Tag: Strategic Communications
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As a journalist for more than 15 years, it was part of my morning routine. I’d get my cup of coffee, position myself at my desk, check out the news, and then proceed to the most arduous task of all — clearing out the PR emails. Sometimes there were only a few. Other times, there…
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From the Miracle on Ice and the Agony of Defeat to the rise of Eddie Eagle and the tragic attack on Nancy Kerrigan, viral Olympic moments are nothing new. Long before hashtags and social platforms, the Olympic Games produced scenes so powerful that they embedded themselves into global consciousness. What has changed is how those…
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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…
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Back in the mid-1970s, when I was a student a few miles north of CTP at Reading Memorial High School, I had the privilege of getting to know a teacher and track coach named Hal Croft. Though I was never in one of his classes or on a team he coached, I got to know…
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We’re witnessing one of the bigger carriage fights in recent memory between YouTube TV and Disney. While it’s fundamentally a financial and legal battle – Disney pushing for higher carriage fees and YouTube TV resisting on behalf of its subscribers – it’s an equally fascinating communications battle unfolding in real time. Carriage disputes are nothing…
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In 2020, I wrote a blog about the worst corporate brand apologies, dissecting iconic missteps such as the Pepsi x Kendall Jenner Super Bowl commercial and a Peloton holiday ad that landed disastrously. When I set out to revisit this topic over five years later, bad brand apologies didn’t come to mind as quickly. But…
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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…
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Last week, I had the chance to speak on a panel for The Ad Club about one of my favorite topics: mastering business relationships. The audience was small and engaged, and was the kind of group that makes a conversation feel more like a dinner table discussion than a formal panel. We swapped stories, workshopped…
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Last Friday, in a chat with our wonderful Media Director, Andrea Lenig, about AI and search, she said something (with a smirk) that stuck with me all weekend: “PR is relevant for the first time.” At first, I bristled (PR has always been relevant!). But the more I reflected, the more I realized what she…
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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…