A corporate feature in a mainstream publication is the PR equivalent of a home run. No question, PR is constantly swinging for the fences. Unfortunately, the success rate for PR is more Duane Kuiper (below) than Babe Ruth. Obviously, a number of variables come into play in determining whether a journalist and the bosses green …more
The Internet has commoditized — and continues to commoditize — the news release. Yet, there’s still a time and place for the humble news release. And when the mission calls for this tactic, it’s logical to craft the narrative so it has the greatest probability of resonating with journalists. I came across a LinkedIn post …more
The quest by both brands and publications to fool the reader continues. In response, the FTC has made a push for disclosure on sponsored content and native advertising. But what about the online search for news? I was reminded of this challenge during a client campaign that included a sponsored content spoke. If you plug …more
I enjoy studying journalism. When it comes to business communications, journalists are the masters at storytelling. Highlighting this point, I came across the following from a New York Times review on the new Richard Nixon biography last week: “The similarities between Nixon and Trump leap off the page like crickets.There is, first and most superficially, …more
Can we all take a breath? The latest uproar on fake news comes compliments of 20th Century Fox when it created fake news sites as part of a marketing campaign for an upcoming movie. A New York Times story on the topic quoted Susan Credle, global creative officer of the ad agency FCB: “Fake news …more
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the number of people working in PR at 218,910 (as of May 2015). Some of these folks are extraordinary. Others communicate with the finesse of a carnival barker. Most fall somewhere in between. For the sake of discussion, let’s say that 3 percent of the PR population falls into …more
The news release turns 110 years old on Oct. 28. I’ve already rehearsed my line for the party, How fitting that a train wreck — a three-car train from the Pennsylvania Railroad went off the rails and into a creek on October 28, 1906 killing more than 50 people — prompted the invention of the …more
That’s the point from last week’s Wall Street Journal column, “The Way Trump Talks,” by Daniel Henninger. Henninger believes that language, specifically conversational language, could turn the election in Trump’s favor and that people have responded to Trump’s blunt language to the point of being oblivious to the content. “Many people today think food isn’t …more
Journalism — particularly newspapers — has been trying to shift to video for years, often sputtering like a ’57 Chevy with a bad carburetor. And for good reason. The inverted pyramid still figures prominently in J schools across the country. If you’re pounding out news stories for the Daily Planet, the inverted pyramid serves you …more
