While there are numerous examples of companies handling issues and crises poorly (read some of our blog posts about them here, here and here), we also like to recognize those companies that respond swiftly and appropriately to a potential PR catastrophe. Recently there have been two such instances, one involving Royal Caribbean and the other Papa John’s. Early on Memorial Day, a fire broke out on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas...

I admit it: I am one of those girls with a Pinterest wedding board – and I am not engaged. I love Pinterest, and I am not alone. Pinterest has, on average, thirty million monthly visitors. According to Nielsen’s 2012 social media report, Pinterest’s number of monthly PC users grew by 1,047 percent between 2011 and 2012. The number of monthly mobile app and mobile web users add an additional five and 14 million, respectively, and the...

The public and media’s desire for the newest, latest and greatest information can put a tremendous amount of pressure on a brand, especially when it’s without news.  Most companies experience newsworthy events in a cyclical pattern—a peak when a product launches, but a valley when the product has entered the market and has lost its novelty. How does a company stay in the headlines when it’s business as usual? Many evaluate public...

On Tuesday, I discussed how to utilize media coverage to instill a sense of pride among employees and other stakeholders, to demonstrate value to the C-suite and to extend your brand's reach via social channels. In this post, I'll look at four more tactics to leverage your positive coverage – consider this the "advanced class."

Brands that interact with their audience are more likely to sustain attention, build awareness and invoke a response from their target audiences. Although most of the Super Bowl commercials were lackluster this year, several of the ads used social media-based calls-to-action that helped poise the sponsoring brands for success.   While you may not typically enjoy Coca Cola and Oreos in the same sitting, the two food brands employed similar...

By now, we’ve all read the story. We’ve seen the interviews and heard the voicemails. Some believe Manti Te’o is the naïve victim of an incredibly elaborate hoax. Others firmly hold he helped to create the scheme to quell questions about his personal life or to gain Heisman votes. Regardless of Te’o’s level of involvement, a closer examination of the situation outlines the failings of Notre Dame and the national media –...