Category Archives: Personal Observations
Balding Barbie to Better the Brand?
As a female, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Barbie as long as I can remember. We’ve all heard about her physiological impossibilities or perhaps grumbled a time or two about the expectation she sets, yet she remains a steady icon in the world of toys. Personally, I applaud Mattel’s efforts to broaden her career …
35 Million Users Can’t Be Wrong … email Is Killing Us!
My flight from Austin to Memphis was waved off due to fog Wednesday morning. Consequently, I had a little time to log onto email while waiting for my connection to Milwaukee. My “Deleted” file shows that I tended to the last message in the airport at 8:44 a.m. By the time I could take the …
Gaming latest in “marketing to kids” campaign?
I’m in Las Vegas for my sister-in-law’s wedding. As someone who worked in the gaming industry as a public relations director and a television producer at thoroughbred horse racing tracks in southern California and Minnesota, I’ve paid some attention to the “family friendly” approach those responsible for promoting Las Vegas have taken during the past …
The recognition is great, but I’ve known it all along
Those of us who’ve spent our life working in public relations and reputation management clearly understand the philosophy of third-party endorsement. Even though I’ve spent the better part of the past 25-or-so years counseling clients to stay away from self-aggrandizing speak, I will ignore my own advice just this once. On Friday we learned that …
Putting (Nail) Polish on Gender Rules
As communicators we often are faced with getting messages out there that make a splash and break through all the noise. We do this in advertising, PR and even reputation management (under the right circumstances). Sometimes getting that message to make a splash backfires, especially when it reaches an audience different from the identified ‘key …
