Best Practices

PR Roundup looks at the communications responses of McDonald’s after several chaotic appearances in the news, Google’s ban on political ads and a new report on how different generations respond to advertising and messaging.

As the U.S. election approaches, PR professionals face a dilemma: surrender to a sea of politically-dominated coverage or navigate onward and continue pitching media?

Morty Matz, a PR pro who just turned 100, offered his insights into how the news media and public relations business landscapes—as well as the symbiotic dynamics between the professions—have changed.

Many performance marketers are questioning whether they can afford to spend on direct-response campaigns to grow or maintain revenue. But for smart performance marketers, it’s not a question of whether to spend or cut. It’s a question of allocation—and of revising the old marketing practice of separating branding and performance campaigns. To get real traction with a more integrated funnel approach, consider these seven steps.

Mazda CMO Brad Audet discusses the company’s new brand platform and restructuring, the importance of customer-focused retail experiences and remaining competitive in the automotive space.

While influence can be used in good and bad ways, there is no doubt that more brands are getting caught in the crossfire of political ideologies that pit Americans against one another. That’s why it continues to be important for companies and organizations to review and reinforce a commitment to their brand ideals and values.

This week’s PR Roundup features a look into brands’ commitment to women’s sports, how Vice President Kamala Harris fared on Fox News and how influential social media is regarding gifting.

There is no greater magnification of performance than the race to become the next President (or Vice President) of the United States—and the PR lessons gleaned from political candidates can serve as powerful reminders for communications professionals.

Chinese Laundry CMO Sarah Zurell is on a mission to make the fashion footwear brand cool again—as it was in the ’80s. And that, in her mind, meant they should be cool enough for Taylor Swift. Thanks to a coordinated PR effort on the part of Zurell’s PR agency CLD, some creative marketing tactics and a symbiotic relationship between marketing and PR, that dream was realized. We caught up with Zurell to discuss the PR-marketing partnership that made her pie-in-the-sky goal a reality.

It’s a scenario we’ve seen many times: companies slash PR and lose valuable momentum, only to spend even more time and money clawing back out of their attention deficit when the economy or their market sector comes roaring back.