Archive for July, 2009
Money, Money, Money
While on annual vacation with my wife … we always visit the same remote valley in extreme southeast Switzerland near Italy … I have been thinking about Frank Rich’s essay in The New York Times this past Sunday on the passing of Walter Cronkite and lamenting the demise of journalistic standards as we have know when for years. I believe Frank, who I greatly respect, missed the main point about the crumbling news business.
40 Days Since Neda’s Death
Since I wrote about the murder of Neda Agha Soltan in Tehran on June 20, I wanted to follow up with this moving and powerful story from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty … an interview with Neda’s mother:
July 30 marks 40 days since the death of 27-year-old Neda Agha Soltan, who has become a symbol of Iran’s brutally suppressed “Green movement” protesting the results of last month’s presidential election.
Munich … Surf City Germany
I really didn’t know what to expect when a friend suggest that we walk over to the English Gardens in Munich to watch the surfers. Heck, I was in Santa Cruz, America’s Surf City, a couple of weeks ago and got all excited. There’s no wide sandy beach in Munich, however. But there seems to be pretty good surfing.
The Very Broken PR Agency Model
A friend of mine was sharing a story about being interviewed by an office of a large PR agency. I could mention the name but it really does not matter because they are all the same. What struck him at first was the singular focus of the agency on itself.
Attempts to Reach Baby Boomers
BoomerCafe.com, the Web site about baby boomer experience, is 10 years old this month. Former ABC News correspondent Greg Dobbs (he’s now with HDNet), and I launched it in July 1999 primarily to give voice to America’s largest (78 million) and most affluent generation that marketers had essentially ignored, then and now.
Nokia, Siemens Risk Image for Profit
Nokia, the mobile phone maker, and Seimens, a German electronics company, are facing growing boycotts of their products and services around the world today by being accomplices-for-profit with the repressive regime in Iran. It is becoming a global PR nightmare for the two greedy companies.
Threat Level is Murky
The color-code threat level at America’s airports has been “Orange” for so long, it’s become rusty. Don’t believe me? Drive into Houston’s Intercontinental Airport and a permanent sign, now rusting and faded, informs you of the orange threat level.
David Meerman Scott: Creating Authoritative Voice
Author, consultant and communications thought-leader David Meerman Scott has come out squarely in support of my project with the Imperial Sugar Company, saying “brand journalism creates an authoritative voice” for the company’s new online newsroom.
Washington Post Apologizes for Exclusive Access
I held off at first writing something about this story when it first broke last week, primarily to see how it would unfold. There was something about the story that seemed to ring so true about the Post today even though what the paper did was so bone-headed.
