Our Insights

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. […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • February 21, 2010

Why PR Advice Is The Last Thing Tiger Woods Needs

The Tiger Woods soap opera isn’t just a gift to the tabloid press. It’s been a championship season for PR and crisis management advice. Even before the latest statement hit the Web, communications experts were scrambling to rehash the criticisms of last November and offer another round of self-serving counsel about what Woods should do to get his reputation out […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • February 17, 2010

Smith vs. Southwest: Who Wins The PR Skirmish?

It’s tough to build a good reputation as an airline these days. As musician Dave Carroll reminded us, you don’t even need to be 100% right to gain the upper hand to take on the guys who fly. Mostly, you need to be creative and funny, because airlines carry a lot of baggage when it comes […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations • February 10, 2010

Will Journalists Make PR Better?

A few weeks into the great economic meltdown of 2008, I visited a friend and former client, an ex-journalist who had left the corporate world years earlier to establish a successful PR firm. My friend told me he was besieged with calls from laid-off journalists wanting tips on setting up a PR practice. “They want advice, yet they seem to […]

advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, marketing, public relations, social media • February 3, 2010

Super Bowl Advertisers Score PR Points By Getting “Banned”

Someone blogged recently that the Super Bowl’s like “American Idol” for advertisers…with a little football thrown in. They called it right. And this year, with social media kicking in like never before, the Super Bowl is still a winning PR strategy for the brands that pay to play. Most are looking to extend their investment through the […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • January 30, 2010

What Goldman Can Learn From Toyota: Apology Communications

Lately, the public apology has been cheapened to the point of commodity. Hardly a month passes without a tearful, televised mea culpa from a politician or athlete. On the corporate front, the typical PR offering is more along the lines of “mistakes were made” – a masterful mouthful of nothingspeak. The banking industry’s contrition is […]

branding, communications, Crenshaw Communications • January 27, 2010

Does Apple Have A “Female Problem”?

No other company could have raised the anticipation bar as high and managed the PR tsunami as deftly as Apple did in the months leading up to the unveiling of the new iPad tablet. But contrary to the stratospheric expectations, the iPad didn’t self-levitate, dispense cash, or heal the sick. Apple-watchers had their criticisms. Many called it nothing more than […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation • January 22, 2010

Royal Caribbean In Haiti: A Tough Call

When I first read about the Royal Caribbean Line ship that docked at Haiti’s Labadee beach shortly after the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, I was taken aback. To say it created a royal PR problem for the cruise line that owned many a private boat in Cabo San Lucas was an understatement. The storm of criticism was so fierce […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation, social media • January 18, 2010

What PR Boom? Why The Recession Hasn’t Helped Public Relations

Like my peers, I was interested to read the latest article about our industry in The Economist. Titled “Good News,” the piece posits that PR has profited during the recession, since so many companies have suffered business and reputation declines. It cites the latest Veronis Suhler Stevenson data indicating a 3% growth for the PR business […]