Turning a Tragedy into an Inspirational Legacy
Last week, our pro bono clients and friends Robbie and Alissa Parker sat down with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News to talk about their 100-day journey since the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., where their daughter Emilie was killed. When we discovered on the day after the terrible event last December that a former Havas PR [...]
Would Mindy McCready Have Agreed with Her Final Branding Statements?
[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 [...]
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 [...]
Our Hopes for 2013
We’re thinking good thoughts for the new year and hoping for peace on earth. One way Havas PR North America is working toward that goal: We volunteered to build a Web presence for one of the young angels of Newtown, Emilie Parker. Emilie’s family created a fund to support Sandy Hook parents in taking time [...]
Helping Newtown
I, like everyone else, was horrified as I watched the tragedy unfold in Newtown, Conn., on Friday. My colleagues and I crowded around our office TVs and watched the news, feeling utterly helpless. I stayed glued to my TV late into the night on Friday and Saturday, watching Anderson Cooper and other newscasters struggle to [...]
Stormy Weather for Retailers
Our CEO, Marian Salzman, said it best on Facebook a few days ago while trapped in her Connecticut home without electricity or water for her bathroom, and with the fire department on her property because of sparks from live wires: “On a morning like this, Saks trying to sell me Jimmy Choos and LivingSocial offering [...]
In Transit
[Originally published on Stamford magazine's website.] Living in Connecticut and working in New York City, I’m a devoted Metro North commuter. When the day comes that I cease being a commuter, I might have to join a support group to help me through life without the transitions. Commuting is my psychic punctuation, separating my work [...]
Our American War Hero
[Originally posted in the Danbury (Conn.) News-Times.] Very near to Danbury there lived a true American war hero. His name was Rob J. Lytle Jr., and you may have heard of him when his obituary turned up in local newspapers in 2010. His widow, Lori-Ann Lytle, who lives in New Milford, broke away from custom when [...]
A Special Father to Remember This Memorial Day
[Originally posted on Stamford magazine's website.] Dear Alex, Although I don’t know you, I saw you once on a very sad day almost two years ago, at your dad’s wake. My partner, Jim Diamond, was your dad’s lawyer and friend, and when your dad committed suicide, Jim was very sad because Rob was a good [...]
The Brains that Bind Us
[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] It’s Memorial Day weekend and many of us are preparing for barbecuing, beaching or just hanging out. But a note landed in my partner Jim’s email inbox a few days ago that made me pause and think about the true importance of this holiday: honoring the valor of our [...]
On Thumbs-upmanship
Originally posted on the Huffington Post. I recently spotted a stat on Ad Age about how today’s millennials (68 percent of them) ask friends for their opinion before they try a restaurant. I’ve done a lot of research on the Y set and know they are very codependent (why do anything solo except perhaps an [...]
The Problem with Local
As someone who has made a career of tracking trends, I have not let this whole notion of local gone loco escape my sights. I’ve talked for a while about global going local, due in large part not only to our newfound connectivity on all things social media, but also to our renewed interest in [...]
The Importance of Patch and the Rise of Hyperlocal Media
We already know the world has gone hyperlocal—from rooftop gardens to online deals for everything from facials near your home to ceviche dinners close to your office on LivingSocial, Groupon and Dealtificate. The media industry is no exception, and right now I’m watching the Patch.com model as a symbolic nod to where the future of [...]
Climate Control
For the record, “snowpocalypse” is not one of my favorite blurred terms. Ever since the first big storm hit the Northeast this winter—through to this week, with me in Dubai and my family in Connecticut, where power was out one night because of an ice storm and half a foot of snow is threatening as [...]
2011: The Year of the Brain (and Other Trends)
This is the 12th in a series of 12 posts expounding on the 2011 forecasts in the annual trends report from Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR and an internationally respected trendspotter. As I wrap up my series of predictions for the very near future, I want to go a bit more personal. I’m [...]
Voting Local Is the New Global
Originally posted on the Huffington Post. As a marketing and PR professional, I’m a strong advocate of the phrase “Local is the new global.” (I am not, however, a huge fan of the jargon-y term for that idea—”glocal”—even though I used to toss it around promiscuously in the late 1990s.) If you meet me at [...]
It’s All a Blur
Today, life is one big blur. At home, my office doubles as art gallery, library and dog playroom. In the kitchen, my palette runs more and more toward fusion (anyone else tried chicken with horseradish and curry?). On vacation in coastal Rhode Island this summer, it wasn’t Hurricane Earl we were worried about but Hurricane [...]
The Intern Diaries, Part II
It’s going on one month since the start of my internship, and already I’ve learned so much. I haven’t been seeing too much of my soul mate, Cision Point, because I’ve been too busy helping with SMTs, RMTs, OMTs…O-M-G! I’m learning the ins of working for an external agency, several of which allow room for [...]
Power from the People
Originally posted on the Huffington Post. Look at the American political landscape today and you might begin to get the sinking feeling that the red state/blue state dichotomy is, on the one hand, just a bit of political show and, on the other, a pitiable piece of naiveté. We have to admit that if we [...]
Fear of Free
New York Times tech columnist David Pogue just wrote a compelling column about a “convenient, mysterious service from cable companies”: free Wi-Fi hot spots for subscribers. Companies including Cablevision, Comcast and Time Warner have been creating free hot spots for their customers—and each other’s customers—in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Cablevision customers, including Pogue, can [...]
The Mind and Mood of Connecticut
This is the sixth in a series of six. When Euro RSCG Worldwide PR and Euro RSCG Life decided to put a finger on the pulse of the nation, we commissioned two surveys: one of the United States in general, and one of Connecticut. Connecticut is one of the strangest states in the Union—precisely because [...]
The Mind and Mood of America
This is the first in a series of six. Things should be looking up. Officially, the recession is over, with economic indicators showing strong upticks in growth in many sectors. The first African-American president, voted in on an overwhelming wave of popular support, holds the highest office of the land. Technology continues to make leaps [...]
Why Local Is the New Global
Originally posted on the Huffington Post. Remember how in the 1990s, everyone was talking about globalization? Protesters railed against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, angry about treatment of Third World workers and homogenization of cultures. Thomas Friedman published The Lexus and the Olive Tree, his best-selling paean to globalization, which argued that wherever Big [...]
The Key to Happiness
Much has been written about the study published in Science last month that ranked the happiest states in the U.S. Economists Andrew J. Oswald of the University of Warwick in England and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in New York analyzed data from 1.3 million Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and compared [...]
