Your PR Architect

After two straight years of weekly PR Architect blog posts, I'm taking a break this week. I hope you'll return in January, when I plan to resume this blog.   Happy New Year.

By Theud-bald from Paris, France (Galerie Lafayette - Christmas decoration 4) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons What's the biggest mistake a public relations practitioner can make? Misreading the target audience. Pitching your story to the wrong individual. And I'm not about to do that. It's the last few days before Christmas. You're last-minute shopping. Wrapping gifts, roasting chestnuts, shipping packages, or tipping the postal carrier. You're not chasing down PR tips. Whatever modest audience this blog attracts isn't wondering about some company's PR blunders just now. So, this week, I'm respecting my audience.  Go celebrate your holidays. Hug your loved ones. And Happy Christmas. 

No, it's not Steve Jobs.  I'm referring to Steve Ells, Chipotle's CEO, whose company has been having the worst weeks ever. Maybe the worst quarter. Unexplained illnesses linked to Chipotle's fresh-food menu have resulted in more than 120 customers taking sick, and the temporary closing of 44 restaurants in Boston and the Pacific Northwest. By Aude (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons To his credit -- and at some professional risk -- Ells took to the morning TV news circuit last week, and took full responsibility for these problems. On the TODAY show, the first words out of his mouth? "I'm sorry." No royal "we're sorry." No PR aphorisms along the lines of,  "We regret..." He took responsibility. And explained in very plain English what the company's doing to sanitize the restaurants and make them safe. And, even when asked about the impact of the bad news and closings on Chipotle's stock price, Ells stayed on

I'm struggling to figure out how Snapchat fits in a public relations strategy. This may be akin to By Snapchat, Inc. (https://twitter.com/Snapchat) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons asking your grandfather to join Instagram. Admission: I'm in learning mode with Snapchat. The app peered into my device's address book, and served up two names of contacts with Snapchat accounts. I haven't spoken to these individuals in more than a year. And neither are people with whom I'd want to share images from my daily life. (Aside: while writing this blog, I had to force my fingers to type "Snapchat" and not "snapshot." Old habits die hard.) But a colleague tells me Snapchat is a viable marketing communications platform for her needs. She works in undergraduate admissions, and is using a version of a university mascot to promote followers for the university on Snapchat. In the battle for hearts of prospective young enrollees, a plush-toy ani

Perhaps the one memorable line from the weakest Star Trek film -- Star Trek V, The Final Frontier -- was uttered by William Shatner's Captain Kirk: "What does God need with a starship?" I asked a variant of that question last week, when online retail juggernaut Amazon demonstrated a re-usable rocket that, after completing its mission, returned safely to its launch pad. I'm not sure who's ordering Adele CDs on the moon, but it's impressive to know that Amazon's been thinking about this. Jeremy Clarkson, By Ed Perchick (flickr) ,  via Wikimedia Commons Then I asked: What does Amazon need with a rocket ship? Next, over the Thanksgiving holiday, Amazon posted a video of ex- Top Gear bad boy Jeremy Clarkson, using his wry sarcasm to provide an update on the Amazon delivery-by-drone technology , called Prime Air. Looks like it'll be a hit, assuming you have few trees or overhead electrical feeds. (Clarkson, along with Top Gear alumni Richa

Thanksgiving's around the corner. I don't wish to stand between you and your Butterball . So I'll be brief. I often tell students that public relations is "doing the right thing and getting credit for it." Other times, I say -- with apologies to Leonard Nimoy -- that PR is "a wreath of pretty flowers which smells bad." But, no matter what I say about PR, Indeed.com says it worse. Much worse. Try searching for a public relations job on Indeed.com. This is what you'd find in Buffalo, NY: Of the "public relations opportunities" served up in this message, only the "Sr. Marketing Analyst/ Communications Specialist position could reasonably include PR duties. (The Public Relations Director job at Superior Group is a paid ad that's been up for weeks, which means Superior Group -- a contract employer -- may have filled it already.) The others? Who knows? The Infant-Toddler Specialist position? The restaurant m

