After several years of being a freelance reporter for a number of New York daily newspapers, I was offered a full-time job at one of them. But it wasn’t as a reporter. I was assigned to a news desk, where I had to read all of the competing newspapers to see if they...
The year 2021 has provided some important lessons for PR practitioners. Unfortunately, all of them are the result of sad events. In the order of the most recent, as of December 15, here are several that I consider provide PR lessons that relate to our business. ...
My first job in the media business was as a sports reporter. But after a few years covering fun and games I knew, as did many sports reporters before me, that there were much more important subjects to cover—like war and peace and politics. But my chance of covering...
Even though I covered sports for about a decade as a journalist prior to entering the PR business, and was also the sports marketing specialist for many years at Burson-Marsteller (in addition to playing key roles on none sports accounts), I always cautioned clients...
Being in a crisis situation is nothing new for Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. But usually the crisis is caused by rushing National Football League lineman attempting to sack him. Occasionally, Rodgers, arguably the best at his position...
You can be sure that after the November 2 elections and the Atlanta Braves defeating the Houston Astros in the World Series, the top brass of the Democratic party and of many Major League teams are acting the same way that top executives of public relations companies...
As the Super Bowl and Beijing Olympics nears early in 2022, the sports reports will be filled with glorifying past and present “heroes.” But during my long career when selecting athletes as brand publicity spokespersons, I much preferred using athletes who have not...
My dislike of trite words and phrases is personal: When I was a reporter for several years prior to jumping over the journalism fence to the PR side, a “kindly old editor” told me, “Son, if you want to keep working for me, stop using trite phrases in your copy.” And...
One thing is certain. There are many PR lessons that President Joe Biden’s evacuation strategy from Afghanistan have provided. Another thing that is certain is that there have been many PR crises thus far in 2021. Arguably the most important one occurred not in an...
One year ago on August 26, 2020, the sports world came to a halt, when athletes refused to play because of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin—giving merit to what I’ve told many clients over the years: It’s way past the time for sports marketers...
There’s an old adage among military men: Once the battle begins, much of the preparations are useless. The same is true in our business, as PR practitioners are aware. Often, the detailed crafted program does not satisfy the client—and even if it does, results are...
Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, my first PR job was with a political agency, where I learned on-the-job lessons not taught in communication’s schools about how to deal with the media and approach problems that could change on a daily basis. I have long said that...