What's On When
5 Insane Ways Words Can Control Your Mind
By Sam Cooper, CRACKED Staff
On some level we already know that language shapes the way we think. We're automatically more afraid to fight a guy named Jack Savage than somebody named Peewee Nipplepuss, even if we've never seen either of them before. It's totally illogical, but you probably run into an example of that every day, and don't notice it.While we tend to think words are just sounds we make to express ideas, science is finding that language is more like a fun house mirror, warping what we see in mind-blowing ways.
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Fewer UK shoppers act on sustainability concerns, says Nielsen
By Caroline Scott-Thomas, 05-Jul-2010
Sustainability has become a mainstream concern for UK consumers but does not necessarily translate into altered shopping behaviours, according to a new survey from The Nielsen Company.
Just Connect The Dots
In the age of the prosumer and user generated content, there are tremendous possibilities for switched on communicators. Julie Atherton offers advice on using word of mouth techniques effectively in this new environment.
Crisis Planning in the Digital Age
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Digital technology has changed the communications game, particularly in times of crisis. Today, the Internet is often the first and only point of interaction between an organization and its most important audiences. Moreover, in today’s Web 2.0 world, social media can challenge existing perceptions of trust and transparency and democratize the media landscape.
The problem with the reputation of public relations as a service is the perception given out by the public relations industry itself!
Ask anyone outside the profession how they would describe public relations and almost everyone would say public relations is full of blondes drinking champagne.
Although we are in the communications game we are terrible at communicating clearly what public relations is and how public relations can add real value.
How to manage PR in the Еconomical Crisis
2009 started under dark clouds of crisis. Wherever you turn at the moment, the faltering economy is the main focus of every newspaper, magazine and TV report. Even in our everyday conversations, the financial crisis has supplanted those perennial favourites, weather and sports, as the topic that we can all relate to and be guaranteed to have an opinion on. To an unavoidable extent, all communications in 2009 - and possibly even further into the future - will have this troubling narrative in the background, and professional communication becomes more vital than ever. But how should professionals position their messages within this turmoil, and how can they avoid making fundamental mistakes? We have pulled together a few ground rules. Read more
Marketers face a hard sell
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Tim Bradshaw
Ask a dozen advertising agencies for advice on marketing in a downturn and the chances are that each will begin with a lecture on the dangers of cutting budgets.Read more
From tip to base of the consulting pyramid
by Salvador da Kuhna
Not all PR agencies are created equal.
Some have consulting skills to make a strategic difference, while others thrive on day to day activities.
When I’m asked what the biggest differences are between communications consultancies, I usually point to three major lines of action in relation to clients. A top line level of action, in which the communications consultancy aims to influence management decisions; a second intermediate level between the board of directors and the marketing and communications management, where the communications consultancy adapts itself to management decisions; and a third level where the worked carried out is merely operation and has no involvement with the top line management of the client company.
On the first level, consulting is provided exclusively at the level of the board of directors of client companies, in defining the public persona intended for the company, inducing management attitudes and practices that reflect positively on its image and in defining the wide-ranging reputational factors that the company wants to adopt.
It is at this level that definition is given to how the company wants to be understood by its Stakeholders. If it wants to be seen to be socially responsible, innovative and an excellent place to work, or if it would rather be perceived as a visionary company, with excellent financial performance and bullet-proof corporate governance. It is at this level that communications consultants can help company management to make decisions about the communication factors that will be part of its public persona in the future. Its DNA.