reputation

branding, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, leadership, public relations, reputation, social media • May 9, 2010

Disaster Branding: How BP’s Green PR Backfired

Quick, which company was responsible for the catastrophic natural gas leak in Bhopal, India, the worst industrial accident in modern history? What about the corporation that created the infamous toxic brew known as Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York? Man-made disasters are usually named, and remembered, for their locations. That won’t be true in the case of the recent […]

Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • April 30, 2010

The Goldman Sachs Hearings: A Sh**ty Deal For Taxpayers

What more is there to say about this week’s financial hearings? Goldman Sachs executives, including the infamous “Fabulous Fab” Tourre, were grilled, lectured, and scolded by members of a Senate panel in a much-anticipated spectacle this week. But, instead of Watergate redux, the hearings played out more like a group of middle school principals rebuking eighth-graders. Sure, the […]

Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • April 21, 2010

Web Anonymity And The Future of Reputation

The anonymous Web is like Freud’s id – a seething mass of pure impulse beneath a civil surface, in constant need of tamping down. While I believe wholeheartedly in free speech, it’s pretty clear that our Constitution’s framers didn’t envision ChatRoulette… or even the anonymous online comments section of the average newspaper. The balance between privacy […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • April 18, 2010

Wall Street’s Apology – So Far, Just PR?

Two former banking executives got another workout last week. So did the “apology PR” movement. This time it was Citibank ex-CEO Charles Prince and former director Robert Rubin. Under the hot glare of cameras – and the even more heated glares from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, each expressed the most sincere-sounding contrition to date […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation, social media • April 5, 2010

After Sea World and Nestle, How Risky is Social Media?

I once had a client whose CEO was so PR-averse that his response to requests for media interviews was the Zen-like platitude, “The spouting whale gets harpooned.” That unfortunate phrase popped into my head as I read stories like “Shamu Attack Exposes Social Media Risks.” The Orlando Sentinel and others recounted how @Shamu, the Twitter feed set […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • March 11, 2010

Goldman Sachs And The Cost of Bad PR

What’s a reputation worth? For most businesses, there’s an obvious cost to negative publicity. Sure, a few are still stuck in the “any PR is good PR” camp. And then there are those for whom public perception simply doesn’t matter. A year ago, I would have put Goldman Sachs in that category. With a track record of breathtaking […]

advertising, branding, celebrity, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, marketing, public relations, reputation, social media • March 5, 2010

The Future of Celebrity Endorsement, Post-Tiger

Last night I had the pleasure of speaking at a symposium sponsored by The Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal. The topic was “The Tiger Woods Effect” on celebrity endorsement, contract negotiation, morals clauses, and a host of other legal, marketing and PR issues. Here’s my take on the discussion, from a strictly brand marketing perspective. Brands […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation • March 1, 2010

When Not To Hire A PR Firm

Like Tolstoy’s observation about unhappy families, relationships between clients and their PR agencies go bad for different reasons. That’s why I can’t respond directly to a piece in today’s Huffington Post that questions the relevance of PR firms today. Grant Cardone’s “Do PR Firms Make Sense Anymore?” recounts his failed and apparently fruitless relationships with three […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, marketing, public relations, reputation, social media • February 25, 2010

What We Can Learn From "Undercover Boss"

When I was 23 years old I worked for a PR entrepreneur who insisted we accompany the sales reps of a large client company on their customer calls at retail. He said it was the only way to learn how the company’s products got to market and to gain a real-world perspective on our PR planning. […]