As I’ve done each year for the past several years, I am closing out the current year by publishing a “print and save” public relations calendar for the upcoming year. In this issue you’ll find calendar listings for holidays and observances, major political and sporting events, as well as a list of anniversaries being celebrated — or simply remembered — in 2008. (Read more…)

It is the worst nightmare of anyone involved in event planning: The event turns into a disaster. Such was the case last week in London, where British Airways (”BA”) and BAA, which operates Heathrow Airport, opened Terminal 5. (Read more…)

Ominous Signs: I had not heard the term “hiring freeze” in quite a while, but two friends in the PR business told me this week that they were up for new jobs only to be told that a hiring freeze at their prospective employers had been instituted. You don’t need to work for The Federal Reserve to know that the economy is on extremely shaky ground. When times like these are upon us, I always make sure my ducks are in a row at my job and I keep my resume in order. I’m not predicting some massive wave of layoffs, but there are some ominous signs, and hatchet men often believe that PR people are expendable when it comes time to cut costs. (Read more…)

Last week, I stumbled upon the website of Kaydon Corp., a maker of ball bearings and industrial shock absorbers. The company is not very well-known, but it has a market capitalization of about $1.5 billion and it churns out more than $400 million in sales annually. Kaydon’s website, on the other hand, looks like it took all of ten minutes and $5 to create. (Read more…)

Hewlett-Packard: The boardroom spying scandal cost Chairwoman Patricia Dunn her job and the company its prestige. The term “HP Way” has taken on a whole new meaning as a result. (Read more…)

Did the media cost Stanley O’Neal his job as the chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch? Veteran public relations man Paul Pendergrass, who goes by the nom de plume “Jack Flack” when blogging for Portfolio.com, believes that the fourth estate is at least partially responsible for O’Neal’s forced retirement. (Read more…)