Workarounds that Work. Past READY FOR MEDIA client and author Russell Bishop’s recent book explains that a “workaround” is working around something or someone to deal successfully with a problem that prevents you from achieving your aim. With a disarmed Congress, corporate America is taking aim at the NRA. Now, that’s customer service! Dick’s Sporting Goods, founded in 1948 by …
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 …
Dove Creates a Soap Opera
The famous Unilever body wash brand, Dove, struggling to emphasize positive body image, managed to offend its female audience not once, but twice this past year. “Dove’s advertisements are some of the worst social media disasters of 2017,” Jacob Shelton wrote in Ranker.com. “The corporations that made the list performed “big stunts, with the hopes of appealing to people’s sense of either …
How to Avoid #Hashtag Hazards
The hashtag, when used correctly, can reach a broader group of people than those who follow you on Twitter or connect with you on LinkedIn. It facilitates branding and allows companies to create catchy slogans motivating audiences to remember and to respond. However, the hashtag is more complicated than just throwing a few words together. Here are a few basic …
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
There’s an old saying in journalism, the camera doesn’t lie, nor does it blink. But until recently, the camera has always been in the hands professionals. Not in the hands of citizens documenting police or airline brutality. Now everyone with a cell phone, and that’s pretty much everyone, is a documentarian, taking cameras and matters into his or her own hands. And …
It’s a Dog’s Life
“When I die, I want to come back as your dog,” is a compliment often paid to dog owners who spoil their dogs with a lavish lifestyle that is anything but a dog’s life. And we humans tend to have more than one dog in our lifetimes. Both reincarnation and the role that dogs play in our lives are the …
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 …
In Other Words
There were a lot of firsts at the 2016 Republican National Convention, but Melania Trump’s speech was not one of them. Mrs. Trump’s apparent plagiarism of First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention created quite a stir from the public, the media, and the Trump campaign. And the Republicans’ attempts to explain it away challenged the …
Down but not Out
Outnumbered but not outclassed, House Democrats fought for the right to be heard on gun control. A veteran civil rights activist, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) was the spokesperson for the 170 lawmakers who staged a 26-hour sit-in on the House floor before the 4th of July adjournment. He also tweeted this soundbite, “We got in trouble. We got in the …
Gloria Steinem: Never Not Controversial
Know your Audience. In a struggle to re-invent itself, Lands’ End featured an interview with feminist Gloria Steinem (notable for her work in abortion and reproductive rights) in its “Legends” catalog, before considering the audience. The company, popular for its khakis and primary-colored knit sweaters, contracts with many Catholic schools for uniforms and the catalog reached students’ homes. Generating much anti-abortion criticism and many …