting lower and lower. For the most part, democratizing the act of inventing and allowing more ideas to see the light of day is a good thing. I think …more
In facilitating a branding workshop last week, it suddenly struck me. One of the great myths of branding is the big guys get it right. Thanks to their ample war chests, they can hire the smartest people, maintain an endless flow of M&Ms during focus groups and stockpile creative types. It’s just not true. Worse, …more
The latest issue of BusinessWeek offers the feature, “The Adventures of Superfood Man.” The lead takes from one of those life-is-better-than-fiction moments: On a good morning in Paradise Cove, Malibu, the water is so clear you can see halibut lurking in the kelp. Little Dume Point rises from its cliffs to the north, and …more
Here’s my second “Grab Bag,” pulling together a few vignettes that caught my attention. Donut Drama I’m a huge fan of The New York Times Dining section that appears every Wednesday. How much drama can be found among a bunch of glazed donuts? Actually, quite a bit if you’re Pete Wells observing the action at …more
You want storytelling? How about that Knicks/Mavs game last Sunday? After overcoming racism, Ivy League basketball, not being drafted by an NBA team, getting cut by two teams, relegation to the Reno Bighorns, and pestilence in third-world countries, Jeremy Lin is a legit star. As you would expect, his story has been chronicled down to …more
I highlighted a clever video by Doubleday last week, part of the marketing campaign behind John Grisham’s latest novel, “The Litigators.” It shows the storytelling possibilities that can come from combining owned media and social media. John Pitts, VP, Marketing Director at Doubleday and the person behind the Finley & Figg TV ad, was good …more
During my investigation of novelists and their personal biographies, I stumbled across a clever use of owned media by Team Grisham. Every publisher sends out copies of a new novel to various media in hopes of garnering positive reviews. The marketing team behind John Grisham’s latest novel, “The Litigators,” went one step further. They created …more
