During the summer, I work on events a lot. Similar to war, event PR is super fluid. You need a plan at the outset, but once battle begins you must be flexible to win the day. Knowing who and what you're dealing with are critical to success. In the interest of…
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In marketing and PR we spend a lot of time trying to come up with "original" and/or "great" ideas. The quest for these Holy Grails is especially prevalent on the creative side, but also permeates other less artistic subfields of our little world. "Original" and/or "great" are pretty tough. Sometimes they happen.…
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The Battle of Crecy, in 1346, pitted the English against the French . It was a rout of epic proportions. Edward III's force crushed the mighty French knights of Philip of France, in the process killing nearly a third of the French nobility. Crecy was a watershed in the truest…
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My team just finished hiring summer interns. The internshhip program has been amazing for us. Several interns have become full-time staff and it's been a great way for Coordinator-level people to learn about management. If you're a recent grad or someone who's been lucky enough to land an internship in a PR shop this…
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As I've recently discussed, there are a myriad of misperceptions about PR. Thankfully, some in our industry are fighting the good fight and trying to educate clients, businesses, etc. on what public relations REALLY is. One such person is my friend Shonali Burke. She's a force of nature (I often wonder…
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April 19th marks the first anniversary of Guru's death. What a tremendous loss for Hip Hop. He embodied the best of the genre and culture. In Guru's life and music there are a myriad of lessons for PR pros. Here's a cursory list of four, culled from my favourite Guru/Gangstarr songs: It's mostly tha voice: Guru's self-described…
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My last post was about what PR is not. I came up with a list of 21 things and others added great thoughts in the comments. Today we talk about what PR is. Since PR can be SO very many things, I'll inevitably miss the vast majority of them. Please…
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As a profession, it is incumbent upon us to educate people on what we can do for organizations. Specifically, this means explaining how our work benefits bottom line goals. Part of this is showing and telling people what PR is and isn't. I'll begin today with a quick checklist of what…
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All kinds of smarties are putting it down - and WELL - this week. Shonali's been swinging her formidable sword (in case you were thinking of it, don't mess with her). Sue has been telling the old and young what they need to do to succeed in PR. And others have been dropping useful…
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The world is currently racked by tragedy. It's everywhere. In times like these, there's a perfectly natural tendency for those in PR to think that softer story pitches, unrelated to ongoing tragedy, are a waste of time. You might hear someone say, "The media don't wanna hear about Good News…
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