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
I was catching up on Charlie Rose segments and came across a recent interview with Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times. The interview offered yet another proof point on the importance of storytelling in cracking the mainstream media. Check out this exchange. Charlie: How does Jill Abramson see the mission of The New York Times? Jill: I see the …more
Junko Yoshida, EE Times EIC, penned a grab-you-by-the-throat editorial, “To Vendors, Where’s Your Community Spirit?” She makes the point that “engagement” has become the new black, but vendors continue to be conspicuously absent in the EE Times conversation: While the guys with all the money continue to spout the importance of engagement, they seem to …more
Thanks to media coverage worthy of a royal wedding, everyone now knows that Apple’s balance sheet looks better than the U.S. government. Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation – and Steve Jobs didn’t get married – so why all the fuss. Reverse engineering the hoopla illustrates the storytelling that can come out of a single dot-connecting moment. First, look …more
When it comes to writing that amuses, Christopher Buckley makes my top-10 list. “Thank You For Smoking” should be required reading for anyone contemplating the communications profession. The scene when the PR guy for the tobacco industry turns the table on the senator from Wisconsin by spotlighting artery-clogging cheese is a classic. Buckley’s review of the book “On China …more
The Agency welcomed Junko Yoshida, editor in chief of EE Times, to our “Lunch Bucket” series last week. While EE Times has always catered to the engineering community, how the media property serves this audience has changed. In short, it’s a two-pronged approach, offering free access to www.eetimes.com and a relatively new paid product called …more
Last week’s Lunch Bucket featured EE Times EIC Junko Yoshida. It was a terrific session with Junko sharing insights on the internal workings of the media property, her team, and the tech sector in general. I’ll post a write-up on Junko’s talk on Wednesday. In the meantime, thanks to the photography from Carlos Mangandy, here’s …more
Take a look at the following Associated Press article that appeared last week: SCE&G to donate to renewable energy program By: The Associated Press 04/25/11 6:08 PM South Carolina’s largest investor-owned utility says it will donate $1 for every Facebook “like” that the Palmetto Clean Energy organization gets through the end of the month. South …more
We don’t typically associate the word “innovation” with communications. Instead, communicators gravitate to “creativity” and like derivatives. Regardless of how we label it, today’s upside-down world calls for fresh approaches to communications. The status quo no longer works. Sure, you can do the same things and perhaps even generate results that appease your stakeholders. But …more
