Why brand journalism matters

Brand journalism – organizations creating professional content – is a real and significant trend. But what impact will it have on corporate reputations and the media?

Has NBC lost its moral compass?

NBC has made a number of programing decisions recently, which have attracted strong criticism. Has it lost touch with its moral compass? And what can we learn?

9 reasons it feels good to be powerless

The mantle of being powerless is comfortable. But you shouldn’t put it on because it makes you invisible. You risk nothing, learn nothing, achieve nothing, and don’t progress. Here’s why.

Why ignoring social media is like smoking

Smoking is bad for you, in fact potentially fatal. It’s hard to change behavior. Traditional marketing could also be commercially fatal. So why wait?

Six crisis lessons brands can learn from Wikileaks

It’s not just governments which face threats from whistle-blowing sites, like Wikileaks. Organizations, especially consumer-facing brands, can easily attract a negative online presence from a disgruntled customer or employee. We’ve all seen those Brand X Sucks sites. So what should you do?

How to ‘meet for coffee’

A popular request in Silicon Valley is to ‘meet for coffee’. This is often a euphemism for a short meeting with no fixed agenda, beyond getting to know one another. As far as it goes, this can be productive – business is social after all. Many strong business relationships – with clients, partners, investors and potential employees start with an informal intro. But how do you make the most of them?

Creativity needs solid foundations

To be creative at work, you need strong foundations. The act of generating a new idea and seeing it through to fruition requires personal commitment, perseverance, vulnerability, risk and often conflict.

Ideas in their early stages are fragile like newborns. They need nurturing and protecting. They can be trampled or discarded just as they draw breath, and before they have a chance to flower. At every stage they need to prove themselves – to team mates, to clients, to partners, to influencers and to their audience. As a creative, it’s your role to see that idea blossom – to conceive it, to give it substance, to validate it, to realize it and to evangelize it. A good idea is a personal journey. We put a part of ourselves into our best ideas, and in so doing, make ourselves vulnerable.

Video – Crisis management in social media

I wanted to share the full video (38:19) of our crisis management in social media webinar which we held earlier this month. This is a recording of the entire session, but we’ll be running it live again in the near future if you’d like to jump in with questions. My thanks once again to everyone [...]

Webinar – Crisis management in a social media landscape

I’d like to personally invite you to our free crisis management webinar on Friday February 12, 2010 at 9.00am PT. Click here for details and sign up. Hope you can make it.

How to get the most from exhibiting at a trade show

Trade shows are important elements of the promotional mix. So how do you get the most from them? The primary goals of exhibiting at a trade show revolve around sales, branding (ie deferred sales) and partnership (ie sales channel, product development). Exhibitions also offer strong potential for press relations since you’ll typically have news and [...]