Your PR Architect

There's just one so-called killer app. It's email. It's pervasive, cheap, and often relentless. And, in late April and early May, it becomes utterly tone deaf.  I began receiving email* promotions from marketers for Mother's Day deals a few weeks ago. They've steadily increased in frequency. And in stupidity, as in: "Mom really wants a digital SLR outfit." (Words never uttered in any household in my family. Ever.) (Note: this isn't about the new Garry Marshall ensemble comedy, Mother's Day.  I'm talking the real Mother's Day, May 8. Which is right around the corner. So get cracking.) By Frank Mayne from London, UK (Clara's Card) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons While there are women for whom I'd buy Mother's Day cards, gifts or flowers, my mother is not among them. She died in 2013. (The woman in the stock photo is not her.) And every email pitch with ...

We all have photos and moments from our past we'd rather forget. They show up online when we least expect them, like an un-scrubbable digital tattoo. On Facebook. On Instagram. On Twitter. Mine aren't as bad as others. I once played John Hancock in a community theatre production of 1776 . And despite my best efforts, a photo of me in that powdered wig surfaces every now and then. (It could be worse; it's not a photo of me with my own hair.) It's a digital shadow I can't elude. But it likely won't affect my professional reputation. Unless it appears on LinkedIn. Jian Ghomeshi photo by Canadian Film Centre from Toronto, Canada (ideaBOOST Launch Pad May 8, 2014) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons I'm better able to move forward from that awkward powdered-wig image than  Jian Ghomeshi, the former CBC radio host whose career imploded when, in 2014, multiple women accused him of harsh sexual behavior. CBC dismissed Ghomeshi from his talk program "Q...

There's a short list of technology companies whose products I will never buy. This isn't a "Buy American" rant, but it has plenty to do with how tech companies manage -- or mismanage -- their reputations. I don't buy Hewlett Packard products. Partly for the shoddy treatment bestowed on former EDS workers (with whom I'm personally acquainted) acquired when H/P bought the company. Partly because H/P's board of trustees engaged in spying on employees and each other. Partly because an H/P CEO was dismissed in 2011 for "fudging expense reports" -- corporate-codetalk for using company funds on an inappropriate relationship . By Etcha (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0  (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL via Wikimedia Commons None of these events means H/P makes poor technology products. To me, however, it's indicative of a company that applies its profits irresponsibly. And I don't want dime one spent in support of a com...

News item provided by the Associated Press, repeated by a local public broadcasting affiliate : "The Russell Station power generation plant, an iconic landmark near the Lake Ontario shoreline outside Rochester, is being torn down." Russell Station photo by RChappo2002, via Flickr (Creative Commons License 2.0).  https://www.flickr.com/photos/rchappo2002/ Really? The "is being torn down" is Exhibit One in the case of the AP tearing down journalistic writing. Passive voice -- leaning on a wobbly "to be" verb instead of an active verb -- weakens any writing. Marketing communications and public relations agencies will cough up the occasional passive-verb hairball in news releases. For example: a release from the Del Prado law firm  relies on "has been serving" instead of "has served." This suggests that neither the agency or MyPRGenie has newswriting skill. AP and other news organizations shouldn't fall into the same trap. I...

2003 Surveillance image of Xerox Federal Credit Union assailant, provided via Webster (NY) Police Dept. web page at http://ci.webster.ny.us/gallery.aspx?PID=36 I'm a college professor, not a reporter. But I may or may not have had something to do with getting a 13-year-old murder case back in gear. Eight weeks ago, I dug up details of a 2003 bank robbery and murder at a Xerox credit union branch in Webster, NY. A Xerox employee, Raymond Batzel, was killed. The killer fled and was never found. My reporting days are well behind me, but I wanted to use the case in a journalism class I teach at St. Bonaventure University . The idea was to get students to think about who they'd call to get updates on a case no one had reported on for almost a decade. (Most of the officers and others connected with the case have moved on.) During my research, I emailed the police chief in Webster, NY, and the FBI's Buffalo office. The FBI responded first, telling me the Webster Police...

Editors of a student publication asked me: "If you were hired to take attention and support away from (Donald) Trump in the presidential campaign, what would you do? And how would you go about doing this?" Across my career, my engagements in political PR were minimal. Most of my corporate and not-for-profit clients had little political interest. But the editors' questions made me wonder: is taking away Trump's bluster and strong-arm tactics the best path forward? Tom Selleck photo by Alan Light [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Here's what I shared with the editors: The challenge with “taking interest away from Trump” is that it’s impossible. He spent years cultivating his personal brand through his Celebrity Apprentice TV series and phoning news-talk shows on radio and TV. So the entire country believes it “knows” Donald Trump. In other words: Trump's campaign is not based on ideology, GOP d...

(The following post is 100% free of political commentary. But it does mention a few blowhards.) When's the last time you bought a well-made suit? Not the Haggar separates some retailers sell, but a good suit that would last a few years, until fashion dictums made it obsolete? Probably not anytime recently. Casual Fridays at many businesses extended to Casual Everydays. Which, outside of Wall Street, law firms, and TV anchor desks, usually meant fewer suits and ties. My last suit was hand-tailored with Italian silk, and cost the equivalent of a mortgage payment. I don't need to buy another suit anytime soon. This only partially explains why Tailored Brands, the parent company of Men's Wearhouse and Joseph A. Bank, announced last week that 250 of its 1,500 stores would close this year. Not good news for a brand that had some cachet with consumers. By Ed!(talk)(Hall of Fame) [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons Tailored Brands' CEO reported last week t...