What Does Lance Armstrong’s Scandal Teach Us About Personal Branding?
[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 [...]
Continuing Support for Sandy Hook Families
It has been one month since the Newtown, Conn., shootings, and the national debates about mental illness, school safety and gun control have been heating up. We continue to support the Emilie Parker Fund and will be tuning in to “Piers Morgan Tonight” on Monday, Jan. 15, to watch Emilie’s aunt Jill Cottle Garrett and [...]
Trendspotting: Free to Be LGBT
When a researcher spent a year inside three British high schools to gather material for a book on masculinity, he found straight teenage boys who were physically affectionate and emotionally expressive. He was surprised to note that the boys had blacklisted the “That’s so gay” insult that remains popular Stateside and that British teens actually [...]
Trendspotting: Equal Distribution
How does a stand-up comic make $200,000 in four days? For American wisecracker Louis C.K., it was all about cutting out the middlemen. The popular performer took distribution of his fourth television special, “Live at the Beacon Theatre,” into his own hands, offering it from his website as an unencrypted, high-definition download for the low, [...]
What I Learned from My Interns
They are a familiar summer sight, and they represent one of my favorite parts of the job—the fresh-faced, enthusiastic interns. I had been recruiting them since January, and by the time they showed up for work in June, I was eagerly awaiting their arrival like some sort of maternal corporate stork. Over the years, I’ve [...]
A Lost Generation?
As the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, we remember those who died, we try to give voice to the collective emotions we felt then and still carry today, and we consider how the decade since the attacks has shaped us. But it is especially enlightening to realize what it all means to today’s 20-somethings, [...]
The Yin and Yang of Public or Private
CNN recently announced that sharply rising college costs are pricing out the middle class. “Tuition and fees at public universities have surged almost 130 percent over the last 20 years—while middle class incomes have stagnated,” the article attributes to the College Board. The nitty-gritty: In 1988, the average tuition and fees for a four-year public [...]
Replacing Regis
After nearly 25 years at “Live! With Regis and Kelly,” Regis Philbin announced last week that he would be retiring (even though it seems that the man who holds the Guinness World Record for most time logged in front of a TV camera isn’t quite ready to retire yet). Almost immediately after Regis made his [...]
The Surreal Life (and Other Trends)
I’ve been spotting trends for almost two decades. Trends are hard to figure and harder to tease out. Doing it right means tracking people, social momentum, brands, economies, companies—all in constant motion. But trends also mean business, especially for people in PR; we’ve got to be in and of the culture if we’re going to [...]
Young Love? Or a Made-for-TV Romance?
This week Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston announced that not only are they back together, but they are also (again) engaged to be married. Unlike most couples, Bristol and Levi didn’t relay the exciting news to their families first. Instead, they landed an Us Weekly cover and told the world. The news set off a [...]
