I’ve spent a good chunk of the last two days going over key messages with staff and clients. Perhaps because of time spent in politics early in my career, terms like “key messages” and “talking points” have negative connotations for me. Here’s the thing: talking points – including the ones…
I hire lots of people who are fresh out of school for my PR team. Below are the job specific things that I look for in new hires. A sense of what news is: PR pros are not yet glorified community managers. We still ‘do’ news and pitching. The latter requires…
North Korea uses the most over the top official rhetoric of any country on Earth. In fact the language is so routinely bizarre that sometimes you wonder if the place is actually on Mars. Every year at this time the North Korean government issues a collection of crazy statements related…
The “new tools” of marketing and PR are still “new” even though they’ve been in use for years now. Though best practices and rules of the game still appear far from certain, “new media” is now an established, entrenched industry, with all the hallmarks that come with this distinction. Books…
You’ve heard about idiot employees Facebooking themselves out of jobs. If you manage folks in a shop that allows access to socnets you’ve probably spent some time wondering whether your people are using Facebook to dick around at work or are leveraging it for meaningful connections (or some such nonsense)….
When you are crap you do crazy things. You have to…you’re crap. The New Jersey Nets’ recent promo efforts prove this point beyond a reasonable doubt. The Nets, who currently inhabit the NBA’s cellar with a 6-53 record, are giving away free tax returns to anyone over 18 who buys a…
(Hat tip on this to Julien Smith) Lots of your time and mine is spent thinking about commerce and engaging in it. It was thus refreshing to read this NYT piece from a former US Marine named Maurice Decaul. Check it out – it is REALLY worth your time. Having returned…
I am frugal in most circumstances and definitely not a label whore. Last Thursday, however, I got bit by an alligator. Next thing I knew, a short sleeve polo shirt priced at over $125 was mine. The tags are now off, so the garment is here to stay. That a…
When I was young I spent a summer working in a glass factory. It made bottles of all types. The shifts were 12 hrs at a time, from 7 am to 7pm or vice versa. Breaks, lunch and station changes were scheduled to the minute. They have places like this…
I just read a great post by David Silverman re how bad biz writing is partly a result of what we learn in school. Talking about the excessive use of big words and the tendency for length to trump clarity he says: In every essay, “-ion” and “-ing” words outpace simple…