PR

Herb Schmertz, who passed away last week, did amazing work that made him my idol when I started in the business. Little did I know that he was inventing the future of PR, too.

At least three of Schmertz’s innovations are now mainstays of business communications today:

I read earlier this week that chicken foods giant Tyson had hired a PR firm (Fleishman-Hillard) to be its “agency of record” for crisis communication and corporate reputation. The article said it was uncommon to retain crisis help on an ongoing basis.

It’s also a misplaced focus of Tyson’s attention.

When Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper ran a story on drug-addled porn actor cannibal murderer Luke Magnotta a few weeks ago, it used a photo of the guy holding a bottle of Labatt beer. The company objected, issuing a statement that the image was “highly denigrating to our brand” and threatening legal action if it wasn’t swapped for a non-branded shot. A torrent of snarky Tweets ensued and then Labatt retracted its threat.

by: Jason Miller

Following up on yesterday’s post, I am still reveling in the thought leadership bliss and overflow of insights from last week’s Blueglass LA internet marketing conference. Here are five more key takeaways for the B2B Marketing professional from experts Chris Brogan, Copyblogger’s Brian Clark, SEOmoz’s Jamie Steven, and HARO’s Peter Shankman.

by: Jason Miller

The public relations industry's trade association is running a campaign to come up with a new definition for PR. I can see the problem, since social media technologies have democratized the tweaking, spinning, and obfuscating of the truth that used to be the exclusive purview of PR professionals. In an age when anyone can be an expert on anything, every opinion is as valid as the next and no fact need go unchallenged, contradicted, or ignored.

Last year at SXSW, I handed over the panel I proposed to my former colleagues at Dachis Group (Social Business By Design). This year will be different. I've submitted a panel on why PR's future may not look like PR.

Unlike its response to the 1982 product tampering crisis, Tylenol is writing a textbook case with its reaction to the FDA's concerns about dosage...a case history of what not to do.

Last week, an advisory panel of doctors and consumer representatives (whoever they are) announced that:

by: Matt Rhodes

by: Scott Goodson

How do you think real time marketing affects what traditional marketers do? How do big marketers cope with the idea that you spend months on end planning, creating, producing and then launching major campaigns that could get hijacked by consumers using blogs, Facebook, or the weapon of choice: Twitter.