The days are gone when earned media clips and social media likes alone satisfy the executive leadership team.

The C-suite wants to know what communicators are doing to improve the organization’s bottom line. While PR has inherent value in raising brand awareness and creating positive sentiment, those things can be difficult to quantify – especially to those who don’t have an explicit comms background.

For that reason, it’s vital to speak in business language that makes sense to leaders across the org chart. To Brandy Jones, chief communications and marketing officer for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, that means highlighting return on investment when talking to the CFO. If she’s in a meeting with her CEO or development team, she’ll focus on community impact.

“You really have to make sure that you tailor your message to those folks in the C-suite and what matters most to them,” Jones said. “And that starts with awareness – having those conversations upfront to understand business priorities and objectives, learning what stats are meaningful to them and then making sure that when you’re pitching your PR approach, you’re speaking in those same words to those individuals.”

Jones delivered her comments during Ragan panel discussion “Talk the Talk: Build Your Business Acumen and Speak the C-Suite’s Language.” She and the other panelists stressed the need to think strategically about how to tie the communications team’s efforts into the organization’s broader goals.

A part of that is showing cross-organizational collaboration. She said she can do a big campaign and even add in some marketing efforts. When promoting a new bus route, for instance, Jones didn’t just issue a press release. She worked with the marketing team to develop a multi-faceted campaign to highlight the financial value of riding the bus. It included billboards, TV interviews and even advertisements on screens on gas pumps that emphasize the financial benefits of riding the bus.

But she knows PR/marketing integration alone won’t present “the full picture” – the bus still has to show up, the driver has to be friendly and it has to be a good experience for the customer. To that end, Jones and her team work with transit analysts and the planning team to figure out what metrics the executive team would want to see. They’ll then tie that information into specific PR strategies.

If the goal is to increase ridership, Jones may create videos along the target corridors that feature local businesses or collect testimonials from partners. They may even host pop-up events to raise community excitement and awareness, Jones said. Afterward, they’ll analyze the new ridership data. If the numbers went up, PR has now proven that its work is driving bigger picture business goals.

“Measure, measure, measure,” Jones said. “Marketing’s bread and butter is being able to show that if you invest $1, you’ll get $10 back in return, along with awareness, action or whatever that means for your business model. And for PR we have to be very intentional to measure everything we do.”

Once they start to see the impact of those numbers in broader business terms, things “kind of click” for the C-suite, Jones said.

“I don’t think we need to discredit the role of PR if we can’t take all the credit, but speak to how that partnership created the perfect environment for those results,” she added.

The post How to speak the C-suite’s language appeared first on PR Daily.

The Associated Press Stylebook is an essential tool for connecting to journalists and audiences alike. While many of these style suggestions have been in place for years, they change over time as culture does.

Mignon Fogarty, better known as “Grammar Girl,” noted that the latest update to the AP Stylebook ventures into AI for the first time, laying out definitions and offering general advice about ethical use.

To help communicators stay up-to-date, Fogarty joined Ragan recently for a webinar on the latest changes to the AP Stylebook.

Hyphens

The AP used to hyphenate most words with “semi” prefixes like “semi-automatic” and “semi-autonomous,” but now they write these words without a hyphen.

“The guidance is to use hyphens when they’re needed to avoid confusion,” Fogarty said. “They (AP) provide some great real-life examples to illustrate when hyphens are necessary, like the difference between a ‘tiny house fire’ and a ‘tiny-house fire.'”

The stylebook provides a list of prefixes and suffixes that almost always take hyphens:

• Prefixes: self, all, ex and half
• Suffixes: free, based and elect

AP style recently got rid of some hyphens, such as those in words where the letter “e” repeats, like “preempt” and “preexisting.” But it still recommends them for words that could be hard to read with double or triple letters, like “anti-intellectual” and “shell-like.”

Sometimes, there end up being little inconsistencies, Fogarty said. There’s a hyphen in “co-worker” but not in “coworking.” The AP says that’s because the hyphen makes it easier to understand. However, the coworking industry widely uses no hyphen and the AP wants to be in line with what the industry calls itself.

The AP Stylebook is more likely to recommend using a hyphen than not, Fogarty said. Ultimately, it comes down to using best judgment while maximizing readability and clarity.

“When you do decide how to write your word, add it to your house style guide so you can be consistent in the future,” she added.

Oxford comma

The AP has long recommended avoiding the use of Oxford commas (or serial commas) in simple series, such as “red, white and blue.” However, the AP continues to stress the importance of using them when they can improve the clarity of a list or sentence.

For instance, use the comma when the sentence has multiple elements that use conjunctions – “peanut butter and jelly, ham and eggs, and macaroni and cheese.” Also use it even if only one of the items has a conjunction: “I like peanut butter and jelly, ham, and cheese.”

The serial comma is also useful in simple sentences that can benefit from added clarity, Fogarty said. She provided the infamous internet meme as proof: “They invited the strippers, Stalin, and JFK.” Without that serial comma, it sounds like Stalin and JFK are the strippers.

Pronouns

In the last few years, most style guides, including the AP, have accepted the use of “they” as the singular pronoun in most cases. Its use has grown recently, especially among people who don’t identify as “he” or “she.”

“The AP notes that the singular they can sometimes confuse readers, but at the same time, trying to write without pronouns to avoid confusion can make people feel censored or invisible,” Fogarty said. “So, you have to balance these priorities.”

When using the singular “they,” make sure readers understand that it refers to just one person. If needed, add an explanation, like “Morales, who uses the pronoun they, said they will retire in June.” The AP says not to say someone’s pronouns are “preferred” or “chosen.”

If the copy requires a reflexive pronoun for someone who uses the singular “they,” the correct form is “themself,” not “themselves,” Fogarty said. But the word “you” takes a plural verb when used as a singular pronoun.

In general, writers should use the names and pronouns provided to them, Fogarty said. But the AP Stylebook discourages use of neopronouns such as “ze” or “zir” because of their infrequent use and likelihood of causing confusion.

“You could use them if you were using a direct quote, if you were directly quoting someone else, if it were in a direct quotation,” Fogarty said. “But you might want to explain the word choice to your audience in that case.”

Quotes

When quoting someone who’s speaking, format what they said in AP style as much as possible. For example, use “II” in “World War II” rather than the number two. In an address, still use the abbreviation for “street.” But when quoting a written source, use the exact wording, even if it doesn’t match AP style.

Fogarty advised not to use “sic” to call attention to misspellings or grammar errors as it’ll make the quoted person look bad. If a quotation requires a “sic,” paraphrase it instead.

A notable exception is when it comes to dialect spellings, like “gonna” or “wanna.” Change it to “going to” or “want to”.

Social media posts and text messages often include emojis that can provide important context. In those situations, describe them using words. For example, “Chavez posted a photo of Beyoncé with the goat emoji, suggesting the musician is the greatest of all time.” Don’t describe the emoji or meme in parentheses because it could make the reader believe the person wrote out the description, Fogarty said.

Again, it’s all about being clear.

“Be wary. Get other people’s input if you can,” Fogarty said. “When you use memes without understanding their origin… you could be conveying something you don’t mean.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post What Grammar Girl wants you to know about AP style appeared first on PR Daily.

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk plan to star in a new podcast to highlight their work as co-leaders of a new non-governmental agency – the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – focused on drastically slashing government spending over the next two years.

Ramaswamy posted a three-minute YouTube video late Wednesday saying he and Musk will discuss their efforts on the “DOGE-cast” to explain “exactly what we’re doing to the public to provide transparency.”

The former presidential candidate noted that the goal is to continue these podcasts about the “downsized American government” through the conclusion of the taskforce by July 4, 2026, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Why it matters: Podcasts offer a wide-reaching digital soapbox, including unfettered access between a spokesperson and a target audience in a way that traditional earned media can’t.

Through this platform, PR professionals can control the entire message while coming across to their audience as being transparent and unfiltered.

More people than ever are listening to podcasts: 47% of the 12-and-over population are monthly podcast listeners and 34% are weekly listeners, according to Edison Research. About 23% of weekly listeners spend 10 or more hours each week listening to the medium. The media strategies of both presidential candidates this go around leaned heavily into the power of the pod. 

Ramaswamy is no stranger to podcasts. He has hosted “The Truth Podcast” on YouTube for the past year, discussing a range of conservative topics  ranging from “Uncle Sam’s Welfare Trap” to debates about immigration.

In announcing his new podcast, Ramaswamy sprinkled in popular political cliches related to transparency and decision making: “We want to bring the public along with us to lift the curtain, take us behind the scenes of what actually that waste, fraud and abuse in government looks like.”

Those comments promise the prospective audience members the ability to hear about the situation firsthand. Rather than relying on a journalist to tell the story, they’re able to deliver a message with a specific goal in mind with no outside interpreter needed.

Developing an audience for a podcast isn’t easy. The value of earned media is the ability to lean into a proven platform with an established audience. But if the content is good and it’s positioned in a way that the audience wants, there’s clearly a market for organizations going directly to the public with their own podcasts. Expect this trend to only continue to grow.

Editor’s Top Reads

• As part of its effort to capitalize on growing dissatisfaction with X under Musk, the head of upstart Bluesky is calling her platform “billionaire proof.” CEO Jay Graber used this phrasing during a CNBC interview to set Bluesky’s decentralized, open source social platform apart from X. Bluesky backend development allows a user to create a standard digital identity that they can carry across various apps. “What happened to Twitter couldn’t happen to us in the same ways, because you would always have the option to immediately move without having to start over,” Graber said. Graber is sending a clear message to current and future users: Bluesky won’t become X but instead will become a better version of Twitter. Graber leans into the fact Bluesky began as a Twitter project during Dorsey’s second stint as CEO of Twitter. Bluesky is promises to put “much more control” in the hands of users and add more transparency, Graber told CNBC. Her media blitz around the fast-growing social network fascinatingly puts both a love and hate of the same platform at the center of its pitch. Bluesky wants to be the Twitter you loved in 2015, not the X you hate in 2024. It’s a risky strategy, and one certain to alienate some customers. But it’s obviously working for the millions of people who have joined the platform since the U.S. presidential election. 
• Controversy has erupted over the artificial food dyes in Froot Loops as longtime food dye critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to become the nation’s top health official. He claims that the dyes in the WK Kellogg product can cause widespread health issues, particularly in children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has noted that while rare, it is possible to have an allergic-type reaction to approved color additives. While permitted in the United States, these food dyes aren’t in cereals Kellogg sells in other countries around the world. Critics like Kennedy are quick to point to the fact that the bright, artificial dyes aren’t used in countries like Canada, though they are legal there. Kellogg has staged a relatively staid public response to the furor, with no reaction to be found on their website or social media and only a single brief statement from mid-November that emphasized the safety of ingredients and chalked up differences between the U.S. and Canada to market preference. Kellogg’s stock price is on the climb after an initial tumble, but this issue doesn’t seem likely to go away. The question is: are the people concerned about this issue buying Froot Loops or is it a separate audience entirely? Regardless, any company that deals with food dyes must be ready for an overhaul under a new administration – and how they plan to explain their new choices (and their less bright colors).
• A group of athletes attended the United Nations’ climate summit in Azerbaijan to discuss the threat that climate change poses to sports. “In the future, if climate change is not addressed and is not thoughtfully handled, triathlons can cease to exist,” triathlete Pragnya Mohan said. She noted delays of some events at the Paris Olympics because of heavy rains — caused by a warming atmosphere — that contributed to high bacteria levels in the Seine River, according to the Associated Press. The AP report also noted that climate change is making sports more expensive and widening disparities. Putting athletes front-and-center is a brilliant PR move that represents the real-world implications of climate change. Getting caught up in facts and figures, rainfall totals and temperature changes won’t resonate with broader audiences. By being able to say “this will affect that and here’s how” makes the content more relatable. While individual athletes may not be enough to create change, grouping them together may have the power to inspire organizations such as the Olympics, FIFA and the companies that sponsor those events to be more receptive to calls for changes related to climate impacts.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: Musk, Ramaswamy bypass media with DOGE podcast appeared first on PR Daily.

Michelle Olson remembers the early days of her PR career, when researching a complex crisis communications plan would take hours. It was worth it to the client, she said, which is why they were OK with having it all billed back to them.

Today, however, thanks to AI, that initial research can happen in just a few seconds. While Olson or her teammates at Lambert by LLYC still need to fact-check for accuracy, they can complete many tasks faster than they did even two years ago, thanks to ChatGPT, she said.

None of her clients are asking for adjustments to their rates right now, Olson said. But given the rapid advancements in these technologies, she feels now is the time for firms to start thinking about not only how they’re billing clients but also how they’re proving their value to them.

“It’s really about viewing this opportunity to highlight that we’re much more than just ‘doers’ of tasks,” said Olson, Lambert’s chief client officer and a fellow at PRSA.

A discussion 20 years in the making

Olson’s firm still bills “pure,” or the actual time it takes to complete a work item. “If we have a retainer-type arrangement with our clients, we still (build) an hourly rate into that retainer.”

