David Ogilvy penned his infamous advice on writing on Sept. 7, 1982 in a memo to his employees. His point of view still has relevance for anyone who touches business communications, not just the jingle jockeys and slogan makers. Still, they could use a refresh for 2020. Toward this end, I’ve captured Ogilvy’s 10 …more
These three newspapers, arguably the most powerful dailies in the U.S., came together to publish an open letter to the Chinese government asking it to reconsider kicking out select journalists from the country. But the real audience for this letter isn’t the Chinese government; it’s the American public. Avoiding hyper and hyperbole, the letter takes …more
Elisa Zallio, Jr Account Executive, Hoffman Europe (London) What’s writer’s block? Writer’s block is a condition more common and annoying than a seasonal cold. Anyone who writes has faced it, some just once in a while — *cough cough* Stephen King *cough cough* — while others seem to be constantly living it — looking at …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
Business communicators can learn from novelists and their storytelling techniques. I’ve always been partial to the Kurt Vonnegut advice: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” It’s never easy for a …more
David Ogilvy penned his infamous advice on writing on Sept. 7, 1982 in a memo to his employees. His point of view still has relevance for anyone who touches business communications, not just the jingle jockeys and slogan makers. Still, they could use a refresh for 2018. Toward this end, I’ve captured Ogilvy’s 10 tips …more
After conducting our storytelling workshop over the years, a certain theme has emerged. By the close of the workshop, participants buy into the concepts. They then jump back into their jobs with renewed determination to communicate with conversational language and a show-don’t-tell attitude only to run into that visible force called stakeholder approval. We continually …more
Since conducting our first storytelling workshop in 2011, the honing of the material has been a never-ending process. To this point, we’ve considered the methodology as our intellectual property. It was part of how we differentiated the Agency, an approach to developing content that recognized that given a choice between dull or interesting, human beings will gravitate …more
I’ve railed about the amount of money squandered by the PR industry in the name of the news release. Thanks to the internet commoditizing news announcements, I’m guessing that the media ignores a good 95 percent of the news releases flung over the fence. And out of those 5 percent that actually get a look, …more