A few retailers recently gained some media praise for deciding  not to open for pre-Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day. Nordstrom, A.C. Moore, Barnes & Noble, and Costco are among those choosing to pass up quick-buck opportunities and rampant doorbuster-ism and allow employees to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones. Bravo to them for choosing family over profits. But REI did them all one better. Recreational Equipment Company -- REI, the big sporting goods retailer -- took it even further: they won't be open on Friday, Nov. 27, actual Black Friday. They earned national TV coverage, telling NBC News among others, that employees would be paid for Nov. 27, even though the stores would be closed. "We're paying our employees to go outside," they said. A great move, earning REI plenty of free publicity. Except when the CEO took his message to social media via the "Ask Me Anything" forum on Reddit.com . While Jerry Stritzke, REI's chi

By Greg Rakozy (www.instagram.com/grakozy), via unsplash.com More than one friend of mine likes to post photos to Facebook. Photos of their travels. Snapshots from their parties. Lots of photos. Every. single. photo. Like a sky full of stars, that's too much to absorb. What's worse? Often, they're near-identical images -- group shots of three or four people, taken moment by moment, with little change of gesture or expression. Or the dreaded BOH (backs of heads). Not action photos, which might call for a rapid-fire sequence of images. Just group photos. People grinning for the camera. Do we need to see four, five, or six iterations of the same snapshot? No. That's unfair to everyone who follows you. Sure, social media is a visual medium. Visual communications, from infographics to vlogs, are the common currency of the internet. And, one outcome of citizen journalism and the proliferation of smartphone cameras is that people take countless photos. This isn

When a newspaper gives you a soapbox to comment on business trends, aren't there better topics than revisiting the decline of once-dominant manufacturers who long ago lost their edge? When I read Patrick Burke's column, "Tough times for Rochester's former Big Three," I thought: "Great opinion piece. For 2010." Kodak's in financial trouble? Tired old news. The company struggled with digital innovation, and hasn't yet regained its footing. Xerox is having trouble? Surprise -- it's tough when you're elbowing against nimble system integrators. Bausch & Lomb's parent company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, has earned scrutiny for questionable financial practices? Those behaviors pre-date Valeant's 2013 purchase of B&L and its move to New Jersey. Xerox's Gil Hatch Center, Webster, NY. Photo by DanielPenfield (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons Big companies now compete in a global arena. They aren't always adept at g

Every few months, someone's predicting the demise of the press release. Photo by Dustin Lee via Unsplash.com. See more at http://bit.ly/Free-RetroSupply-Goods And, if they're an editor or blogger or journalist, I think: baloney. My colleague Denny Wilkins shared with me a "press releases are dead"  post from Medium . The writer argues that issuing news releases is a zombie activity. Something PR people do automatically. A practice that cannot be killed.  And, like most who call for an end to news releases, the writer bemoans the flood of releases that clutter most editors' email in-boxes. He praises videos and Tweets that tell an organization's story digitally, and therefore "better." Because Tweets and videos don't clutter his in-box. Stop whining. You receive an over-abundance of releases because your employer gutted the editorial staff. You're now receiving releases those departed editors no longer read. Because they'r

Do you wear pink in October? This is the designated month and color for breast cancer awareness. And part of me asks: what does awareness do? Angelina Jolie by Georges Biard [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons I was aware of breast cancer when a friend was diagnosed. The planet went on Global Celebrity Alert when Angelina Jolie disclosed her double-mastectomy because a test had identified a gene linked to breast cancer. I'd say we've got awareness covered. What I'd rather see? Not "awareness." But a campaign that asks me to take action. This surfaced with a client's request to create a poster promoting a medical process. I asked: "What's the call to action?" Client's response: "There's no call to action. We're just trying to grow awareness." Awareness? Or its hipper step-sister, buzz? Please, not again. How many ads do we encounter every day? Estimates va

Your house is part of a community. A museum is a place you visit to see art and artifacts. That was my reaction last week when the leadership of George Eastman House announced a rebranding of its facility and website, rechristening itself the George Eastman Museum . The announcement said "museum" helped differentiate the place for European visitors, for whom "house" meant "institute." Eastman's house? Viewed from East Avenue, it's a stunning mansion built by the founder of Eastman Kodak Company, who died in 1932. A more-modern museum, film archive, and research department is attached to the back of the original mansion.  Drawing Room, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY. (c) DKassnoff, 2010. I'm debating whether the name change means more than a PR move. "House," to me, meant more than "museum." It says that George lived there -- made his big decisions about business, life, and death. (At an advanced age an

