June 2007 Archives

During my work at a large PR firm I learned a lot about adoption curves and word-of-mouth marketing. We were taught the adage that on average a person tells 1-5 people about a good experience, and 10 or more...

Shel Holtz wrote a timely post for me today, regarding a call for a true definition of transparency in business. As it happened, I was discussing that very topic with a group of young communicators today during a presentation...

Gerald Baron at Crisisblogger has an interesting take on the infamous Continental “poo flight” (regarding a flight in which a malfunctioning lavatory on a trans-Atlantic trip from Amsterdam to New Jersey forced passengers to endure human waste in the...

Our weekly feature summarizing PR podcasts has moved to the PR Blog Jots blog. This week, we help to celebrate "For Immediate Release's" 250th episode, stop by and check it out!...

Despite battling soul-crushing traffic (first on I-93 South from New Hampshire, then in the various bridges and tunnels of Boston proper, then on the Mass Pike headed towards Watertown), which caused me to show up a full 50 minutes late...

Earlier this month, CustomScoop’s Sarah Wurrey posted on the possible PR headaches that might ensue for the health care industry when Michael Moore’s latest film, SiCKO, is released on June 29. We found the variety and diversity of blog...

My friend Nathan Burke recently began work at a Boston-area startup that definitely has me intrigued. Founded in part by Robert and Jonathan Kraft (owners of the New England Patriots) and launching next week, the company, matchmine, calls itself a "media...

I love reading Techdirt, the posts are almost always insightful and witty. A short post yesterday evening concerning the use of Second Life for job interviews had me laughing, as the job interview was for…wait for it...a position as...

Whole Foods’ CEO is taking on the Federal Trade Commission’s move to block the proposed merger between Whole Foods and competitor Wild Oats Market by taking his fight to the one spot he can control: his blog. CEO John...

Last week, Consumerist posted a long, somewhat standard piece titled "22 Confessions of a former Dell Sales Manager." It followed the same format as Consumerist’s other “confessions” type stories: an employee (or former employee) of a company passes along...

With the release of Michael Moore’s new film attacking the American healthcare system looming, it seems that "Big Pharma" has joined the blogging fray just in time, adding a new avenue of communications to their arsenal on the eve...

As a new weekly feature on the CustomScoop blog, we'll be discussing topics on select PR podcasts, and hopefully having a few insightful comments of our own. We’ll begin working from the esteemed Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson’s “Podroll”...

CompUSA learned the hard way. Last week, Terry Heaton complained on his relatively large blog that the troubled retail chain sold him an empty box for $269. This is just the sort of juicy and strange tidbit bloggers love...

I spend a fair amount of time thinking about who would benefit from monitoring services, and one industry that consistently pops to the top of my mental list is the air travel industry. After seeing post after post about...

Last week, Peter Himler wondered if Paris Hilton’s recent legal woes would damage her career, as the pampered heiress was released (temporarily, as it turned out) from prison early after serving just three days. I responded with my suspicions...

It's shaping up to be a long summer for the healthcare industry's public relations departments. The blogosphere has already been abuzz for weeks about the June 29 release of Michael Moore's latest documentary, "SiCKO."  Moore dubs the film a "comedy"...

Reboot9 wrapped up in Copenhagen last week, and attendee accounts have been permeating the blogosphere ever since.  So what did the attendees take away this year? The most prevalent theme, according to one blogger, is the idea of “the computer...

I’m intrigued by the launch of Yoosk (hat tip to Stephen Davies), a new social media site describing itself as an “interactive magazine and community where the members are the reporters.” I’d describe it as “Digg: The Inquisition.” Users...