For years, our agency has prided itself on a valuable, hands-on, dynamic internship experience. But like every other business trying to continue its operations, things have looked a little bit different for the last two intern cohorts. We asked our spring interns to document their time at The Hodges Partnership, which started with glee, was met with a bombshell and ended happily (and safely) from home. For our future interns out there, here is the first-person account of Anna and Chris. February 2020 “The day had finally come. After re-reading the welcome email, reciting the door code so I wouldn’t …
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If getting cancelled isn’t part of your social media crisis planning, it should be. Cancelling is a way for an individual or a collective to publicly call out and demand accountability to everyone and everything – from individuals to big brands and organizations. When you can’t bring down the system, you can chip away at it by canceling those on top. (In case “being cancelled” is something you haven’t heard of, read this primer by Vox.) From a 1991 Wesley Snipe movie to a 2014 reference on “Love and Hip-Hop: New York,” the phrase has since gone mainstream and is …
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Casey first walked through the doors of The Hodges Partnership as an intern her junior year in college. Just a couple of short years later, she’d walk back through our doors to start the career that has brought her where she is today. Originally from Small Town, N.C., Casey didn’t have public relations on her radar growing up. But she started at East Carolina University as a communications major and never looked back. Being organized and building relationships were intertwined in her DNA, making her a valuable asset to any public relations agency, which for us means bringing digital and …
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If the past three months have taught me anything, it’s that our social media normal is rapidly evolving. More than ever, we are all obsessed with consuming as much information as possible through video and sound—even on our social platforms. While this trend in media consumption takes over, marketers are having to quickly adapt to stay relevant and a part of the conversation. With new social media features comes opportunities for creative expression and putting a voice to a brand. To make navigating the new media normal a little easier, I thought I’d share some of the newest features from …
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Completely uprooting my career path in the middle of a global pandemic wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I glued the words “change” on my vision board last year. Looking back, I had a romanticized idea of how the next chapter of my life would begin. I imagined moving into the perfect Richmond apartment, decking out my cubicle in unnecessary decor, and, most importantly, engaging in human interaction. Instead, I began working for Hodges remotely, turned my living room into my workspace, and hung out with the same two people for three months straight. Long story short, life …
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There’s been a lot of chatter over the past few months speculating about what the “new normal” will look like in our post-pandemic work life. One idea that has been percolating with extra big bubbles is the prospect of making more permanent the ability to work from home. Twitter was one of the first big companies to float the possibility. The tech giant’s CEO sent an email to staff letting them know that, if they wanted to keep working from home after all was said and done, that would be cool with him. Just how many of Twitter’s HQ staff …
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A few weeks ago, we asked the Virginia PR and marketing community to participate in our survey to assess how COVID-19 has impacted our profession. We were fortunate to have 139 professionals respond – and if that includes you, thank you! At this point, it’s more than a little trite to simply say COVID-19 has impacted our profession. Not to mention the additional unrest. Months into the pandemic, that’s a well-established reality. Some of the most pressing questions we’re now looking to answer include, to what degree and how do we best help our organizations clients move forward? There’s still …
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Newspaper readership around the country continues to decline, but even so, people still have a voracious appetite for news and current events. The New York Times, which since 1851 has produced a regular newspaper, pivoted a bit in 2017 when it launched The Daily. The podcast, true to its name, is released daily and draws upon interviews with Times’ reporters to delve into what are deemed to be the most important and pressing stories of the day. Podcast downloads ramp up In just two and a half years, the podcast achieved 1 billion downloads, and as of September 2019, saw …
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As millions of people around the globe have united to support the Black Lives Matter movement, demand justice and fight for equality, against racism and much more, organizations, brands and businesses also have been weighing in to show support. Nike was one of the first with this message on Twitter encouraging all to take part in a positive change. Netflix elevated an important message to its following of more than eight million that stated, “To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and …
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Three months ago, I would have just assumed everyone would have thrown their hands up and gone on total hiatus when it came to their normal operations, communications and broader public relations efforts. Maybe that was naivety, or maybe a reflection of what I wanted to do in the beginning – but, as the adage goes, “the show must go on.” None of the companies below are essential, but they have found ways to keep running and relevant at the same, perhaps even a higher, caliber than before the world shut down. Here are just a few examples of organizations …
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