But she and PRophet founder and CEO Aaron Kwittken both said there have been conversations for more than 20 years about finding models to replace billable hours as the dominant method.

“I think the reason for the use of billable hours is that we’ve either been scared of or can’t define what success looks like,” said Kwittken, a “recovered agency guy” who pivoted to comms tech in 2022.

Olson noted that a much-discussed concept has been the value billing model based on the impact of the work rather than the time it takes to complete.

For instance, a quality pitch to the Wall Street Journal may only take a five-minute phone call – or about $5 on a $100 per hour rate – but the value of that placement could be “priceless” to a brand, Olson said.

It’s common for agencies to build in a certain number of hours per month, but Olson noted that this approach has flaws. “Our services aren’t utilized that way,” she explained.

“We’re crisis communicators. We’re issue managers. There’s something that happens every month that we don’t count on, that a communicator needs to help with,” she continued. “The hours are going to ebb and flow.”

How to readjust retainers

On the client side, teams want as much value as possible, Kwittken said. As such it’s about ways to rethink the billing process to highlight the works that’s taking place beyond press releases and website copy.

“(Clients) want to fix their costs and don’t want them to creep because they have a budget,” he added. “They want to pay for performance, not just activity reports. They want to know what we did to help them achieve their goals, like sales or shareholder valuation.”

The emergence of this tech may give PR agencies a chance to “productize,” not commoditize, what they do and assign specific costs or values to each task, service or deliverable against objective success goals, Kwittken said. He gave the example of tying PR’s impact on sales, employee morale, shareholder value, etc. directly into their client’s CRM.

To that end, Olson sees the potential for PR agencies to go back to the negotiating table and really drive home what they bring to the table in terms.

Olson’s hope is that while they may bill fewer hours for a particular project, AI is creating more time “to be in our clients’ heads about what they worry about every day.” That means there’s more time to do the analysis of social media audiences or strategize about campaigns.

“With those extra two, three hours we can figure out how to make a bigger impact for the client, so that the client benefits from us,” she said. “Maybe that’s another brainstorming session about an issue that they hadn’t told us about yet, because we’re not scoped for that.”

As part of the process, Olson suggested asking clients things such as what’s keeping them up at night and how they can help.

“We have a chance to become bigger strategic partners as an agency,” she said.

Finding the right solution for your firm

Olson noted that there’s no true challenger to the billable hour system. In fact she’s known only three agencies that have gone to the value billing model.

Two of them don’t even exist anymore.

That doesn’t mean value billing or another system won’t work, she said. It also doesn’t mean teams should avoid AI for the sake of taking longer to complete a job.

In fact, it’s just the opposite, Olson said. She believes the new data and insights that AI can provide will improve strategy and measure performance.

Firms need to evaluate their business operations and find ways where they can improve their high-level offerings. Doing so, Olson believes, will lead teams to hire more strategists, writers and data analysts.

“This is our moment to take the lead,” Olson said.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post AI may require PR agencies to reevaluate billing models appeared first on PR Daily.

Struggling British carmaker Jaguar has launched a flashy rebranding effort that aims to lure a young, posh audience.

The ad features a group of androgynous models in bright clothing and a techno-inspired soundtrack. The tagline? “Copy nothing.” The one thing missing, as NBC News pointed out, is the cars.

The campaign is part of a broader rebrand that includes a reinvention of its lineup of vehicles as well as a new logo that emphasizes the British pronunciation ( “jag-you-are”). The company also recreated its classic logo and is getting rid of its iconic leaping cat emblem and hood ornament in favor of a badge.

“New Jaguar is a brand built around exuberant modernism,” Gerry McGovern, the company’s CCO, said in a release. “It is imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless.”

The moves come as Jaguar looks to reclaim its historic marketshare as a luxury auto manufacturer. Last year, it sold fewer than 67,000 cars worldwide.

Why it matters: A brand is the heart and soul of a company. It’s how customers have come to interpret and relate to it. Any change – whether it’s new packaging or a revamped logo  – will alter  how people view it.

For Jaguar, the change is a particularly delicate balance. On the one hand, the company has represented ultra-luxury and excellence in automotive engineering for more than 100 years. On the other, that’s no longer resonating with its car buyers.

Rawdon Glober, Jaguar’s managing director, described the new approach as a “complete reset” of the brand, setting customers up to know that something new and exciting is around the corner.

“To bring back such a globally renowned brand we had to be fearless,” Glober said. “Jaguar is transformed to reclaim its originality and inspire a new generation.”

As part of its campaign, Jaguar doesn’t include a single car in its ads. The focus is on trying to sell a sexy new vibe ahead of the unofficial unveiling of one of its new EVs at Miami’s Art Basel in early December. But that might be a hard sell when you’re talking about cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Jaguar should be saying … some version of ‘our cars are engineered to the gills and go very very fast’… Art school grads simply aren’t associated with elite engineering ability, I’m sorry,” Lulu Cheng Meservey, co-founder of Rostra PR group, wrote in a lengthy post on X. She criticized Jaguar for a lack of innovation in the field and unclear market positioning. 

“Lastly, Jaguar simply failed to read the room,” Cheng Meservey continued. “We are in an era of NOSTALGIA. People want to RETVRN. Tradition, heritage, and classics are more in demand than they’ve been for a long time.”

In response to criticisms on social media, Jaguar framed the campaign as “a declaration of intent” about its move toward that “exuberant modernism” aesthetic. 

Bottom line: When a brand is struggling, sometimes that requires taking a risk. While legacy can be incredibly valuable in the marketplace, if it’s not working with customers, something needs to change.

Editor’s Top Reads

• Germany’s national soccer team plans to stop making political statements after a disastrous 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The German team – and others – had criticized the host country over human rights concerns. “We saw in Qatar that too many political issues can harm a team,” Coach Julian Nagelsmann said Tuesday. It can be challenging for businesses or brands to “leave politics out of it.” Even well-intentioned protests or symbols can distract the team from broader goals – in this case, winning games. Of course, an organizational policy can’t control the views and personal actions of employees, in this case players. Germany captain Joshua Kimmich has said the team’s gestures in Qatar “took away from the joy of the tournament.” Yet, his sentiment may not reflect the views of his teammates. It’s a delicate balance, especially when an employee’s work requires them to do something that may be at odds with their personal values – in this case, supporting the economy of a country with a history of human rights violations. There are no easy answers except to move forward with compassion, thoughtfulness and an eye on the end goal.
• Young adults are increasingly getting their news from social media influencers. Nearly 40% of American 18- to 29-year-olds get their news regularly from online “news influencers” who post about current events, according to a Pew Research Center study published on Monday. That compares to about 21% of all adult Americans. News influencers are mostly men (63%) and more of them explicitly identify as right-leaning compared to left-leaning (27% vs. 21%), per Pew. Among those who get news from influencers, 65% reported that it shapes their understanding of current events and civic issues. The survey results shouldn’t come as a major surprise. Influencers have become a powerful element of messaging strategies given their ability to engage with audiences over an extended period of time. Communicators should use this information as a framework for building out their influencer pool and making content decisions.
• The Department of Justice plans to request that the antitrust trial judge order Google to sell its Chrome browser. A judge recently ruled that Google’s search monopoly is illegal, given Chrome’s dominant position. If Google has to separate from Chrome, it could reshape the browser market, giving competitors like Safari and Firefox more of a chance. More importantly, “(g)overnment officials are saying they want to give content-producing websites more control over whether Google’s AI products can access a site’s content to use it for training its AI model or get ‘surfaced’ as part of an AI search answer,” as reported by Inc. PR and marketing professionals should closely follow this developing lawsuit, as its outcome may have a major influence on content marketing, SEO and how we use the internet.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: Jaguar’s controversial modern reinvention raises questions about value of brand appeared first on PR Daily.

Businesses have used artificial intelligence in their everyday workflows since the early 1990s with the creation of spam filters for email. But in recent years, generative AI – or AI that creates text, images or codes rather than simply sorting data – has exploded.

Change can be scary, admitted Rebecca Simons, communications manager at Cisco. She noted that conversations around AI often feel like they “need a degree in computer science to understand.”

One way to overcome any fears about AI is through education. Simons led a recent webinar during Ragan’s AI Virtual Conference for Communications, aiming to provide a clearer understanding of common AI concepts and their applications.

“The whole idea here is we’re going to work together to demystify AI jargon,” she said.

Here are some of the key points she covered:

• Deep learning: A form of machine learning system trained to make decisions like the human brain by recognizing patterns and learning from large data sets. YouTube and Spotify, for instance, use it to analyze user preferences to make personalized suggestions. “It’s basically analyzing what you are doing and then trying to provide you with recommendations based on your behavior,” Simons said.
• Large language models (LLMs): A deep learning model trained on massive data sets to understand and generate human language in a coherent way. For instance, Grammarly uses an LLM to analyze text for grammar, tone and clarity, providing advanced suggestions to improve writing quality.
• Natural language processing (NLP): Allows machines to understand, interpret and generate human language. For example, Google Translate uses NLP to analyze the structure and meaning of words and phrases to accurately translate text.
• Hallucinations: This occurs when an AI generates plausible sounding but factually incorrect information or content, like a hand with six fingers. She provided an example of an attorney who nearly got disbarred for using AI to produce case law citations. When it couldn’t find an example, it made one up. “Basically, it doesn’t have the data or information, so it’s trying to piece together a story to generate content,” Simons said. She believes AI tools are valuable for brainstorming and drafts, but the content will likely require diligent fact-checking.
• Agentic AI: A way of combining automation with the creative abilities of an LLM. Users can create a system that provides the LLM with access to external tools and algorithms that supply instructions for how the AI agents should use them. Simons believes agentic AI will significantly influence comms in the next wave by helping with “strategic brand reputation management driven by personalized user preferences.”

The best way to learn, Simons said, is by picking up the technology and trying it out. She recommended doing it at home and getting comfortable with it before moving toward any professional applications.

“I would say the most important part is really like getting in there, giving it a try,” Simons said. “It’s just a trial-and-error situation.”

Watch the full video below.

The post What AI terms really mean appeared first on PR Daily.

For decades, many communications strategies focused on getting a story in the New York Times or creating catchy commercials that sparked conversations around the water cooler.

But times have changed, according to Amanda Coffee, a seasoned communications leader. Today, communicators need to focus just as much on authenticity and giving a glimpse into what brands stand for. A big part of that is providing reporters and customers alike with candid access to key company representatives.

“Access can mean meeting a CTO or CFO, but it can also mean meeting the people on the front lines,” Coffee said during Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference in Austin, Texas.

Coffee’s presentation – “Comms This, Not That: (and Tactics You Should Sunset)” – outlined a series of “what’s in, what’s out” elements ranging from the switch from press releases to social-focused strategies and moving from scripted messaging to content that’s more “real” as Coffee put it.

Audiences, especially the highly prized 16-to-24 age group, crave genuine engagement from companies and brands. Coffee believes this current generation is prone to dismissing corporate jargon from company spokespeople and slick social media content. So, instead, companies should tap into messaging and communications channels that allow them to engage their audiences in a more genuine way.

New media landscape is all about personalities

Coffee, who previously led global communications for brands like PayPal and Under Armour, believes the modern media landscape is making it easier to achieve engagement goals. The rise of podcasts, Substack and other nontraditional media platforms provides a way to connect with hard-to-reach audiences.

Journalists like Casey Newton and Taylor Lorenz, as well as podcasters like Alex Cooper, have the power to resonate with their audiences because they’re trusted messengers who tend to be more conversational and personal.

“What I love about podcasts is that there’s minimal editorial input,” said Coffee, currently a comms strategist. When working with traditional business media like the Wall Street Journal, the reporter typically covers the market or financial aspects of the story, which requires a certain level of tension.

An executive might provide a great quote that highlights the direction of a business, but reporters will put it in a broader financial context, causing the brand to lose some control over its messaging.

“When it’s a podcast, they really can’t add the editorial because it’s your spokesperson’s language, and you can really, like focus on the topics,” Coffee continued. She pointed to President-elect Donald Trump’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast and Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on “Call Her Daddy.”

Coffee advises communicators to explore podcast, newsletter and social creators who align with company values or provide platforms for sharing their story. They should use social engagement figures and audience demographics to potentially change the minds of leadership who may not understand the value of these platforms as viable media channels.

“We’re moving away from the mindset of only wanting print coverage,” Coffee said.

Stories from the front lines

Traditionally, it’s leadership who appear in media interviews or social content. But Coffee believes empowering employees as brand ambassadors has real value.

In the past, she and her team identified “culture carriers” within the organization and provided them with the tools and resources to share their stories on behalf of the company. Coffee suggests looking at corporate values like innovation and inclusion, and then finding the people who best represent those values. Employee resource groups are a great place to find culture carriers, Coffee noted.

These individuals need media training, but they can share their stories on social media, and the company can amplify that content. By doing so, companies show they support their staff and give them a voice, emphasizing the “show, not tell” aspect of their corporate values.

