Riffs, Tiffs and What Ifs

I'm a PR GITM now That's right. Do I look like one? Impressive? What's GITM mean? Well, it's a highly valued, intensely competitive, world-class business designation that only " special" people get. People like me. And, intellectually, you have to be heads above a Rhodes Scholar - a deep thinker, like me - to get the professional designation. At the end of this highly informative, spectacularly written, best practices case study (eat your hearts out New Yorker and Wall Street Journal ), I'll tell you what GITM stands for. I took a little time off the "Shoot the Donkey " columns to work on a freelance brand-building campaign. Well actually, that's not true. It's really a brand-building campaign using advertising instead of PR. But there really isn't too much of a difference between the two. I prefer advertising, however, just because it's more creative (like me), but strate...

Why Can’t New Marketing and PR People Write? T his article was in response ( or supplement ) to "When It Comes to PR Writing, Only One Thing Beats Talent... and there ain't much talent around," written by Don Bates, director of the Master's Degree in Strategic Public Relations program at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management . It was originally posted on the Media Bullseye site . I’ve had Marketing and PR employees work for me right out of college, and found most were woefully unprepared for the real-world new PR environment. Not because of any inherent deficiency in the school they came from, but more from the frenetic pace of change in the PR industry. Blogs, Vlogs, Podcasts, Social Media, SEO, SEO PR, Tags, and on and on and on. The technology changes alone can be daunting or intimidating. But the writing … the writing, that’s now part skill, part science and part art. It is the absolute foundation o...

BO - The Greatest of Achievements These Days I saw Charlie Rose speak with PR legend Howard Rubenstein at a media relations conference hosted by the Bulldog Reporter in San Franciso. Charlie was fascinating. Really connected. I've seen a plethora, a bevy, a melange (I meant to say "a whole bunch" but got carried away) of good presenters and speakers. Good Is Not Hard All it takes to be a good presenter is hard work and practice. If you're not good - you have only one person to blame: yourself. But to be great you have to be good - and connect. Connecting is pretty special; it's an art. Maybe a gift. A heavenly endowment. You have to be an expert, wise, personable, dynamic, charismatic, likable. And ... be able to tell your story with the ultimate in sophistication - simplicity. Great Is The only speaker I've seen anywhere near rivaling Charlie Rose was Steve Wynn . He was unbelievable. Excellent. Saw him speak at an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of ...