At some point during a recession, every business’s advertising budget or marketing plan has had a setback—budgets cut, projects cancelled, creative direction changed, whatever. Sadly, usually the first thing to get cut during economic hardship is the advertising budget. The good news? There is a ton of factual info and insight to back up the fact that advertising in a rough economy can pay off huge in the long-run—or even the short-run depending on how you spend your marketing dollars. (more…)
Month: December 2011
Penn State: Smart PR and Stupid PR
While this whole, sordid, Penn State scandal continues to unfold, it occurred to me that just within this one situation, we’ve already seen two examples of how public relations is being used.
One example illustrates how public relations should be used—as an invaluable communications tool during times of crisis.
The other example illustrates a lot of things—stupidity, incompetence, naïveté and arrogance, to name a few.
Let’s start with the smart one. The university has retained the services of PR giant Ketchum to help guide it (from a communications standpoint) through some scary, uncharted waters. Now the case can be made that Penn State was late in bringing Ketchum on board. That’s a fair shot. In the end, they made the right decision, even if they were a little slow pulling the trigger. In my opinion, I don’t think the damage incurred by waiting is irreparable. (more…)