Coffee gave the example of mothers who took a big career gap and returned to PayPal. The comms team media-trained these employees, and they went on to appear on the Today Show, Marie Claire, CNET and more to talk about their experiences with PayPal’s Recharge program, which provides paid training to female technologists reentering the workforce.

At Under Armour, Coffee highlighted designers and former athletes who created footwear and football uniforms. Not only were they able to provide more in-depth analysis about the product than an executive likely could, but it also kept the conversation on track.

“What I love about using subject matter experts is it’s low risk,” Coffee said. “They can’t ask you about a lawsuit or the last earnings call; they’re like, ‘All I know is how we made our football pants from yoga innovations.’”

Instead of looking for the most senior-level person, consider entry-level engineers and designers, or even interns, Coffee said.

“That’s who people want to hear from,” Coffee said. “If you have someone at the front of a trend sharing their story, you almost don’t need the CEO.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post Real, authentic ways to engage Gen Z appeared first on PR Daily.

It’s been only a little more than a week since the U.S. presidential election and the wheels of change are already turning – including on social media.

Since President-elect Donald Trump secured his return to the White House, there’ve been a movement and conjecture about the future of both TikTok and X.

Congress passed a bill that could ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells to a non-Chinese company. President Joe Biden signed that into law, though the ByteDance is challenging it in the courts. . 

Trump, who tried to ban the short-form video platform himself, has changed his view.

In March, Trump said during an interview with CNBC that he still believed TikTok posed a national security risk. However, he disagreed with the idea of banning it because “doing so would help its rival, Facebook, which he has continued to lambast over his 2020 election loss,” according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, X is facing another user exodus after owner Elon Musk’s hard turn into conservative politics, with users this time moving toward Bluesky, a decentralized social media site.

Since September, Bluesky has grown from 9 million users to over 14.6 million as of Tuesday, with a surge in new users over the weekend, according to TechCrunch. That includes a reported 1 million people in just the past week.

Trump announced on Tuesday that Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new non-governmental agency to provide “advice and guidance” to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”

Why it matters: While these most recent developments are noteworthy, they’re also largely driven by the post-election groundswell of emotion and political posturing. We’ll see how things shake out as new political realities settle in.

Walking back the TikTok law can’t be handled with an executive order. Because it was passed through Congress, it needs to be overturned either by the courts or through another law. So untangling that sticky situation could take time, leaving TikTok in limbo for even longer. And Trump has shown himself to be fickle in the past – while he likes TikTok now that he’s found popularity there, it’s not impossible his anti-China actions could lead him to flipflop once again.

The previous strategy of holding the course, not withdrawing from TikTok but also exploring other microvideo platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, holds up.

X continues to present a thornier conundrum. While many users, brands included, have fled the volatile site, a clear successor has not yet emerged. Today the buzz is around Bluesky, but at other times it’s been Threads, Mastodon and more. Right now people are motivated to make a change, but will that stand or will they slide back into the familiarity of X?

Others yet may want to become more aggressive on X, given Musk’s seeming prominence in the new Trump administration. Loyalty is a powerful currency under this president, and X can be one way to express it.

But it does seem that users are beginning to self-segregate more based on politics. Where Twitter/X was once a mixing grounds of different political viewpoints, it appears more liberal users are heading to other sites, leaving more politically siloed spaces. That can mean brands might need to make choices about where to reach their audiences, even if their own brand has no particular political stances.

It’s a time to be nimble, be ready to change course and to listen very closely to your audience. 

Editor’s Top Reads

• KFC is suing Church’s Texas Chicken, alleging the company is violating its trademark rights by using the phrase “original recipe” in ads and promotions. The lawsuit claims this will likely confuse customers. “We take it personally when another company tries to pass off our iconic taste and branding as their own,” a KFC spokesperson told CNN about its trademark that dates back to 1984. Church’s declined to comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit. By taking Church’s to court over “original recipe” usage, KFC is making a bold move to stand out in a crowded market – and using a legal case as a PR move. This suit, while perhaps of legal merit, also grabbed headlines and reminded audiences who has the true original recipe. And KFC needs the boost: Yum! Brands, KFC’s parent company, reported a 5% drop in U.S. same-store sales, marking three straight quarters of decline. This lawsuit sends a strategic message to consumers, reinforcing KFC’s position as the original fried chicken destination. 
• The NFL delayed fining San Francisco 49ers player Nick Bosa for breaking league rules by wearing a MAGA hat until after the presidential election. The league prohibits players from displaying personal or political messages on game days. However, it took the NFL nearly two weeks to issue Bosa an $11,255 fine, whereas Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens received his earlier this season fine within days for having a personal message on his eyeblack. The Wall Street Journal reported that NFL owners admitted Trump’s past pressure of the league, most notably during the Colin Kaepernick protests, influenced their handling Bosa. No matter how the NFL handled the situation, it would have likely faced criticism. In the end, they upheld their rules, it was only the timing that was changed. It’s a fine and difficult line to walk in an era when the president is also likely to chime in on Sunday gameday happenings. Their decision sought to minimize that outcry – and perhaps to bury the story on a newsy week. It’s a risky decision that could pay off as Trump is occupied elsewhere. 
• Apple’s latest devices come with a range of AI features, including summaries of notifications from apps and text messages. Although these summaries are technically accurate, the tool struggles to understand the context of human communication when combining details from multiple messages. As a result, the AI-produced recaps can be confusing, awkward and amusing. A list compiled by Verge writer Wes Davis showcases some of the most hilarious examples. User danielocnnr posted on X that they enjoy Apple Intelligence’s summary feature because it turns every boring notification into a “cute little mystery to unwrap.” This was after receiving a summary that read: “Love salmon might not be a good idea; polar bears are back in Britain.” Apple’s technology will surely evolve and improve over time, but for now, they serve as a cautionary tale for using AI.  The technology is not capable of replicating human understanding of context and sentiment or replacing the skills and instincts a professional communicator brings to the table. AI is still just a tool. You’re the pro.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: How the Trump administration could change social media appeared first on PR Daily.

While Kobe Bryant’s posterizing dunks and game-winning shots made him a fan favorite, it was his legendary “mamba mentality” that made him a champion on and off the court.

Ashlee V. Davidson, VP of communications for Lockheed Martin, believes that communicators can apply the late basketball star’s approach to enhance their personal brands and excel in the professional world. The mamba mentality, Davidson explained, is about having no fear of failure and being resilient, committed and intentional about what you’re working for, no matter the cost.

“Your personal brand is how you’re remembered in a room when you’re not there,” Davidson said at Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference. “What do people talk about? What do people remember about you that makes you fantastic?”

Davidson said the method is useful whether in the boardroom or on a client call. One of the centerpieces of her talk was how to elevate a personal brand to stand out in the competitive field of public relations.

By embracing the mamba mentality, communicators can cultivate a memorable personal brand that showcases their unique talents and value. As Davidson noted, this starts with understanding your “superpowers” – the special skills and abilities that set you apart.

Davidson emphasized the importance of building a strong, visible presence in the industry, whether it’s on LinkedIn or taking part in conferences or networking opportunities.

“Aside from what you bring to the table as internal communicators and communications professionals, what are the sheer talents that separate you?” Davidson asked the audience to think about. “Really understand what those are and dig into that in everything that you do.”

But developing a strong personal brand requires more than just identifying strengths, Davidson said. It also demands a relentless commitment to continuous improvement, like Bryant had.

“It’s a constant quest,” Davidson quoted Bryant. “It’s an infinite quest to be the best.”

This means being willing to “do the work” day in and day out, even when it’s challenging. As Davidson explained, Bryant would often wake up at 4:30 a.m. to practice before the team’s morning session, driven by a determination to grow.

“Don’t overwork yourself,” Davidson said, “but keep that same focus on how you want to personify your craft and how you want to master the things that you’re doing to get better.”

For communicators, that means seeking out opportunities for professional growth and development, such as volunteering to be part of the rollout of a new AI pilot program, for example.

By embracing the mamba mentality of grit, focus and a growth mindset, communicators elevate their personal brands and excel.

“Take every shot. Live with no fear. Exhibit the mamba mentality,” Davidson said. “You never know where that’s going to get you, but sure enough, I hope that it helps to land you success.”

Watch the full presentation below.

The post Elevating your comms career with ‘mamba mentality’ appeared first on PR Daily.

Parallel stories are playing out in Seattle with two legacy brands grappling with poor performance, employee issues and a loss of direction. Both Starbucks and Boeing are hoping that their new CEOs can turn things around – but both have their work cut out for them.

Jennifer George, SVP at The Aspen Group, sees similarities in how they’re communicating change under their new leaders, Kelly Ortberg at Boeing and Brian Niccol at Starbucks. Each of these companies is using the messaging around the hires to signal to the outside world that they’ll be going back to the services and brand characteristics that made them household names decades ago.

According to George, who has experience with leadership changes at brands like Shutterfly and Unilever, successful change leadership requires “brutal honesty about problems, deep respect for heritage, clear frameworks for action, authentic engagement with front-line teams and realistic timelines.”

Heritage as North Star 

Sometimes new CEOs want to make their mark by building something new, but they shouldn’t forget what made their organization great in the first place, George said. “Your company’s history and the DNA of that brand are really a strength.”

At Boeing, the comms team is focusing on returning to engineering excellence, while Starbucks wants to get back to its “coffeehouse roots.” In his hiring announcement, Niccol stressed a desire to see the “iconic brand” get back to exhibiting the “unique culture and commitment to enhancing human connections around the globe” that he has long admired.

“It’s clear we need to fundamentally change our strategy to win back customers,” Niccol said in mid-October. “My experience tells me that when we get back to our core identity and consistently deliver a great experience, our customers will come back.”

Mellody Hobson, Starbucks’ lead independent director and a board member, described   Niccol as a “culture carrier.” She and the rest of the company’s board praised Niccol for turning Chipotle around by introducing menu changes and improving store employees’ quality of life, through higher wages and more benefits.

“Like all of us at Starbucks, he knows that a great customer experience starts with a great partner experience,” said Hobson. “Our board believes he will be a game-changing leader for our company, our people, and the customers we serve worldwide.”

In his early days as Boeing’s CEO, Ortberg made a deliberate effort to spend time on the factory floor, rather than in the executive suites: “I don’t think our people are close enough to the people in the labs, the people on the factory floor.”

The statement showcased Ortberg’s commitment to connecting with frontline employees who are the “lifeblood of the company,” George said.

In other statements, the former Collins Aerospace chief executive has tried to send a message to investors that Boeing was getting back to basics. He recently cited a desire to develop a new aircraft in the future but stressed a need to “reset our priorities and create a leaner, more focused organization.”

“There was no attempt to ‘reimagine aerospace solutions,'” George said. “It was, ‘We’re an airplane company; and we need to get back to what we do best, which is engineering excellence around airplanes.'”

Front-line first 

George emphasized that Niccol and Ostberg’s post-hire actions weren’t about making boardroom presentations, but rather about taking trips into the field. “Truth comes from where value is created, not headquarters,” George said.

Both CEOs have been clear about the importance of being in the trenches. Niccol did just that in his first 50 days, talking to folks all over the country on a listening tour.

As part of his “Back to Starbucks” plan, Niccol is simplifying the drink and food menus, restoring the condiment bar and bringing back the practice of writing names on beverage cups, among other changes, to reclaim the company’s status as “America’s living room.”

“To me, the fact that he’s turned what he heard into tangible changes in under three months sends a clear message about understanding the people doing the actual work and making it easier for them, which ultimately benefits customers,” George said.

They’ve also worked to show that commitment isn’t a one-off thing. Ortberg, for instance, moved from Florida to Seattle. Niccol is commuting by private jet from his family home in Southern California to be at the office a few times a week. Though, that work agreement with has raised some concerns about an apparent double standard as the company has pledged to enforce its return-to-office policy.

“The real challenge is the perceived inconsistency, whether it’s real or not,” George said. “As I always tell leaders, everything you say and do sends a message. Your job as CEO is to send the right message and inspire trust. To me, this doesn’t quite hit the mark.”

A Starbucks spokesperson said corporate expectations are for Niccol to work in the Seattle office at least three days a week in line with the company’s policy.

“It seems like they tried to do this with the right intention, but it still raises questions about consistency and fairness,” George said.

Framework, not frenzy

George praised both companies for their straightforward language in communications. “There are very few buzzwords or corporate jargon,” she said. “They’re willing to admit the hard truth, that they’ve made it difficult to be a customer.”

One example is Ostberg’s frank statements about the looming layoff of up to 10% of Boeing’s staff.

In the Q3 earnings report, he wrote:

“We are at a crossroads. The trust in our company has eroded; we’re saddled with too much debt; and we’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers.”

“As communications pros, we often sanitize our leaders’ messages, making them meaningless and undermining trust,” she said. “Real trust is built on raw truth, not perfectly crafted statements.”

George noted that communications from Niccol and Ortberg, as well as their teams, have used simple, direct language that “calls out problems by name and strips away the corporate veneer.”

“They speak like humans, saying what’s wrong and how they’ll fix it, which has been really powerful for both of them so far,” she added.

