For global companies founded in the U.S., Donald Trump’s election has the potential to dishearten and even divide their employees working overseas. This sentiment doesn’t necessarily show up on Facebook or Twitter or other public forums. Instead, it’s water cooler chatter and emails, wondering if their company’s character will take on the hue of Donald …more
It’s my birthday today. As my family and friends know, I’m not a big birthday guy. This has nothing to do with the annual reminder that more grains of sand in the hourglass have sifted south. Instead, it’s a byproduct of being a closet introvert. I typically do a good job of sidestepping the concentration of …more
Spending time in Singapore at the start of the month to celebrate our 20-year anniversary of operating in Asia included a few interviews with journalists. Here’s the unfiltered version of a Q&A that touches on topics ranging from the future of communications to our differentiation. Q. Happy 20th Anniversary on your operation in Asia! Can …more
Today finds me in Singapore with my wife Heather and my parents celebrating the Agency’s 20-year anniversary of expanding to Asia. A quick back story — I wanted to open an office in Asia in 1994, but couldn’t muster the guts to hit the go-for-it button. I kept thinking if establishing a tech-focused PR consultancy …more
I thought the newspaper was asking me questions about my favorite travel destination. It turned out that the newspaper assumed San Francisco was my favorite travel destination — hey, why else would I live 53 miles south of San Francisco? — so my answers around Aix en Provence didn’t fit. As public service for those …more
Staying true to form during the last presidential debate, Donald Trump inferred that all smart business people find loopholes to avoid paying federal taxes, including Warren Buffett. I tried to come up with a plausible explanation for why Trump thought his comment on Buffett would go unchallenged. Then, the obvious hit me. He doesn’t care. It’s his words …more
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
