An Affair to Forget: Today, Rebranding Becomes Him (Petraeus, Et Al)

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Years ago I wanted to write a book, Another Woman: From Cleopatra to Marla, but now that seems to take us only halfway through the evolution of the mistress. After Marla Maples, who secretly dated Donald Trump for two years in the ’80s while he was still married to Ivana (before [...]
Dec 09, 2012 | Categories:Brands, Features, Politics, Social Media, Trends | Tags: affair, Bill Clinton, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, damage control, David Letterman, David Petraeus, Donald Trump, Francois Hollande, John Allen, John Edwards, Marine Le Pen, Marla Maples, mistress, Monica Lewinsky, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pamela Harriman, Paula Broadwell, personal brand, personal life, Petraeus, powerful man, rebranding, Rielle Hunter, Ségolène Royal, The New Yorker, Tiger Woods, trendsetter, Twitter, Valérie Trierweiler, Vanity Fair, VICE | Leave A Comment »
When Brands Need a Reboot (Think Lance)

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] It used to be that if you were famous and you screwed up, the path to redemption was clear: Hire an old-school, big-name publicist to keep yourself out of the news for a while, then orchestrate a high-profile comeback (think a self-deprecating turn on “Saturday Night Live”) to prove that you’re [...]
Nov 01, 2012 | Categories:Brands, CSR, Features, Health and Wellness, PR, Social Media | Tags: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Brands, change, charity, crisis communications, David Letterman, Forbes.com, Haiti, Lance Armstrong, Livestrong, Michael Vick, Nike, personal branding, personal brands, publicist, reboot, Ted Kennedy, Tiger Woods, transparency, Wyclef Jean, Yele Haiti, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
NYT Best-Selling Author…Snooki?

Between the launch of her first novel, A Shore Thing, and the premiere of Season Three of MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” it seems that everywhere you turn, you see Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi. (Even my uncle saw her out his window the other day, as she and her castmate JWoWW looked into buying the house across the [...]
Jan 31, 2011 | Categories:Features, Social Media | Tags: AOL, David Letterman, Facebook, ghostwriting, Jersey Shore, JWoWW, Marian Salzman, Media, MTV, New York Times best-seller, Nicole Polizzi, promotion, reality TV, Snooki, The New York Times, Trends, trendspotter, trendspotting | 3 Comments »
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 [...]
Jul 19, 2010 | Categories:Features, Trends | Tags: 23andMe, Brands, Brooklyn, Bushwick, cable news, CNN, David Letterman, disease profiling, emo bling, extremism, Facebook, followers, Foursquare, hyperlocal, immortality, longevity, mammograms, mayoralty, New York, obesity, PR, reality, reality TV, Robin Dunbar, simpler life, social momentum, soda tax, surreal, Survivor, The New York Times, The Onion, Trends, trendspotting, users, website, West Village, Williamsburg | Leave A Comment »
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 [...]
Jul 16, 2010 | Categories:Features, Media, PR, Social Media | Tags: "The Bachelor", "The Bachelorette", blog, branding, Bristol Palin, celebrity, CNN, David Letterman, divorce, Facebook, gossip, Heidi Montag, Hulk Hogan, Jessica Simpson, Kate Gosselin, Krista Sutter, Levi Johnston, Linda Hogan, Media, paparazzi, PR, reality TV, Spencer Pratt, Twitter, Us Weekly | Leave A Comment »
What the Future Holds

We approach next year having lived through the worst economic meltdown since the crash of the 1930s and are now navigating the waves that this has sent through every aspect of life—social, political, ecological. One phenomenon will weave through all of them: social media. It will be the greatest driver of all trends worldwide next [...]
Dec 11, 2009 | Categories:Features, Insights, Politics, Social Media, Trends | Tags: 2010 trends, Balloon Boy, bonuses, brain health, brain injuries, celebrity, Cold War, community, David Letterman, DIY, economy, fundraising, higher education, hyperlocalization, hyperpolarization, insourcing, Iran, J. Crew, Jon and Kate, Media, mobmedia, North Korea, Obama, Octomom, Pakistan, parents, peace, post-traumatic stress disorder, religion, sexual misconduct, Social Media, soldiers, terrorist, the bomb, traumatic brain injuries, tuition, world economy | Leave A Comment »