I didn't get the job. I was reminded about this when Facebook notified me that a company I'd "liked" had changed its name. They didn't hire me. That's life. I love my current job. But, in 2014, I interviewed twice with an auto parts manufacturer in a rusting town. They wanted someone with deep expertise in internal and external communications. Someone experienced in winning over skeptical old-line workers with union ties. Someone who'd done internal videos. Photo: KarleHorn at German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 or CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/ 3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons Me? Not quite. They didn't hire me, and I politely asked what skills I needed to win that job. They said: "We wanted someone with more experience in social media." That hurt. I had social media experience, creating Facebook and Twitter accounts, podcasts and blogs for clients. Maybe I could forgive them for not reading my res

College students from across western New York are now brainstorming creative ideas to promote an early childhood literacy program as part of the PRSA Rochester chapter's 2015 PR Apprentice competition. Check back for details.

While Pope Francis led a spiritual resurgence of faithful Catholics in Cuba, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City last week, a different resurrection was taking place a few steps away from St. Patrick's Cathedral. Brian Williams went back on TV Thursday to deliver news of the Pope's visit, working out of studios at 30 Rock. Except he's on MSNBC, the cable news channel that has fewer viewers than any other NBC-Comcast-Universal property. By fimoculous from Seattle (Flickr), via Wikimedia Commons Mr. Williams, you may recall, fell off the NBC News' anchor desk seven months ago, after sharing tall stories about his exploits in Iraq and New Orleans that proved inaccurate, to put in kindly. Williams -- affable, credible, and a good front man for NBC's news product -- had fibbed. He was suspended, and only through the graces of new leadership at NBC News, was given an opportunity to resurface at MSNBC, where he began his network career a few decades a

One of the classes I teach involves helping students understand the concept of Big Data . And it gives me a headache to think about it. Big Data describes all the digital transaction information organizations acquire about us. Our health records (supposedly safe) are part of Big Data. When I buy kosher hot dogs, orange seltzer, and Tums (don't ask) at Wegmans, the loyalty card I carry tags my purchase in some data file. That becomes part of Big Data. By Thierry Gregorius (Cartoon: Big Data) , via Wikimedia Commons Taken together, an immense database contains our online purchase histories, our health histories, our online tussles with Microsoft, and so on. Most companies struggle to sift and manage this trove. And few can explain how hackers get into their computer servers and swipe it. In 2013, Target experienced a major data breach. They were hacked. The chief information officer resigned. A few months later, after Target experienced an awful fourth quarter, the CEO qui

You've got to admire an online news release distribution channel called 24-7 Press Release. They're honest about their service: they take a news release you write, and distribute it to media outlets via a newswire-style service. What they won't do is also pretty clear: "Please do not attempt to contact 24-7 Press Release Newswire. We are unable to assist you with any information regarding this release." In other words: "We aren't the writers or people quoted in the news release you're reading. We're not set up for media relations." Honest? You bet. Helpful? Not so much, at least if you  read releases on 24-7 Press Release -- in this case, "Fresh Design Studio is the First Millennial Agency in the Midwest" .  Millennials, I guess. Courtesy: http://www.todomktblog.com/ 2013/11/millennials-marketing-mkt.html The release's lead was a head-scratcher."Fresh Design Studio, LLC, a leading creative agency, ann

Burger King earned itself a moment of PR limelight with its recent invitation to McDonald's -- yes, that McDonald's -- to collaborate on a joint sandwich, later this month on Peace Day (Sept. 21). McDonald's' response? "No, thank you." McWhopper, as seen on NBC's Today Show. Full segment: http://tinyurl.com/plwa5kx From one perspective, Burger King's armistice in the "burger wars" helped it gain some visibility, albeit at the cost of full-page newspaper ads, a Twitter account (#McWhopper) and a clever-ish website . The strategy borrows a little of McDonalds' luster to portray Burger King as a near-equal. The reality is different, however. According to QSR magazine, McDonald's is still the reigning champ, with annual sales around $35 billion. Burger King clocks in at No. 5 -- $8.5 billion -- behind Subway, Starbucks, and Wendy's. McDonald's is shuttering restaurants, paring back its menu choices, and experimenting w

