Scheer’s mass text a bold but risky move
Receiving an unexpected text messages can catch anyone off guard, especially when it comes from a federal political leader. Even so, it’s part of a new strategy from the Conservative Party of Canada. In provinces without a carbon pricing system in place, including Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, residents have been on the receiving end of a text message campaign launched by Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer.
Read MoreDo We Still Need Nobel Prizes?
The annual Nobel Prizes in Sweden are more sacred than Christmas, drawing out international royalty in the arts and sciences, and attracting an audience of millions to witness an annual event styled in the pomp typically reserved for the naming of a new Pope. The prizes are so important that the king of Sweden last year took an unprecedented step in cancelling the Nobel Prize in literature for 2018. Why? For the same reason Alfred Nobel founded the awards: public relations. Inventor and chemist Nobel was famously known as the “merchant of death”, thanks to his arms dealership’s role in “killing more people faster than ever before.” In an effort to restore the Nobel name, Alfred launched the prizes under…
Read MoreTwitter’s Jack Dorsey is a PR nightmare this week
While Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube are falling over themselves working to keep deadly anti-vaccination rumours and hoaxes from receiving the attention they so desperately seek, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey seems bent on doing the opposite. Dorsey has been on a media rampage in recent weeks, sitting for interviews with a host of podcasters including author Ben Greenfield on Greenfield’s podcast. In relation to the latter, Dorsey tweeted (of course): “[I] appreciate all you do to simplify the mountain of research focused on increasing one’s healthspan! Grateful for you.”
Read MoreAs Brexit Approaches, Messaging Becomes More Impactful
As the deadline for the expected “Brexit” of the United Kingdom from the European Union draws closer, the messaging from British lawmakers is becoming more pronounced and emphatic. All involved want to be seen as being on the right side of history on this, and they also want to have some leeway just in case their current position doesn’t work out as planned. Prime Minister Theresa May, who narrowly survived a no-confidence vote earlier this year, is putting on a brave face after two different rejections of her plans to manage Brexit. May has been strong in her insistence that Brexit will work out well for Britain, and that the country will not leave the EU without a firm agreement.
Read MoreGE Hoping to Reset After Rough Road
The past few years have been very difficult for one of the most revered and successful companies in the history of the United States. General Electric (GE). Founded in 1892, GE has been a stalwart of American commerce and ingenuity for more than a century. Recently, though, the news has not been good for the company… and it’s not getting better any time soon. CEO Larry Culp recently confessed to investors that 2019 is going to be another rough road for GE, but he has promised to take on the issues facing his company “head on” and said that the future is bright. The simple, hard, economic truth is that many of the key products that helped GE remain strong…
Read MoreGoldman Sachs Earns Media with New Dress Code
When you think about brands celebrating casual Friday, banking and finance is not the first industry that comes to mind. In fact, the de facto uniform for the top brands in the industry has been buttoned up and high-class for so long, it’s practically unthinkable to represent big banks and investment groups wearing anything less than a custom-tailored suit and tie.But, in a recently leaked memo, Goldman Sachs has decided to relax its famously strict dress code, creating a new “firm flexible dress code.” That code, reportedly, includes concessions to “the changing nature of workplaces generally in favor of a more casual environment…”
Read MoreTarget Aims Right at Kids for Winning PR
For years now, Target has been focused on becoming the go-to big box retailer for stylish Millennial and Gen X moms. This effort has involved bucking certain longstanding retail norms. The campaign has largely been successful. The brand hit it big with its Cat & Jack kids clothing line, enticing parents who want inexpensive but more stylish clothing for growing children. But some shoppers complained of gaps in the store’s children’s clothing lines. Cat & Jack was great and all, they said, but not quite hip enough.
Read MoreApple is Tackling Data Privacy PR Head-On
In a radical break from the Big-Tech norm, Apple CEO Tim Cook has called on the US government help internet users control the collection of their personal data. In an op-ed for Time magazine, Cook asserts that consumers should have the power to “delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all.” Cook’s pledge is pitted heavily against the “shadow economy” of data brokers, firms that ply their wares via the collection and sale of personal data reaped from digital tracking. Think Facebook’s 2018 data sharing scandal, of Cambridge Analytica and Trumpian fame.
Read MoreCare Facility Forced to Answer Stunning Allegations
When you operate a nursing or long term care facility your primary stock-in-trade is trust. People trust you to properly care for and protect their loved ones. To keep them healthy, clean, entertained and, essentially, happy. It is against that backdrop that one Arizona private nursing facility found itself in one of the worst possible spotlights. According to a flurry of print and TV news reports, a woman at the facility recently gave birth to a child. That, in itself might be considered unusual to the average news consumer. It was the fact that came next which spun the narrative out of control. The woman who gave birth is in a “vegetative state,” entirely unwilling and unable to consent to…
Read MoreTesla Addresses Lost Tax Break by Lowering Prices
Tesla has been going gangbusters. Despite a serious PR hiccup when production lagged on its promised mid-level family sedan, the fully electric automotive pioneer has been doing banner business. While not a chief driver of the company’s success, the promise of a tax rebate for buying a fully electric car helped make the price tag more attractive for fence-sitting consumers. Unfortunately for late-adopting Tesla buyers, the tax credit had a temporary shelf life. Once the company reached 200,000 units sold, the tax credit would begin a gradual phase-out.
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