Red Sox Battening Down the PR Hatches

My favorite fictional Red Sox PR person, Les More, has been working overtime over the past few weeks to determine how to handle the tell-all book just released by former manager Terry Francona -- he of the two World Series championships and the disrespectful severing of ties at the end -- and perpetual media thorn-in-their-side Dan Shaugnessy -- he of the "curse of the Bambino" and other sundry critiques and irritating articles over the years. I'm picturing a conference call...

Penn State PR - One Year Later

Allison Kreider is a 2012 graduate of Penn State University and current intern at Lois Paul & Partners. In this four part series – she will cover all angles of the sex scandal at Penn State from a first-person and PR perspective. From how the football team, the same football program that was at the heart of the scandal, surpassed all expectations during the 2012 season in light of a new coaching staff and shaken up starting roster, to hidden...

What's Going on With Our Heroes?

No surprise. Like I am sure is happening in many companies today, the conversation is hot and heavy around Lance Armstrong’s interview this evening with Oprah Winfrey and the brewing controversy around Manti Te’o’s fictional/non-fictional girlfriend. Like most companies, opinions, humor and fascination abound at LPP. Which led to this blog. “What’s going on with our 'heroes'?" I still fondly remember the summer of 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing the heralded Roger Maris home run record....

Tide Rolls, ESPN Folds and Twittersphere Beholds Katherine Webb

The big story from this year's college football national championship was not Alabama's demolition of Notre Dame. Instead, it was ESPN broadcaster Brent Musburger's comments about Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron's girlfriend, Katherine Webb. When the current Miss Alabama was spotted for the first time by the camera, Musburger and his color man, Kirk Herbstreit, both gushed over the beauty. And while it did go on a bit too long, nothing untoward or disrespectful was said. I would guess that most...

Royal Family, Romney, Austrian Daredevil - The Best & Worst PR of 2012

Oh 2012, what a year you’ve been for public relations. Prince Harry is caught with his pants down and Kate Middleton with her top off. The Royal Family bristles over the media attention and tosses lawsuits about like darts at a downtown London pub. Players from the NFL’s New Orleans Saints are caught getting paid by coaches for knocking opposing players out of games after bounties have been put on those players’ heads. And who could forget the NFL’s decision...

What do clothes communicate?

As he so often does, my middle child Tyler gave me some food for thought regarding social mores regarding appropriate dress for business. We had a friendly debate about why it is important to show respect for people you are meeting in a business setting. Our discussion included differing views on Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg's decision to wear his traditional hoodie when he was doing an IPO road show to investors. I believe that shows disrespect to your audience and is...

Fireman Ed blows his top, leaves NY Jets with another PR issue

Fireman Ed is steaming mad and a lot has to do with the New York Jets having a number of issues this season, both on and off the field. Mark Sanchez stinks at quarterback, Darelle Revis and Santonio Holmes are lost for the season due to injuries, Rex Ryan can’t coach his way out of a wet paper bag and Tim Tebow has been rendered useless after leading the Denver Broncos to the playoffs just a year ago. These issues...

Walmart bellies up to the table, takes bite out of holiday festivities with extended hours

No need to set your alarm for early bird sales this Black Friday. No need to even go to bed on Thursday night. American retail giant, Walmart has decided to open its doors at 8 p.m. this Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than last year, for bargain-hungry shoppers. Sears and Kmart are following suit and welcoming customers before the pumpkin pie can even be cut. What is most startling about this news is that it isn’t even startling news. The shock...

"What Were They Thinking?" Awards -- October Edition

Working chronologically, we're suggesting the "Romance and Political Debates Don't Mix" Award goes to President Obama for his ill-advised shout-out to his wife for their anniversary at the start of the first Presidential Debate. "There's a lot of points I want to make tonight but the most important one is that 20 years ago I became the luckiest man on Earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me. And so I just want to wish sweetie, you, a happy anniversary...

You Call It "Pivot," and We Call It "Bridge"

NPR ran an interesting story this morning, in advance of tonight's first presidential debate, about a technique called "the pivot." Political debate consultant Brett O'Donnell defines a pivot as "a way of taking a question that might be on a specific subject, and moving to answer it on your own terms." When we media train executives for interviews, we teach them a technique called "bridging," which helps the speaker "bridge" from an off-topic or difficult question back to their key...