Good PR Skills, Common Sense, Clearly Lackey-ing

I routinely get inquiries from friends and acquaintances as to what PR is all about and what the secrets to being viewed positively in the press truly are. While I normally preface my remarks with my standard “PR is more of an art than a science” line, I find that the explanation is often pretty simple. Good PR stems from applying common sense to interactions with the media. This brings us to John Lackey, starting pitcher for the Boston Red...

What He Meant to Say Was...

Although I have mixed feelings about being called a 'spin doctor,' it's tough to make an argument against it after the silly spin the Patriots tried to put on Tom Brady's comments yesterday when they tried convincing the public that "Yeah, start drinking early (...)" means, "Stay hydrated, drink a lot of water?" Um. Ok. Don't get me wrong -- I have a ton of respect for the team's PR discipline even though fans find it frustrating. I think Stacey...

Dignity Trumps Brashness for Reputation Management

Forget Charlie Sheen and his recent ravings during a mystifying media blitz, which, amazingly, is being portrayed by some as his attempts at reputation management. Let's instead look at the quiet dignity of this year's Best Actress winner who, like her predecessor, had to face an embarrassing incident at the time of her greatest career triumph. Natalie Portman, who took home the golden statue on Sunday night, had learned just before the event that John Galliano, the creative director of...

Singing or speaking, K.I.S.S. works every time, Christina

The comment [from dippidydogurl] I saw about the MTV.com posting of singer Christina Aguilera's gaffe singing the U.S. national anthem at yesterday's Super Bowl said it all: That's what happens when you start trying to turn the National Anthem into a pop song. I love Christina, Whitney, Mariah, and all the other popstars who've sung the anthem but it doesn't need a bunch of pomp and circumstance to make it a worthwhile song. The lyrics speak for themselves. Next time,...

The Medium is now the Message

I unexpectedly found myself in the middle of the recent “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” event in Washington, D.C. I was actually flying into the Nation’s Capitol for my own private fear– my first run in the 35th annual Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 31st (yes, I finished, and with a respectable time for someone who needs the occasional orthopedic tune-up). As I landed into Reagan National Airport, I was actually watching the beginning of the rally not just...

Would Don Draper have blogged rather than pay for a NYT ad?

Sunday night's second to last "Mad Men" episode of the season (which seems awfully short to me) made those of us who have run agencies squirm as it details the aftermath of the loss of a client that was more than 50% of the agency's business. That is always a precarious position for any type of service organization. It is particularly thorny for creative agencies that are only as good as their most recent campaigns, and whose best work may...

Thumbs up or thumbs down for CEOs on Reality TV?

This tweet caught my eye this week: MarkRaganCEO: The CEOs who go undercover in "Undercover Boss" are nudged by their PR departments: http://bit.ly/cicjfE Digging into the actual article in the Los Angeles Times, I confirmed that the lead paragraph does say that CEOs who are participating in this new reality TV series which makes the big boss work with the little people in his/her own company have been pushed to participate by their PR people. What I did not read...

Pilot Training for Exec Spokespeople?

After watching CBS News' Katie Couric interview U.S. Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, I immediately thought that his pilot training had indeed prepared him for this incredible test, as he stated. I also thought that his pilot training, which seemed to involve so much discipline and focus, also made him an excellent spokesperson for the incident and his airline. He was calm, concise and credible. He also was very good at offering "word pictures" that enlivened his story,...