As the country and the world become even more divided along political, religious or national lines, language is increasingly used to dehumanize its targets. Language itself is being weaponized so as to condition people to consider the targets of that language as less than human.
This allows for the justification of committing any number of unethical, immoral or even atrocious acts toward them.… Read the rest
During the ten years I spent at global PR firm Ketchum, one of the things I benefited from was the firm’s commitment to professional development. In addition to gaining the experience of working with some of the world’s leading companies and organizations as clients, on some of their more challenging problems, if you worked for Ketchum, you knew you were an investment.… Read the rest
March is a month of birthdays in my growing family, so much so, that we now combine the celebration of a bunch of birthdays into one day. Of course, March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day, always an important day on the calendar in my family since I was a kid. But as I’ve said before, not as important as July 4th, from a love-of-country point of view.… Read the rest
For as long as I’ve been in the business of public relations, the Holy Grail of communication is being able to change someone’s mind. To persuade that person.
To be sure, there are no full-proof techniques or magic tricks, but it is possible. As you might suspect, there are a couple of foundational ingredients you need before you can do so.… Read the rest
Let me tell you about two situations where companies wanted me to guarantee specific media results. Both were foreign-owned firms, which is relevant from a media culture perspective.
The first one was a steel service center that sold piping for industrial uses. It had approached me about possibly working with them on public relations matters in the U.S. … Read the rest
I didn’t have to wait until I started going to school to learn how to communicate effectively. That started from the day I was born, trying to make myself heard in a big Irish Catholic, blue-collar family in Pittsburgh. If you had something to say, no one was politely waiting for you to say it. You just had to say it, quick, sometimes loud, simply and clearly.… Read the rest
Credit where credit’s due. One of the lasting lessons for me of my experience at the big agency I once worked for was a simple technique for gathering quick intelligence on the public’s attitude on an issue, a company, a brand or a product. It’s called the “Bar Stool Survey.”
As the name implies, it’s informal, impromptu and easy to do. … Read the rest
You may be familiar with these quotes about statistics. It was Mark Twain who said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.”
And even if you don’t know Benjamin Disraeli, you may have heard his comment that, “There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics.”
If Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli were around today, they’d probably be quite interested in reading the 2019 State of Science Index from 3M and may consider including “science” in their comments.… Read the rest
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a multi-million-dollar communications campaign or a single tweet, a professional communicator should know the answers to these 8 questions before touching that keyboard, mouse or computer screen:
If you don’t know why you are communicating, there is a good chance you will miss the mark in any number of ways.… Read the rest