While the communications world increasingly tilts toward digital, there are opportunities to play the contrarian card with an analog tactic. Executed right, the payoff can generate more than your fair share of attention. That’s what SHETRANSFORMS.US strove for last week. As background, SHETRANSFORMS.US advocates for taking the gender bias out of online search. The organization …more
This headline from Bloomberg showed up in my Twitter feed yesterday (h/t Dorothy Crenshaw): “Public Relations Jobs Boom as Buffett Sees Newspapers Dying” Let’s start with the headline, which is technically accurate. The PR industry is healthy, and newspapers aren’t. Yet, throwing in Warren Buffett’s name as click bait makes it sound like Buffett is …more
The best content wins. The rise of digital communications and forms of digital marketing see to that. This never-ending thirst for content is recasting the PR profession. The chart below (source: LinkedIn and Recode) depicts job hires in the U.S. by function over the past 14 years (source: LinkedIn). No surprise, the job …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
If you asked 1,000 people which profession is more creative, advertising or PR, I suspect 997 would say advertising (figuring the outlier dynamic at .003 percent). After all, advertising delivers those 30-second TV commercials that tug at the heartstrings or prompt laughter. They sell beer by teasing out a classic story arc depicting a horse …more
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
Most of those in the over-50 crowd remember a movie called “Wall Street.” The main character is played by Michael Douglas, and he exclaims what became a famous line back then in describing the attitude of those in finance, “Greed is good.” If Hollywood were to create a movie called “PR Street” with Michael Douglas, …more
I can’t say I’m a fan of procurement. I recognize that every company wants value in its purchases. Yet, procurement’s behavior often reflects a singular mission: secure the cheapest price point possible. I also find that procurement often takes the same approach to selecting PR services as pitting Walmart against Costco in buying soda pop. …more
The idea of pulling from multiple marketing services agencies to create a single team to serve a large client isn’t a new idea. This is one of the more effective ways that the large holding companies throw around their weight. Omnicom used this model to win the McDonald’s ad business last year. WPP won the …more
