Readers of Arthur Frommer’s column can usually expect to find good tips on traveling to China, Europe, Mexico or a few unknown but enticing ports of call. His entries appear in the Travel section and elicit cost-saving ideas on air fare, hotels, and even some restaurants. This week that wasn’t…

Mark Steve Jobs’ name down as the Marketing Person of the Year. The Apple CEO successfully created the enormous buzz for the new iPhone without the usual hard-hitting ads, death defying stunts, product reviews or even the support of the blogsophere. Instead he did a demo at a large conference…

That’s the message from the PRSA Tech Conference just held in New York. The event featured some of the foremost thought leaders on social media and related marketing. They included Patrick Hanlon, founder and CEO of Thinktopia, Inc., and author of Primal Branding; Steve Rubel with Edelman’s me2revolution practice , Constantin Basturea…

It’s over. The eight year history of The Sopranos has finally ended, or make that non-ended. The series final episode last night on HBO was anything but a tidy ending to eight years of Tony, Carmelo, A.J. and Meadow. It left viewers in the dark, literally. Following a shot of…

I probably speak for a number of public relations practitioners who are tired of hearing the term “spin”. Bill O’Reilly on Fox News has his “No Spin Zone”. Following debates politicians have their “Spin Rooms”. TV commentators are starting to call PR professionals “Spin Doctors”. Even a few clients have…

I recently attended a short seminar on how to measure the effectiveness of a public relations campaign. Actually the program was given by a representative of a company that provides PR measurement services for corporations and public relations firms. The luncheon was interesting but was more of a teaser to…

Young public relations practitioners do it. So do many industry veterans. They create and distribute one general news release to a multitude of media and then hope for placement and coverage in newspapers, television, radio and magazines. Stop the presses! That kind of approach has not worked well in the…

I often get a kick out of companies that spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising and public relations then have it all go to waste because of poor customer service. What’s the point of undertaking a 10 point public relations initiative when the customer service reps improperly answer…

Imagine you were the communications director at NBC during the past week. One morning, Don Imus, the long-time host of a steady and most profitable MSNBC simulcasted program delivers the now-famous “Nappy Headed” etc. phrase to describe the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University. First, there is some growing discontent…