I wrote about Zappos using levity as the killer app in its communications a few years ago. Before going further, it’s worth noting that levity has a lower bar than humor. We’re not trying to channel Jon Stewart or Conan O’Brian. Levity delivers a smile, a grin (bigger smile) or, at its best, a low-decibel …more
Check out the headline in The Wall Street Journal last month. “Apple Teams with Jack Ma” The headline didn’t say “Apple Teams with Alibaba.” Why? And don’t say because the word “Alibaba” wouldn’t fit in the space for the headline. It turns out that both words take up seven characters. I think it’s because the …more
You’ve heard the phrase, “read the room.” Huawei can’t read the room. In spite of an in-house communications team that includes talented pros from the West, they continue to make amateur mistakes. The latest comes in the form of an open letter to the U.S. media published last week in The Wall Street Journal. If …more
Journalists get anecdotes. PR not so much. A few years back, we analyzed three months’ worth of tech stories in The Economist breaking down the content type by category. It turned out that 17 percent of the articles were anecdotal. . We consistently find that the anecdotal content in business publications ranges from 15 to …more
Note: A version of this essay appeared in EE Times. Beleaguered. That’s the word that seems tethered to Huawei these days. Yet, “beset with difficulties” doesn’t quite capture what the telecom giant is experiencing. As a student of communications — the type with words, not satellites — I’ve been observing Huawei from afar since …more
By Mandy Heiser, Account Executive Let’s take a look at the top Google results for the recommended search “china and us”: What about “us and china”? Let’s pull out a few phrases: “high-stakes trade”, “far apart”, “fail to reach agreement” “fighting for global power” … The story these search results …more
I don’t smoke. My one and only experience with cigarettes was sneaking some coins into a vending machine when I around 14 to buy a pack of Marlboros. I don’t think I got past the first puff before I concluded coughing wasn’t fun. Still, the professional side of me has paid attention to Juul’s communications …more
We live in a world that correlates speed with business success. Often, it’s not about inventing the best solution. It’s about getting there first and then fending off competitors parallel to trying to get the product right. But building a brand is not a transaction or a campaign. It requires time. Those same fast-twitch muscles …more
Nothing impacts the success of a company more than its ability to recruit talent. Massive investments are earmarked for the cause ranging from websites to research to recruiters to salted caramel macarons for the requisite on-site sugar high. Yet, the auto-generated email that lands in the candidate’s inbox after submitting a resume is …more
