Your PR Architect

I spent a few hours riding PR shotgun with several NASCAR drivers during my corporate career. Kurt Busch was one of them. Busch was driving for Roger Penske at the time, and Penske's organization knew how to partner with corporate sponsors, each of whom spends millions to affix their logos on race cars, drivers' fire suits, and so on. By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman John Suits.Hutcher at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons Busch was then a previous NASCAR champion, but known for a fiery temper on the track. Yet, during a day's worth of local media interviews, meet-and-greets with corporate employees, and visits with hospitalized kids, Busch was consistently polite and patient. He posed for photos with strangers, did interviews that wouldn't be seen outside a small upstate TV market, and autographed die-cast cars for use in charity auctions. He was no hothead that day. And a pleasure to work with. He even let me d

Paraphrasing Ferris Bueller: this business changes pretty fast. And staying relevant is a big challenge, whether you're driving communications for a not-for-profit or a corporate organization. In that spirit, I've launched a daily e-newspaper, PR Nomad, on the paper.li platform. This comes out of a class I teach at St. Bonaventure University, so it's something of an experiment. The idea is to let paper.li aggregate content relevant to public relations, and see if it resonates. PR Nomad is free. I invite you to check it out here, and if you find it worthwhile, please consider subscribing, and sharing your opinions. Thanks.

Somehow the title "editor" has become a dirty word. The daily newspaper here (and other Gannett dailies ) recently reorganized its news staff. Titles with words like "news" and "editor" disappeared. That's a problem for public relations people who practice good media relations. If I want to pitch a particular story to a reporter covering the town of Brighton, I could look at a page of newsroom contacts , and find the right individual. Or an editor who'd be interested. Newsroom, By Thomas Schmidt (NetAction) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa /3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Today, it's a murky search. "Editors" have been replaced by Content Strategists. Audience Analysts. Consumer Experience Directors. And Storytelling Content Coaches. One staff member's new job title is Problem Solver. I'm not kidding. In the real world, that job was formerly "Consumer Advocate." And i

Amid the ongoing fallout of NBC newsman Brian Williams' tall stories, a former boss of mine chimed in: "Let's investigate everyone -- key question:  Does the press "speak truth to power" regardless of who is in power?  That is not a test many will pass -- including Brian Williams." Let's be clear: in the matter of Mr. Williams' stories about his Iraq war experience, we don't know what we don't know. For most viewers, he's seen as a compassionate, thoughtful news reader and occasional reporter. And now, one who may have stretched the truth on a personal story with minimal news value. You don't know. I sure don't. The real question may be how long NBC News' leadership knew Mr. Williams' story had holes, yet let him continue for the sake of keeping the Peacock network afloat. The New Yorker's Ken Auletta sums this up here:  http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/brian-williams-god-complex .  By David

Three recent unrelated retail experiences did little to assure me that we'll be shopping in actual stores for nonperishable goods, five years from now. Each event was so illustrative that I decided to name each store below. I don't know if there's any PR strategy that would persuade me to alter my opinion about each merchant. Because retail involves hundreds of individual interactions between the store staff and shoppers, rather than a massive message campaign. Here's today's scorecard: By M.O. Stevens (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Dollar Tree - I don't expect concierge service in a discount store with "dollar" in its name. But when a heated, f-bomb-laden shouting match breaks out between two surly males at the slow-as-molasses checkout, I expect the store's staff to do more than stand around and watch the drama unfold. Kids in line were crying. Ís dialing 911 too c