A few weeks ago, I chided pen make Bic for its sexist ads. I'm not the only one.  Here's an amusing take on what others did with the Bic ad campaign:  http://magazine.good.is/articles/bad-ad-backfires?utm_source=TSE&utm_medium=FB&utm_campaign=pd&ts_pid=2

Now and then, I have the privilege of leveraging the craft of public relations to do some real-world good. In a few weeks, that opportunity comes around again with our "PR Apprentice" competition -- where we'll ask college students to dive in to the deep end of the PR pool. It's a sink or swim event. This year's program (Oct. 2-3) involves members of the PRSA chapter in Rochester, NY and local media representatives serving as coaches and judges of teams from several colleges and universities in Western New York. Over a 36-hour period, the teams of students will strategize and pitch their best plans to promote a dual-language awareness campaign for Ibero American Action League's Early Childhood Center . View a video and full details on PRSA Rochester's website. Engaging undergraduates in this competition gives them both exposure to a real-world PR challenge, and helps them demonstrate their skills to agency, not-for-profit, and corporate practiti

Kmart talks "asset light" and "member-centric" while removing services I stopped in at Kmart to buy a shirt. And I discovered  they'd removed the walk-up electronic price scanners that helped shoppers verify item prices and discounts. I now needed to wander the floor, hoping to uncover an employee with a pricing gun. Good luck with finding floor personnel at any Kmart. Really? At a time when retailers should be doing everything to build engagement with consumers, Kmart is removing most of its ways to deliver value to customers. Seems counter-intuitive to a retailer that touts a "Shop Your Way" connection with customers.  No store generates more paper at the register than Kmart. (c) DKassnoff At the checkout, the cashier announced to a fellow clerk, "I'm clocking out at five," before handing me a wad of auto-printed coupons and promotions. Five slips of junk for products I'd never buy. If there's a PR strateg

Two companies recently took steps to change how they approach the female demographic. Target took a step forward. BIC took a step backward. Target announced it would remove in-store signs that categorize products as gender-specific. Good move; it should be up to the parents and their kids to determine which toys sons and daughters prefer. While a minor issue -- no one had filed a lawsuit over the "girls' building sets" signs -- it's a simple change that shows the big retailer's listening to its customers. The company earned positive media coverage for it. BIC's faux pas was a hastily launched and withdrawn online ad tied to Women's Day in South Africa. You can read about it here.  Bad form, BIC. Objectifying women and telling them to "think like a man" insults every woman who's ever had her suggestions batted down by a lame-brained male executive.  BIC, you'll recall, launched a line of pink and purple "BIC for Her

PR.com houses a wealth of executive-written news releases. If you're a CEO with a do-it-yourself gene, you'll find plenty of friends here. Their writing's not brilliant, but someone at PR.com appears to edit them. The weakest element of the writing? Most rely on passive voice, or over-dependence on “to be” verb phrases. Unless you're auditioning for Hamlet, I'd excise any use of the "to be" verb phrase. A simple example: By Stephan Czuratis (Jazz-face) (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons Passive Voice:  “It was announced today that a new ergonomic drum stick is being launched by Chicken Percussion, Inc.” Active Voice:  “Chicken Percussion today launched a new line of ergonomic drum sticks.” A reliance on weak to-be verbs kills any energy in your news story. “It was announced…” and “is being launched” sounds as if everything’s after-the-fact. Remember, news releases should deliver  news – and in today’s 24/7 news cycle, immediacy (or conveying

I was feeling a little blue the other day. So I looked online for something to amuse me. A news release with poor prose usually brings a smile to my face. I didn't need to look far. At MyPRGenie.com, I found sentences like these: "The advancement in science and technology has escalated the living standard of the people to far greater heights."  "Thousands of customers have already made it the integral part of their life and many more are on the verge of getting it soon." "Why is the reason that this USB Adjust Angle has received such a substantial response within a short period of time? Well, many people still wonder; however, the users have already got the answers." These aren't the observations of a drunken platinum futures salesperson in Des Moines. They are all direct excerpts from a news release for a "Conveniently Adjustable Mini USB Adjust Angle for Night Book Reading." The product is a run-of-the-mill USB-powered lamp

