pr

“Reviewing” an unused product

February 20, 2008

I frequently get asked to review products, which I enjoy doing. Editorializing non-stop gets old after a while! Yesterday, however, I was asked to "review" a product on the basis of a press release. I declined and told the requester that I would be happy to review the product if they wanted to send me [...]

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Social strategies in marketing

July 27, 2007

I was very flattered, yesterday, to have Stuart Henshall hold me, this blog, and iotum, up as an example of folks living a social strategy in marketing. Didn't know quite how to respond, which is why I waited until today to write anything. As hard as it is to believe, I am a little self conscious about public praise. [...]

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VONAGE: We put SunRocket out of business

July 24, 2007

Vonage Communications and PR VP Karen Cleeve is probably kicking in-house flack Charlie Sahner under the table right now. In yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle, Sahner was soundbited in the following gem: Sahner said SunRocket failed because it couldn't meet its customer's needs for better features and strong customer support. "We were the leader from the [...]

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T-Mobile bitten

February 14, 2007

In the world of PR, sound-bitesÂ are the sliver of seared foie-gras adorning your steak.Â Having carefully constructed a story and a position, your hope is that a clever sound-bite will hook the reporter, and provide the flourish, the finish, that will really make the story fly.Â In my days at Microsoft, we used to spend [...]

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Steve Ballmer: masterful interview subject

January 19, 2007

If you want to see an example of masterful interview skills, check out the following video of Steve Ballmer being interviewed about Apple’s iPhone strategy.Â He starts off with: “$500! Fully subsidized! With a plan. That’s the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a [...]

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Teaching Skype PR

November 16, 2006

Jim Courtney is systematically demolishing SparkPR’s inept handling of the Skype 3.0 Beta release.Â Check out his two postings over on Skype Journal: Skype PR Wake-Up Call 1: The Issue, in which he provides example after example of the hugely mixed messages that the blogosphere delivered about the Skype 3.0 beta. No press release was [...]

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HubbubPR Launches

November 2, 2006

An intriguing new communications agency launched at midnight, Halloween night. Led by Eastwick Alumnus Giovanni Rodriguez, HubbubPR aims to create a community for writers, PR professionals, marketing consultants, social media mavens, designers and so on. On his blog, Giovanni describes the community as “Facebook for communications pros”, and goes on to say: with the advent [...]

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Opportunities Lost

September 20, 2005

How not to create an impression… Andy Abramson covers the Level 3 dinner last night at the Harvard Club. Passing mention of the event, and then multiple paragraphs on the $3 / bottle wine choice. What a wasted opportunity, Level 3.

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