Crisis Communications – How Not To Do It
Matt Hodges-Long looks at the recent WHSmith ‘data breach’ story and explains how the retailer could have better handled its crisis communications. At approximately 00:17 on September 2nd the well-known British retailer WHSmith started to erroneously email its customers email addresses and telephone numbers to other customers in its database. We don’t know when WHSmith were […]
Don’t Gloat About the Ashley Madison Leak. It’s About Way More Than Infidelity.
Before you celebrate your comeuppance over less ethical friends and colleagues, consider this: The Ashley Madison leak is about a lot more than the public shaming of philanderers. Above all, it’s about Internet privacy. Within minutes of the alleged leak, people began combing the data for information and posting their findings. “I may be overestimating how far things will […]
McDonald’s Rebuffs Burger King’s International Day of Peace “McWhopper” Proposal
So Burger King decides to join forces with McDonald’s to support a good cause. To that end, Burger King created a joint promotion and spent megabucks on full-page advertisements in newspapers across the U.S. From the “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” Department, it couldn’t have been more clever. Perhaps too clever? […]
Is Social Media Still the Great Equalizer?
[By Scott Juba, President, Radar Public Relations & Consulting, of counsel to Hennes Communications] I used to tell people that social media is the “great equalizer” – a place where everyone is equal and your ability to successfully communicate is not dependent on how large or small your brand may be. While I still believe there […]
Lessons from Ferguson: Are You Listening?
[By Thom Fladung, former managing editor, The Plain Dealer] A year after Ferguson, the lessons continue to reverberate. Is anyone listening? At the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention in Minneapolis, a panel of journalists spoke about the lessons they learned in Ferguson, Missouri, covering the shooting of Michael Brown, its aftermath, and how […]
News Junkies & the Social Media Fix
[by Howard Fencl, APR] In the world of TV news, the most rabid members of the viewing public have long been known as “news junkies.” In the pre-web, pre-social media era, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they were the letter writers, the habitual phone callers; or in extreme (and scary) cases, they were the […]
Are Internet Trolls Winning? Only If We Let Them!
[by Thom Fladung, former managing editor, The Plain Dealer] A recent Columbia Journalism Review story argued that the media, while denouncing the online trolls who delight in spreading hate, also support trolls by providing forums and attention. As a 33-year newspaperman who very recently left the media, how would I plead? Is “I really, really […]
6 Storytelling Lessons from Superheroes
Matt Kirdahy from Water & Wall Group writes: What makes the tales of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man—and now Ant-man—successful is that they incite passion among followers. Their stories transform these followers into loyalists and ambassadors. Too often marketing and communications pros tap the wrong sources of information from our clients to use in connecting with audiences. […]
Thom Fladung, Former Managing Editor of The Plain Dealer, Joins Hennes Communications
NEWSPAPER AND DIGITAL MEDIA VETERAN THOMAS FLADUNG JOINS HENNES COMMUNICATIONS CLEVELAND – Hennes Communications, one of the few firms in the U.S. focused exclusively on crisis management, crisis communications and reputation management, today announced that Thomas Fladung has joined the agency as vice president. Fladung brings more than 33 years of daily newspaper and digital […]
Why First Impressions Stick
By Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D, writing for CommPro.biz: Two seconds – thirty seconds, tops – that’s all the time it takes some to assess your confidence, competence, status, likeability, warmth, and trustworthiness. That’s how much time you have to make a first impression. In fact, it’s impossible for us not to make these snap judgments about […]