Public Relations

Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to speak with close to 50  marketers, friends, clients and former colleagues. I didn’t have an agenda or a pitch, just a conversation about their career paths and how they decided on their professions.  The conversation eventually made its way into a discussion of relationships they had with various consultants, advisors, and agencies.  Just for kicks, I built a word cloud from my notes and saw five themes emerge from what they wanted from a vendor.

In marketing circles, the current construct for developing a strategy revolves around paid, earned and owned media.  This is a useful model to start with, but  it doesn’t provide enough granularity around timing.  A strong strategy for marketing campaign development requires you think how these three areas interact and at what time you should be launching each phase.

The Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) reveals the winners of the 2017 National ¡Bravo! Awards held at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City.

It’s a big marketing move for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment as it seeks to build its share of Hispanic vacationers and local visitors through direct Spanish-language communication — something never done before on a major level. BY Adam R Jacobson, for HispanicAd      

The awards, sponsored by the PR Council in partnership with PRWeek, honor excellence in leadership and promoting diversity and inclusion within the communications sector.

The communications team at Hyundai Motor America has added Hyundai Brandon Ramirez as the senior group manager of Product Communications.

Republica announced the appointment of Bianca Ruiz as vice president, group account director and Tania Echevarria as senior manager, creative operations.

Rosemary Ravinal has joined Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) as Vice President of Entertainment and Consumer Public Relations. Ravinal will oversee publicity efforts for UCI’s portfolio of Spanish-language entertainment, broadcast and cable networks and serve as a primary point of contact with consumer media.

The use of labor-based fees and performance incentives by marketers is decreasing as advertisers look to simplify their agency compensation practices, according to a new report by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers).

The role of public relations is evolving. The ANA partnered with the USC Center for Public Relations at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to understand current client-side marketer perceptions of public relations.  By Bill Duggan, Group EVP, ANA

No one can predict when disaster will strike—but knowing what to expect if it does will buy precious time.

Last week we saw quarterly results for various blue-chip companies. Pepsi, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Amazon, American Airlines, Chipotle, T-Mobile and even Twitter managed to delight shareholders with positive results, or at least results that were deemed a break from negativity in prior quarters (Twitter!).  Sadly (if you’re one of their shareholders), that was not the case for the Coca-Cola Company and Procter & Gamble. These two pillars of the S&P 500 were punished for less-than-stellar results.

Burson-Marsteller announced that Patricia S. Caballero (Patty) has joined the firm as Managing Director, U.S. Business Development.

Everywhere we turn lately, there seems to be a new corporate crisis in the headlines. Some of the largest, most visible and successful companies are being forced to publicly apologize — while feverishly attempting to convince their customers that these unfortunate incidents are only isolated blips — without any implication of systemic organizational issues.

A new survey of corporate communications, marketing and industry leaders reveals that 76% rely on word of mouth recommendations from their peers to find PR and other communications agencies. 

Global brands are improving their ability to brief for integrated communications but some familiar failings remain, according to a new survey from the WFA. The results indicate that while many advertisers have improved their briefing there is still work to do on lack of alignment, clarity and timing.

Marketers can’t help who they are. Where they were born, how they were raised, which schools they attended (or not), how far they have traveled — These and many more factors comprise their biographies. But sometimes, when biographies that are more similar than different are assembled in one room, something happens that can sink a campaign: Unconscious bias.  By Ozzie Godinez – CEO and Co-Founder at PACO Collective

In B2B PR, influence is about trust. To build and gain trust from industry experts, stakeholders, and subsequently potential customers there are a number of different marketing tactics you can use.

It doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve, and the businesses involved are rarely household names.  So creativity is vitally important in B2B PR to generate awareness amongst press, says Sophie Naylor, Managing Director of Franklin Rae.

Making noise isn’t the same as making music! Acuity’s Ian McCawley explains the flaws of “vanity” PR.