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…

A recent conversation with a car salesman included a discussion about gasoline prices. He noted Americans now seem to be trained to accept higher prices at the pump. The only time you hear complaints about these rising rates is when the oil companies push too far too quickly. Jump those…

A large part of the past weekend was spent selling my wife’s Saturn coupe. And sell it did. It was clean and neat with less than 50,000 miles. I anticipated the car would be sold in about a week or so. Bad assumption. First we did our homework. I checked…

CBS was once the epitome of journalistic integrity. Its anchors and reporters were studied and admired by journalism students across the nation. The familiar names of Murrow, Cronkite, Rather, Safer, Wallace, and so many more were once held in the most highest regard by listeners and viewers, as well as…