Each year, the Oxford English Dictionary — kind of the Miss Manners of all things etymological — adds to its hefty entries by including newly approved words. Last year, for example, the OED saw fit to officially sanction close to 100 new words — or new definitions of words — not to mention at least that many of what it calls “sub-entries.” The words range from the “what took them so long” (e.g. cheerlead, T-bone, as a verb, and Oompa Loompa) to the profane...
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As we take stock of our blessings during Thanksgiving week 2016, Jon and I have much to be grateful for. Our health is mostly good, notwithstanding a few aches and pains. Our wives continue to put up with us. Both the Mets and Orioles made the playoffs. Our kids are nice people. Bruce’s tour stopped not far away and my golf index dipped (ever so briefly) into single digits. We still have most of our hair and teeth, and Richmond...
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A potential new client was referred to us recently, and after an initial phone call, we agreed to a meeting. He was a thoughtful guy with terrific credentials – an MBA, some Wall Street experience and a track record of success in following his dream: creating new manufacturing opportunities in communities where plants had been shuttered and ghosts of bygone days lingered. He was likeable and inquisitive, curious to learn as much about public relations as he could, measuring against...
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When I set out to find my first job in public relations in late 1979, I did what many newly minted English majors did — pored through the classified section of The Washington Post, running my finger down the column past pharmacists and physical therapists, psychologists and public health workers, to that largely ambiguous category: public relations. I’m not sure I had a clear idea what public relations really was, but I knew it had something to do with writing,...
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With apologies to librarians, travel agents and Blockbuster, there are few industries over the past few decades that have changed as dramatically as public relations. Communications, in general, has been transformed, of course—digitized in a way that has meant greater speed, enhanced creativity and improved efficiency—so much so that for old timers like me, it can be a challenge just to keep up. Digital Marketing is More Credible Marketing (to Clients) No one could have predicted what this transformation would...
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Donald Trump may be disrupting the way presidential campaigns are run, but is he now rewriting the rules when it comes to media relations? The Washington Post reported recently on a taped interview between a reporter for People magazine and the real estate developer on the subject of his recent divorce and hiatus with then flame Marla Maples. Even a quarter century later, the interview resonates as quintessential Trump: unrestrained bravado about his wealth, full-throated braggadocio on his romantic allure...
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In the early days of The Hodges Partnership, we had a small client from Southside Virginia, a healthcare safety net called Project Danville. It served the uninsured in the community, relying mostly on a federal grant. It did noble, heroic work, and it wanted to tell its story to a broader audience in the hopes of attracting more funding. We developed a pitch, researched some prominent reporters covering healthcare and reached out to them. No sooner had we hit “send”...
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In October 1969, I was a seventh grader at Weldon E. Howitt Jr. High School in Farmingdale on New York’s Long Island. I lived two miles from the school, just a few feet from qualifying for a bus. But the 20-minute walk each way was rarely a chore, mostly a chance to cluster with other “walkers” for the trek home, our books tightly bound by those rubber straps with hooks on the ends of them. No one had backpacks back...
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Welcome to Richmond! Without so much as a second thought, that’s what I found myself shouting from my open car window the other day. I had spotted a half dozen cyclists from the Wiggle-Honda team*, clad in their racing uniforms and helmets idling at an intersection, looking a bit confused as to whether their next turn was left or right. They smiled and waved for a moment, then went back to pointing in both directions like the Scarecrow in The Wizard...
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On one day in late summer, Facebook reported that it hit a significant milestone – one billion people had used the social networking site on August 24. Translation: one in every seven people on the planet logged in to Facebook that day. Perhaps, I surmised, the spike was due to the Pope getting a ton of happy birthday posts (nope, he was actually born in December) or that some Kardashian (current or former) had posted a new selfie (wait,...
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It’s early afternoon at The Hodges Partnership, and there’s a conspicuous quietude, the kind that makes you suspicious, that gives you that feeling that something is going on, and you’re the only one not in on it. “Where,” you think, “IS everyone?” And then you remember, it’s PRSA lunch day. That our office clears out on such occasions is no surprise; in fact, it’s encouraged. We want our folks to not only take advantage of the professional development opportunities through...
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On November 28, 1972, I scored two baskets in a hard-fought varsity basketball game against the Key School. I know this because the next morning, my picture was in the paper making one of them, my Pete Maravich-like hair flopping in black and white. (Admittedly, my haircut was pretty much the only part of my game that resembled Pistol Pete’s.) My mom cut that sophomore-year photo and the accompanying article out of the paper. And so did some of my neighbors. And...
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