Author: Brian Heffron

  • CTP ELEVATES GRANT PACE TO CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, JEN VISCONTI RETURNS AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR

    Moves position the Boston agency for its next creative chapter, combining long-time leadership with returning talent BOSTON (March 11, 2026) — CTP, a leading creative marketing agency, today announced two creative leadership updates that reinforce the agency’s commitment to creative excellence and future growth. Longtime creative leader Grant Pace has been named Chief Creative Officer,…

  • The Secret Ingredient Every Newsworthy Story Needs

    You just launched a product your company has been planning for the past year, and you can’t understand why Fast Company hasn’t covered the launch. Perhaps they missed out on a good story, despite the PR team’s relentless and creative pitching. Or maybe the “story” was best suited for the internal newsletter.   So, how do…

  • Another PR Headache: Tylenol Faces a New Crisis

    When seven people died from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules in 1982, Johnson & Johnson immediately recalled 31 million bottles, halted production, and pulled all advertising. The $100 million hit was staggering at the time, but the quick action demonstrated its priority of safety over profit, saved the brand and set the standard for crisis response. That…

  • No Hoodie Can Cover a PR Breakdown Like This

    Belichick’s Worst Call: No Hoodie Can Cover a PR Breakdown Like This   Bill Belichick has never been a media darling. Ornery, unhelpful, bored, antagonistic are better ways to describe his relationship with the media.   But his recent CBS Sunday Morning interview even caught the attention of people who don’t follow sports. And it…

  • Brands Speaking Up: 5 Considerations Before Wading Into Thorny Issues

    My brother’s friend was waiting in a long line to grab a donut and a coffee at a popular Cape Cod bakery when a man loudly pushed through the door, and cut past everyone. “Sorry but I’m in a rush. I just need two blueberry muffins.” Unmoved, the employee at the counter sent him to…

  • Manage the Crisis Before it Hits

    A crisis can hit organizations of any size, and like a spark that escapes a campfire and finds dry brush, you can be surrounded by an uncontrollable inferno in an instant. Here are six steps to take before trouble strikes.

  • Brands can’t fake purpose

    When hundreds of medical appointments led Marissa Hughes to the painful conclusion that she couldn’t give birth, she and her husband decided to adopt. Months later, they got the call that would change their lives. Their new baby was born prematurely and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a hospital nine hours from…

  • Stung by the writing bug

    CTP’s uber-talented associate creative director Kevin MacKenzie was an aspiring musician and songwriter before he jumped into the ad business. We’re lucky he made the move. But music, TV anthems and ad copy quench only part of his writing bug. He recently published a children’s book, inspired by a painful encounter with an insect and…

  • CTPerspectives: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

    There are few jobs in communications with as much pressure and scrutiny as the White House Press Secretary. As Jen Psaki steps into the role, she’ll do so with the country fiercely divided by politics and a media landscape that blurs facts, opinion and lies. The toughest job in the business has never been tougher.…

  • The art of political advertising: 5 questions with BU advertising professor Tobe Berkovitz

    With a week before one of the most anticipated presidential elections in modern U.S. history, we wanted to take a look at the art and science of marketing a political candidate. With daily barrage of ads on social media and on TV, we wanted to better understand how political campaigns view the role of advertising.…