Good God. Did anybody watch Hooters CEO Coby Brooks humiliate himself on TV last night? And do we really buy this crap? Undercover Boss is a Olympics counter-programming hit, but it serves up plastic souls on paper plates and I hope the viewing public can see through it. Brooks thought a sexually abusive manager’s problems […]
I’m going off!
January 26, 2010 by
Man – there’s a lot going on – so today, I’m going to rip through some stuff in no particular order. I’ve been wondering how KING-TV fared during the Leno experiment. Looking at Harmelin Media’s comparison of average quarter hour ratings from November of last year to November of this year – the 10 P.M. […]
Seattle Schools Yipes!
May 11, 2009 by
It’s about effective communications, not the protocol. The imbroglio with the teacher’s union in the Seattle school district is the latest in a series of communications snafus – several of which star local school districts. The days of communicating with stakeholders first, as a matter of “courtesy” or “respect” and then filling in the gaps […]
Swine flu mania
May 1, 2009 by
Communications professionals are in full crisis mode over the swine flu. Long hours, endless meetings, balking supervisors, obnoxious attention seekers and a feeling that every word you write or speak might be your last is all part of the fun in a crisis communications environment. School districts, health departments, law enforcement, transportation providers, municipalities and […]
It’s the content silly!
April 24, 2009 by
I have been attending a lot of small business building seminars lately, and a lot of the advice is the same when it comes to social media: Build a Facebook site. That’s all well and good, and I agree wholeheartedly that building a Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace page is important. But as is the case […]
The News Tribune & Stimson Bullitt passes
April 21, 2009 by
The News Tribune unveiled another new look today and I think it’s just dandy. Karen Peterson previewed the change in her column on Monday, and nowhere in her writing did I detect a hint that the paper considers the re-design a “solution” to the issues surrounding the survival of newspapers. This deserves some kudos. Why? […]
Making bad, worse
April 16, 2009 by
Upon returning back from a spring break getaway, I was greeted with an article in The News Tribune about Edgerton Elementary School principal Guy Kovacs’ reprimand for going outside the Puyallup School District’s chain of command in expressing concern about axing 13 of the 28 librarians in the district. He did nothing more than communicate […]
Wink branding
April 3, 2009 by
Agencies working in the brand management space all seem to be coming to the same conclusion: That these are times where getting a laugh is a good thing, and that authenticity and transparency are communication styles that keep showing up in the research as being effective. The message comes with a “wink” to those who […]
