Now that social media is clearly a permanent disruption (i.e., here to stay, and making organizations and individuals reinvent themselves if they don’t want to get left behind), it’s worth paying attention to the various ways its precepts can inform professional development, organizational leadership and personal branding. Business “best practices” that have been in use [...]
Apr 11, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media, Technology | Tags: best practices, bold, brand, branding, CEO, CEO branding, change, charisma, clarity, conflict, crisis, disruption, experimentation, failure, Humanize, Jamie Notter, leadership, leadership traits, loyalty, Maddie Grant, organizational leadership, personal branding, professional development, reinvention, Social Media, social organization, stakeholders, strategy, transparency | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] I recently received an intriguing email from a former branding executive who now runs a small marketing consulting company. Nancy Shenker, whose new venture is called theONswitch, found a way to build a personal brand by breaking rules, being rebellious and tapping into her self-professed “dark side.” It sounds like a [...]
Apr 02, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features | Tags: Alanis Morissette, Amy Poehler, bad girl, Bad Girl Good Business, Betty White, brand, branding, breaking rules, direct, glass ceiling, Hillary Clinton, injustice, innovating, innovation, inspirational, irreverent, Judith Regan, Nancy Drew, Nancy Shenker, Nancy Sinatra, personal brand, PR, public relations, rebellious, resourceful, results, role model, Sheryl Crow, stereotype, theONswitch, Tina Fey, Tina Turner, women | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] When it comes to family names as brand names, unless you’ve done something terrible or had the bad fortune of sharing a name with someone who did, it’s hard to do much worse than “Trump.” For most of the past four decades, the Donald has slapped his name on some of [...]
Mar 27, 2013 | Categories:Brands, CSR, Features, Insights, PR | Tags: affair, Barron Trump, brand, brand name, branding, cause, celebrity, divorce, Donald, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Elle Decor, Eric Trump, Eric Trump Foundation, family name, footwear, giving back, golden ticket, handbags, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, jewelry, liability, Los Angeles, Marla Maples, New York, New York City, Operation Smile, personal brand, PR, public relations, St. Jude, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Apprentice, The New York Observer, The Wharton School, Tiffany Trump, Trump, Trump Organization, University of Pennsylvania, Yahoo, Yahoo Shine | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] It used to be that receiving a CEO title—and the corner office and tufted-leather sofa that came with it—was the acme of professional success. It was the recognition of a lifetime of hard work, of moving up the ranks, of following the path to its pinnacle. Once you’d arrived there, where [...]
Mar 22, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Marketing | Tags: 20-something, ad sales, adventure, America's Cup, Arielle Patrice Scott, Bianca Bosker, Bill Gates, billionaire, brand, Bravo, cable TV, CEO, college, corner office, corporate, corporate brand, Daily Candy, daredevil, digital, dropout, entertainment, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Facebook, Fandango, fearlessness, female entrepreneur, Green Is Universal, hard work, Harvard, Healthy at NBCU, Henry Ford, Hispanics at NBCU, innovation, innovators, integrated media, InternshipIn, iVillage, kite surfing, Larry Ellison, Lean In, Marissa Mayer, Mark Zuckerberg, Marketing, mavericks, mobile, monetization, MTV, mun2, NBC Universal, Oxygen, personal brand, rebellion, revenue, Richard Branson, risk, risk taking, rule breaking, sailing, sexy, shareholders, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, social, spiritual growth, Sprout, Stanford, startup, Steve Jobs, Technology, telecommuting, Telemundo, the Huffington Post, Thiel Fellowship, title, TV One, Virgin, Walt Disney, women, Women at NBCU, Yahoo | Leave A Comment »
What will a Spanish-language Pope, a man in his 70s, do for the cohort with which he is associated? Embedded in his early brand actions are some interesting moves: paying his own hotel bill, reaffirming conscious consumerism, and now embarking on a journey to redefine one of the world’s great institutions as a peacemaker and [...]
Mar 21, 2013 | Categories:Agency News, Brands | Tags: @havaspr, brand, Catholic Church, conscious consumerism, Forbes.com, Havas PR North America, Life Is a Brand, Marian Salzman, personal brand, pope, Pope Francis, religion brand, Spanish | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Havas Peaks.] Given all the backlash against corporate executives who dared to get on a private aircraft in the past few years, it would seem as if anyone who doesn’t travel in seat 35E would keep quiet about it. But yet, even as the blowback against personal travel and private aviation has [...]
