I spent Thanksgiving weekend driving around Washington, DC in a Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle – no gas, no emissions. It drove like any other car but under the hood was this cool motor, no spark plugs and a tail diffuser (no tail pipe) that just gave off water vapor as the exhaust. Read more
CommCore Blog and News
PR Wins: Motrin
The rapid response from McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson Company, to the controversy about the Motrin Mom ads is an example of a PR Win. Earlier this week, the blogosphere reacted swiftly to what mothers felt was an offensive ad. Read more
PR Wins
In an economy of scarce resources, PR, Advertising, and Marketing fight over tight budgets. Justifying programs, activities and ROI becomes even more important for each department.
So who gets credit for success is not to be trivialized. Read more
A or B: Do we appoint the best communicator?
Lawrence Glazer, managing partner of Mayflower Advisors in Boston, commented this week that whoever President-elect Obama picks to run the Treasury Dept., it was critically important that the Secretary be able to communicate clearly and simply about the impact of the ongoing economic predicament and the implications of any new policies. Read more
Pleasantly surprised
In victory, President-elect Obama was gracious and looking forward. In defeat, Sen. McCain was positive and bipartisan. Both showed leadership with messages to supporters and to those who did not vote for them. Read more
Advice for the incoming Communicator-In-Chief?
With just a few days left before the presidential election it’s time to consider one of the most important tasks facing the President-Elect: taking on the role of Communicator-In-Chief.
Barack Obama and John McCain have revealed different styles, attributes and messages in a tough campaign. Read more
PRSA Conference Comments
Detroit, October 26. Bob Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors, argued for PR over advertising (although he admittedly spends millions on advertising). He pushed for more assertive messaging that “says something” and does not get watered down by all internal efforts to be careful. Read more
Shouting Fire in a Crowded Theater
As all parties try to find responsiblity for the current economic mess, we are bound to see a great deal of finger pointing – some in the right direction, some misguided. Read more
Temperament and Body Language
Not since Nixon v Kennedy have we seen so much discussion about body language and temperament as in the Obama v McCain contest.
The recent Time Magazine cover on temperment in President and candidates reinforces the points. Read more
The corporate view: is blogging really a tool?
The explosion of blogging is an indicator of growing official interest in social media by major corporations. Consider the annual survey of Fortune 500 companies by the Center for Marketing Research at The University of Massachusetts which shows that 49% of them use social networking, up from 27% in 2007; 45% use online video, up from 24% in 2007; 39% use blogging, up from 19% in 2007; and 23% do not use any social media tools, down from 43% in 2007. Read more