Quantity of Information Begets Quality PR

In the PR business, you can never gather too much information. Now, choosing what to disseminate–and when, and to whom–those are areas where you want to be more selective. But out of quantity flows quality. Case in point: on Monday, I spent three hours with Scott McAdam, president of McAdam Landscaping I took still photos […]

Media Alert: It’s Never Too Late

My phone rang about 2:15 p.m. last Thursday. It was Christine O’Brien, the administrative assistant at Five Seasons Sports Club in Northbrook. Christine apologized for the late notice, but wanted to let me know that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White was celebrating his birthday at the club the next evening. Was there any chance […]

All A-Twitter Over Social Media

Some things are easier to illustrate by doing than by trying to offer an explanation. Take social media, for instance. Just what is it? Sometimes, it feels like trying to explain where the wind comes from, and where in the world it’s headed. We know it’s all around us, and that it has an impact, […]

XS Energy Drink: Worst `Green’ PR Stunt Ever?

Chris Knape, a Grand Rapids Press reporter, on Monday posted some critical remarks about the Chicago Sun-Times’ tongue-in-cheek story about XS Energy Drink last week. “The idea is so incredibly stupid,” Knape blogged, “it gets my vote for worst “green” PR stunt ever.” Now, I don’t know how many green PR stunts he’s encountered—so I […]

Fighting City Hall

Today I began working for a new client who is battling the Chicago-area municipality where he moved his family two years ago. After tearing down the existing house, then building a new one, he began work on a new garage. At first, the structure gained multiple approvals along the way. But then the village, in […]

PR: Slugging It Out…Even When It’s “Over”

With apologies to Yogi Berra, when it comes to generating publicity, “it ain’t over til it’s over” is barely touching the surface of your PR potential. It’s naive to think of a PR opportunity being an “event” with a fixed window of time. Yes, an event may be a key component of your publicity plan, […]