So it seems we struck a nerve with this whole “creativity” thing, huh? The post was the most viewed and more importantly, the most commented on blog post in the year and a half or so that the blog has been, well…blogging. I urge you to read the comments and add your opinion to the mix. If you need something to kick your creativity in the butt, there are two events in the next couple of weeks to put on your calender. The first is the…
Read MoreWARNING: This blog post will be highly promotional in nature, contain excessive name dropping and probably piss off a lot of people. Also I will likely forget to name people or agencies and for that I apologize. It seems like once a week, our old friends and colleagues at The Martin Agency announce that they reeled in another big brand. Today MorganStanley, last week Tylenol and Motrin, a couple of weeks ago Pizza Hut. This on the heels of our “alma mater” being named Adweek’s…
Read MoreSo my good friend and client Lisa Van Riper from the University of Richmond asked me to give a talk to her strategic PR grad school class at VCU. The topic? The use of social media for internal communications. While I have read and thought a great deal on this topic THP’s client are only beginning to scratch the surface in their use of social media tools for internal comm. I am a big believer that the brand begins within an organization and that employees…
Read MoreJohn Ogle is a radio legend. Not just here in Richmond where the newscasts he has anchored over the years have been heard on many frequencies around the dial including his most recent home on WCVE-FM, the local National Public Radio affiliate, but also in the nation’s biggest market New York City. I remember being in a dorm in Rutgers University the night John Lennon was shot and hearing the news from John Ogle and his radio colleagues. John was part of the FM radio heyday…
Read MoreBack in the day when you planned events, you checked the calendar to make sure you likely weren’t competing with anyone else for the same audience. You looked for holidays, the news of the day, etc. and when you were sure you’d lock it in and go for it. In Richmond this week the landscape changed. In the future we all need to also anticipate any “virtual” events as well. The local social media scene passed a milestone of sorts, as two “events” were live-tweeted…
Read MoreThe are few moments of one’s life that are so important to be worthy of the question “where were you when?…” In my case, I was at the student radio station at Rutgers University 30 years ago. Watching the old Associated Press machine for updates of a hockey game being played in Lake Placid, New York. Little did I know that 30 years later that hockey game would be seen as a defining moment for my generation. So many things have changed since then,…
Read MoreSo I will try not to tread on ground already covered in the few hours since the Tiger Woods Presidential Address. But as someone who professes to do crisis management for a living here are some of the highlights. – It is very difficult to come off genuine and natural in such a controlled environment. The handpicked audience, single lecture, two-camera (one of which failed about two-thirds of the way through, btw), blue background set the tone that was hard for most to get over. …
Read MoreSince a number of folks have asked me my opinion on this today, here it is. For background, Style Weekly reporter Chris Dovi, who has history of being a champion of the disabled was fired, by his employer for in an email calling a blind motivational speaker “a blind fucker.” A Norfolk-based PR firm was pitching Dovi on an upcoming Richmond event featuring the speaker. Dovi, who felt the PR firm was being over zealous in the pitching, wrote an email that he thought he was…
Read MoreTruth. Honesty. Coming clean. They should be easy concepts to grasp especially in the world of public relations and marketing. But if they are why are we always pleasantly surprised when companies or celebrities actually tell the truth? The latest case of this “pleasant surprise” comes from Domino’s Pizza. In its latest campaign it fesses up to losing touch with their customers and re-launching their core product with a new recipe and ingredients. In the ads they show what unflattering things they said about their old product. …
Read MoreA quick note to announce that this blog is now available on the PR feed of Alltop.com at pr.alltop.com. Alltop.com is a great aggregator of websites and blogs that is easily searchable by topic. So if you want to see top blogs for different subjects it’s the place to go. I’m pleased to join others like former colleague and Richmond-area PR pro Steve Mullen whose blog as been listed on Alltop for a while now. For more information about Alltop.com, its goals and founders, please…
Read MoreThe economy sucks. That’s not a news flash. It’s reality. We all know many people in the media and marketing communities that have been “on the beach” without a job. There are some that I know who have have not had a full-time job for more than a year. Two folks that I’ve come to know on Twitter are doing something about it. This Friday Valerie Simon of BurrellesLuce and Arik Hanson, a cool communications dude from Minnesota are launching the first ever “Help a PR Pro Out”…
Read MoreTwo things right off the bat in the spirit of full disclosure. I was part of the group that tried to get the ballpark in the Bottom and keep the Braves in town. I’m a sap for good, fun old-time promotions done well. And the folks with the Richmond Flying Squirrels are doing the second thing so well, it is making me slightly forget my disappointment over the first thing. The latest case in point, the unveiling of the new mascot “Nutzy” and the new uniforms…
Read More