reputation

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation • May 15, 2011

Know A Good PR Firm? Burson Marsteller Needs One

Those giant PR firms just can’t seem to get out of their own way. When Edelman was caught fake-blogging for Wal-Mart, it waited nearly a week before admitting it had hired bloggers to shill for the client while pretending to be just plain folks. This week, the PR world was buzzing after news broke that […]

celebrity, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • April 28, 2011

Have Press Agents Become "Suppress" Agents?

Recently I attended an awards luncheon where a prominent PR woman was honored for her fierce protectiveness of her clients and her way of shutting out press who didn’t promise positive coverage. It made me wonder about the guard-dog publicist in the age of social media. A few days later, I read the New York […]

advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation • April 20, 2011

In PR Melodrama, Hoover Tries To Save The Soaps

Cue the organ music… here’s the dirt. A top appliance brand is so steamed by the demise of ABC’s daytime serials that it’s yanked its advertising clean off the network. That’s right, in a move worthy of Erica Kane herself, Hoover announced that it won’t be advertising on ABC after Friday of this week. What’s more, […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation • April 15, 2011

Chains Serve Up Savvy Response To Drink Mix-Ups

Tempest in a sippy cup? Some might think so. But as one PR expert put it,”the story was too good.” When a Michigan Applebee’s restaurant mistakenly served a pre-mixed margarita to a 15-month-old boy, the chain found itself battling a flood of critical coverage and a reputation threat. The media and blogosphere was stirred up […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • April 4, 2011

GoDaddy Competitors Move In For the Kill

In posting a gruesome video of his African elephant hunt that went viral last week, GoDaddy Founder Bob Parsons may have shot himself in the foot, at least from an image standpoint. Parsons spent Friday posting statements and offering interviews in defense of his actions. PETA jumped on the story, instantly closing its GoDaddy hosting account […]

Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation • February 22, 2011

The Care And Feeding Of PR Interns

Guest post by Liz Savery When I started in the PR business, interns fetched coffee and picked up dry cleaning for agency VPs. Serf labor. Then, after the Lewinsky scandal of the nineties, the very word became a punch line. But things have changed, right? Not so fast. Last week, a fresh intern “scandal” broke […]

advertising, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation • February 15, 2011

Is Any PR Good PR?

Of course not. PR agency professionals have been preaching that for decades. No marketer in his right mind would recommend a strategy that involves offending customers, or demeaning the brand. But, think about some of the celebrated marketing gaffes of the past two weeks. Socially-conscious Super Bowl viewers were outraged at Groupon’s rookie commercial on […]

advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • January 30, 2011

"Thanks For Suing Us!" Taco Bell Takes On "Beef-Gate"

A California woman’s beef with Taco Bell over the ingredients in her taco served up an interesting crisis management case study last week. The food fight has turned into a class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising by the chain. The suit claims its tacos are only 36 percent beef, which, if true, means they wouldn’t even […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • January 12, 2011

When Bad PR Is Good For Business

Boycotts are powerful, but they can also be PR magnets, drawing attention where none is deserved. That seems to be the case with the attempts to pressure Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods, to drop one of its sellers. Etsy is known not only for the business opportunities it provides to artist-entrepreneurs, but for […]