WAINGER
WISDOM
In this blog, we explore what it takes to engage, inspire and connect whether you are building a personal or organizational brand.
Join us in this ongoing conversation about creating effective leadership communications with strategies and tactics that foster understanding and motivate people to act.
Join us in this ongoing conversation about creating effective leadership communications with strategies and tactics that foster understanding and motivate people to act.
Great Corporate Communications in Thanksgiving Shopping
Happy Thanksgiving! It’s not often you can swoop in and out of a grocery store for a few last-minute holiday purchases and find yourself on the receiving end of some excellent messaging in action. Today’s trip to the local Giant food store was a terrific [...]
Painting Pictures with Language
With just a few words, prominent geologist and Interim President of CUNY College of Staten Island William Fritz vividly summed up why Hurricane Sandy hit the island borough in the middle of New York Harbor so hard: “We’ve hardscaped our sponge.”
Crisis Communications Lessons from Sandy
Hurricane Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm” by the National Weather Service, barreled over the East Coast this week wreaking yet untold havoc and destruction. As one governor put it, the damage in some places is “unspeakable.” But because of excellent communication and preparation, loss of life and serious injuries seem to have been kept to a minimum.
Message Development: Telling Your Story
E. B. White’s masterpiece, Charlotte’s Web, recently turned 60. This children’s fable about Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider, who saves him from becoming Christmas dinner, honors friendship, ingenuity, love, and loss.
Tunnel Vision, Crisis Communications and PR Counsel
A recent article in the Washington Post about the summer drama over the ouster and then reinstatement of University of Virginia (UVA) President Teresa Sullivan detailed the effort of Rector Helen Dragas to put a positive public face on this action.
When Public Relations People Try to Control Too Much
This headline PR Woes: When Access Isn’t Worth It on a recent post on Media Bistro’s Fishbowl DC was too compelling to resist. Contributing writer Eddie Scarry was lamenting the demise of a connection between a publicist who invited him to a screening of The Paperboy and then told him he would be banned from future screenings because Scarry had written negatively about the film. The publicist’s action raised his hackles and mine as well.
What is Public Relations? Framing Not Spinning
Public relations is all of those things but I would frame it a little differently. To me, the best public relations is simply this: starting and nurturing ongoing conversations between an organization or company and the various stakeholders and audiences it needs to engage to thrive and grow.
Public Relations: What do you do about negative press?
There are some in public relations who would say that negative press is better than no press at all. “As long as they spell your name right,” the old adage goes. While there is some truth to that, getting negative press can seriously damage your company or nonprofit’s reputation, endangering your funding, your customer base and your very future.
The Ultimate Public Relations Lesson: Treat People Well
Nearly 30 years ago, while volunteering as a driver for the Kennedy Center Honors, I made an enormous mistake. I dropped off television director Don Mischer and his camera crew at the wrong gate to the White House, forcing them to run around the block, heavy equipment in tow, to get into the White House to film President and Mrs. Reagan, and still have time to get back to the Kennedy Center for the rest of the show.
The Power of Framing Messages
Last week the Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell backed away from a controversial abortion bill that only a week before seemed to be gathering steam. The bill would have called for an invasive ultrasound to be performed before any abortion could occur. What started out as a debate about limiting the access to abortion and fetal rights within a week became a discussion of government intrusion.
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says:
Liz Wainger says: