Our Insights

3
Crenshaw Communications, public relations, social media, technology • September 16, 2010

Offlining: The New Digital Detox

I’ve known for a while that multitasking is a lie. I don’t know anyone who can truly spread their attention across multiple jobs with equal focus. Like most people, I tend to toggle back and forth among tasks – blogging, watching Top Chef, listening to my daughter, ruminating about tomorrow’s schedule. It’s like trying to […]

Read More
0
communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations • September 10, 2010

Did The Media Create Terry Jones?

In an interesting sidebar to the Terry Jones firestorm, web host Rackspace today shut down the pastor’s website for violating its acceptable use policy. A good move, I thought. Then I read criticism of the move, on the grounds that it gives Jones even more attention and may trample his right to free speech. It’s a fair point. Not about free speech – […]

Read More
11
advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations • September 7, 2010

How To Be Creative Under Pressure

An episode of “Mad Men” featured Don Draper and Peggy Olson wrestling with a tough creative challenge – how to dream up a breakthrough campaign for Samsonite. Don dismisses a celebrity pitchman as a “lazy” strategy, then criticizes Peggy’s next round of ideas as variations on a theme – a boring one. At Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, a booze-soaked all-nighter […]

Read More
5
advertising, blogging, communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • September 1, 2010

Web of Lies: Astroturfing Threatens The PR Business

Astroturfing is like the underbelly of the PR business – large, hidden, and when it pops out, really ugly. A decade ago, that kind of  fake grassroots campaigning was at the edge of public relations, and it happened primarily in politics. Today, the rise of social media has put a new spin on astroturfing, with faux reviews […]

Read More
1
communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation, social media • August 26, 2010

A Sorry State: How We Apologize

As every PR professional knows, an artful public apology is a staple of reputation management – just ask Toyota, BP, or Goldman Sachs. A cottage industry has been created that’s dedicated to what I call “apology PR.” But, apologizing is also a key piece of the social CRM toolkit, which communicators are rapidly learning and […]

Read More
4
communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, leadership, public relations, reputation • August 19, 2010

Did HP Get Bad PR Advice?

A seat at the table. That’s how those of us in PR often put it when we talk about the role of public relations counsel in the corporate suite. Since the PR function is easily misunderstood, marginalized, or reduced to tactics, it’s a popular topic in professional circles. We want that seat, and we applaud signs […]

Read More
5
Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • August 15, 2010

The Steven Slater Effect: Has JetBlue Lost Its Cool?

Steven Slater’s slide to freedom took less than a day to establish him as a folk hero. The reasons are obvious. Who hasn’t wanted to make an, um, emergency exit from a miserable job with that kind of flourish? It was just one employee who lost his cool, in a big way. But did his exit signal a downhill slide […]

Read More
2
communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation • August 9, 2010

For Mrs. Obama, This Vacation Isn’t Free

There’s that word again. Optics. The First Lady and daughter Sasha departed last week on a whirlwind trip to Spain, where they stayed at a posh Ritz Carlton-owned hotel with friends. The press made it out like a Sex And The City-style girls’ weekend of lavish shopping and touring, finished off by lunch with the Spanish […]

Read More
2
communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation • August 2, 2010

Have We Been Fair To Tony Hayward?

There’s an expression related to PR that I particularly dislike. It’s “optics,” and like most buzzwords, it’s a bit pretentious and unnecessary. But when I heard that Tony Hayward will be replaced as CEO of BP, it popped into my head. Good optics, that is. Hayward’s been sent to Siberia (he’ll join a BP joint […]

Read More