As we reported last week, headcounts are up at our member firms, revenues are higher, new business pipeline are stronger, and firms are innovating new practice offerings. All that growth is exciting, but it can also pose challenges. As one business author has noted, medium-sized businesses that catch fire enter a kind of “no man’s…

The Council just completed its Q4 survey of public relations firms, and the results are hot enough to warm even the chilliest January board meeting. First thing’s first: A full 70% of firms report that final 2011 revenues will be higher than in 2010. Only 13% anticipate lower revenues. In the context of a still-uncertain…

Political communications often carries intriguing lessons for the corporate sphere, and this season’s Republican presidential contest is no exception. In recent months, we’ve watched as a front-runner, Mitt Romney, has faced challenge after challenge from upstart contenders. Although Romney remains on top heading into South Carolina, he has so far failed to gain more than…

Now that we’re back from the holidays and possibly planning time off for the year to come, it’s worth asking: Were your recent days away a true creative vacation? Common sense tells us that vacations provide a chance to clear our heads and refresh so that we can become more productive upon our return. Yet…

Innovation is under attack – no, not the actual practice of innovating. Government leaders, titans of industry and all manner of stakeholders in the public and private sector have been doubling down on the urgent need for innovation to deliver solutions that deliver lasting and meaningful impact. But the term innovation has steadily been under…

Innovation in medicine alone is not sufficient to meet the growing health needs of the world’s population. As healthcare communicators, our priority is to improve understanding and shape positive behaviours to achieve the best outcomes. Traditionally, communications have focused on individual groups; engaging patients and healthcare professionals to transfer information. However, the increasing power of…

Longevity is often something worth celebrating. And so it is with great pride and gratitude, along with an equal measure of humility, that I am delighted to say that Text 100 and Ketchum have achieved 10 great years working alongside IBM as its global public relations partners. Way back in 2001, IBM’s agency review process…

If it has become fashionable to assert that our nation’s future rests with innovation, business leaders are likewise looking to innovation as their companies’ chief source of competitive advantage going forward. Price Waterhouse Cooper’s annual CEO survey found that respondents are “placing a higher premium on innovation today,” showing special interest in the creation of…

Don’t just provide audiences with information. Provide meaning! Our industry has long talked about the surfeit of messages. We’ve posed the question of how to “break through” a “cluttered” public space to reach target audiences. And we’ve devised all sorts of strategies, both content and media, to do exactly that. Here’s the thing: The problem…

Failure has cachet. Harvard Business Review devoted its April 2011 issue to the subject, with many authors agreeing on its importance to the running of successful, innovative enterprises.  Since Steve Jobs’ death, observers have catalogued his missteps—he never graduated from college; he was fired from the company that he himself had started—and ranked them as…