By Grace Hoffman, Editorial Assistant It’s rare to read a restaurant review that is brutal, compelling and downright strange! Pete Wells dug in and made it happen … but how? The variety of tactics and his unwillingness to “go easy” on Guy Fieri’s restaurant is what makes this review rich material illustrating how storytelling …more
Every global communications consultancy touts collaboration. Of course they do. If a prospective client is going to engage with a PR firm for support across multiple markets, it expects the account team members to play nice with each other regardless of location. PR consultancies have nailed this message. The reality is most PR agencies aren’t …more
Human beings gravitate to “train wrecks.” How else can you explain the popularity of “Breaking Bad”? Or people flocking to watch “Shrek”? Even though advertising has limited real estate — often 60 seconds of video or one static print page — the discipline finds a way to set the stage, surface the “bad stuff” …more
Lou—I wanted to reach out regarding the blog posted this week “When the Media Fails to Distinguish Between PR and Advertising.” It is unclear to me who the author is, and a little disappointing that they developed a whole narrative about us out of thin air, but please share that the North American Meat …more
Watching the volcanic outrage over the AIG bonus money playing out in the media I wondered how the company would respond. Many companies make the mistake of ducking for cover thinking they can wait out the storm. While AIG is hardly the poster child for business communications, it made the right move with an op-ed from the CEO Edward Liddy …more
No, I’m not talking about Matt Kenseth winning the Daytona 500. Instead, consider what brings the vast majority of folks to the racetrack. It’s the possibility to witness a high-speed wreck. I’ve come to call the type of story that offers up the possibility of a wreck – defining “wreck” as an element of the story …more
When we last addressed Mr. Jobs he was taking a pass on Macworld. More recently, unless you’ve spent the last week in the proverbial cave, you’ve seen the cavalcade of stories on Steve Jobs taking a leave of absence from Apple. The common denominator in the stories revolves around understanding his replacement, Tim Cook. It’s revealing …more
I came across an enlightening piece called “Becoming a Storyteller, Not Just a Reporter” (you might need to scroll down to reach the article). While the entire piece is worth a read, the following advice caught my attention: Don’t limit your inquiry, or your thinking, to the basics of journalism: Who, what, when, where, why, how. Think …more
