I love talking about failure in the context of business storytelling. It’s a tough one for executives because it’s counterintuitive. You never hear about a company hiring a PR agency “to get the bad word out.” Yet, the ability to bring failure or even a problem to the narrative is what separates industrial-grade storytelling from …more
The “How PR can play nice with journalists” post has really become a genre in itself. I still get a kick out of the BusinessInsider classic, “Dear PR Lady: Here’s Why I didn’t Open Any of Your 3 Email Pitches.” The latest missive comes compliments of the Huffington Post, “How to Stop Pissing Off Reporters” …more
Wednesday’s post featured half of the list capturing my top storytelling techniques posts from the first half of 2014, including the American Chemistry Association breaking down the composition of Sriracha. Today brings the second half. PR’s Digital Opportunity Will Come at the Expense of SEO Consultancies We’ve been quietly executing campaigns that blend the principles …more
I’m tardy in capturing the best business storytelling posts during the first half of 2014. As always, figuring out the “best” combines popularity (number of views) and what rated high on my personal amusement scale. Here goes: Can You Measure Storytelling in Your Media Relations Effort? It turns out you can (and we do). Simply …more
More to the point, do they fortify the McDonald’s brand? I can understand McDonald’s quest to associate with suppliers who take a certain “hand-crafted” approach to their products. The message serves as a counterbalance to the perception that McDonald’s is all about volume production. Stepping back for a moment, the execution of this campaign is …more
I invented the grab bag post as a forum to share three vignettes on business storytelling that otherwise couldn’t stand on their own. And here’s the latest … Serendipitous Nature of Social Media Breaks LeBron James News on My Twitter Feed On Friday LeBron James officially announced that he is taking his talents back to …more
There’s no question that the rise of owned media has both emboldened companies and shaped more of a peer-to-peer relationship with journalists. In the old days, if a company took issue with a critical article, it might write a letter to editor, contact the publication’s ombudsman or cajole a correction out of the journalist’s boss. …more
A Look at the Publication Headlines from Countries Bounced from the Start of the World Cup Knock-out Round We already know the answer to the headline question. Virtually every great novel and movie depend on failure to bring tension to the story. And are there few things more painful than seeing your country fight its …more
The executive quote serves as a mainstay of PR-generated content from news releases to prepared statements. With rare exception, they’re dreadful. It’s as if each quote goes through the following process in which a conscious effort is made to squeeze out any semblance of humanity: The upshot — PR ends up crafting quotes like this …more
