Oklahoma University found itself in the middle of a crisis last week when video of a racist chant by members of the SAE fraternity went viral. Almost as newsworthy has been the University’s response. All too often in a crisis, companies or brands face the music by saying very little or explaining that the situation needs more evaluation. Somewhat shockingly, OU President David Boren’s reaction was swift, blunt and strong—his first comments went viral, and his decision to expel two students and no-nonsense approach to…
This past week we got online hits on The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe and Deseret News (and also this fun “Today I Learned” subreddit) for research we created two years ago. Guess how many hours of work it took to land these placements? Zero. In fact, the client is no longer actively engaging in media relations (which might explain why they aren’t mentioned in the articles). So what? At Hodges we spend an inordinate amount of time researching what journalists are looking for…
Splice of life Two minutes into discussing the usage of commas with compound subjects and predicates, copy editor Mary Norris drops the line “it gets more complicated.” Check on the first episode of a new video series from the New Yorker: The Comma Queen. Peek scream The Wilhelm Scream is the world’s most overused movie sound effect. Pricenomics takes a look at where it came from and where it’s going. In the slow lane Why does your brain hate slowpokes? Gone blog Major tech blog…
Recently I was inspired by the chance to hear directly from producers at TODAY, Good Morning America, Morning Joe, The Meredith Vieira Show and more at a PR luncheon in New York City. The session was a great confirmation that there really are people on the other side of our pitch emails, and even national morning shows do want our pitches. (Trust me: This second part was said aloud—to a room full of PR people.) Whether you’re in media relations yourself or a business with a…
Real pain for my sham friends Do you still distinguish between your Internet friends and your “real” friends? Maybe you shouldn’t. (Via NextDraft.) Sparkling commentary The Grey Lady on the joys of La Croix sparkling water. Speaking of the NYT The Times is soliciting spec work from filmmakers hoping to get into the native advertising business. Flooding the zone Lucky Peach has an honestly fascinating and informative look at Lockhart Steele, the founder of foodie site Eater. Orange you glad I didn’t say banana? NPR…
First, thanks for all the comments and kudos for last week's maiden Vlog voyage. We want this to be a true conversation and we'd love some suggested topics as well. This week we tackle the confusion over the terms and phrases used to describe how we sponsor, boost and amplify all the content we're creating. Traditional, online, and social platforms all offer their own ways to get people to see what you write, shoot and post. It's important to know your options and how you should describe…
Earlier this year, Edelman, Newswhip and MuckRack released a fascinating survey of 250 journalists highlighting how social media and shareability are influencing how digital news is covered. The big takeaway—more than 75 percent of journalists say they feel more pressure now to think about their story’s potential to be shared on social platforms. The survey went on to explain the five key elements that make stories more shareable, which include videos/images, brevity, localization, more use of human voice and a proximity to trending topics. While…
Color me informed Wired looks at the science behind why some people see that dress as blue and black, while others see it as white and gold. Pick a door Then there’s the time everyone corrected the world’s smartest woman about the “Monty Hall Problem.” Or should I say miscorrected? Stand up I switched to a standing desk, so now you should, too. Also from the New Yorker An artificial intelligence program taught itself to play Breakout. Let it ride Here’s a Vox explainer on…
Earlier this month, Jon blogged about the “walls tumbling down” where he referenced Snapchat’s new Discover feature. Discover launched at the end of January and is Snapchat’s newest iteration in its effort to monetize. And it makes sense; the latest stats are saying that Snapchat has more than 100 million monthly active users, an estimated 700 million ‘snaps’ (photo or video messages sent between users that ultimately disappear within a few seconds) are viewed daily and ‘stories’ (photos or videos that can only be viewed for…
Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA), a long-time THP client, promotes Fairfax County, Virginia, as a business location. The FCEDA has been so successful in its efforts that TIME magazine declared Fairfax “one of the greatest economic success stories of our time.” THP is tasked with trying to top that kind of national media coverage each year through media outreach to outlets like Fortune, WSJ, USAToday, HBR, CNBC, FoxBusiness, CNN and others. We pitched the results of the FCEDA’s “Creativity Gap” survey to Bourree Lam at…
According to a recent BLS reports, Americans (25-54) spent nearly nine hours per day at work or doing work-related activities. And we’ve all heard that Americans spend more time working than any other developed country. Knowing this, it’s more important than ever for companies to keep finding ways to reward and recognize employees in ways that let them know they’re valued. Above everything else, a company’s greatest asset is its people. From word of mouth to social media, your employees have the ability to shape…
In my first video post (hopefully of many), I explore the dual paths of traditional and “new” public relations and why we are traveling both. Marketing folks are using the phrases content marketing, social marketing, brand journalism, etc., interchangeably these days. This is causing a great deal of confusion not only in the client marketplace but within agencies themselves. As PR people look to grow they wonder things like, “What will happen to media relations as it becomes tougher given the shrinking media marketplace?” and “Where do I…