Chime Communications and Incepta, the listed public relations companies that own some of the UK’s best-known consultancies, have held extensive merger talks. The Daily Telegraph reports that discussions between the two groups took place earlier this month but failed to reach an agreement on the terms of a possible merger. However, the prospect of a […]
Category: PR
Sound advice for pitching bloggers
While Google searching relating to a communication project I’m working on, I came across an interesting article on the PRSA website about pitching bloggers. Nothing to do with what I was searching for, but it made me stop and read it. Consider these key points from the article: The most important thing a publicist can […]
It’s about Target’s reputation
It has been interesting seeing the different reactions to the Target marijuana story during the past few days. Web Pro News has a good summary of events, including an explanation of how Target’s e-commerce website works as a front-end for Amazon.com. Whatever you see on Target’s website, they don’t really sell marijuana, it seems. Neither […]
Edelman: Our word is our bond
Richard Edelman’s latest post in his Speak Up blog is about ethics in PR. But this is no ordinary post, no yawning homily about what the PR profession should be doing to keep a clean house. This post speaks from the heart, it seems to me: Let me begin by recognizing that those who live […]
Changes in the works at Electronic Arts
It’s part of a modern-day sweat-shop industry with it’s high-tech work force toiling like galley slaves chained to their benches. So said the New York Times in an article last month describing Electronic Arts. This is about ea_spouse, the wife of the Electronic Arts employee who wrote in her personal blog last month a from-the-heart […]
Communication challenges for Oracle and PeopleSoft after acquisition
CNET News: PeopleSoft’s board of directors has approved a takeover deal with Oracle worth around $10.3 billion, ending a long-running and bitter battle and creating a major software maker. CNET News | Oracle buys PeopleSoft for $10 billion So while the acquisition endgame is in sight for investors and shareholders, a great deal of work […]
The FUD begins in Oracle and PeopleSoft deal
Creating fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about your competitors in the minds of their customers is a tactic common in the enterprise software industry, especially when you see a significant event like an acquisition that will upset the fine balance of players in a mature and consolidating market. It’s all part of the friendly business […]
More like PR fluff than Bill Gates’ answers
According to "Bill Gates Answers Most Frequently Asked Questions," the first question that’s important for him to answer is "What kind of role did fate or luck play in your success?" This 3-page Word document, available for download from Microsoft’s website, has eight pretty limp questions which have Bill Gates’ words as answers, including on […]
Fired Delta employee crusade lacks credibility
The story of the Delta Airlines employee who was fired for breach of company policy regarding some photos she posted on her personal blog is taking some interesting twists and turns. Here’s the quick story overview. Ellen Simonetti was a flight attendant at Delta Airlines. She writes Queen of Sky, a personal blog, in which […]
Microsoft ramps up the FUD
Following the announcement of Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft on 13 December, I wrote about the outbreak of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) that began with comments by an SAP executive. Now comes news about moves by Microsoft seeking to lure PeopleSoft customers away. Microsoft-Watch reports that Microsoft didn’t waste any time in trying to win […]
Understanding RSS from the non-tech view
A friend in the UK asked me for some thoughts and info about RSS and how she could create and syndicate her company’s own RSS feeds for things like press releases and product information. She wanted a non-technical view, something she could easily understand herself so that she’d be able to have a sensible discussion […]
Website usability lessons still to learn
Via Boing Boing, I came across an interesting report on how people react to advertising when visiting websites. No prizes for guessing the most hated advertising technique – pop-up ads. The report by Jakob Neilsen shows the 11 most hated advertising techniques. My current ‘favourite’ is in there – sites that automatically start playing voice […]
Top ten reasons for using RSS
I came across a very good post today about the benefits of RSS that neatly complements what I wrote the other day about understanding RSS from the non-tech view. Marnie Webb at Extension 337 writes about the ten reasons why non-profit organizations should use RSS. Valid indeed, and which I think will apply for any […]
FT highlights example of blogs for internal communication
Today’s Financial Times has a report on corporate blogging that includes an excellent example of a European company using blogs for internal communication: Some companies, uncomfortable with the openness of public blogs, use them as an internal communications tool. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the German investment bank, has set up about 120 internal blogs to promote […]
Blogging: It’s the real thing
A highly-readable and lengthy feature on blogging is in the 10 January issue of Fortune magazine, as part of its look at the 10 technology trends to watch in 2005. Blogging is number 1 on Fortune’s top 10 list: Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product—or destroy it. Either way, they’ve become a force business can’t […]
How to win friends and executive influence
MediaInsider, the PR Newswire blog, posted an article from PIONet on research that adds some very useful information to the little that’s known about how corporate PR practitioners work to influence and persuade senior management in their organizations – how they obtain and use "clout" – or how they secure perceptions of their value to […]
Five examples of great thinking
Maybe it’s everyone coming back fresh after a break for Christmas and New Year, but whatever it is, I’ve been reading some extremely thoughful and thought-provoking posts in the past few days by some of our fellow business bloggers. Take these five examples, for instance: Andy Lark on Ten Ways Communications Will Change In 2005: […]
Marqui could re-define marketing and PR
I spent a very interesting 30 minutes last night listening to a Geek News Central podcast recorded on Tuesday – an interview with Stephen King, the CEO of Marqui, the company who’s paying $800 a month to certain bloggers to write about their product. When I first wrote about Marqui’s pay-the-bloggers programme last month, I […]
Breaking news blogger style
Steve Rubel has a very interesting story on a news story that’s not yet a news story (in the traditional sense) but probably will be soon – once the the media pick up on what blogs are already saying. He talks about the posts and comments in blogs about an apparent rift between Hewlett-Packard and […]
Complaints about Apple prices in Europe spur online petition
ZDNet UK reports today that an online petition has been set up to put pressure on Apple to bring European prices for the new Mac mini in line with their US equivalents. The petition – created by and written by Timo Schöler and simply called Reasonable price for the Mac mini in the EU – […]