b5media.com

Advertise with us

Enjoying this blog? Check out the rest of the Business Channel Subscribe to this Feed

Common Sense PR

Archive for the ‘Reputation Management’ Category

May 16th, 2008

PR Pile-on Overlooks What Most PRs Do

It’s been a busy week of accusations, gnashing of teeth, and protests of innocence.
The Middle East? No, I’m talking about the ongoing debate between bloggers and journalists on one side and public relations folks on the other.
Most bloggers (and many journalists) seem to assume that the only thing a PR does all day is dream […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 1 comment

May 14th, 2008

Damage Control: Tim Horton’s Reverses Firing for Doughnut Hole Freebie

What a schmozzle.
The recent uproar after the firing of an employee over her decision to give a free bite-sized snack to the young child of a customer lead the Tim Horton’s chain to unfire her.
The optics of firing a single mother for an act of kindness put the fast food chain in a bind.
Is […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 2 comments

May 7th, 2008

Perception of VOIP 9-1-1 Access Fatal

Customers of VOIP phone services are supposed to alert their service provider if they move, so the instructions can be changed for emergency services responding to a 911 call.
But that doesn’t mean the company is off the hook. A family in Calgary lost their 18-month-old son after ambulance crews were dispatched to an old […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 1 comment

April 30th, 2008

Some Lawyers Know Dick about PR

Lawyers are often very good at helping organizations achieve their goals. But when it comes to plotting effective public relations moves, they too often forget how that legal action can be seen as aggressive overkill to the average person.
Case in point, the chill effect attempted by lawyer Clifford Shoemaker on behalf of his clients, who […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

April 15th, 2008

China Spins, World Applies PRessure

A student of public relations can see a belligerent pattern in the Chinese government’s reputation defence during the past year.
Accusation: producing unsafe productsDefence: blame sloppy manufacturing specs provided by clients.
Accusation: human rights abuses in TibetDefence: allege Dalai Lama’s of conspiracy to cause deaths of ethnic Chinese
Tactic:  Olympic Torch Relay protestsDefence:  glorify noble athletes standing […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 3 comments

April 11th, 2008

Everything I Know about Business I Learned Fragging N00bs

There are some rules of engagement in online games. Learn them and you can play Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft without becoming a pariah.
Apply them to business, and you will have some back-up when the going gets rough. (Business implications in parentheses.)
1)  Learn the game offline before joining group play. That way, […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 6 comments

April 10th, 2008

Olympic Torch Relay: Virtual Edition

Talk about having your symbolism hijacked. The Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee have seen the usual positive tenor of the international torch relay degenerate into a platform for political protests over human rights.
The challenge now is to pretend that the torch is being peacefully passed from hand-to-hand with the world looking on […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

April 6th, 2008

Identity Hijacking for Humor - How Far Is Too Far?

Stealing someone’s identity to defraud someone is a serious criminal offence.
Borrowing someone’s identity to take the piss out of them, as the Brits would say, is a time-tested satirical technique.
The skewerer gets props for cleverness. But the one who is skewered often also gains visibility, possibly a wider audience, and kudos for having a sense […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 5 comments

March 27th, 2008

China’s Pre-Olympics PR: Tibetans Are People, not Props for a Photo Opp

You would think George Bush’s massive failure to communicate himself out of the Iraq invasion quagmire would serve as a lesson for other major powers.
The Chinese spin on the Tibetan protests are clear and consistent: the Dalai Lama is a lying, scheming radical fomenting rebellion in an otherwise peaceful part of China.
In an almost unprecedented […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

Site Meter
Close
E-mail It