My word is invalid?!

Like Alec Baldwin, I’m addicted to Words with Friends. I can’t help myself. When I see a row of jumbled letters I get a rush of excitement and a compulsion to create the best words I can out of those letters. I’ll challenge people on Facebook that I don’t normally talk to just so I can feed my craving with minimal waiting between plays. In fact, I have a game going on right now against my favorite cousin, who lives in Brazil.Read full post...

Engage visitors in relevant conversation to bolster existing client relationships.

The top 35 banks on Facebook reach a mere 0.6% of their base, according to a study by Retail Bank International. “If you exclude the three top-performing banks, the average drops to one in every 525 customers – only 0.2% of their base.”

The numbers point to three interesting challenges financial institutions face in crafting their social media outreach. First, not everyone who “likes” your page is or will become a customer. Second, measuring your outreach effort is more complex than counting friends. Third, lenders are missing countless opportunities to engage valued audiences.Read full post...

Personalize your pitches, and give journalists what they need.

At the 2011 PRSSA National Conference in October, 1,200 students came together in Orlando, Florida, for a weekend full of learning about public relations, professionalism, social media, creative design and much more. In the midst of all of our sessions and events, one topic stood out above the rest — and no, it wasn’t about how to tweet or develop a Facebook strategy. It was about good ol’ fashioned media relations.Read full post...

Differentiate, brand, and build trust were some key takeaways from the PRSSA National Conference.

Picture this. You’re standing in a room with a thousand aspiring young public relations professionals. On your left, there are students eagerly tweeting away. On your right, there are students impatiently waiting to hear from the keynote speaker of the day. You move from room to room to hear more amazing speakers educate you on any type of PR — nonprofit, agency, healthcare, global, etc. Top that off with some sessions on media training, social media and crisis communications, and you are officially in PR heaven.Read full post...

"Perception is Reality" was this year's theme for the PRSSA National Conference.

You know that “aha!” moment? You’re brushing your teeth when a great new pitch idea suddenly pops into your brain, or luxuriating in a bubble bath when the perfect event is fully realized in your mind. Imagine how it would feel if these sparks of genius lasted two hours: complete euphoria. Mind-blowing. Life-changing. Welcome to the PRSSA National Conference 2011.Read full post...

The UD chapter of the PRSSA has come a long way in the past two years.

If you had told me a year ago that I would have been presenting at the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) National Conference, I wouldn’t have believed you. Two years ago PRSSA was not what it is today. Frankly, it was a pretty ineffective organization, filled with inactive, uncommitted members. People knew so little about it that most students probably could not have guessed what “PRSSA” even stood for.Read full post...

In a world of 24-hour information, quality PR work is crucial.

When the Baltimore Colts moved out of town under the cover of darkness in 1984, the team pretty much cemented its place in the Bad PR Moves Hall of Fame. But last week, Bally Total Fitness took a page out of the Colts’ playbook anyway, completing a sale of 171 of its clubs to competitor LA Fitness — without telling its members. Other than a vague, one-paragraph statement on both companies’ websites, and two days’ notice of an early closing on November 30, gym members were given no information about the sale, or what it would mean for them.Read full post...

Paul Pomeroy weighs in on a couple of car ads.

As a guy who works in advertising I often get asked by family, friends, acquaintances and perfect strangers to offer my opinion on current ads in the marketplace. I find this funny because, unlike most people, when I meet doctors, lawyers and auto mechanics, I don’t find a way to wedge questions related to lumps on my back, clauses in my will or an incessant knocking noise coming from under the hood of my car into the course of casual conversation. But whatever. Most advertising people are raving narcissistic know-it-alls who are more than happy to share their opinions on just about anything — especially good ads vs. sucky ads.

OK, that really just describes me. And that brings me to the point of this post.Read full post...

There are huge advantages to using a CMS, but some of these features also bring disadvantages.

As a Technical Director at AB&C, I’m mainly involved in the technical production for our web projects — from landing pages for specific campaigns to websites for hospital systems. For the last few years, we’ve been doing much of this production in a content management system (CMS), a web-based application that enables us to give our clients design templates that they can fill in with text and pictures.Read full post...

Many crisis situations entail change, surprise or the unexpected.

“In many ways, individuals and institutions get measured by their capacity to deal with change, surprise and the unexpected.” — Bob Woodward

Many crisis situations entail change, surprise or the unexpected. How do we as public relations professionals respond effectively? How do we blend the proper doses of textbook theory, gut instinct and level-headed judgment?

Over the course of my career I have dealt with a variety of “urgent” situations: product liability, white-collar crime, race and sex discrimination, life-threatening negligence by healthcare providers, environmental issues, and corporate downsizing, to name a few.Read full post...

One of the FDA-approved graphic warning labels

Full disclosure: I have worked on Tobacco Prevention and Control social marketing campaigns for more than 10 years. As you may have heard, beginning September 2012 the FDA will require cigarette companies to place very large and graphic warning labels on the packaging of their cigarette products. These labels will have to cover the top half of the cigarette box and 20% of any tobacco advertisement.Read full post...

It can be scary to bust some new moves.

In all communications with consumers, whether it’s online, in print or over the airwaves, it’s easy to forget that we’re just talking to people. Usually that’s because there’s a laundry list of information that “needs” to go into each ad. In fact, in healthcare advertising there’s a well-known dance:

Step 1: Mention skilled doctors, latest technology and dedicated staff.

Step 2: Throw in a patient testimonial.

Step 3: Always tell people about your awards (even if they have no idea what you’re talking about).

Step 4: Grab a partner (preferably a celebrity).Read full post...

Contagion billboard

This is the coolest advertising I’ve seen since the stunt for Lynx (we know it in the United States as Axe) with virtual angels falling from the sky into the London Victoria railway station. What Warner Bros. Pictures Canada did to promote its new movie “Contagion” could also be considered interactive, on a microscopic level. Read full post...