Facebook’s coming IPO has shone a spotlight on the financial upside of social media, but it’s important to keep in mind how much potential social platforms hold for serving the public good. Social media is helping advance the mission of non-profit organizations across a broad range of issues.  In fact, nonprofits account for some of…

Everywhere we look today, from the streets of Cairo to Zuccotti Park, we find evidence of social media’s power to galvanize people and effect change. But what does social media’s grass-roots organizational potential mean for companies and brands? How can companies best mobilize consumers around their brands? And how should they conceive of the broader…

Today’s market is a dynamic one for marketing services. It’s a “jump ball” environment, and public relations firms, ad agencies, branding and digital shops, among others, are all seeing opportunities to compete but also to collaborate in new ways. Clients and prospects clearly seem less concerned about which discipline to work with; it’s all about…

A lot has been written in our industry about how vital it is to build strong and trusted client relationships. But who is the PR client today? Most public relations professionals have long regarded the in-house public relations and corporate communications teams as key players. Yet the marketing team and the Chief Marketing Officer play…

It was a Cannes Lions Festival like any other, only this year the name was changed to the Cannes International Festival of Creativity to better reflect the variety of disciplines that make up today’s marketing mix. All of the usual suspects were in attendance, ad agencies, digital shops, media buying firms and, according to event…

It’s an auspicious time to be taking over as Chair of the Council. After a difficult economic period, client uncertainty, and shrinking budgets in 2009, our industry is in high gear. Wherever I look, I see real optimism and excitement (see results of the Council’s 3rd quarter survey), and 2011 looks to be even better….

I’ve enjoyed an exciting and enriching year as Chairwoman of the Council. As a professional who came of age outside the industry, serving as Chair was a wonderful opportunity to develop new relationships with numerous colleagues in other firms. I was amazed not merely by the quality of the people I encountered, but by the…

As strategy gurus have told us for years, any business will have difficulty thriving if it struggles to identify and deliver unique value to the marketplace.  The same is true for entire business categories, such as public relations.  For several decades the unique value PR brought to companies was media relations or, in today’s jargon,…

If you’re Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citibank, the answer is yes. Last year, Pandit vowed he’d take no salary until the bank became profitable. So he didn’t. But Citibank is now back in the black, which is why this past week, Citibank’s board announced that they’d reinstate a salary for Pandit. Of course, Pandit…

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for HP’s board of directors. I’m certain thousands of other corporate leaders have also faced struggles of their own in the hiring and firing of executives, albeit without the same public scrutiny. Every day people in power must make significant, challenging decisions.  How do these kinds of decisions…