I decided to republish this post from a couple years age when our younger son Elliot got married. While today is Father’s Day, not “Parent’s Day,” I still seems to fit the scene. Here goes … Let’s start with the marriage of Marv and Ruth Hoffman. The photo above shows my parents on their wedding …more
There. I’ve said it. You can officially classify me as a heretic. My viewpoint started to form in 1983 when I landed my first job at a PR agency. Shortly after, the big boss decided I was ready to support our client Philips at COMDEX — THE computer show at the time (eventually bulldozed by …more
Particularly in Silicon Valley where most executives started their careers on the engineering side. Coming from a technical orientation, they tend to think of anecdotes as inconsequential and yes, a bit fluffy. Yet, the science suggests that PR should be sourcing anecdotal content as part of media outreach. We leaned on a couple interns to …more
The public relations function typically constructs media pitches based on the story that the company wants to tell. These stories tend to be pristine narratives — the sun is shining; birds are chirping — that dull the senses. That largely explains why 95%+ of pitches to the business media fail. Instead, we should be thinking …more
This headline serves as our mantra for 2019. Every company, even those who fancy “math is fun” buttons, has something interesting to share with the outside world. But these stories rarely sit on a desk with a label that reads “good story with killer anecdote inside.” Instead, it’s up to us as communicators to poke …more
Journalists get anecdotes. PR not so much. A few years back, we analyzed three months’ worth of tech stories in The Economist breaking down the content type by category. It turned out that 17 percent of the articles were anecdotal. . We consistently find that the anecdotal content in business publications ranges from 15 to …more
I recently made an online purchase from Canterbury of New Zealand which makes great stuff even if you don’t play rugby (I don’t). After placing the order, I realized I had forgotten to plug in the discount coupon. I went back to the site and figured I would take a shot with the online …more
That’s the question posed by friend and colleague Peter Lewis after asking him to share his perspective on the state of storytelling to mark my blog hitting the big one-oh. Before jumping into the answer, a few back stories (naturally). I’ve known Pete for some time, going back to his days laying the groundwork for …more
We’ve strived to be the cobbler’s kids who actually do have shoes. In practical terms, we’ve pitched stories on the Agency and our perspectives to journalists, some resulting in media coverage. As part of the blog’s 10-year anniversary, I’ve dusted off one of the better articles on our storytelling mentality. David Blecken at Campaign Asia …more