George emphasized the importance of setting long-term expectations while trying to get back to the fundamentals and earning a few wins.

“Change is a process, not an event,” George said.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post PR lessons from Boeing, Starbucks CEO changes appeared first on PR Daily.

President Joe Biden described Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in the 2024 election as a “setback” but he urged Americans to unite and accept the results. 

“We accept the country’s choice,” Biden said. “You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree.” 

Both Harris and Biden said it was important for their supporters to continue their work.

“I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said.

Why it matters: Change is scary – whether it’s in Washington, D.C. or a boardroom. 

In the case of this election, both Biden and Harris often framed a potential Trump return to the White House as a threat to democracy. After Biden’s win in 2020, Trump delayed the transition, refusing to accept the results. Many of his supporters were involved in an insurrection at the Capitol.

“He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power,” Biden said in January.

Following any major shakeup, it’s important that leadership sends a message that highlights any understanding of those concerns and sympathizes with what they’re going through, offering reassurance where and if possible.

During her concession speech, Harris noted that accepting the results of an election “distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny. And anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.”  At the same time,” she continued, “in this nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God.” 

“My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up. … And we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square.”

As part of any transition messaging, it’s important to emphasize that even if the ultimate goal wasn’t achieved, there were still individual successes along the way. Highlighting these wins shows shareholders and supporters — whether they’re employees, investors or voters — that they value and appreciate their support, and that their efforts weren’t in vain.

In his speech, Biden did just that, saying that while “Setbacks are unavoidable,” “giving up is unforgivable.”

“We all get knocked down, but the measure of our character, as my dad would say, is how quickly we get back up. Remember, a defeat does not mean we are defeated,” he said. “We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up.”

Editor’s Top Reads:

• A major takeaway from the 2024 election cycle is the growing popularity of podcasts. The Wall Street Journal noted that Trump’s three-hour interview with podcast host Joe Rogan garnered over 45 million views on YouTube and more than 25 million listens across other streaming platforms in just two weeks. Harris used podcasts as a major strategy, appearing on popular shows like “Call Her Daddy,” currently the No. 16 podcast on Spotify which has a largely female audience, and “All the Smoke,” a top-40 sports podcast featuring former NBA players. These online talk shows, typically hosted by comedians and celebrities rather than news personalities, aim to both entertain and inform. Podcasts have more freedom to take risks and have fun with their guests – even if they’re potential leaders of the United States. To that end, some 47% of people in the U.S. have listened to a podcast in the past month, including nearly 60% of people who are under 35. Moreover, 54% of podcast listeners say they tune in for news or political analysis. Podcasts provide a unique opportunity to humanize your principals while still connecting with a large, diverse audience hungry for information.
• Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, removed several years-old social media posts that criticized Donald Trump. One such post was a tweet from 2020 that reads: “The most destructive president in history. He drags America and democracy through the mud.” Rudd explained on his personal website that he made those remarks as a commentator on American politics and deleted them “out of respect for the office of president of the United States.” He wanted to avoid giving the impression that his views represented those of the Australian government. For PR pros, this is a reminder that the timely post or comment you’re thinking about making today may not come across the same way a year or two from now. Political and cultural landscapes can drastically change almost overnight, so ensure you’re looking not only at today when you post, but also down the road. Failing that, regularly go through old posts and delete those that no longer fall in line with today’s reality. But while you can physically delete a post it will never truly go away.
• Prices for most goods have been falling throughout the year. However, inflation for a wide range of services, such as restaurants and car repairs, remains high. Food services inflation rose 3.6% in September, according to the Associated Press. The report notes that chains such as Chipotle and McDonald’s expect inflationary pressure from wages to continue. With the overall price of goods actually on the decrease, service-based companies and brands would be wise to create a messaging strategy that centers around what they can provide that they can’t get at home. Discounts and promotions such as that will work well, too, especially since many consumers are still struggling financially. But when push comes to shove, brands must  emphasize why a customer should shell out a few more dollars to come out to their eatery or buy a service they may be able to do themselves. Messaging should highlight the convenience factor of having someone do it for you or the high quality of the product.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: Democrats’ post-election messaging highlights understanding during transition appeared first on PR Daily.

In theory, getting homeowners to accept a free lead service line replacement should be easy. The new pipes can reduce the risk of lead in drinking water and increase property values.

But after launching its voluntary program in 2016, Greater Cincinnati Water Works had a hard time getting people to sign up.

Program managers Kevin Kappers and Bridget Patton found that several communication issues were holding them back from meeting their replacement goals. These include distrust of the government, people not answering calls from unknown numbers and struggles to explain the program to residents.

“Some people think it’s too good to be true,” Kappers said about the program, which focuses on areas where GCWW has already planned infrastructure projects, like water main replacements and sinkhole repairs.

“We’re calling to offer a free program that will increase your home’s value and remove a risk,” he continued. “To some people, that raises red flags – and you can understand why.”

That’s why the GCWW team has developed a strategy around a few key concepts: simple language, consistent messaging and community advocates.

But it all starts with building trust.

Trusted community partners

GCWW created its lead program in 2016 following the well-publicized incident in Flint, Michigan . Cincinnati hasn’t experienced anything like the Flint incident but lead pipes do exist. Usually, additives to the water supply protect people from lead, but if those lines get disturbed, the risk greatly increases.

That situation created a potential “mixed messaging” challenge, Kappers said. On one hand, they were telling people their water was safe; on the other hand, they were saying they needed to replace their line.

“The truth is, it’s a little bit of both,” Kappers said. “But we stress that this isn’t about suffering health consequences tomorrow if you don’t do the replacement.”

Initially, the Cincinnati program covered 40% of the replacement cost, up to $1,500. Because the customer still paid the majority, participation rates were low, around 35% Even after replacement became completely free in 2021, the public remained skeptical and customer participation only rose to 50%.

Kappers, a certified engineer, said the topic of lead in water can be a difficult notion to convey to someone who doesn’t have an engineering degree or a chemistry background, especially during a telephone call or in a single email.

To that end, GCWW has worked to simplify its messaging, changing most collateral material to rely on visuals and infographics instead of text. The copy that was kept foregoes technical jargon in favor of easy-to-follow, digestible information. For example, the lead team replaced a multi-page booklet explaining the program with a colorful, two-sided flier that is more visually appealing and much quicker to process.

GCWW’s outreach begins with a colorful postcard to catch their attention (“Something important is coming your way!”), then it sends the actual contract and details of the program via mail.

After that, there are a couple rounds of automated telephone calls to remind customers to check their mail as well as reminder emails and social media posts targeted at specific neighborhoods.

In total, there are about 10 direct touchpoints with homeowners.

“We’re going to blitz the area when we’re working in it, to try to get everybody,” Patton said. “We’re going to hit you with every possible way we can to get the message across.”

Being part of the community

The real key to success, according to Patton, lies in the program’s community-based outreach efforts.

GCWW has made a concerted effort to partner with trusted neighborhood entities to build on its credibility and have them share the program’s benefits with the community. This might include local community council members, church leaders or other respected neighborhood figures.

“We show up everywhere,” Patton said, from local council meetings to major festivals.

These community connections have proven invaluable, especially in reaching residents who may be wary of government outreach, Patton said.

“All of that builds goodwill and trust in the community,” Patton said.

The program’s success stories have also become powerful tools. They lean into those testimonials – using social media to share brief stories of the individuals and families affected on social media posts. They range from a couple thanking the utility making their home safer for their son to a woman outlining the ins and outs of the placement process.

“The lead service line replacement took less than a day,” said program participant Mandy Ackerman. “They dug up the shut-off valve at the street, tunneled under my yard to the house, cleaned up the basement, and came back the next day to seed around the valve.

The East Price Hill then went on to stress that the entire process is free and that there was no disruption to her yard.

“When someone stands up and says, ‘Yeah, I participated, and it was painless,’ that’s really powerful,” Patton said.

Consistent but targeted messaging

Homes affected by lead pipes include both those belonging to the wealthy and those living in poverty. People who’ve struggled financially often become disenfranchised, which has made them more distrustful, according to GCWW.

That’s where personalized outreach becomes important. Many of the residents prefer in-person contact and being able to ask questions in real time, Kappers said. But the key is to make sure it remains consistent.

Even with these strategies in place, the team at GCWW knows that their work is far from over. Reaching residents with language barriers or limited access to technology remains a persistent challenge.

“We’re a known entity for a lot of folks now,” Kapper said. “We show up, we’re there, we’re consistent. And that helps break down those barriers of distrust.”

The post Homeowners are skeptical about replacing lead pipes. Here’s how one utility makes the case. appeared first on PR Daily.

Artificial intelligence simplifies processes and assists in creating rough drafts. However, savvy readers can easily spot copy generated by a bot because it often sounds inauthentic or impersonal.

That’s why PR professionals must remember that chatbots need human oversight to ensure generated text not only sounds right but also reflects branding rules, industry style and is accurate.

“We are the pros who can do it,” said Jennifer Magas, assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University, during Ragan’s recent AI for Communicators Virtual Conference. “We can tell that personal story, handle that crisis and work alongside AI to create content that resonates with our audience.”

During her discussion, Magas, who has worked in both journalism and PR, outlined insights for editing and personalizing AI-created content to meet professional standards.

Step 1: Verify facts, sources

Regardless of how well someone writes something, if the information isn’t accurate or is misleading, nothing else matters. So, the first and most crucial step is fact-checking.

Although AI is improving reliability, quality sourcing remains a challenge. Magas emphasized the importance of verifying all statistics, quotes and information against reliable sources, such as .edu and .gov websites or peer-reviewed journals. She also recommends citing all sources, whether through footnotes, hyperlinks or citations.

Magas also highlighted the need to run a plagiarism check anytime AI creates text, as LLMs pull in information from all over the internet and may unintentionally steal intellectual property.

“That’s our fear, right?” Magas said. “That’s our big fear.”

Step 2: Refine copy and then rewrite it

Different audiences need different approaches, so it’s crucial that the copy’s tone and style fit the target audience. AI tools, like ChatGPT, have different “temperature settings” that can affect the tone, from formal and factual to creative and casual.

Magas advised asking the AI to adjust the tone to better suit the target audience and brand, providing a better first draft. Then, the communicator should use their storytelling skills to rewrite overly complex sentences to make the content more accessible and easier to read.

As part of the editing process, Magas recommended was Grammarly to help improve writing, whether it’s the flow or grammar issues. But she stated that nothing beats “pulling out a ruler” and going line-by-looking looking spacing issues, typos or even a missing comma.

Step 3: Diversifying sentence structures

One of the shortcomings of AI-generated content is that it can fall into formulaic patterns based on its training. That can be a problem, Magas said, because sentence variety keeps content engaging and prevents it from sounding robotic.

She suggested going back to mix in a series of statements, questions and commands to make the content sound more personal. Reading every sentence aloud can help identify the need for variety, as well as grammar issues that editing tools may overlook.

“Trim those unnecessary words,” Magas said. “Take out the ‘really.’ Take out the ‘very,’ take out the ‘in order to’ for more direct sentences.”

Step 4: Personalizing for brand voice

Engaging with an audience in a meaningful way requires content to reflect a brand’s unique identity.

Magas’ process involves personalizing AI-generated content to align with the style guide, ensuring consistency with approved word choices, language, punctuation and tone. Often, brands have a “personality,” whether formal, casual, or authoritative.

By aligning the content with the brand’s personality, Magas ensures that the final product resonates with the target audience.

“If you don’t have a style guide at your company, please start working on one,” she said.

AI has the potential to become a powerful tool in every communicator’s toolbox. Yet, it’s essential to remember that AI is only as effective as the person using it. A PR pro’s skills, understanding of the brand and gut instincts are the most important part of unlocking AI’s full potential.

Watch the full video below.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post 4 steps for making AI copy sound more human appeared first on PR Daily.

Kamala Harris campaigned in Michigan on Sunday without mentioning “Donald Trump” even once. Instead of criticizing Trump directly, the Democratic nominee contrasted her hopeful message with her Republican opponent’s darker approach.

She emphasized the need for unity, stating, “I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy” – referencing Trump’s own comments without explicitly naming him.

“We are done with that,” she said. “We are exhausted with that. America is ready for a fresh start, ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow American not as an enemy, but as a neighbor.”

By contrast, Trump used his time in Pennsylvania and other key battleground states this weekend to make the case that his victory would “save the country,” once again trying to paint a picture of the failures of the last four years, especially emphasizing the economy.

Trump claimed that a vote for his ticket would usher in “the four greatest years in American history.” 

“You watch,” Trump said. “It’s going to be so good. It’s going to be so much fun. It’ll be a bit nasty at times, especially at first. But it’s going to be something.”  

Why it matters: This past weekend, both Harris and Trump used a messaging strategy that emphasized their competitor’s weaknesses and how their own brand is superior.

Since becoming the Democratic nominee in July, Harris has worked to rally a diverse group of supporters, with a particular emphasis on young people. Key to her messaging has been her depiction of Trump as unstable and a threat to things such as abortion rights.