This is not a tale about grade school kids, despite the headline. Camille* and I began a conversation at a professional dinner. We hadn't met previously, but I knew the not-for-profit agency she headed. She liked a few things I said about strengthening their external communications, took my business card, and promised to call. Image by Kaz, from Pixabay, via Wikimedia Commons Reaching out to Camille over the next few weeks yielded no response. Then, one night, about eight weeks later, she phoned to ask for ideas to better market her agency's new counseling service. I shared a few thoughts in writing -- it took about an hour -- and she indicated we should meet soon and move toward a working relationship. Nothing happened, even after multiple follow-ups from me. A few months later, around 8 pm on a Friday, Camille called in a panic. An ex-client of the agency was frustrated with its policies, and his unhappy friend posted disparaging remarks on the agency's Facebo

Had enough of the content tidal wave yet? The web offers more than "stream of consciousness." It's scream of consciousness -- a term I attribute to the  artist Carolyn Kassnoff around 2001 -- but it's more accurate than ever. Every thought, idea, wry observation, or snarky Kardashian slap finds its way into the torrent of social media. And no place is it more evident than Twitter. PR pro David Ericson recently blogged about many ways to use Twitter for public relations . It's a good read, describing how Twitter's alliance with Google helps the social media site reach casual web consumers who aren't (yet) Twitter members. So, if you're a PR pro who's working to get recognition for a client's services and products, there's value to including a well-planned Twitter strategy. Yogi Berra, C. 1956, via Wikimedia Commons But there's another way for PR people to leverage Twitter, although you need a registered Twitter account. I

You can go anywhere on the Internet to hear pundits expound on the travails of public figures: Cosby. Trump. Ariana Grande, the so-called singer named for a coffee cup size. I'm not biting. Not this week. Instead, let's  look at the technology universe, where last week, Microsoft announced 7,800 employees would lose their jobs.  Most of those jobs were associated with the mobile phone business Microsoft acquired from Nokia. Windows Mobile-powered handsets are not selling. Last year, they laid off 18,000 employees , also tied to the mobile phone business. That's two straight years of downsizings tied to phones.  By David1010 (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons Pretty soon, Microsoft's mobile unit will have all the credibility of Radio Shack. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, explained the strategic shift in an email to employees: "We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Wi

I seldom venture into politics or commentary about candidates for political office. This is a brief exception. News editors, I'm talking to you. Do you realize that when Donald Trump says something incendiary about some non-U.S. nationality, he's baiting you? When you keep re-playing his offensive comments about Mexican citizens, you give him more exposure than, say, ANY CANDIDATE WHO'S ACTUALLY GOVERNED? Substitute image to be used in place of any photo of Donald Trump. P.T. Barnum wasn't available. When you report on corporations backing out of deals with Trump, that's only slightly newsworthy. Companies end business dealings all the time. When Kodak collapsed into bankruptcy, major deals with Target, Wal-mart, Disney, and the PGA Tour went away. The backlash over Trump's remarks made his torn-up contracts mildly more interesting, but not deserving of the air time and web content you're handing over to him. Donald Trump is a very expens

The county's PR guy had a county-owned car, which he and his wife drove to a wedding in a neighboring county. Alcohol was served. The wife was charged with DWI. The county PR guy -- who tried to strong-arm the traffic stop by playing the "do you know who I am?" card --  got a seven-day suspension, and can't touch his fleet car for 30 days. Not the actual DWI stop. By Highway Patrol Images (BN 201 VE SS  traffic stop), via Wikimedia Commons It's fair to say things didn't end well. That's all we really know about Justin, his wife, and the unnamed third person in the car at the time of the arrest. The Monroe County Executive -- herself a former TV journalist -- has labeled this a personnel matter, and sealed the details from voters. So much for transparency. But it's not about the county executive, who's ending her term-limited stint in the job. It's about the PR guy, and what should pass for judgment when your paycheck comes from local

