As PR-led campaigns increasingly blend tactics such as paid media, native advertising bears watching. I called out the genre last month suggesting most of it should be called “alien advertising.” Still, with the rules of the game being invented on-the-fly, we’re seeing fresh wrinkles like this native advertising campaign by Ryder in TIME Magazine. Here’s …more
Last year I wrote that PR should be treating Facebook like a media property. While you can’t pitch Facebook — the “Dear Zuck, next week company XYZ will announce the world’s first …” isn’t going to work — the fact that Facebook generates up to 20 percent of the traffic to news sites bears attention. …more
BuzzFeed has cracked the code on how to attract an audience. This is a media property that regularly generates over 200 billion video views per month and over 50 million unique monthly visitors. Thanks to BuzzFeed, the listicle has become de rigueur for those charged with owned media and social channels. Of course, it’s the BF algorithm — …more
Remember when native advertising promised to rescue online media with a legit revenue stream? Putting the poster children of native advertising such as BuzzFeed, The Atlantic and The New York Times to the side, most of the content is downright dreadful. The defenders are quick to say it’s early days, but its’ been a good …more
The hoopla triggered by The New York Times on the Amazon culture has not subsided. Cruel Bruising Dickensesque (as a literary reference, my personal favorite) And these were some of the more measured descriptions of the Amazon culture that have come to light and created a PR crisis. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was quick to …more
A “turn-the-crank” mentality to generate a relentless stream of articles shapes journalism at many media properties. Of course quality suffers. While you can find a slew of articles in which journalists lament the issue in theoretical terms, here’s an example from a major publication that makes it all too real. Check out “How Chick-fil-A’s Restaurants …more
Since I embarked on my PR adventure in 1983, everything has changed. Except one dynamic. Journalists griped about PR folks back in 1983, and they’re still griping today. To be objective, the bad behavior of a select few cultivates “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (yes, I did take away a few more morsels …more
It’s been a couple months since my last Grab Bag post. With over 10 items in the queue, I made some tough choices on the three vignettes that made the cut. Here goes. Extending a Brand Too many companies extend their brands in ways that trade incremental revenue for flinging an incongruent message to their customers. …more
Four of our account professionals attended “Inside the Newsroom with Business Insider” organized by PRSA Silicon Valley earlier this month. It gave folks the opportunity to hear from two of Business Insider’s tech reporters, Jillian D’Onfro and Matt Weinberger as well as Technology Section Editor and San Francisco Bureau Chief Matt Rosoff. I’m pleased to …more