She also used language on social media – words and phrases like “fight,” “power” and “make our voices heard” – to emphasize the active role her voters can play in combating that potential reality while strengthening the country.

“We have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division,” she said.

This weekend saw a return of Trump’s sometimes violent rhetoric. At a rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Trump reportedly spoke off-script, reviving false claims about election fraud, arguing that he could only lose to Harris through cheating.

There is no evidence of widespread election fraud, either in 2020 or in 2024. 

“It’s a crooked country,” Trump told the crowd. “They’ll want to put you in jail because you want to make it straight. Think about it. They cheat in elections, and you call them on it, and they want to put you in jail.”

With a tight race developing in the final hours of the election cycle, returned to the bold, unapologetic style he used successfully to win the election in 2016 – even bringing back his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

For communicators, tapping into the emotional needs of their target audience is a powerful motivator. Both Trump and Harris understand that this involves a mix of hope and fear. 

Editor’s Top Reads

• The Federal Reserve will likely lower interest rates this week due to declining inflation. The agency’s policymakers are set to reduce their benchmark rate by a quarter-point to around 4.6%, following last month’s half-point cut. Economists predict another quarter-point rate cut in December and possibly more next year. While these numbers are good for the economy, the election results may still have a lasting impact on interest rates. The Associated Press noted that if Trump takes office, his economic policies could have impacts on inflation rates, given his calls for new tariffs on all imports, mass deportations and threats to interfere with the Fed’s independent rate decisions. The outcome of Tuesday’s election will have far-reaching impacts, including into an area of the government typically seen as neutral, which will have massive impacts on both consumer sentiment and the business environment in which case organizations operate. Keep an eye on this number. 
• Groups supporting Trump have been using Telegram to recruit poll watchers, preparing them to dispute votes in Democratic areas, a New York Times analysis found. Others have spread conspiracy theories, claiming that any outcome short of a Trump win would be unfair. While the idea of people storming Capitol Hill might have seemed unlikely a decade ago, it’s now a real possibility. As a result, PR teams need to be ready for any situation. Approach this election like a crisis communications scenario and be prepared for anything.
• Ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber are encouraging people to participate in the democratic process by offering discounted rides to the polls. Since announcing the promotion over a week ago, Lyft has posted multiple “Vote24” messages on social media. Its Instagram posts feature personal stories from Lyft drivers, passengers and influencers, including drag queen Sasha Colby. The campaign’s overall theme is that voting matters and that individual actions can make a difference. By offering 50% off rides (up to $10) to polling places on Election Day, both companies are earning goodwill among potential customers while showcasing their product’s usefulness. That combination is a great opportunity to generate brand loyalty. Also, if you were previously unsure of how you’d get to the polls, now you have no excuse. Go vote.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post Harris goes positive, while Trump goes dark on build up to Election Day appeared first on PR Daily.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump climbed into the passenger seat of a garbage truck on Wednesday as a pre-election stunt meant to highlight negative remarks President Joe Biden appeared to make about his fanbase.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said of Trump supporters. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Those comments were in response to a comedian calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during a Trump rally in New York City last weekend.

After his remarks drew criticism from Trump and fellow Republicans, Biden turned to social media to attempt to clarify the message, saying he was referring to the “hateful rhetoric” spewed during the Trump event at Madison Square Garden, not his supporters.

“That’s all I meant to say,” Biden wrote on X. “The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

Trump didn’t let that slide though. Donning a security vest, he traveled briefly in white garbage truck bearing his name to call out Biden’s comments and directly connect them to his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump asked the crowd. “This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

 Why it matters: Harris holds a slight lead over Trump, with 44% to his 43%, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. And with Election Day right around the corner, any misstep or criticism has the potential of leaving a lasting impression as voters make their way to the ballot box.

Trump’s camp found itself in hot water in light of the comments made in New York City. By latching onto Biden’s remarks, the Republican was able to not only change the headlines in the news cycle but also fire up his supporters.

With this garbage truck theatrics, Trump also made sure to connect the dots between Harris’ association with Biden.

As he has done throughout the campaign, Trump made a point of drawing out the connection between the president and his second-in-command. Those criticisms typically focus on policies or economic situations. However, in this instance Trump’s Harris-is-Biden approach meant to convince undecided voters that the Democrats have negative views of anyone who supports him.

Harris and her team took a significant step to distance themselves from Biden’s comments, without directly mentioning him. As she has in recent weeks, Harris uses her talking points to show that she’s her own person with her own ideas.

“I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not,” Harris told reporters while on the campaign trail. “And as president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not.”

It’s unlikely that a presidential campaign is likely to come down to a ride in a garbage truck. But in this unprecedented presidential campaign season, anything is possible. It’ll be important for both candidates to be on top of their game through Tuesday. 

Editor’s Top Reads

• A Pentagon audit revealed that Boeing overcharged the Air Force by nearly $1 million for spare parts on C-17 cargo planes, including a staggering 8,000% markup on simple lavatory soap dispensers. Boeing disputed the findings, a crucial move for the company as it faces reputational and legal challenges. Rather than simply saying, “We disagree,” leadership detailed their reasons. “We are reviewing the report, which appears to be based on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet aircraft and contract specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17,” its media statement reads. The company outlined specific next steps as well, stating that it’s working with the OIG and the U.S. Air Force and that it plans to provide a detailed written response to the report in the coming days. In a crisis, statements need to be genuine and meaningful. Insincere comments or mere PR efforts can alienate shareholders. Boeing’s response isn’t a fix-all. But it showcases an attempt damage control in the face of a nearly unwinnable situation. Sometimes, the only thing a comms team can do is work to stop further harm.
• Apple Intelligence launched with the iOS 18.1 iPhone update, generating significant interest in its capabilities and “convenience.” Many are excited about features like a more conversational Siri, improved writing and photo editing tools that can instantly remove unwanted elements from photos, such as people in the background. Additionally, the update allows iPhone users to record phone calls for the first time. When a call is recorded, the phone automatically transcribes the conversation and saves it to the Notes app. From a messaging perspective, Apple used its AI launch to position itself against competitors like Android, which has its own AI features, by emphasizing that consumers now expect AI to be part of their daily lives. Apple CEO Tim Cook described the new tools as a way to unlock “brand-new experiences and tools that will transform what our users can accomplish.” The iPhone has traditionally been associated with luxury, but this announcement focused on highlighting its utility to users. Certainly, there’s a cool factor with Apple Intelligence, but in its statement repeatedly sprinkled in words like “helpful” and “useful” to stress that the iPhone is not only a cool device but also provides practical benefits. While Apple isn’t ready to take on Otter or Photoshop just yet, iPhone users now know that in a pinch, their device offers a range of tools at their fingertips whenever they need them. Sometimes as communicators we want to focus on the sexy bells and whistles of a campaign, but often what people really want to know is how things will benefit them. And that’s what Apple tried to display with its AI rollout. Remember: There’s nothing wrong with something being both cool and useful.
• Job growth came to a sharp halt last month. According to the Labor Department’s Friday report, the economy added a seasonally adjusted 12,000 jobs in October, a significant drop from the 223,000 jobs gained in September. Economists link the figure in part to hurricanes that ravaged parts of the United States as well as the Boeing labor strike. Despite the challenges, the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%, matching economists’ expectations. This is a great example of numbers now always telling the whole story. For communicators, it’s important to be there to help shape those data points and figures to make sure the target audience understands them. That’s something both presidential camps are going to do a lot of as Election Day approaches. “This jobs report is a catastrophe and definitively reveals how badly Kamala Harris broke our economy,” the Trump campaign said Friday morning. The Harris camp, in turn, would be wise to highlight that the still-low unemployment rate and the fact that the economy has created around 2.2 million jobs over the past year. As of Friday morning, Harris hadn’t commented on the job report’s specifics. However, her team has spent the past few days commenting specifically on what her administration would do to “bring down the cost of living for Americans” and other such topics. PR pros don’t always have the luxury of straightforward, easy-to-understand data so it’s imperative to take the guesswork out of it and show the audience what the numbers really mean.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: Trump garbage truck aims to rile up fanbase ahead of election appeared first on PR Daily.

Nowadays, it seems like just about every social media user has taken an influencer’s opinion on something, whether it’s about trying a product or visiting a new restaurant.

Even if they don’t know each other in person, the time they spend watching videos creates a kind of relationship that lets them build a rapport, even a sense of trust.

“Influencer and creator platforms are built on trust,” said Blair Huddy, founder and CEO of Hudson Davis Communications. “Their audiences trust them for information, product recommendations and more. Part of what helps them build an audience is being authentic, which helps others relate to them.”

Recent data from Podcastle, a content creation platform powered by AI, supports Huddy’s comments. The survey reveals that users want authenticity more than ever from their influencers. In fact, 61% of Americans prioritize authenticity over everything else in the content they watch.

“Trust and authenticity go hand in hand, and that’s exactly why it’s rated so highly as a quality users want to see,” said Arto Yeritsyan, Podcastle’s CEO.

“Influencers create content, but what an audience buys into is the person, driven by their unique personality and worldview,” he continued. “Being relatable and credible is important for an influencer, whether they share knowledge-based content or try to be funny – users want to know that person has lived what they’re saying and can empathize with them.”

Building a genuine connection

Huddy believes that it comes down to people looking for genuine recommendations from someone they trust. “A lot of people feel like they know their favorite creators intimately, and when they push products in a way that feels inauthentic, those posts don’t do very well,” she said.

She gave an example of working with creators who typically get millions of views on posts, but when they post an ad, it only gets hundreds or thousands of views, so the audience can definitely tell when the content isn’t organic.

Huddy recently worked with lifestyle brand influencer @shondarogers on an air purifier post. While the creator’s posts tend to do really well, Huddy said her paid ads tend to see a noticeable difference, with far fewer views than her normal content.

What tends to work best for her, Huddy said, is finding ways to help an influencer’s authenticity come across. It doesn’t work when it comes off as an ad and you can tell they don’t care about your product or company.

To that end, you’re really looking for creators who are personally and professionally aligned with your brand, where the “endorsement” of your product or company makes sense. In short: Don’t just search for folks with the highest follower count.

“On the other hand, when you see people talking about and recommending a product they genuinely love, those posts tend to do really well,” Huddy said.

Huddy gave the example of an experience working with a user-generated content creator for a fashion brand called Rewash. The user was a frequent customer who happened to be chronically ill, and she shared her experiences in buying new clothes to look and feel better while combating her illness.

These posts had a much greater impact than other creators for Rewash, Huddy said, with a purchase-through rate of more than 50%, which is “insanely high for creator campaigns.”

Huddy attributed that success to the creator being genuinely supportive of the brand and her audience responding well to her feelings and recommendations about products.

Don’t create a digital pitchman

Huddy believes that if an influencer’s social channel starts to feel like a glorified entry point for a TikTok shop or some other platform, it can turn people off.

Podcastle’s numbers back that up. Yeritsyan noted that American social media users find it excessive when an influencer posts more than nine times a week, stating three new pieces of content per week are ideal for most creators.

If a product or angle is inconsistent with the brand they followed and if they oversaturate the market, seeming more like a pitchman than an influencer, users will lose interest, Yeritsyan said.

Podcastle found that people don’t want to watch content that feels inauthentic or staged (69%), features excessive brand partnerships (63%) and includes repetitive or unoriginal content (58%). The research showed that 81% of Americans will unfollow influencers who share videos that lack substance or value, emphasizing the need for authenticity.

Nearly 70% of users felt that when influencers post too frequently, it’s usually because they are trying to push a product or service.

Building a new influencer relationship

Ultimately, no one understands influencer audience data better than the creators themselves, Huddy said. She’s a firm believer in letting them have a controlling stake in the promotion.

“It should be a partnership,” she said.

Huddy recommended providing a general brief of what you’re hoping to do with the campaign. Then ask them to provide you with ideas for how they might get the campaign ethos across to their audience in a way that feels genuine to the rest of their work.

“That lends itself to a situation where you’re developing a genuine connection with the creator and helping them deeply understand your product and company and how it fits into the ecosystem they’ve created,” Huddy said.

While working with the brands Karma Wallet and Integrate, Huddy’s team found that the process was more beneficial when they allowed the creators to have creative input. One Karma Wallet creator, Tyler Chanel, even recommended a blog post over picture content because she thought it would perform better for her audience.

“Don’t be overly prescriptive; it can often come off as too scripted and unauthentic, making the entire strategy ineffective,” Huddy said. “If you want a shot-by-shot narrative, it would be better to create an ad than to work with a creator.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post How to capitalize on an influencer’s trust with users appeared first on PR Daily.

CNN has banned conservative writer Ryan Girduskyfrom the network after a contentious on-air exchange with panelist Mehdi Hasan for his support of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas War. 

During a discussion about Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on “NewsNight with Abby Phillip,” Girdusky told Hasan, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” a reference to recent attacks where Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon and Syria, killing 39 people. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack.

The heated encounter begins with Hasan saying to Girdusky, “If you (Republicans/conservatives) don’t want to be called Nazis, stop…” before he’s cut off. Hasan and Girdusky then have a back-and-forth, Hasan said he was used to being called an antisemite because he supports “Palestinians.” 