Mar 07, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features | Tags: adrenaline, adventure, brand, C-suite, CEO, CEO brand, Cessna, corporate jet, corporate policies, creativity, debt, decision-making, distraction, flying, focus, Gary Green, growth, helicopter, International Franchise Association, Larry Ellison, leverage, Lundquist College of Business, M&A, Mendoza College of Business, mergers and acquisitions, Micron Technology, O'Hare, Oracle, personal brand, personal branding, pilot, plane, PostNet, private aircraft, relax, Richard Branson, risk, risk taker, Steve Appleton, Steve Greenbaum, stock return volatility, Strategic Franchising Systems, thrill seeker | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Andrew Mason’s unsurprising ouster from Groupon last week wasn’t entirely about his personal brand. As anyone who has been paying attention knows, the group-discount company has been performing spectacularly badly. Its fourth-quarter earnings report was awful, with a GAAP loss of 12 cents per share—that’s 10 cents more (or six times [...]
Mar 05, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Media, Social Media, Technology | Tags: accountability, accounting, accounting gaffes, adolescent, Andrew Mason, Battletoads, behavior, Bloomberg Businessweek, brand, candid, CEO brand, CEO branding, Chicago Tribune, daily deal, Eric Lefkofsky, experience, fraternity, GAAP loss, Goldman Sachs, Greg Smith, Groupon, grownup, honesty, IPO, irreverent, John Paczkowski, juvenile, millennials, personal brand, Peter Kafka, resignation letter, responsibility, Sam Gustin, SEC, share price, Silicon Valley, stunts, tech boom, The New York Times, Time, transparency, video game, Wall Street | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] A colleague of mine recalls a time when a new boss had taken over her department and everyone was anxious. One of his first acts: handing out New York Times obituaries of distinguished people. “Read these,” he said, “and think about what your obituaries would say.” His gambit worked. The ice [...]
Feb 27, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Media, Social Media, Trends | Tags: brand, branding, celebrity, CEO, community, Connecticut, David Collins, death, Facebook, Forbes.com, haring, journalist, Legacy.com, life directive, Life Without End, memorial service, Mindy McCready, newspaper, Nina Lentini, obit, obituary, People, personal brand, position, positioning statement, Princess Di, Social Media, survivors, The Day, The New York Times, transparencys, Whitney Houston, will | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on CNBC.com.] I recently came across some survey data that suggests 2013 will be a tough year for CEOs—or, at least, many of them believe that it will be. Now that the economy’s “green shoots” of recovery are starting to bud into potential blossoms, expectations are up in terms of performance. It’s no [...]
Feb 19, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: board of directors, brand, brand building, branding, CEO, CEO Snapshot Survey, chief executive, CNBC, corporate brand, economic recovery, Facebook, Harris Interactive, human, human brand, Humanize, identity, Jamie Notter, leadership style, Maddie Grant, management, Mark Zuckerberg, personal brand, personal values, profile, recession, RHR International, Richard Branson, Social Media, stakeholder activism, strategy, team, the economy, Thomas Saporito, Tony Hsieh, transparency, Virgin, Zappos | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, Fiorello LaGuardia: The mayors of New York City have long been men with outsize personalities and strong personal brands. Not only have they had one of the most influential, highest-profile platforms in the nation, but they’ve also been strategic about positioning themselves and shaping the way others [...]
Feb 12, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Politics, Social Media | Tags: 9/11, Andrew Cuomo, brand, branding, Cablevision, climate change, Democrat, Ed Koch, Fiorello LaGuardia, Forbes.com, gun control, Hurricane Sandy, Independent, Joe Lhota, legacy, lymphoma, Madison Square Garden, mayor, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Michael Bloomberg, MTA, New York, New York City, New York Daily News, personal brand, philanthropy, political party, Quinnipiac University, Republican, Rudy Giuliani, Sandy, September 11, smoking ban, soda ban, subway, transit, Twitter, unbranded, Village Voice, website | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] I can’t muster up too much sympathy for a Hollywood star whose personal branding woes haven’t prevented him from earning more money than most of us ever dream of seeing, but from an image point of view, I do feel bad for Ben Affleck. Even after all these years and all [...]