Our local PRSA chapter held its award ceremony last week. Many great public relations campaigns, agencies, and practitioners were recognized. And deservedly so. My Canon camera. By Mohylek (Own work),  via Wikimedia Commons I'd share photos, except I wasn't there. And most of the photos posted on social media by the event's attendees were uniformly awful. Poorly lit, under-exposed snapshots -- the incriminating fingerprint of a smartphone camera that uses a tiny sensor and fires a tiny LED to produce a feeble flash. Or has no flash at all. (I'd link to their pictures, but it's unfair to show colleagues in less than flattering photos.) Footnote: this isn't specific to the Rochester, NY PRSA chapter. I've now seen shots from the Buffalo PRSA Excalibur awards event; they aren't any better, and in some cases, look no better than any after-party selfies you've seen. Listen, I get it. People don't want to carry two devices. A stand-al

Our canal boat. (c) DKassnoff, 2012. A couple of years ago, I rented a boat and cruised for a few days on the Erie Canal. Some of the communities we saw on our voyage were charming. Others offered all the allure of a miniature Rust Belt refinery. There's more to the Erie Canal than most people realize. Communities like Fairport and Brockport in upstate New York have built substantial attractions around the canal. Others have more modest setups: a small park or a boat launch. But if your community has invested anything in its waterfront in hopes of drawing tourism, you'd be wise to tell someone about it. Here's an example: This is what TripAdvisor.com has to say about things to do in Newark, New York: Even at full size, it doesn't say much. There was a movie theatre, but it apparently closed in 2014. And nothing else. When I visited on my voyage, however, here's what I found: A comfortable, clean canalside park with moorings, free WiFi, and a lau

It's just me, I suppose. Or maybe not. I am Jewish, and I'm a little disappointed just now with our cultural tendency to talk about inclusion while failing to practice it. As a culture, you'd think we'd know better. The other day, I received an e-mail blast (with a few details obscured) -- and was asked to help spread the word of an event: By Fast Forward Event Productions, via Wikimedia Commons Dear Library Moms, Please join us at “Moms Make It, Take It, Over Chocolate and Wine” on Thursday, June 11, 2015 at Temple Beth Zion from 7 – 8:30 PM. The event includes making Jewish summer activities, a presentation on turning regular moments into Jewish ones, and lots of good wine and chocolate! What’s wrong with this message? I'm a Jewish dad. And I'm not invited. The message assumes that Jewish households in our community rely on moms alone to ensure a heritage-rich upbringing. It infers that the fathers have a diminished role in providing a Jewis

As a kid, I loved Alpha-Bits, the cold ready-to-read cereal consisting of all 26 alphabet letters. (That's not a typo. I think it helped develop my love of reading and writing.) So when I read this news release: Modernizing Medicine and Miraca Life Sciences Debut EMA Urology EMR System | Business Wire -- I had a flashback to my Alpha-Bits days. There are four acronyms in the lead paragraph. And they're easily confused by a business desk editor. Especially if it's Monday morning. "EMR," for example, is the stock symbol for Emerson Electric Co., as well as Electronic Medical Records. In addition to the company's use of EMA for "electronic medical assistant," it's also widely used as an acronym for European Medicines Agency, the Environmental Media Association, a significant ad agency based in Syracuse, NY., and MTV's European Music Awards. Also, MLS abbrevates the Multiple Listings Service used in real estate. News flash:  people

Every day, at least one of the news sources I follow on Facebook posts a link to a non-local story, accompanied by the invitation: WEIGH IN. Or SOUND OFF. Or the ever-popular: WHAT DO YOU THINK? And I think: Go enterprise a real news story. The internet has enough rude, unmoderated comments. The best reporting requires a little hustle on the part of reporters and editors. Ambition. Moxie. The best reporters do this, time and again. But in a Facebook world, it's not enough to report news. TV news affiliates -- and some print-based media online -- now try to augment the good work of reporters and goose their Facebook traffic numbers by inviting followers to "sound off" or "weigh in." This is less vox populi than it is a blanket invitation to banter. Media consultants tell TV and radio outlets they need to "engage" their audiences via social media. Thoughtful online discussions would be one way. But asking viewers to leave under-informed