That’s when Girdusky made his comment.

Hasan, a Muslim, responded: “Did you just tell me I should die?… You just said I should be killed.” Girdusky apologized, but after the commercial break, he was removed from the panel. Hasan also left the panel during the break, but of his own choice – Phillip clarified that he was asked to stay but chose to leave.

On Tuesday, Girdusky responded on X, writing, “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi,” but apparently can’t “if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”

Why it matters: CNN needed to send a clear message to its guests and audiences that Girdusky crossed a line.

Viewers expect lively political discussions and disagreements, especially about politics. However, a heated argument featuring apparent wishes of violence against a panelist during a presidential election discussion is bad for the brand – and for public civility as a whole. 

Immediately following the Hasan-Girdusky exchange, a frantic scene erupted as all panelists talked over each other, with host Abby Phillip trying to restore some sense of decorum. Phillip quickly rebuked Girdusky, saying, “Ryan, that’s completely out of line. You know that.”

As Girdusky attempted to apologize, Phillip cut in, saying, “Don’t say ‘Then I apologize.’ You literally accused him…”. Phillip later stated during the broadcast: 

“A line was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me. It’s not acceptable to us at this network. We want discussion. We want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other. But when you cross the line of complete incivility, that won’t happen here on this show.”

After the show, Phillip apologized to Hasan and viewers on social media, stating that Girdusky had crossed a line. She also clarified that Hasan was invited back for the following segment and wanted to hear more insights, but he chose not to return. Hasan is welcome to return as a guest in the future as well.

Phillip did a great job of using her brief comments to not only diffuse a tense situation but also to shape the narrative about her program’s representation. CNN followed her lead with similar comments, showing support for Phillip while reiterating its organizational mission. The network made it clear that it has “zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” and explicitly stated that Girdusky would not be invited back as a guest.

“We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate, including between people who profoundly disagree with each other, to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding,” the statement continued.

Editor’s Top Reads

• Starbucks is stepping up enforcement of its return-to-office policy, warning employees that they must comply or face termination. Starting in January, the company will monitor compliance with the three-day-a-week policy. “We are continuing to support our leaders as they hold their teams accountable to our existing hybrid work policy,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve made updates to our workspaces to make sure they work for the teams who use them.” This move is likely aimed at sending a message to investors that the company is working to get back on track by building culture and ensuring workers are pulling in the right direction. Even before new CEO Brian Niccol took over, the company had struggled with sales and its reputation. “This is not a game of tracking. This is a game of winning,” Niccol said during an employee forum. “I care about seeing everybody here succeed, and if success requires us being together more often than not, let’s be together more often.” While returning to office work may not boost sales figures, it will show that Niccol is making efforts to improve things. In its messaging, Starbucks has stated that its expectations for hybrid corporate employees have remained the same over the past two years. However, it’s sending a reminder to workers that they must follow these expectations. To make the policy more universal, Starbucks has tried to emphasize that no one is exempt, including Niccol, who is also a hybrid worker. The Starbucks has said Niccol would meet or exceed Starbucks’s in-office mandates. However, some workers have expressed skepticism of Niccol’s arrangement. Rob Sadow, who helped create an index that benchmarks remote-work policies, told the Wall Street Journal that workers may now wonder “do we still need to be in the office three days a week?” In light of this double-down by corporate, trying to convince mid-level employees that their daily commutes are equivalent to a millionaire like Niccol taking a private jet from Southern California to Seattle a couple of times a week might be a tough sell.
• At least 250,000 Washington Post readers have canceled their subscriptions since the news organization announced it wouldn’t endorse a presidential candidate, which is about 10% of its digital subscribers. This has sparked a crisis for both The Post and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, from a PR perspective. In response, some outlets, like Slate, have suggested that instead of punishing the journalists, people should cancel their Amazon Prime subscription to criticize Bezos. It was important for Bezos to send a message to customers about the reasoning behind the non-endorsement in an effort to stop the proverbial bleeding. On Monday night he published an op-ed in The Post titled “The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media.” It argued that endorsements don’t matter to voters. In the piece, Bezos aims to show that there was no quid pro quo and that he didn’t interact with Trump or the Harris camps before the announcement. While he admitted that Dave Limp, the chief executive of one of his companies, Blue Origin, met Trump on the day of the announcement, he made a point of highlighting that he didn’t have a role in the decision-making and wasn’t aware of the meeting. “I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos said. “But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.” This statement aimed to show customers that the decision didn’t stem from a particular business interest. Bezos also tried to position the decision as a way to keep The Post an “independent voice amid a surge of misinformation. He said that, “While I do not and will not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance — overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs — not without a fight. It’s too important” before highlighting that his reporters are “the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere.” Makes it interesting then that he wouldn’t allow them to use their independent voice to do their jobs.
• The federal government plans to release its final jobs report before the November elections, and officials warn that recent hurricanes and strikes will skew the data affecting job growth. As a result, the picture of the economy will be unclear as many American voters head to the polls. The strength of the U.S. economy has been a key talking point throughout this election cycle, and the findings of this report will likely become a major talking point in the days leading up to Nov. 5. From a messaging perspective, Democrats need to emphasize the report’s finer points and paint a picture of the health of U.S. economy’s status. Most economists agree that the country has experienced positive trends in job growth and other economic indicators. However, some Democratic strategists, like Steve Jarding, have criticized Harris for not focusing enough on these positives and instead letting Trump get away with claiming “the economy is the worst it’s ever been” and criticizing unemployment and inflation numbers. “It’s almost like he lies so much you get tired of refuting it, and I think that’s a mistake,” Jarding said. If the jobs numbers are bad, Democrats will need to focus on explaining why they’re not as strong as they were in previous months and highlighting other economic positives.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post The Scoop: CNN sends clear message that it won’t allow hate speech on air appeared first on PR Daily.

Public relations teams constantly seek ways to show their value to business objectives. One effective approach is to highlight the behind-the-scenes PR efforts driving certain campaigns or business functions.

At a recent Ragan virtual conference, Elizabeth Winter emphasized the benefits of using “flash reports” – concise overviews of PR activities. The goal is to gather on-the-ground observations and conduct sentiment analysis of social media highlights and earned media as activities unfold.

They can come in the form of a presentation or even an email.

“We really need to PR the PR,” Winter, senior manager of public policy communications at General Motors, said during the “Proving the Value of PR to the C-suite” webinar. “All that data is crucial, but sometimes leaders just want to know what’s happening.”

During her presentation, Winter outlined a five-step approach for crafting a flash report.

1. Pre-write against business objectives

Before going into any campaign or big event, it’s important to do a little prep work ahead of time to make sure the C-suite understands how a particular PR strategy ties into the broader business objectives. That will help set establish a baseline of expectations for leadership.

2. Lean on your team

Winter stressed the importance of tapping into the support system – whether in-house or agency help – to track initial reactions, both online and on the ground. For example, at live events, Winter’s team records quotes from journalists and analysts while documenting major moments, like a “gasp” during a car reveal at an auto show, to show leaders “what was in the room.” They also watch media mentions and social media engagements in real time so they can send out reports and respond to questions promptly before company leaders have seen the headlines.

3. Call out cross-functional work

Winter believes in showcasing successful examples of collaboration with business partners. Use the flash report to highlight what those partners did or how the PR team worked with them to emphasize integrated approaches, demonstrating that PR doesn’t operate in a silo, Winter said.

“We all know that reports get forwarded, so it’s good to be a good partner,” she added.

4. Be clear when a deeper dive is coming

Think of these reports as a table setter for the more data-driven presentation at the end of the campaign. As part of the flash report, make sure to set a date for when leadership can expect that detailed report. Setting that date is important because it serves as a reminder that the flash report is only initial reactions and that something more robust is on the way.

5. Cut down and then cut down more

Keep reports concise, visually engaging and clear, as the C-suite is busy and PR is just one of the many things they’ll be surveying that day. At General Motors, Winter’s team relies on “simplistic writing” and strives to create executive documents for “scanability.”

These flash reports shouldn’t comprehensive, Winter said. The main goal is to position the PR role as a strategic counsel for the leadership team.

To that end, it’s essential for communicators to stay ahead of the curve and consider what’s next and how to build on successes. Beyond updating the C-suite, these flash reports offer the PR team regular chances to review their work, identify areas for improvement and learn from their experiences.

“By the time you get to that presentation where you’ve dug into the metrics and the analysis, they’re already on to the next thing,” Winter said. “Coming to those… discussions with how you’re going to apply (what you’ve learned) to that next thing is, really, what’s going to prove your value.”

Watch the full video below.

The post PRing the PR: Use flash reports to highlight successes appeared first on PR Daily.

Few brands remain at the top of their field forever. They can coast on your past reputation for a while, but eventually, it will lose its luster. Then, creative communicators need to find new ways to show their value to new generations who might see them as old-fashioned or not think of them at all.

Public relations should be at the forefront of any reinvention strategy, according to Jacqueline Babb, a senior lecturer at Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.

“Brand and reputation go hand-in-hand,” Babb said. “Being able to reshape stakeholder (customers and investors) perceptions is going to be critical to the success of any rebranding efforts.”

Breathing life into a tired brand

Sometimes a brand loses its cultural relevance – whether it’s because the imaging is a bit tired or perhaps the product itself feels antiquated.

That was the case for Anne Marie Squeo’s PR team while she was ​​chief communications and brand officer Xerox from 2019 to 2021. She described the company as having “receded from the zeitgeist for many years.”

In response, Squeo’s team decided to shift its messaging focus from its printers – “which weren’t very exciting” – to the colors they could create. With a series of videos that connected to relevant events, such as the US Open tennis tournament, holidays, fashion, etc., the team featured its print experts alongside external ones discussing various topics such as the perception of metallics and the real color of a tennis ball.

Taking a page out of paint companies’ playbook, Xerox announced it’d chosen “clear” as its 2020 color of the year. The revamped approach generated press coverage and brought a refresh to the brand, said Squeo, founder and CEO of Proof Point Communications.

Squeo said it aimed to “signal to the world that we were waking up the sleeping giant.”

Xerox experienced an immediate brand excitement, Squeo said. However, it struggled to sustain that success in part because the overarching brand failed to adapt its business model to consumer trends, leading to struggles and a “reinvention” of the company’s business operations.

This is a reminder that even great PR can only do so much in terms of driving sales. It’s important that communications objectives should flow from organizational objectives.

Reacting to a changed cultural landscape

One product Babb believes has done a great job reacting to changed cultural preferences is Crocs – the famously ugly, utilitarian clog that took the world by storm in the early 2000s.

The company originally found great success with its focus on comfort and practicality. However, after concerns about foot health risks stemming from the shoe and ridicule of  its no-frills design, the company was on the verge of going belly-up by 2009.

When Andrew Rees became CEO in 2017, he shifted the brand’s focus to making clogs cool and raising awareness about its other options, such as sandals.

The brand has turned to more over-the-top and silly product designs – such as clogs with heels and specialty themed footwear geared toward children, such as the “Wednesday Addams” edition. Crocs recently released footwear for dogs which sold out the same day.

“(Crocs) embraced ‘ugliness’ as part of its ethos, emphasizing joy and its unique style for leaning into a more unconventional aesthetic,” Babb said.

All social media images feature playful messaging that mirrors the relaxed, “who cares?” vibe of the products it now offers.  The company also tapped into a relationship with a range of influencers, such as musician Carter Vail and singer Post Malone – leading to a reemergence of the brand, especially among teens.

PR pros can use this as an example of taking a step back to look at their product and showcase how it best relates to the current cultural landscape.

The value of a brand

Babb described brands as “intangible assets with tangible value” for companies. A positive brand identity is likely the reason a consumer wants to associate with a company and makes them feel comfortable paying for a product.

A bad reputation will have the opposite, negative effect.

Abercrombie & Fitch is an example of a brand that has experienced both ends of that spectrum over the past few years.

After being voted America’s most hated retailer just eight years ago, Abercrombie worked to move away from an over-sexualized image, which didn’t resonate with Gen Z or even the millennials that had grown up with the brand. The brand’s PR leaned into shared media to announce #AbercrombieIsBack on social media, knowing the importance of changing customer perceptions of their reputation. Posts featured new, more relaxed fit clothing, such as sweaters and trendy cargo pants. 

And in that transition, the company managed to restore millennial love for the brand.

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A post shared by Abercrombie & Fitch (@abercrombie)

“They decided to dig deep into customer insights about the millennial audience that grew up with and loved Abercrombie and are now young professionals,” Babb said.

However, much of that good work is now being undercut by a scandal involving its former CEO, Mike Jeffries, accused of various sex crimes. Its stock price has suffered.

Abercrombie has sought to distance itself from Jeffries and his association with the company. In social media posts, A&F highlighted that Jeffries hasn’t worked there in nearly 10 years and the company also has moved on from the image he created for the brand.

Babb expressed a belief that those types of efforts to distance from unsavory elements of a brand’s history are important to withstand continued blowback.

