PR Diversions of the Week

It's been an interesting week for "don't look over there, look here instead" diversionary PR moves. My favorite by far is the NFL's miraculous settlement of the contract dispute between the team owners and the referees after weeks of botched calls and speculation that the two sides were not getting any closer. This was absolutely a diversionary PR move. As Bill Dwyer described well in the Postbulletin.com, "The NFL fears only two things: decreasing revenue and a bad image." Seemingly...

I Learned It All in Kindergarten

The other day, I thought about what it takes to succeed in the world of public relations. I realized that the fundamental basis goes back to what I learned when I was very young. The poem by Robert Fulghum, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” came to mind. As a recent grad and a full-time intern at a PR agency for almost three months, I realized how true this simple poem is. Make friends with everyone....

#Epicfail: B2B Marketers Missing the Messages

According to a survey, 65 percent of B2B marketers think social media is critical for their business. However, 63 percent of B2B marketers are either only vaguely aware or not aware what is being said about their companies online. In today’s social media environment, where business can be enhanced when traditional marketing programs are complemented with social media strategies, it's imperative for marketers to understand social media’s role, as well as that of its sibling - digital media. Whether it’s...

The Big Questions Hiding Behind Google’s PR Stunts

The late – and forgive my enthusiastic cliché – very great Steve Jobs once told Google founder Larry Page to “Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. It's now all over the map. What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest because they're dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft.” Years later, I can’t help but agree more than ever before. Self-driving cars, “Project Glass”, Android, Chrome, Google+,...

Time is Running Out...TechTrailblazer Awards Deadline! #TTawards

This is not another post on a last-minute store sale. Nor is this a post on a get-rich-quick scheme. What this is, is a post on one of the industry's newest award ventures, the Tech Trailblazer Awards -- @TechTrailblaze and #TTAwards for the Twitter-inclined. I covered the launch of the awards last month in a post here. It isn't often you can say "thank you" for your service provider outage, but in this case for those of us who wait...

Media Interview Tips in a Citizen Journalism World

It only took 30 seconds of listening to NPR yesterday morning for me to hear Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" off-microphone gaffe at a private fund-raising event. It's one of those remarks that takes on a life of its own and spreads wildly. What the candidate said and meant is not the issue I want to address here. As a PR professional, I immediately recognized that he broke one of the cardinal rules of public figures in a...

Converting To The iPhone 5: Can We Believe The Hype?

Image via CNET I’ll come clean, as a guy in high tech PR, I’m not into the gadgets like most of my peers. Sure I text, Tweet and read the news on my phone, but I don't use it for games, watch the weather radar on it or base my every move around said gadget, and my life doesn’t ebb and flow with each new release of the latest-and-greatest high-tech gadget. But, the one thing I will state, unequivocally, is...

Boston's Startup Media Community is Buzzing

This week's launch of The Hive on Boston.com is further evidence of the thriving startup environment in Boston. As someone who has lived in the area and worked in technology for over 30 years, I've always felt that the media hasn't focused enough on emerging companies. By comparison, the media in Silicon Valley seem to take the opposite tack, always looking to put the spotlight on what's new, even if it isn't proved yet. I'm not going to dredge up...

A Day to Remember

There are many reasons I like working in the Financial District of Boston. You really have the opportunity to feel part of history and part of each event. Walking toward my office this morning, I heard the orchestra on the State House steps playing music as part of what the Boston Globe correctly described as a quieter observation of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. This is a day, like the day President Kennedy...

Bobby V is a Constant Practice in PR

Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, what are we going to do with you? Image Source: yardbarker.com I thought our little discussion after you marched into Spring Training, guns ablaze, stating that all players, veterans and otherwise, would take buses to and from Spring Training games, would assist in acclimating you to your new job with the one team that all New Englander’s live and die with. I see now that it had little effect. Following that discussion, in which we focused on...