public relations

advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • July 26, 2011

A Summer’s Eve Debate: Why ‘Offensive’ Ads Can Be Good

Can men effectively market to women? Can whites sell to people of color? Sure. Yet, some recent ad campaigns make you wonder. The latest is for Summer’s Eve cleansing wash, and it’s definitely a fresh take on the “feminine products” category. Each of the three ads features a woman’s hand that is meant to be a […]

Crenshaw Communications, PR Fish Bowl, public relations • July 20, 2011

Harnessing The PR Power Of Twitter

Twitter has exploded into one of the most rapidly expanding social platforms in the world, with over 200 million users to date. In an industry where one wrong tweet can compromise a company’s image, how can you use Twitter as a force of “PR good” for your client? We all know to monitor conversations about […]

Crenshaw Communications, PR Fish Bowl, public relations • July 12, 2011

How To Dress For (PR) Success

In the New York PR world, being fashionable and dressing appropriately needn’t be mutually exclusive. In my experience you should treat your work wardrobe like a PR campaign: first, know your “target audience!” Do you work for a very corporate company that demands formal dress or a funky downtown firm that appreciates the fashion-forward? Get […]

Crenshaw Communications, PR Fish Bowl, public relations • July 7, 2011

What We Can Learn From Horrible PR Bosses

Psycho. Maneater. Tool. The descriptions of the bosses in the new summer movie got me thinking of those I’ve had in my long PR career. Google “horrible bosses” and you get no fewer than 19 million hits. Need to vent? Share your stories of chumps in charge on blogs like http://reallybadboss.com/ and now, of course, there’s […]

Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation, social media • July 6, 2011

Recipe For A Twitter Fail: Was Entenmann’s #Guilty of Hashtag Hijacking?

Call it a half-baked attempt to be topical…or perhaps, just a mistake. As Twitter erupted following the surprise guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial, Entenmann’s adopted the rapidly trending #notguilty hashtag to tweet a whimsical update about “eating all the tasty treats you want.” The tweet lasted only minutes. Someone realized the juxtaposition wasn’t […]

branding, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, ImPRessions, public relations • July 4, 2011

Craft Beer Fight Over B-Word Rages, With Good Press On Tap

The Bitch is back. That’s Flying Dog Brewery’s Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA. Now maybe the name should offend me, but it doesn’t. I don’t actually have a dog in this fight, but I do think it’s fitting that on Thursday, just in time for the July 4th weekend, the state of Michigan reversed a decision […]

Crenshaw Communications, PR Fish Bowl, public relations • July 1, 2011

Declaration of PR Independence

“A press release should never be more than one page long.” “The ad and editorial departments are completely separate.” “Media contacts are too busy for ‘clever’ pitches, just the facts please.” Above are just a few examples of long-held PR “truths” that shackle creative practitioners to outdated axioms and methods that just don’t get results. […]

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • June 27, 2011

Are There Just Too Many PR People?

PR people have taken a beating in the past few weeks. Currently, it’s due to our increasing numbers. A recent example, among many, is a May piece in The Economist subtitled “Flacks Outnumber Hacks.” It compares PR professionals to “urban foxes” and calls us “slime-slingers,” among other things, while, oddly, positioning bloggers as the new […]

Crenshaw Communications, PR Fish Bowl, public relations • June 24, 2011

PR People Are Just Different

Last night at my children’s middle school graduation ceremony, I was struck by how my husband and I, both PR professionals, reacted to the evening’s speakers, who included a board of education rep and the superintendent of schools. They mumbled, they were unfocused, and they didn’t even hold their punch lines long enough for the […]