I’ve been following the Samsung PR crisis. In the spirit of balanced reporting, this is what a Samsung Note7 looks like before it catches fire:When things go awry as they have with the Samsung Note, it’s easy to forget that “connection” underpins every brand. What is the consumer’s level of passion for the brand? How …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
Virtually every national and global company desires coverage in the business media. For B2B players, this quest presents an additional hurdle in shaping a story that the average Joe will understand, much less care about. For those who toil in the B2B arena, the pursuit of business media is not a job for squeamish. Often, …more
I’ve railed about the amount of money squandered by the PR industry in the name of the news release. Thanks to the internet commoditizing news announcements, I’m guessing that the media ignores a good 95 percent of the news releases flung over the fence. And out of those 5 percent that actually get a look, …more
You knew it was coming. Today Ryan Lochte issued the requisite apology for making up a story that he was robbed at gunpoint during a night on the town with his pals during the summer Olympics. You can’t really chalk up the bad behavior to impetuous youth. Lochte is 32 years old. Still, adults can …more
When months of investigative reporting by The New York Times produced the story, “How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence“ and the companion piece, “Think Tank Scholar or Corporate Consultant? It Depends on the Day,” I wondered how Brookings would respond. The wondering didn’t last long. The same day the stories came out, Brookings published “Brookings …more
By Melissa Lewelling, Account Executive, The Hoffman Agency . As a former journalist, I tend to find PR events featuring journalists and the ethereal question, “How can PR help you do your job better?” — frankly — comical. These types of events often feature panels of journalists who don’t want to be there, don’t really …more
Failure. Point to a movie or a book that captivates, and I’ll show you failure. Shrek. Absolutely. Something more high-brow, like the best-selling novel “A Little Life.” Again, failure underpins the story. For it’s the failure — something going horribly awry, the more pain the better — that creates the tension in a story. As …more
The typical process that guides a company in evaluating PR agencies and ultimately choosing a winner is broken. It was broken when I participated in my first new-biz meeting — wicker furniture, of all things; we did not win — in 1983. It’s still broken today. In the vast majority of PR agency reviews, the …more
