Given all the industry organizations based in New York that count PR as a target audience, we were enthused about the Holmes Report hosting its first Innovation Summit in Silicon Valley last week. As with any first-time activity, there are going to be hits and misses. Still, I would characterize the overall conference as a …more
Native advertising is all the rage in the publishing world. I read a statistic last week that most publications are at least experimenting with the concept. For those of you not familiar with native advertising, it refers to a publication serving up paid stories and editorial content the same way. You’ll hear this technique also …more
The past weekend brought us M&A fireworks as Publicis and Omnicom tied the knot creating the largest marketing services company known to mankind. First, the clever part – In what might be an industry first, a Vine video showed the respective chiefs signing on the dotted line. I guess two tokes on a peace pipe …more
After Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary back in 2008, she stood at the podium and uttered the words, “I found my own voice.” “Voice” is tricky. It’s always there. Yet, it can be tougher to find than Waldo in bad lighting. And when you do find it, success is not guaranteed. (Just ask …more
When founders get the boot, they don’t always go quietly or humorously into the night á la Andrew Mason. For communicators, this poses a quandary. Typically, the founder serves as the face of the company with his or her persona baked into the brand. If the founder reacts with “hell hath no fury like a …more
A few months ago I discussed how third-party media (earned) and owned media overlap in the Forbes online property. In short, here’s how the proposition works. Forbes gains inexpensive – or to be more precise, free – content to attract more clicks. In exchange, companies enjoy the Forbes halo and still control the storytelling. To …more
Consider how the media differentiates itself. By being first. By being the only media property with a particular story. Storytelling. Analysis that makes sense of an event. For wire services such as Associated Press, we associate success with breaking news. That’s why the recent memo from Michael Oreskes, senior managing editor at the Associated Press, …more
In a world where a tweet or a Tumblr or a teenage blogger in Iowa can make a difference in the perception of a brand, The PR function alone can’t sustain outbound communications. The McKinsey Quarterly published an article “We’re All Marketers Now” which caught my attention. If you replace “marketing” with “communications” and replace “customers” with “influencers,” the …more
Whether we’re talking an IT director at a Fortune 500 company or an aluminum salesman in Des Moines, people consume visuals with greater ease than words. That’s why communicators of all shapes and sizes should embrace visual storytelling. And there’s more to visual communication than the grandiose infographic. Photos, illustrations and simple graphics can enhance …more
