I am not sure how I missed this story when it first happened, but it is worth recapping even if the event happened a couple weeks ago. Those Chilean miners who once were trapped underground and now are hobnobbing with the rich and famous? They were media trained while awaiting rescue. Okay, that definitely deserves an LOL. There are a lot of jokes that come to mind, but the reality is that sometimes I think the people who trudge into a media training session would prefer to be trapped underground for a month rather than participate in training to prepare them to handle media scrutiny. Their perspective changes once we get rolling, because what we do is fun and interactive, but I haven’t found too many people who get excited about spending a day in a media training session. They …
At DPK Public Relations we have gradually been adding more tools to our arsenal and wanted to share some of the results with you. When I started in public relations with Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, we often advised clients of the benefits of a corporate video. It game them something to loop on the video displays in their tradeshow booths and was a nice leave-behind or follow-up for meetings with prospective customers. But they were complicated and could be pretty expensive. I remember one we did for an energy company cost upwards of $17,000 for shooting, producing and editing -- not even counting the time for the account team to script it, coach the client and supervising the shoot. Now that same video can be done far more efficiently and quickly -- and …
The practice of public relations has dramatically changed. It is imperative that organizations change the way they communicate and resist the forces that encourage you to continue the way you have always done things because it is the way you have always done things. Read more from Dan Keeney, APR.
Recent high profile online calamities experienced by notable brands are prompting discussion about the emergence of a new discipline: digital crisis communications. I understand that some people may believe the fundamental rules have shifted, thus necessitating a new approach to crisis planning and response. However, this is not the case. The fundamentals of crisis communications remain as relevant in an era of rapidly evolving media power structures as they have always been. That said, I am realistic enough to expect that digital crisis communications will probably catch fire because it captures the current zeitgeist. Social media has reached the tipping point, so more problems will be reported and discussed through online tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and whatever emerges in the next year to dethrone them. There will undoubtedly be all sorts of people who portray themselves as digital crisis …
DPK Public Relations President and Founder Dan Keeney, APR was featured in the article, "Crisis Communications: How to Recover from a Black Eye," in the March/April issue of Perspectives, a publication for the insurance brokerage industry. The article was written by Paula L. Weis, who does a great job of gathering a lot of solid information and delivering it in a way that is interesting and easy to read. Of course, these are challenging times for the entire financial services industry and insurance brokers are dealing with customers every day who are afraid that their carriers will not be able to survive. But the tips provided regarding crisis planning, response and recovery should be in the pocket of every communicator these days. You never know when you might need it. Download the article by clicking on the image below. …
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As you might understand, Lance Armstrong doesn't like to be called "a cancer," so when a journalist who did just that in the past tried to pin him down at a news conference, Lance was none too pleased. It is a great example of how to take control and deliver your message no matter what.
DPK Public Relations founder Dan Keeney, APR, posted a good discussion about the current state of news embargoes to his blog, The PR Counselor Is In and we wanted to share the link with you and offer a brief synopsis. The title is "New Rules to Guide Use of News Embargoes." He recounts his years as a journalist in the 1980s and early 1990s, saying he regularly honored embargoes. "We knew that if we didn't comply, we would have a moment of glory as we broke the news, but forever after the rest of the media that did comply would continue to get the information early and we would not. We would have to play catch up for the rest of eternity." It was a risk that journalists simply could not take. Of course those were different times. News was gathered in …
When dealing with unpleasant PR issues, the best course of action is often to move forward and forget about the past. Learn from the negatives and have them inform substantive changes -- while at the same time working to drown them out with positive actions and information. Read more!
27 years after Johnson & Johnson rewrote the book on crisis communication response, the company is back in the spotlight. No deaths, no tampering, just hurt feelings. The question is: was the inevitable apology acceptable?