Your PR Architect

This year, I've collaborated with a colleague on a public relations guide that we've intended from day one to be an e-book. Turns out, it's harder to get an agent to bite on an e-book than a real book. I've read and used my share of textbooks about PR. The one that works best for me is Fraser Seitel's The Practice of Public Relations , now in its 12th edition. I've used it when teaching college PR classes. It's readable, full of short case studies and executive interviews, comprehensive and doesn't go out-of-date too quickly. But if you're in crash-course mode, Seitel's book and other texts are a bit heavy. If your boss told you yesterday that, in addition to your other duties, you had to write news releases and promote the business through social media, our little e-book would be easier to use. And it would leave less of a dent on your debit card than Seitel's $143 textbook. E.B. White My co-author and I believe there's a place

Aside from the minor tedious nature of a 6-plus minute slide show, there's plenty to like about MillerCoors posting scenes from its 2011 diversity summit on YouTube. I like linking diversity to the fundamental goals of the business: "Diversity Sells Beer." Or a clear focus on "regular employees" from different backgrounds, not executives in $1000 suits. (Although diversity initiatives really catch fire only when senior leaders actively champion such change.) Capturing key points on whiteboards, and chronicling them in stills (and video) isn't a bad way to keep these learnings close at hand. It's not a Joe Sedelmeier film, but it works. The disappointment, however: MillerCoors' video has had a stunning 116 views as of this blog post. MillerCoors' parent, SABMiller.plc, has 70,000 employees worldwide. If only 10 percent are MillerCoors employees, that still leaves a stunning gap between the number of views and MillerCoors' workforce.

Home Depot, like many large companies, outsourced the running of its Twitter feed to a nameless marketing "agency." When the agency posted a racially offensive tweet, HD acted swiftly to sever its relationship with the agency. Read about it here:  http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/11/07/home-depot-tweets-alleged-racist-photo/ Brad Shaw of Home Depot, via Ad Age Maybe the practice of entrusting your brand presence to an outside contractor isn't as disastrous as it sounds. But someone, somewhere needs to have a broader perspective. With Twitter's huge IPO taking place this week, all eyes were focused on the micro-blogging site. Brands can live or die on Twitter. The irony: two years ago, Ad Age lauded Home Depot for its internal team's social media acumen .Why did this strategy go off the rails? So cheers to Home Depot for cutting its ties with an insensitive agency. But who the heck thought placing HD's online brand in the hands of a non-employee w

Which Rochester ad agency didn't get the message about distracted driving? The Rochester Advertising Council's 2013 campaign "Yeah, You're that Distracting" has helped make motorists aware that texting while driving can have fatal results. It convinced me that multitasking behind the wheel was a great way to wreck a car, and likely injure someone. But their great campaign doesn't stop outdoor advertising initiatives like this one: The photo isn't mine. Someone -- perhaps a local TV journalist -- grabbed this image with a smartphone and posted it to a social media feed. I'm betting many other motorists did the same thing, and maybe even added a snarky comment. Free publicity? Sure. And Twitter users' tendency to repost and add their own comments are likely to give the athletic club's modest two-billboard campaign a broader reach than they'd have earned if they'd purchased 10 normal billboards. However: campaigns like this