Unfortunately, that’s how Stephen Elop, EVP over Microsoft’s Devices & Services business unit, communicated the company’s decision to reduce its workforce by 12,500 people (or 18,000, depending on who we believe). I don’t expect Mr. Elop to be a skilled communicator, much less command writing expertise. And I appreciate that a letter such as this one …more
More to the point, do they fortify the McDonald’s brand? I can understand McDonald’s quest to associate with suppliers who take a certain “hand-crafted” approach to their products. The message serves as a counterbalance to the perception that McDonald’s is all about volume production. Stepping back for a moment, the execution of this campaign is …more
I invented the grab bag post as a forum to share three vignettes on business storytelling that otherwise couldn’t stand on their own. And here’s the latest … Serendipitous Nature of Social Media Breaks LeBron James News on My Twitter Feed On Friday LeBron James officially announced that he is taking his talents back to …more
There’s no question that the rise of owned media has both emboldened companies and shaped more of a peer-to-peer relationship with journalists. In the old days, if a company took issue with a critical article, it might write a letter to editor, contact the publication’s ombudsman or cajole a correction out of the journalist’s boss. …more
A Look at the Publication Headlines from Countries Bounced from the Start of the World Cup Knock-out Round We already know the answer to the headline question. Virtually every great novel and movie depend on failure to bring tension to the story. And are there few things more painful than seeing your country fight its …more
The executive quote serves as a mainstay of PR-generated content from news releases to prepared statements. With rare exception, they’re dreadful. It’s as if each quote goes through the following process in which a conscious effort is made to squeeze out any semblance of humanity: The upshot — PR ends up crafting quotes like this …more
I often refer to levity as the killer app in business communications. Why do so few organizations go this route? It takes guts as much as creativity to insert levity into an organization’s storytelling. As a great philosopher once put it, “One man’s levity is another man’s trash.” Zappos showed guts bringing levity to its …more
Traveling to Asia and working out of our offices — Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, back to Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo — never gets old. Even after 50+ trips to the region, I still come across life-is-better-than-fiction moments in regard to language. Here are the top three from my latest trip. Marketing is Alive and …more
The Internet has commoditized the news release. Unfortunately, many companies missed the memo. As noted in a previous post, the three largest news release distribution services (PR Newswire, Business Wire and Marketwired) sent out roughly 642,000 news releases in 2013 or 1,759 news releases per day. Figuring 10 man hours per news release at $175 …more
