Your PR Architect

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.