Feb 05, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Insights, Uncategorized | Tags: Academy Awards, Africa, Argo, Ben Affleck, Bennifer, best director, best original screenplay, Boston, brand, branding, charity, Critics' Choice Awards, Dazed and Confused, Forbes.com, Gigli, Golden Globe Awards, Gone Baby Gone, Good Will Hunting, Hollywood, image, J. Lo, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lopez, Kathryn Bigelow, Kevin Smith, Matt Damon, movies, New York, Oscars, Perez Hilton, personal brand, Quentin Tarantino, Razzie Awards, reboot, rehabilitation, Steven Spielberg, tabloids, The Town | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Even though Lance Armstrong has been in the news for months—the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s incriminatory report was released in early October, though speculation was raging well before that—he’s really just at the beginning of his problems. From a crisis management and personal branding standpoint, he has a long road ahead [...]
Feb 01, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Media, PR | Tags: apology, Ashley Olsen, athlete, brand, branding, CNN, crisis communications, crisis management, cycling, doping, drugs, Forbes.com, fraud, interview, Jake Tapper, Lance Armstrong, Livestrong, Matthew McConaughey, Media, media consultant, Oprah Winfrey, performance-enhancing drugs, personal branding, PR, public relations, publicity, reboot, rehabilitation, responsibility, Sheryl Crow, Social Media, sportsmanship, The New York Times, United States Anti-Doping Agency | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] In what was undoubtedly old news to anyone who has been paying attention to the British royal family, St. James’s Palace issued an official statement last week to announce that “Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in July.” (Hello, [...]
Jan 29, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: baby, brand, branding, British monarchy, British royal family, Cambridge, Carole Middleton, child, Cirque du Soleil, Daily Mail, duchess, E!, family, hair, Kate Middleton, Kim Kardashian, merchandise, Michael Middleton, MILF, Morrissey, personal brand, pregnant, Prince Harry, Prince William, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, royal, St. James's Palace, Today, Twitter, URL, Us Weekly, Windsor Castle, Yummy Mummy | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] To a certain extent—in this age of marketing ourselves, finding our niches and explaining how our distinctive personal backstories make for unique selling propositions—all our names are brand names. But some have gone above and way beyond. That’s especially true in the world of fashion, where some of the most iconic [...]
Dec 19, 2012 | Categories:Brands, Fashion, Features, Marketing, Trends | Tags: Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, brand, brand name, Brands, Chanel, CSR, Dita Von Teese, Donna Karan, entrepreneur, evolution, Fashion, Karl Lagerfeld, Kenneth Cole, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Marketing, Martha Stewart, personal branding, personality, Ralph Lauren, risks, The New York Times, Tommy Hilfiger | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Greg Smith, the disillusioned Goldman Sachs employee who left the firm in March with a scorched-earth op-ed in The New York Times, is back in the news as his tell-all book hit shelves last week. Whether he really pulled back the curtain on the Goldman brand or he’s just a faddish [...]
Nov 08, 2012 | Categories:Brands, Features, Insights, Media | Tags: backlash, book, brand, Business Insider, financial services, Goldman Sachs, Greg Smith, op-ed, personal brand, tell-all book, The New York Times, transparency, whistle blower | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on the Holmes Report.] It’s been almost three years since we first heard about Bernie Madoff and his Machiavellian Ponzi scheme that ruthlessly cheated people out of millions of dollars. But now that Stephanie Madoff Mack (the widow of Bernie’s son Mark, who hung himself last December) has published an autobiography, The End [...]
Oct 27, 2011 | Categories:Brands, Features, Insights | Tags: Bernie Madoff, brand, branding, greed, Marketing, Ponzi, PR, rebrand, reputation, Ruth Madoff, shame, Stephanie Madoff Mack, The End of Normal | Leave A Comment »
Originally posted on the Holmes Report. We’ve watched protests around the world all year, but where were the 24/7 television cameras when a little sit-in began in my neighborhood, right at the site of what many in the U.S. identify as the biggest petri dish of injustice? Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) began two weeks ago [...]
