The balance of power in media channels has shifted. It used to be that if a company felt wronged by the media, the next logical step involved arranging a press tour to counter the “injustice.” Thanks to the rise of owned media and paid content sometimes masquerading as journalism, companies are no longer dependent on …more
By Eric van Damme, The Hoffman Agency London “Mic check, 1,2” Those were the first words recorded in our podcast studio after some time experimenting what the best setup would be to launch our own audio sessions. Rewind to a few months ago, and I would have told you confidently that it would be …more
Lou—I wanted to reach out regarding the blog posted this week “When the Media Fails to Distinguish Between PR and Advertising.” It is unclear to me who the author is, and a little disappointing that they developed a whole narrative about us out of thin air, but please share that the North American Meat …more
The New York Times ran a story last month on employee activism at Google and its firing of four employees involved in the movement. No question, the topic warrants coverage. The two NYT journalists, Kate Conger and Daisuke Wakabayashi, dig into the topic with a touch of foreshadowing: “The dismissals are expected to exacerbate rocky …more
By Frank Zhang, DGM Hoffman China Sitting on the train from Shanghai to Wenzhou, I had time to contemplate a simple question: What were students from Wenzhou-Kean University, a Chinese-American jointly established higher education institution, expecting to hear from an international communications consultancy? I arrived at the venue 30 minutes early. It turns out …more
Your title might be PR manager, keeper of the blog, content developer or the classic copywriter. It doesn’t matter. All of us need to get the visual storytelling religion. The increasing amount of information accessed on mobile means shortened attention spans. And people want an entertainment dimension to their information, even in the business sphere …more
I first touted the virtues of the “word visual” in 2014. For those not familiar with this technique, the idea is to use the words (or typography) to drive the action while minimizing the need for design expertise. The image above borrowing the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld falls in the “word visual” category. Most “word …more
The obvious answer is no, but perhaps a more nuanced view should rule the day. Maybe it’s OK — dare I say helpful — to fool the reader, if by doing so, the publication serves up information that the reader cares about. I raise the issue after stumbling across sponsored content on UC Davis’ approach …more
After hearing so many people over recent years tout the virtues of storytelling, I’ve been half expecting a late night infomercial to show how storytelling can cure baldness. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened (yet). Still, the powers of storytelling continue to surface in unexpected places. The superb columnist for the New York Times, Frank Bruni, …more
