Archive: October 2018

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A Few Words on Me, the Agency and Motorbike Taxis in Jakarta

OK, it’s more than a few. This question came my way last week: Here goes. I moved to Silicon Valley in 1981 two years out of college. You’ve heard the saying, “It’s better to be lucky than good?” I was lucky in the sense that I moved to Silicon Valley because of the vibrant culture, …more

U.S. Startups and the China Question

I wrote an opinion piece in VentureBeat a few years back titled, “Attention U.S. Startups, Don’t Ignore China.” The punchline — Virtually every startup should have a China strategy. Fast forwarding to today, startups in the U.S. are starting to back off in China. This assessment isn’t based on data; it’s more anecdotal and a …more

To RFP or Not RFP, That is Usually Not the Question.

I’ve written several posts on how organizations select communication services. Even after 30+ years, I’m still thinking there’s got to be a better way. In cases in which Procurement leads the charge, the process feels more like a tussle than a process of getting to know each other.     Speaking of a better way, …more

The Mind of B2B Buyers and Where They Go for Information

Steve Jursa (EVP in the San Jose office) recently attended a presentation called “The Mind of the Engineer” by Aspen Core, the company that owns EE Times. They surveyed over 4,000 engineers around the world to better understand their day-to-day jobs, how they gather information and what their guilty pleasure on Netflix is (just kidding …more

What Is a Japanese Press Club (Kisha Kurabu)?

  Implementing a media relations campaign in Japan is not an exercise for the squeamish. It requires on-the-ground experience and relationships. In the U.S., PR cold-calls journalists on a daily basis. In comparison, PR in Japan would rarely reach out to a journalist without a proper introduction. I remember years ago working with our Japan …more

Nine Actions That Torpedo Global PR

  I made my first trip overseas in 1994, supporting press conferences in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore in one week. Talk about a PR hustle. As you might expect, things didn’t always go according to plan. At our first press conference in Tokyo, no one had bothered to mention that the format …more

Tim Cook All-In with Building the Apple Brand Through Public Relations

Apple’s recent product introductions generated the expected media hoopla. I think the only publication that did not write about Apple’s announcement was “Miniature Donkey Talk Magazine” (yes, it exists). Apple under Steve Jobs essentially invented the show-biz event for introducing tech products. They know how to do this better than any company on the planet. …more