For marketers and PR people, in some ways the 250th birthday of the United States will be similar to the Super Bowl and Olympics. There will be so many promotions that it will be difficult for one to stand out from the clutter. There are sure to be brand promotions...

Important PR lessons to be learned from Trump’s Iran policy
Readers of this website know that I have long stressed that PR lessons not taught in communications schools can be learned from following the daily news and that these lessons can be applied to agency brand and corporate accounts. Below are some lessons from the...
How brands can extend their Olympics connection after the games are history
PR practitioners should face the facts regarding mega sporting events sponsorships: Immediately after they are over the media forgets about them. Arguably, the two prime examples in the U.S. are the Super Bowl and the Olympics. And they have a lot in common: It...
The Olympic Games are a magnet for protests—here are PR tactics to protect brands
With the Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy now making headlines, it’s noteworthy that protests against the games have been occurring since at least 2023, because of the cost and environmental damage that occurred in preparing the region for the games. ...
There’s more to sports marketing than the Super Bowl—here are better ways to budget
To listen to the publicists of the National Football League and publicists for brands that spend millions of dollars advertising on the game, not to mention advertising execs of agencies that produce 30-second commercials that can cost as much as $8 million, not...
The Epstein files situation provides a tutorial on how to prolong a PR crisis
The Republican Party’s actions since President Trump’s reelection had already provided Democrats with strong talking points to emphasize in the 2026 mid-term Congressional election – for example, the failure of President Trump to reduce prices and the failure to enact...
How cable TV political programs shortchange viewers by not providing detailed reporting
Normally, for more years than I can remember, at this time of a New Year I write a column about the shortcomings of cable news’ political programs because they mostly condense important happenings to a few minutes, slant news coverage in order to attract viewers and...
PR lessons: The 2025 political scene showcased plenty that PR should not do
This is the time of the year that self-proclaimed PR experts write about what they think are the worst blunders made by other practitioners, but never mention ones that they made during 2025. So I'll do so also, but with a twist: It will be limited to what I consider...
How to gain positive earned media for clients that sponsor sports mega events
February will be a busy month for sports marketing publicity practitioners. It most likely will also be a disappointing month for them, because, as usual, positive earned media for the two mega events—the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics—will be negligible, even though...
Using current athletes as publicity spokespersons is a bad bet—here’s why
The recent disclosures of illegal gambling involving professional athletes validates, in my mind, what I have been telling clients for many years—“using current athletes as publicity spokespersons is a bad bet.” As the sports marketing guru at several public...
The old sports sponsorship playbook is outdated. Toss It. Times have changed.
Media coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy will take place from February 6 to 22. Olympics coverage is heating up and the crescendo is certain to increase as we approach the end of the year. NBCUniversal, which will televise the games, has...
What PR pros need to know to avoid making a crisis worse
As some of my journalist friends have told me over the years, “You see one PR program and pitch, you’ve seen them all,” and it’s hard to disagree with them because so many PR approaches are similar. The truly original PR program with creative thinking is the exception...