“In a world where everything is an ad network, from the top of a taxi to the televisions in Walmart, authentic messages from humans are essential,” Babb said.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post Rebranding relevance: How PR can breathe new life into tired brands appeared first on PR Daily.

With a week and a half  until Election Day, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are doing everything in their power to engage and sway notoriously hard-to-reach segments of the American electorate.

One rare area of agreement between the candidates has been on the power of podcasts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is set to record an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the top-rated podcast in the United States. 

The Journal noted that Trump has made around 17 podcast appearances so far this year, while Harris has appeared on 10 podcasts this year, appearing as both vice president and the Democratic nominee for president. She was to tape an interview with podcaster and social scientist Brené Brown on Friday. Brown’s show is popular among older women.

Why it matters: People may not be reading newspapers or tuning into the evening news as much as they used to, but this doesn’t mean they’re not interested in world events and important information. 

As a result, PR professionals need to make podcasts a part of their earned media strategy, since they’ve become a regular part of many Americans’ daily lives, regardless of their background.

A report by Edison Research in May showed that podcasts reach people of all ages. About 59% of 12- to 34-year-olds listen to podcasts every month, and 55% of 35- to 54-year-olds do the same. 

Podcast listeners are also diverse, with 48% of Black Americans and 43% of Hispanic Americans listening every month. The number of U.S. women listening to podcasts has reached a new high, with 45% listening monthly and 32% weekly.

In the case of this presidential race, both the Trump and Harris camps are looking for ways to engage with key demographics.

The “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, which reaches around 15 million viewers every week, is attractive to both Harris and Trump, given its listenership of 71% male and evenly split between high school and post-secondary graduates. 

For comparison, a CNN town hall featuring Harris on Wednesday drew 3.2 million viewers, with over 700,000 of them falling within the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, according to The Hill. The article noted that this figure was less than half of the 7 million viewers who watched her one-on-one interview with Fox News the previous week.

Harris had agreed to appear on Rogen’s show, despite her initial hesitation to participate in longer-form, unscripted interviews, per the Journal. However, organizing a taping has proven challenging. But it all underscores just how important podcasts have become. 

Many of these listeners may be hearing from the candidates in a meaningful way for the first time. These shows offer a great chance for candidates to make a strong impression and connect with listeners on a deeper level than they could through a tweet or TV ad. While a podcast may not be enough to win someone’s vote, it can be an important first step toward doing so.

Editor’s Top Reads:

• President Joe Biden has signed a national strategy to harness artificial intelligence for enhancing national security and safeguarding the country against its potential risks. On Thursday, National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan identified some key considerations behind the strategy, including the swift advancement of AI, the uncertainty surrounding its development and the private sector’s role in future innovations. Sullivan emphasized that the administration’s primary objectives with the policy are to help the U.S. maintain its status as a leader in AI, leverage the tech to improve security and build strong international partnerships while countering China’s influence in the field. The signing of this strategy highlights the need for everyone, including PR professionals, to continue to think of new ways to use this technology. AI has proven useful for drafting press releases and generating social media content, but it’s essential to look beyond these uses. We must anticipate what’s on the horizon to avoid being caught off guard when it arrives. As Sullivan noted, “We need to prepare for all the possible ways AI could develop by 2025, 2027, 2030 and beyond.”
• Most major indicators suggest the United States economy has greatly improved over the past two years, but many Americans still struggle to cope with the fact that they’re paying much more for everything, from housing to a deli sandwich, than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. A report this week from the Federal Reserve noted signs of Americans shifting toward “less expensive alternatives.” Although inflation has slowed down significantly, dropping to 2.4% in September, according to the U.S. Labor Department, many people still feel the pinch. A survey in late August by the Wall Street Journal found that 38% of voters believed the cost of living was still rising and causing major financial strains for their families – the highest level since the question was first asked in November 2021, when inflation was much higher. Another 26% said inflation was causing minor strains. These numbers offer a reminder that just because a person should be able to afford something on paper, it doesn’t mean they feel they can. PR pros should consider this information in their message, showing empathy to consumers while highlighting value. 
• Friday marks the start of the dream PR situation for Major League Baseball as two of its biggest brands, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, square off in the World Series. In recent decades, the league has lost its footing as America’s Pastime, losing audience share to the more action-packed NFL and NBA. The MLB has successfully spent the past couple seasons introducing a range of pace-of-play changes to attract modern spectators. But the World Series, taking place in the country’s two biggest markets, is a unique opportunity to attract new fans. The last time the two teams played in the Fall Classic, in 1978, a record 44 million TV viewers tuned in on average every game. “You love them, you hate them, you’ll watch. At least that’s the idea,” wrote Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Gay. Brands invest time and energy crafting data-driven messaging, earning top-tier media placements and understanding consumer behaviors. But sometimes, organic situations such as this blockbuster World Series present themselves and communicators have to be ready to be ready to capitalize on. For the MLB, it’s wasting little time highlighting the star-studded fanbases of both teams to make the World Series more of a Super Bowl-esque entertainment spectacle. Dodgers superfan and country music star Brad Paisley, for instance, is all over the league’s social media platforms. He’ll also perform the National Anthem before Game 1. Not every company has a primetime national TV broadcast to help promote its products, of course, but they all have the equivalent of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series – be ready.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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The emergence of generative AI has brought significant changes to many areas of the public relations sector. One gaining traction right now is “digital twins” – virtual replicas of target personas.

In essence, digital twins are similar to the character profiles used in communications and marketing plans for decades, according to Ephraim Cohen, global managing director of media, platforms and storytelling at FleishmanHillard. The key difference is that digital twins are more dynamic in that they can use a broader range of data, which leads to better insights based on real-world results.

Cohen’s FleishmanHillard team first delved into generative AI more than five years ago as part of its ongoing effort to better understand audiences. When ChatGPT and other next gen products burst onto the scene around 2022, the agency “almost immediately started looking at digital twins” to make harvesting those insights “much faster, much easier and much more cost-effective to develop” than the traditional personas created by hand.

Jon Lombardo, co-founder of synthetic research platform Evidenza, noted that digital twins  also offer enhanced flexibility, allowing teams to test multiple messages simultaneously and compare the responses to each version.

“Things that used to take months now take literally minutes,” he said.

Developing a program

FleishmanHillard assembled a team of about 50 people to begin developing and testing its digital twin frameworks. The initial approach involved training bots on datasets related to audience behaviors, preferences and online conversations.

Cohen couldn’t go into detail about specific types, but he said FleishmanHillard’s main focus has centered on B2B and B2C audiences.

“We didn’t want to do it with real people, because there are a lot of legal and ethical ramifications there,” Cohen explained. “So we started by taking data sets on how people behaved, their favorite brands, purchase habits and online conversations, and then training bots on those data sets.”

The agency also used qualitative data sources such as academic papers, books and news clippings to build a more comprehensive understanding of their target audiences. That gave insight into things like behaviors, word choices and even their general thought processes.

The goal was not only to gain deeper audience insights, but to also create interactive tools that could assist with media relations and content strategy, Cohen said. He shared that the agency has even experimented with creating profiles of journalists and influencers to better understand how to position stories and content in a “way that resonates.”

Digital twins have made the once static persona “come to life,” Lombardo said. They can have actual names, roles and financial information, allowing for in-depth questioning. By asking the virtual person questions, they can gain the immediate feedback needed to model customer preferences, motivations and pain points.

“(Digital twins can) model the entire sample and give you a more robust view of what the market thinks,” Lombardo said. He added that Evidenza’s clients have had the most success using the platform to reach hard-to-access communities.

“Most of the people that PR people want to impress are not taking surveys or picking up the phone,” Lombardo said. “And in some ways, the only way to talk to them or model them is to use AI.”

Another area digital twins can help with, Lombardo said, is narrative and message testing – understanding how different stakeholders will respond to new campaigns or messaging. Beyond just helping to generate ideas, Lombardo advised PR pros to start asking their AI personas if they like the story angle or the messaging and why they feel that way.

Not as effective with real-time analysis

While the technology is promising, Lombardo highlighted that digital twins have limitations, particularly in real-time situations, such as crises or campaign results as they’re coming in.

“It’s very good at things that have a broader view, like research or segmentation or narrative testing,” he said. “It’s not as good at things that depend on real-time, immediate assessment.”

Cohen largely agreed with those sentiments, especially for digital twin programs just getting started.

Digital twins won’t be perfect from the start, especially when it comes to real-time processes. This is largely because most standard platforms aren’t designed for real-time use, but rather to learn from past data.

Cohen said that many of the initial results from FleishmanHillard’s trials weren’t relevant to their work because they were based on outdated information. It’s possible to train tools and keep them up-to-date, Cohen said, but a team needs to constantly feed and update them with new information. While it’s possible in theory, Cohen said that in practice, most digital twins would require a custom application to draw on real-time data.

While the technology isn’t there yet, Cohen said he feels the technology is moving in that direction. He said many augmentation technologies, like APIs, that can connect to bring in real-time data to a gen AI application.

“As it stands, we’re not there yet,” Cohen said. “But we’ll get there.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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It’s important for PR teams to have a strategy for selecting and presenting metrics and information to the C-suite that showcases their value to the organization’s overarching mission. But sometimes the information leadership wants isn’t available – at least not in a format that tells the story they want to read.

Northwell Health, for instance, has run into issues properly gauging press sentiment. That’s a data point that leaders of the New York’s largest health system have requested multiple times over the years, according to Joe Kemp, Northwell’s assistant vice president of public relations.

“This is a tool we need because it essentially will help us better define our North Star and the direction we need to go,” Kemp said during a recent webinar entitled “Proving the Value of PR to the C-Suite.”

Right now, though, sentiment is an unreliable metric because of what Kemp described as the “rather crude” analysis tools on the market. Measuring sentiment often works against healthcare providers, Kemp said. Typically, content related to serious health issues automatically gets a “negative” rating, even if the coverage is positive. For example, a cancer patient success story would actually hurt Northwell’s sentiment rating results because it’s about cancer, without any further analysis of the story.

In this type of situations, it’s important to be straightforward with leadership. Yes, the data may exist but it’s flawed. Tell them the reasons why the information is bad. As Kemp said: “It’s better not to include something that’s so unreliable right now.”

Of course, sentiment is just one piece of information and requested by Northwell leadership. Kemp stressed the importance of having a full suite of information that shows how the PR strategy aligns with the organization’s top priorities – clinical excellence, education and research – as well as its commitment to community health and access to care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.

To highlight the value of that work, Northwell’s 16-member PR team balances quantity and quality in media placements. They track metrics like impressions and clip count, comparing their performance to local competitors. At the same time, they prioritize securing prominent headlines and thought leadership opportunities that directly support the organization’s strategic goals.

At the end of the day, the hospital system’s leadership team still wants those sentiment numbers. As such, it’s important to come up with alternative solutions to address that need.

While there may not be a great piece of technology on the market to gauge healthcare sentiment right now, the Northwell team is going out to create one of its own. They’re currently looking to build a custom tool with an outside vendor. In the meantime, Kemp said they’re using generative AI tools to add more context and nuance to sentiment analysis.

Once it’s up and running, the PR team will add those findings to the quarterly report to the executive team.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Kemp said.

You can watch the full video below.

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There’s no such thing as surefire homerun when it comes to a product launch or campaign. No matter the quality of content or the product its promoting, sometimes things just don’t resonate with the target audience.

While no one likes to admit failure, there are important lessons that a PR team can learn from these situations. By understanding what went wrong, there’s a chance to make fixes that can salvage the effort.

“If you’re thinking about a PR campaign that’s supporting a product launch, but the sales aren’t there, then you’ve got to ask yourself why,” said Anne Marie Squeo, founder and CEO of Proof Point Communications.

Squeo experienced one of those challenges firsthand while a vice president of communications at IBM. By the time she joined the company, it had already  issued what Squeo described as “hundreds of press releases” about Watson, its AI-based offering. The focus of those communications was to highlight the company’s thought leadership in the still-emerging artificial intelligence space.

The technology famously beat trivia masters on Jeopardy in 2011. By 2016, then-IBM CEO Ginni Rometty boldly stated that Watson was on track for use in some form by a billion people by the end of the following year.

That didn’t happen.

The product was expensive to adopt, and it wasn’t the industry-changing, do-everything solution that it was made out to be. In fact, it didn’t work very well. As a result, clients openly expressed their disappointment to the press, and the narrative surrounding Watson as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence quickly turned into a PR and business issue.

“We really had to move quickly to understand why this was happening, what we had said, and how we had fallen short of our promises,” explained Squeo, a former vice president of corporate communications for IBM. One of her assignments had her oversee Watson, cloud & technology communications.

First things first: Determining where things went wrong

When facing a struggling campaign or product launch, the first thing to do is to perform a root cause analysis to diagnose why things didn’t go as planned.

At IBM, Squeo and her team started by examining all of its previous releases, public statements and advertising language related to Watson. The goal of the “autopsy” was to understand the extent of the problem and where the disconnect lay between marketing claims and actual product performance.

