Mea Culpa for a Failed Press Release

In April 2003, I wrote a column entitled “Anatomy of a Failed Press Release” in which I ripped apart a press release I’d received from Bridges TV, a then yet-to-be-launched television network targeting American Muslims.

“Bridges TV may have a bright future, and I wish them the best of luck. But this press release was a bad way to start a relationship with the media. And if the most important thing in life is perception, the second most important thing is probably relationships,” I wrote last year.

Woe is me. (Read more…)

Overstock.com’s Over-The-Top PR Strategy

Bizarre is a word I’ve heard muttered often over the past few days when it comes to Overstock.com. (Read more…)

Catching Up with Jeremy Pepper and Blogs

Back in May 2003, I sat down – ok, instant-messaged – with Jeremy Pepper to talk about what it’s like to start your own PR firm. Pepper had just launched his own firm, POP! Public Relations, and was beginning to get settled.

Since our first interview, Pepper has been busy not just practicing PR, but writing about it. His Musings from POP! Public Relations weblog has become a leading online destination for people looking for insight into the PR industry, and Pepper has become an outspoken advocate for and critic of the industry. I caught up with Pepper this week and we spoke – ok, instant-messaged – about the challenges an independent PR practitioner faces, the role of weblogs in PR, good and bad PR campaigns, and a number of other issues. (Read more…)

Be Careful What You Do and Say

Last Wednesday we each paid our respects to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in our own way. For at least one company that meant telling a dozen workers their services were no longer required. (Read more…)

PR People Behaving Badly

One of the responsibilities of a PR person is to mitigate the damage done to the reputation of employers and clients. Unfortunately, in recent weeks, it’s been PR people who are actually inflicting the damage. (Read more…)

The Boomerang Quote

Rafael Palmeiro and Bernie Ebbers have more in common than you think.

Both men made names for themselves in Mississippi: Palmeiro as a three-time All-American baseball player at Mississippi State University, and Ebbers as the founder and CEO of Clinton, Mississippi-based telecom outfit WorldCom. Both men have also had falls from grace; Palmeiro was suspended by Major League Baseball this week for a positive steroid test, and last month, Ebbers was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for his role in WorldCom’s accounting fraud scandal. (Read more…)

Public Relations Begins to Bounce Back

The clouds that have hovered over the public relations industry for the past few years are beginning to clear, according to the third annual Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices Study (“GAP III”), published by the USC Annenberg School for Communication’s Strategic Public Relations Center (“SPRC”) and sponsored by the Council of Public Relations Firms. (That’s a mouthful.) (Read more…)

Lessons From the Campaign Trail

The only thing that will bring more excitement than the election before Nov. 2 is if the Boston Red Sox miraculously fall apart and lose the last four games of the World Series. Stranger things have happened — just ask the New York Yankees. Nonetheless, with the election on tap for next Tuesday, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the PR winners and losers of what we Americans like to call the democratic process. (Read more…)

A Charitable Backlash

I first read about Mukit Hossain in The Washington Post back in August.

“Hossain called a meeting of civic and religious leaders, many of whom had worked quietly for years helping day laborers learn English, find housing and get medical care. He proposed that they join forces and collaborate under a name with a distinct mission: Project Hope and Harmony, whose sole goal would be to create and run an orderly site for itinerant laborers,” Carol Morello wrote. (Read more…)

How To Destroy Your Business

For some reason, the most exciting PR disasters always involve the media. (Read more…)