Oct 04, 2011 | Categories:Features, Insights, Social Media | Tags: ABC, anger, brand, CBS, greed, Main Street, Media, NBC, Occupy Wall Street, protest, rebrand, Social Media, Twitter, values, Wall Street | Leave A Comment »
Originally posted on the Huffington Post. In my travels around the world, I’ve (over)heard a lot of ways for people to say they’ve reached a point of no return with their frustration, feeling so full of stress that they’re stirred from passive acceptance to action. Some cultures say it’s “the drop that makes the jar [...]
Sep 13, 2011 | Categories:Features, Insights, Politics, Social Media, Youth | Tags: #WakeUpCall, American Dream, anger, Arab Spring, Bob Geldof, brand, capitalism, change, consumer behavior, Crown Prince Haakon, Desmond Tutu, economy, Financial Times, frustration, global business, Howard Schultz, interfaith dialogue, Jamie Oliver, Joseph Stiglitz, leadership, Libya, Main Street, middle class, Middle East, Moammar Gadhafi, Mohamed El-Erian, One Young World, protest, riot, social justice, stress, trendspotter, trendspotting, unemployment, Vanity Fair, Wall Street, Warren Buffett, YouGovStone, Youth | Leave A Comment »
Originally posted on Fuel the Future. As someone who has watched trends for many years and come up with a few buzzwords of my own, I’m amused and startled by this notion of “storytelling” as the newest bit of jargon working its way into our marketing/PR vernacular. In the canon of marketing, it seems fair [...]
Aug 31, 2011 | Categories:Advertising, Brands, Features, Marketing, PR, Trends | Tags: 1969, American Airlines, brand, digital, Gap, journalists, Madison Avenue, Marketing, media coverage, military, news, Nicolas Sarkozy, PR, public relations, social, stories, storytelling, transparency, Truth | Leave A Comment »
Originally posted on Euro RSCG Worldwide’s Prosumer Report microsite. Remember that scene in Bye Bye Birdie in which a teenaged Ann-Margret starts a telephone chain with all her friends? For the millennial generation, making actual phone calls feels about as relevant as a musical that’s set in the 1950s. True, “Glee” has made the younger [...]
Apr 22, 2011 | Categories:Features, Social Media, Technology | Tags: apps, brand, cell phone, communication, communications tool, Facebook, iPhone, landlines, millennials, mobile, Pandora, smart phone, telephone, texting, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
In our industry, new buzzwords pop up constantly, and lately it has been “authentic.” Last month, I attended AdweekMedia’s Social Media Strategies conference in New York and its What Teens Want conference in L.A. In normal conference manner, professionals described how they have managed to garner enviable results within their unique market. The lesson learned [...]
Nov 10, 2010 | Categories:Features, Social Media | Tags: AdWeekMedia, authentic, authenticity, brand, brand voice, conversation, Facebook, fan pages, Grayson Chance, H&R BlockThreadless, Honor Society, Lady Gaga, Los Angeles, MySpace, New York, online brand presence, PepsiCo, Pete Wentz, Social Media, Social Media Strategies, The New York Times, transparency, tweet, Twitter, viral content, What Teens Want | Leave A Comment »
Believe it or not, one of the reasons I love going to the gym is that it allows me to watch uninterrupted television for the 45 minutes to an hour that I am on the elliptical machine. During a recent workout, I caught a repeat of a Bravo special featuring the Real Housewives of New [...]
Sep 15, 2010 | Categories:Features, Media | Tags: brand, Bravo, bullying, housewife, New Jersey, Russ Meyer, teenagers, The Real Housewives of New Jersey | Leave A Comment »
Who said you can’t use your journalism experience in the field of PR? I had the opportunity to use my reporting skills, à la Robin Roberts, as Marian Salzman called me, for a one-on-one conversation with Marian, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America. She got a peek into my Intern Diaries and decided [...]
Jul 12, 2010 | Categories:Features, Marketing, Media, Politics, PR, Social Media | Tags: balance, born-again lifestyles, brand, career, community, consumerism, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, forecast, internships, local, Marian Salzman, Marketing, metrosexual, mycasting, old media, personal brand, prime crisis, public relations, Robin Roberts, Social Media, Stamford Advocate, The Sisterhood, trendspotting | 1 Comment »
