When I started this blog almost 10 years ago, it was to be an industry resource, to offer perspectives on issues that those in the business of communications care about. Toward this end, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid writing about the Agency. At last count, fewer than 10 percent of the posts addressed …more
Communication professionals can learn a ton about storytelling from our advertising brothers. When you’re shelling out $4 million and change to create a single ad, it has a way of tuning one’s senses, a dynamic that typically doesn’t exist when PR crafts a pitch or writes a news release. With this in mind, I wanted …more
It seems like 90 percent of human beings aspire to: Lose weight Get rich Tell stories Of course, such aspirations bring the purveyors of snake oil. “Hey mister, step into my tent and see how storytelling can change your life.” Yet, there’s a small cadre of storytelling advocates who actually know what they’re talking about. …more
It doesn’t matter whether you sell pizza, cars or solid state memory chips, every company grapples with the question: why should the customer buy me over competitors? Few companies try to compete on price, and even those that do are careful in how they play the low-price card. The next time you’re at Costco or …more
Most of us who toil in business communications tilt toward words. We studied mass communications, journalism or English in college. When we went looking for jobs, our resumes touted writing expertise, not design. Yet, today’s world calls for equal emphasis on the visual side. I’ve always viewed my blog as a laboratory where I can …more
I’ve been collecting potential fodder for a grab bag post for over five months. Now, I have too many possibilities. Here come three vignettes pulled out of the hat. How The Economist Symbolizes Global As business storytelling goes, The Economist lands in my top five. This is a publication that adores the back …more
I shared half of my top posts for the first half of 2017 last week. Here’s the second half, starting with the star of today’s reality TV shows, President Trump. . . 6. Trump’s Job Description for Press Secretary: Make Communications Great Again Given how many times President Trump has thrown Sean Spicer under the bus, …more
Hey, if Bono can assemble some of his favorites into “U2’s Greatest Hits,” why can’t I do the same with blog posts? Exactly. Tapping posts published between 2012 and 2014, here’s the latest version of Ishmael’s Greatest Hits (minus the tinted shades and tattoos). The Worst Customer Service Narrative in the History of Branding United …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
