Want the media to pay attention? Offer a compelling story. Want the media to really pay attention? Deliver a really compelling story. I get this concept. But to say Julian Assange dominates the headlines because WikiLeaks is a world-shaking story shortchanges Mr. Assange’s PR savvy. As Reuters pointed out, Assange “has masterfully manipulated elite media outfits.” Digging deeper, Assange …more
The concept of advertorials is not new. I’m sure if the early publishers of the Bible accepted advertising, we would have seen pitches for flint stones packaged as psalms. Fast-forwarding to today, it stands to reason that the never-ending economic pressures on publishers causes them to wade further into the gray area in exchange for revenue. Still, the …more
If you’re a communicator or care about communications, the Nieman Journalism Lab should be on your radar. The media property does a terrific job of probing journalism from all directions. A Friday article, Covering a Crisis More Like Molasses than Quicksand, that looks at the challenges for journalists in covering a “never-ending” crisis caught my attention. Think BP …more
We’ve discussed how storytelling techniques can open doors in the business and mainstream media. HP provides a good Exhibit A. By packaging a story on how the University of Minnesota took proceeds from licensing the “code” from Honeycrisp apples to help pay for a supercomputer, they secured interest from Ashlee Vance at The New York …more
Talk about the future of journalism often takes on a victim-istic tenor. That’s why the post from Reuters EIC David Schlesinger “Changing Journalism; Changing Reuters” stands out. Rather than lament, he’s charging the hill. There’s poetic sensibility in his words: Knowing the story is not enough. Telling the story is only the beginning. The conversation …more
The New York Times reported on Friday that ESPN plans to launch espnW. That’s right. An all-sports channel totally focused on serving one audience: women. ESPN has cracked the code when it comes to extending its brad to sub-audiences. By 2020, I’m predicting the launch of espnBB, programming rich in shuffle board, darts and other sports easy on the …more
Here’s my third crack at Moes Takes, which last ran in February. As a refresher, I worked with Rob Moes who was VP of marketing for Philips in the mid-1980s. During an interview at COMDEX, a reporter pressed Moes for projections on how many CD-ROM drives would be sold looking out five years. Rob responded …more
This blog is geared to explore how storytelling techniques can be applied to brand building. But what about the story that a company doesn’t necessarily want to tell? Like when things go wrong. We’re about to enjoy a front-row seat to such a case study with the Justice Department calling out Oracle with the news …more
The Innovation Journalism (InJo) Conference at Stanford kicked off yesterday. Gathering 100+ journalists, academics and the like to scrutinize the telling of the innovation story makes for a lively dialog. The opening session featured David Nordfors, founder of InJo, interviewing Krishna Bharat, the creator of Google News. Dubbed a “fireside chat,” I’m pleased to report both …more
