We will forever blame George Mason. It's their fault. You see GMU is Steve Cummings alma mater and GMU basketball is the only organized sport he follows. It was clear to us that as his employers of a business named after a sports icon we were left with one choice. Send him to Indianapolis. So we did and it was an experience that he will never forget. Imagine our dilemma this year with three UR grads and four VCU alums. Not that we were rooting…
Read MoreSo you thought last week was wild, well Richmond, you ain't seen nothing yet. Final Four, baby! And another week for the team, the school and the city to bask in the glow of national attention. First and foremost, let's stay classy and celebrate safely. Many cities have had their reputations destroyed forever during sports celebrations. It's also time for forget about Bilas and Vitale, this is way past the debate of getting in or not. It is about the celebration of success achieved and…
Read MoreSo of course I picked the worst two days in recent memory to be out of town on business (although the business partner and I did have plenty of bonding time listening to classic rock. My rendition of "Carry On, My Wayward Son" was especially poignant). Congrats go out to the folks at Venture Richmond including Jack Berry, Lisa Simms and Lucy Meade for seizing the day and quickly organizing the Turning Basin rally last night. This is exactly what we needed and was the point…
Read MoreSo there I was about half way through the second half last night, with most of this blog post already written in my head and my wife's uncle, a huge college basketball fan, sent me this email. "Jon, can Richmond handle two teams in the Sweet 16??? A lot of hype and PR for a small city? Well, can we? Given our lack of success in the professional sports arena, there will perhaps be no other time in modern history that the mainstream sports…
Read MoreIn the past week, I've done four speaking engagements, some with my colleagues at THP. Included in the audiences were students, journalists, PR professionals, small business owners, folks from non-profits, consultants from all walks of life. A pretty good mix of people. Some of the focus was on journalism and public relations but in all cases social media was in the forefront. In all cases though, the message back to me is clear. We are now in the "mature" phase of the social/digital/online thing we're…
Read MoreSo this is my first vlog post. Something new. Topics today are a follow up to my "Twitter. Dead." post. Recent and upcoming speaking opportunities and what I'm discovering by doing them. Please comment and react. Thanks.
Read MoreMore than one person has come back to me/Sonali after our PRSA Richmond presentation concerned and surprised about our remarks about the future of Twitter. The interesting thing they told us is after those remarks they spoke to others who agreed with us. For those who weren't there, we pretty much said that Twitter was dead. I know, pretty dangerous blanket statement, huh? So here's what we meant (and by we in this case, I mean me because Sonali isn't looking over my shoulder right…
Read MoreSo as "they" say, any PR is good PR. Right? That's the category of PR in which I'd suggest we place "The Great Watson Experiment" for the folks at IBM. The Big Bluers obviously sunk a great deal of money into the multi-year quest to create a super computer that could understand the lingo and nuance that only Jeopardy's answers and questions deliver. The accompanying ad campaign and three-night TV spectacle were only dwarfed in is impressiveness by the performance of Watson, the super computer…
Read MoreOne of the most viewed posts in this blog's two-plus year history was one I wrote on Richmond and the concept of creativity. Posted early last March, I made the case that Richmond's "brand" should not rely on its history but on its future and that future should highlight the strong creative community that exists here. The reaction and comments I received from that post were stunning to me with most in favor of the idea and making suggestions as to how we could harness…
Read MoreSome quick thoughts on The Daily, News Corp's new iPad-only newspaper. I love it. Not because the content is great or the design is tremendous, remember people ragged on the first issues of USA Today when it come out. I love it because, it represents the future of what dynamic, interactive, freshly delivered content CAN be. I also love it because at a time when daily news delivered in a "news-a-zine" format is dying, here is a new fresh source of information. Finally, I love…
Read MoreA quick post here to preview a talk that Sonali and I are giving next Wednesday to PRSA Richmond. They tell me that more than 100 folks have signed up so seats are going fast (more than veiled attempt here to jam the room.) Here's a link to sign up. Even though Hodges Digital Strategies is still in its first year, our learning over the course of the last year or so has been exponential. I peeked back at a similar presentation I gave last…
Read MoreSo did you hear the news? It’s the news we Verizon Wireless customers have been waiting for forever. Tomorrow, the buzz is that Verizon will announce it will start selling its version of the holy grail of smartphones, the iPhone (insert ooohs and ahhs here). So I am perfectly positioned to be in line to make the switch as Verizon emailed me recently that I am due for a discounted phone upgrade. Check. I have repeatedly made it known to anyone who listened to me over the…
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