As Oprah is set to close the curtain on her 25-year reign as Queen of Daytime talk, it brings back memories – albeit frustrating ones – of attempting to pitch her show. It was early on in my career, but I recall trying to pitch one very heartwarming story, and then later trying to get [...]
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ATTN JOB SEEKERS: PLEASE DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE A PEOPLE PERSON
Now is the time when college students are polishing their resumes and scoping out potential businesses for that perfect entry-level job. Some have probably done their research and have a list of must work for businesses, while others are blasting every company within in a 50-mile radius, just hoping that one will bite. Regardless of [...]
5 ANNOYING EMAIL HABITS
We all have our email pet peeves. And if you’re like me, you have a lot – from reading into how you are greeted in an email to the abrupt way an email is closed.
Since email is such a big part of our daily lives, I’ve taken some time to compile my five least favorite [...]
MGH’S FAVORITE MAD MEN MOMENTS
Every once and a while, a show comes around that becomes like a drug you can’t stay away from. You may DVR it, but you try to stay up late so you can discuss what happened at the water cooler. That show for many of us in marketing and advertising is AMC’s Mad Men. And [...]
A GAP IN PUBLIC PERCEPTION
Last week, Gap quietly introduced a new logo. The decades-old blue box with white typeface was flipped inside out, with black type on a white background with a small blue box behind the “p.” Almost immediately, the logo was met with intense online criticism, with marketers and non-marketing folks almost universally bashing the design.
While we all [...]
BP MIGHT AS WELL STAND FOR BAD PRESS
While BP has beefed up its online presence and continues its advertising campaign, now featuring a BP rep from the Gulf (gee, maybe that should have been your first move?), the company is still facing much public scrutiny. Yesterday, I read an article about how BP sent a letter to Florida Governor Crist, refusing to [...]
THE THREE R’S OF MEDIA PITCHING
A large portion of a public relations professional’s job continues to be media relations. This means we are always on the lookout for relevant and timely news hooks to help pitch our clients and their products to the media. But, every once and a while, you read a story about a really bad pitch and [...]
BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL?
Gen. McChrystal’s “rolling” PR disaster came to a halt today as he was relieved of his command. This announcement comes one day after his PR aide – responsible for setting up the controversial interview with Rolling Stone magazine – resigned.
According to an article in MSNBC, Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings had unprecedented access to the [...]
FRIEND OR FOE? THE COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEWS MEDIA AND PR
by Kerry ONeill, PR Account Director on Jul 27, 2011 in Commentary, Public Relations
A few weeks ago, I read a story about how the New York Times was “curbing” freelance columnist David Pogue’s ability to speak at various events involving publicists or public relations. The story said that his participation in these paid events, specifically one hosted by Ragan Communications, violated the Times’ ethics policy, which states “Staff [...]