Several of our account folks recently attended a training session conducted by Beryl Loeb and sponsored by the PR Council. The stage setting from the PR Council nails it: People are the single biggest asset of a PR firm, and the relationship between individuals and their managers is one of the most important drivers of …more
Sitting in the U.S., it’s easy to get caught up in the China rhetoric emanating from the White House and the latest if-you-do-that-we’ll-do-this missives. President Trump would have us believe that the global economy is a zero sum game, that every dollar gained by China leads to a loss of a buck in the U.S. …more
Game 5 of the NBA finals takes place tonight. Let’s forget for a minute that Kawhi Leonard has the strength of Paul Bunyan and Andre Iguodala misplaced his jump shot since hitting that dagger in the Warrior’s Game 2 win. There are lessons to be had from the communications and branding perspectives. And I’m not …more
If you’re not familiar with the “996” acronym in China, it stands for working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days each week. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, seemed to have hit a nerve last week when he remarked on WeChat: “I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing.” …more
We’ve been touting the virtues of SEO in PR strategies since 2010. Our push to integrate SEO and PR accelerated in 2013 when Google revamped its search algorithm with the Hummingbird update. It was at this point that Google squeezed most of the gamesmanship out of organic search. Those backlinks sold out of …more
If you’re Don Quixote, you can control Sancho Panza. You tell him not to tweet. He doesn’t tweet. He’s one dude on a donkey. This technique doesn’t work as well in organizations with thousands or even hundreds of employees. The millennials and Gen Xers dominating the workforce believe the Bill of Rights guarantees life, liberty …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
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
