“When one person makes an accusation, check to be sure he himself is not the guilty one,” best-selling author, Piers Anthony writes. “Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamour.” This July, President Donald Trump met behind closed doors in the White House with publisher of the New York Times A.G. Sulzberger to talk about current …
Creating an AXIS Point
How do you take a household product and give it cultural relevance? Like this: Take one part household cleaning product line, Pine-Sol® and two parts marketing and communications agency, AXIS. Mix it all together and you’ve got a multicultural marketing campaign. Together, Pine-Sol® and AXIS created the “Makers of Home” campaign, branding Pine-Sol® through diverse home stories and statistics. The makers of …
The “f” Word
The “f” word is in big trouble. And it’s classic! The once social media darling, Facebook, is now facing a crisis of unexpected proportions, complete with testimony before Congress: both the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees and the House Energy and Commerce Committee! All, seemingly, without a plan. A crisis plan. Facing a weekend crash course in crisis communication skills coaching, CEO Mark …
No Failure to Communicate
“What we got here is failure … to communicate.” was the iconic line from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. A petty criminal sentenced to two years on a Florida prison farm, Luke was a rebel with an unbreakable will. Even in the face of repeated stints in the prison’s dreaded solitary confinement cell, “the box,” his bravado …
Talk About a Stick-y Situation
The icy relations between North and South Korea thawed a bit in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Despite Kim Jong-un’s call for “independent unification” free from the interference of other countries, in particular the U.S., the Korean women’s hockey coach was 29-year-old Minnesota-native Sarah Murray. Facing a situation that she never expected, Ms. Murray was forced to merge her original …
The Super Bowl of Commercials
In Super Bowl 2018, advertisers gave us a break, a commercial break, from all the recent political controversy that has been cited as a factor in declining TV ratings for the NFL this season. Even the NFL got into the spirit with “Touchdowns to Come” starring NY Giants quarterback, Eli Manning and his wide receiver, Odell Beckham dirty dancing! Toyota set the emotional bar …
Loose Lips Sink Ships
Commanded former 4-star Marine Corps general and new White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly in the immediate firing of Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci. With brash, trash-talking vulgarities in a phone interview with The New Yorker Magazine, the Mooch, as Mr. Scaramucci likes to call himself, accused the White House staff of leaks to the press and threatened to fire …
Publicity Pitfalls
In today’s media climate, celebrity endorsements can be a slippery slope. Sloppy social media posts are one thing, but how do brands react when the public figures they sponsor receive bad publicity? Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Lochte made international waves surrounding the scandal of the 2016 Rio Olympics, in which he accused Brazilian police of robbing him and two fellow swimmers at …
Remembering what’s important
With decades of experience in coaching, we understand the importance of encouragement in the face of struggle and frustration. A touching moment between a coach and a player at the Little League World Series was caught on live television, warming hearts across the country. The coach also happened to be the player’s father. It was the first game in the series for Pitcher …
Out of the mouth of babes
Media theorist Marshall McLuhan once said, “The medium is the message,” which could not be more true in today’s modern age. The internet and social media have given voice to so many who would be otherwise unheard. Perhaps the most fascinating voices are those that have a better grasp of the new media than its predecessors — those under the age …