The Tony nominees were announced this week, and it’s award season for public relations as well. We are pleased to be contenders in a couple of categories. Nothing beats acknowledgment by industry peers for a job well done. The timing also provides a good opportunity to review the kinds of traits that create award-winning PR teams….
Read more

Throughout the past decade, public relations pundits have trumpeted the rise of the personal brand in the digital era. By now we expect that many have mastered the basics of personal branding, but it’s not as easy as setting up a social media presence and hoping an audience finds you. There are concrete steps to…
Read more

Later this year, The Museum of Failure will open in Sweden. Those in public relations will notice the product flops it reportedly features, like Colgate beef lasagna, Harley Davidson perfume, and, of course, new Coke. But we like the museum for the lesson behind it, which is that even the biggest brands and most successful companies…
Read more

In public relations, sometimes the stars align and a story just writes itself. When looking for winners and losers in the realm of public opinion, this past quarter offered a wealth of excellent examples. The criteria for this quarter’s selections are simple enough: the coverage had to be plentiful and broad and the story had to pass…
Read more

Want your public relations to rule? Then be prepared to break some rules. Face it, the typical client-agency relationship can sink into a routine that, over time, becomes a little too comfortable.  Companies partner with PR agencies to add value to their business, and that means offering new ideas and innovative ways of looking at the…
Read more

    Are there any tips that public relations can take away from high-level governmental negotiations? We think so. This week’s international machinations between the US and China and the US and Russia included the term “deconfliction.” This is the process of avoiding mutual interference, or outright hazards, among systems under the control of one’s own…
Read more

It goes against all the instincts of a public relations specialist to turn down a media opportunity. Yet despite the adage that all PR is good PR, there are situations where the disadvantages of speaking to a reporter far outweigh the gains. We don’t recommend an adversarial or “no comment” response, which usually provokes unwanted…
Read more

As public relations campaigns become more sophisticated, they need to adapt to ever-changing digital habits and platforms. Though millions may have tuned into HBO for the finale of “Big Little Lies” this past weekend, millions more were watching it in some other form or on another device. A current forecast says that 74% of all Internet traffic…
Read more

Recently, Jennifer Lopez found herself in some public relations hot water when she reportedly neglected social media duties on behalf of a hoverboard company. With brands inking five and six-figure deals with mega-celebrities for a single tweet or post that may fall short of its goals, it’s no wonder the PR industry is looking for different influencer strategies to…
Read more

People often ask how agencies come up with great ideas for public relations campaigns. Agency teams will answer this question differently owing to their unique sector experience and orientation,  but there are commonalities. We have culled a top ten list of do’s and don’ts to help foster successful idea generation from some of the best brains in the…
Read more