In the case of Watson, the product simply wasn’t meeting the hype surrounding it.

Often, companies blame marketing and PR when sales don’t come through, Squeo said, but if “you’ve got an amazing product, no amount of marketing and PR can hide its appeal.” She gave the example of the almost-overnight success of Dollar Shave Club.

“PR can’t fix it unless we understand and work to address the reason the story appeared in the first place,” she added.

Scale back communications to avoid brand damage

When facing a difficult campaign or product launch, Squeo emphasized the importance of limiting public messaging while working to address those internal issues to avoid doing additional damage to the brand.

Generally, if a product launch isn’t getting traction or is receiving criticism, the PR team should turn its outward-facing messaging to the successful business areas while reworking its approach to the field product, Squeo said. Any messaging about the struggling product or campaign should focus on facts and clarifying information.

Squeo left IBM in late 2018, so she wasn’t there for all the aftermath of the Watson fallout. From the outside, it felt like the company had stopped talking about Watson almost entirely. She agreed with the approach.

“I didn’t see many ads for it, and when I watched IBM’s investor days, they barely mentioned it,” said Squeo. “So, I think that’s a clear sign they’d moved on. They were focusing on other parts of the business instead.”

Don’t be afraid to try new things

Just because a campaign doesn’t hit right away, it doesn’t mean the product is bad or there isn’t a market for it. PR teams need to test and iterate, adjusting media strategies and messaging as needed based on data and feedback.

If traditional PR and marketing haven’t gotten many hits, it may be time to shift to a paid approach, where you don’t need to convince someone to promote your product, Squeo said. If the paid approach is done well, it might help the other side and make the media more receptive to pitches.

In some instances, the best strategy is simply giving more time for the campaign or product to find its audience. Some campaigns or products take longer to have an impact, especially if the product or service is expensive or a longer-term investment rather than a short-term necessity, Squeo said.

“If one thing isn’t working, you can try shifting your focus to see if you get better results by shifting your approach,” she said. “You should always be looking to learn and adjust.”

Be a thought leader, not just a ‘doer’

Rather than simply executing orders, Squeo stressed the need for PR professionals to take a more involved approach in the campaign analysis.

“It’s our responsibility to take that expertise and make it actionable and explainable to our internal partners, whether it’s the product development team, sales team, marketing team or CEO,” Squeo said.

“We need to clearly explain why we’re recommending a particular course of action, what results we expect to achieve,” she added. “If those results aren’t delivered, why that happened and how we’re addressing it.”

When facing a campaign or product challenge, it’s vital to collaborate across departments. PR teams should work hand-in-hand with the product development, sales and marketing teams to fully understand the challenges and to develop effective solutions.

“I don’t think you can do that alone,” Squeo said. “All those things play a role. It’s not just marketing and PR.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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Vice President Kamala Harris is using her remaining time on the campaign trail to remind undecided voters about why they rejected former President Donald Trump at the polls four years ago.

With Election Day just two weeks away, most polls have the presidential race as a 50/50 contest. The Washington Post has Harris ahead in four of seven key battleground states, but the leads are tight.

In an effort to sway undecided voters, Harris’ camp has teamed up with Republican Liz Cheney and made efforts to reconnect with Black male voters, according to the New York Times. But the Democratic nominee has spent much of her time trying to paint Trump as unfit for the job and dangerous to the country. She’s doing so by using his own words against him.

“See for yourself,” Harris said during a recent campaign stop in Wisconsin before pointing to a screen that showed a 40-second video featuring Trump boasting about overturning Roe v. Wade.

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“Harris’s attacks on Trump are intensifying as she tries to catch up to his lead on the economy, a key voter concern,” per the Times report. “Her campaign is reaching out to groups that might be turned off by Trump’s divisive style.”

Why it matters: Harris’ messaging strategy aims to frame her opponent as an unacceptable alternative.

While Trump’s remarks have raised eyebrows, Harris is spending crucial time highlighting what Trump doesn’t offer rather than presenting what she offers.

Opinions on Trump are mostly set. The New York Times reported that Trump’s advisers are urging him to focus on key issues and avoid personal attacks against Harris because they feel it could hurt him among female voters. However, his aggressive style and boldness seem intentional and resonate with some voters. His communication approach focuses on projecting strength and confidence, and it’s helped him gain ground among Black and Hispanic voters.

While Harris is trying to lure back some of that support by highlighting Trump’s negatives, she also needs to commit time to present more about her vision for the future. Harris did some of that during her recent interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, but she doesn’t have many remaining opportunities to generate support among could-be voters.

From a branding perspective, it’s crucial to focus on a product’s strengths, rather than just the drawbacks of the competition. People often prefer to buy into – or vote for – something they genuinely believe in and want. It’s hard to get excited about something presented as the little more than the best available option.

Editor’s Top Reads

• The NFL is taking a long game approach to developing markets around the world before rushing into true global expansion. The approach involves a heavy dose of relationship building and a development of brand loyalty. The league is doing so through a number of in person events, such as watch parties, athletic clinics and working with local business leaders. In Germany, for instance, the league has developed an alliance with Bayern Munich, a powerhouse in other football. The NFL hosts a handful of games around the world every year, in places like England, Germany, Brazil and next year, Spain. But the goal is “not to be the traveling circus and turn up and then go away again,” Henry Hodgson, who oversees the NFL’s operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, said during an 800-person watch party for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Ireland. Instead, the league makes sure it has strong, proven relationships with sponsors, media partners and a large number of fans before deciding where it plans to host a game. Ireland, which last hosted an NFL preseason game in 1997, has an estimated 350,000 fans out of roughly 7 million residents. “It’s about putting roots down,” Hodgson said. The NFL’s approach to growing its global brand is worth considering, even though it’s a unique product. When introducing a product or campaign, it’s essential to think about long-term growth, as you can’t relaunch it twice. Rather than pushing a product quickly and hoping it works, taking the time to understand your audience can lead to better results in the long run.
• Chick-fil-A plans to launch a new app featuring original, family-friendly media content, including animated shows, scripted podcasts, games, recipes and e-books. This content, designed for kids under 12 and their parents, will focus on themes like generosity, friendship, problem-solving, creativity and entrepreneurship. By taking control of its brand and storytelling, Chick-fil-A is working to forge emotional relationships with their customers that they hope will lead to increased sales. The app aims to keep the brand top of mind, even when customers aren’t visiting the restaurant, by providing engaging content that families can enjoy together. This push toward branded storytelling and content allows organizations to own brand perception from end-to-end in a way that feels organic and embeds the brand into daily life.
• The producers of “Alien: Romulus” are planning to release the sci-fi film on VHS. Yes, you read that correctly. Gizmodo reported that the video will feature the film only and come with no special bells and whistles. But the release will surely inspire film buffs and collectors of a certain age to consider purchasing it. The decision is an homage to the original “Alien” movie that came out more than 40 years ago. Beyond inspiring nostalgia, the approach aims to renew interest in the overall film franchise, which is set to have at least two more films in future years. It’s a unique throwback idea that piggybacks on nostalgia for watching grainy videos on a small screen – and it’s garnering plenty of earned media too for the quirky stunt.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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Harvard’s coffers took a hit as mega-donors followed through on promises to pull back gifts over the school’s response to acts of antisemitism on campus related to the Hamas-Israel War.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the prestigious university received $1.17 billion in gifts for the fiscal year that ended June 30. This amount is lower than the $1.38 billion it received during the same period last year.

While the university’s endowment gained 9.6% for the fiscal year, gifts to the endowment fell 34% to $368.1 million, per WSJ.  Distributions from the endowment makes up 37% of Harvard’s revenue for the year, according to the university’s financial report for this fiscal year.

Following the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 27, 2023, protests erupted on campuses across the United States, including Harvard. As the conflict grew into a full-blown war, some pro-Palestinian protests resulted in acts of antisemitism. Former Harvard President Claudine Gay stepped down in January amid criticism of her response to the situation as well as allegations of plagiarism.

As a result, mega-donors billionaire Ken Griffin and the family foundation of investor Len Blavatnik suspended their giving to the school until the university showed commitment to making meaningful changes.

Why it matters: Highlighting an organization’s values is crucial for building strong investor and donor relationships. Supporters need to feel confident that their investments align with their personal beliefs.

In Harvard’s case, the university had to regain the trust of donors like Griffin and Blavatnik, who had apparently lost faith due to recent events. To achieve this, the school needed to send a clear message about its commitment to promoting acceptance and tolerance on campus. That was a central part of the university’s 2024 fiscal report.

 In a statement in the report, Harvard President Alan Garber said plainly that Harvard has endured a difficult year. But they’ve used what they’ve used during that time to make necessary improvements. That includes conducting multiple task forces to explore what has taken place on campus since the Hamas attacks in Israel last year.

In June, the school released a series of task force findings, which admitted that Jewish, Muslim and Arab students had been discriminated against and bullied on campus. Garber described them in the report as “paths to more meaningful communication and constructive disagreement.”

As part of its communications on Thursday, Garber wrote that the school is committed to rebuilding a “sense of belonging” and a “genuine acceptance” on campus.

“Our community is what matters most,” his statement reads. “That is why its renewal and care are paramount, and why we have launched efforts to understand where and how we can improve.”

As part of the financial report, Garber also made sure to point out all the good work, research and important work the university is doing to improve the world. He specifically highlighted that the work is made possible by the generous financial donations and gifts the school receives every year.

Obviously, actions will speak louder than words in the end and Harvard will need to further show donors that the work is being done. But taking accountability and painting a picture of what lies ahead is an important step in that process.

“Our University will emerge stronger from this time – not in spite of being tested, but because of it,” Garber wrote.

Editor’s Top Reads

• Michigan U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib has raised concerns that grocery giant Kroger could use facial recognition technology and real-time shelving data to develop discriminatory pricing practices. “The use of facial recognition tools has the potential to invade a customer’s privacy and employ biased price discrimination,” her letter reads.” The allegations follow previous questions raised by Senators. Elizabeth Warren and Robert P. Casey, Jr. this summer. The social media post resulted in a new firestorm of headlines at a time when Kroger is currently locked in a legal battle to acquire one of its largest competitors, Albertson’s. Kroger quickly acted to deny the allegations, saying bluntly that the company “does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing.’” But beyond that, it took the important step to outline how it intends to use the technology: to lower consumer costs. But after years of soaring food prices, consumers are skeptical of a grocery store making those promises when the potential for misuse is so apparent. Whatever Kroger’s intentions, it needs to make them clear in a way the average consumer can understand – and fast. A real-world example of the technology in action could go a long way – because what positive impact can facial recognition software have on customers? Kroger needs to help the public understand.
• The owners of the Cleveland Browns have announced plans to move the franchise to nearby suburb Brook Park, where they intend to build a domed stadium and a sprawling campus. The team intends to relocate to the $2.4 billion complex after the 2028 season. To make this a reality, the team’s leadership will likely seek around $1.2 billion in public funding. Since the city of Brook Park probably can’t afford to cover that cost, Browns ownership will likely turn to the county and state. From a public relations standpoint, the Browns must convincingly demonstrate to fans and regional residents why this deal benefits them. One reason for this is that currently, most local elected leaders outside of Brook Park oppose the move. Cleveland’s mayor described the Browns move as abandoning Cleveland. Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has been an outspoken advocate for the team staying in downtown Cleveland and isn’t ready to concede defeat yet. The franchise has wisely used its messaging to convey that, even though the club is moving outside city limits, it will remain part of Northeast Ohio’s “fabric.” It has also emphasized that the short move from the current stadium will benefit the region as a whole long term. This aspect of the message is crucial, especially given the team’s current struggles as one of the worst in the NFL. By announcing the decision mid-season, the ownership has given fans something exciting to focus on while the team works to improve its performance. In their statement, the Browns acknowledged: “We know our season hasn’t started as we had hoped, and we’re working hard to improve each week to make our fans proud. At the same time, we must commit to the best long-term, sustainable solution for our stadium and provide the world-class dome experience our fans deserve.” Ultimately, the Browns’ leadership team may view the Brook Park move as its best business decision, but it will only succeed if they can win over all their stakeholders.

• Singer James Blunt said he feels “stupid” for letting the public give him a new name. But in reality, the promotion to re-release his “Back To Bedlam” album is a stroke of branding genius. Ahead of the album’s 20th anniversary, Blunt – famous for his song “You’re Beautiful” – went to social media to let fans know that if they made the album reach No. 1 in the charts, he’d legally change his name to whatever they picked. The album did indeed hit No. 1 and the fans chose … Blunty McBluntface. “The people I pity more is my family,’ Blunt told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. This campaign is a great example of knowing your audience and leaning into it. While Blunt still has a lot of fans of his music, in recent years he’s become better known for his dry, self-deprecating sense of humor on social media, with over 1.1 million followers on Instagram. Most of his posts never mention specific songs or clips of his music, which even he famously makes fun of. Blunt is leaning into his public perception and taking humiliation all the way to the bank. An unconventional strategy, but one that’s paying off in a tangible way.

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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