Manage your Message

Is Stephen Harper going too far in trying to control his image?

Saw this article in last Saturday's Globe and Mail and would be interested in what other PR folks think about it. Is the Prime Minister's control-freakishness over staging photographs simply good PR, or is it infringing on the ability of reporters to do their jobs effectively (and the public's right to know what's going on)?

Using Google Trends to measure the effectiveness of crisis communications

It's generally accepted that crisis communications is a worthwhile pursuit. But in a world where executives want to measure the effectiveness of everything, how do you know if your crisis communications plan actually worked?

 

Traditionally, you had to rely on indicators such as business volumes/trends, client feedback/complaints, quantity/quality of media coverage and public perception (measured via expensive surveys).

 

There's a new tool from Google that can help you measure the effectiveness of your crisis communications strategy (or any other marketing/PR strategy for that matter). With Google Trends, you can compare the public's interest (measured by the number of web searches) in a topic, company name or individual. This information is provided in an easy-to-read chart format. You can also customize the chart view by geography or time period.

 

Google Trends can also show you how frequently your topic has appeared in media stories (again, searchable by geography and time period). You can also compare up to five topics on the same chart to see which had the most web searches and news items associated with them.

 

Here's an example of how it works:  

I used Google Trends to compare the levels of web searches and media coverage associated with two big news stories from October 2009: the David Letterman extortion story and the Balloon Boy saga. I used the search terms 'David Letterman' and 'Heene' (the balloon boy's surname). Here's the chart generated by Google Trends:

 

The chart on the top compares the number of times people searched for these words on Google (Letterman in blue and Balloon Boy in red). The chart on the bottom shows the media coverage each term generated (again, Letterman in blue and Balloon Boy in red).

 

These respective charts are fascinating in that they demonstrate how good crisis communications can help contain a story, while bad crisis communications can pour gasoline on the flames and make the situation worse.

In the top chart, notice the blue spike on the left. These are web searches done on the name 'David Letterman' as his extortion story emerged.The red line on the right shows web searches for the name 'Heene', as the Balloon Boy story unfolded.

 

As the bottom chart shows, however, the Letterman story generated much less media coverage than the Balloon Boy story. Also, notice the shape of the blue line in the bottom chart -- a small triangle. This illustrates that Letterman (through his proactive crisis communications approach) was able to successfully turn this crisis situation into a two-day news story. 

 

The Balloon Boy story, on the other hand, was filled with misinformation, confusion, changing storylines, multiple appearances on national talk shows (which ended up inflaming the situation), etc. At one point, the father even put a box on the curb where dozens of reporters were camped out and asked the media to write out their questions and put them in the box. This is a textbook lesson in how not to handle a crisis in the media. And the red line which indicates media coverage in the bottom chart proves it. Not surprisingly, there's no neat little red triangle in the bottom chart. Instead, the media reference volume line resembles the Rocky Mountains, with the story dragging on like a media rollercoaster for more than a week. 

 

It's worth taking a few minutes to experiment with Google Trends -- plug in a few search terms and check out the results. There are even some advanced search features to further customize your searches. Google Trends isn't a cure-all for measuring the effectiveness of communications initiatives. But it can add some compelling information and insights to your company's current measurement practices.

Coping with Ontario's new hands-free driving law

As of today, it's illegal to use a handheld device while driving in Ontario. To mark the occasion, I thought I would dig up an old post on the 'Jawbone' - what I consider to be the best bluetooth headset on the market. I've been using it for nearly a year and still love it. It really does eliminate background noise.

You can read the Jawbone post here.

David Letterman gives a lesson in crisis management

Even if you didn't watch the Late Show with David Letterman last Thursday night, you've likely seen the news coverage that followed it.

 

Letterman used 10 minutes of his show on October 1st to tell millions of people about an alleged extortion plot against him. If you're unfamiliar with the story, a CBS News employee was charged with trying to blackmail Letterman for $2 million in a plot that forced the late night host to acknowledge having intimate relationships with some of the women who have worked for him.

 

The 62-year-old Letterman has a reputation as an intensely private individual. So it might have seemed incongruous to many when he dedicated a significant portion of Thursday's broadcast to providing such a detailed account of the story -- an account that culminated with Letterman telling his audience, "I have had sex with women who work for me on this show."

 

While the 10-minute story/confession was surely unpleasant and embarrassing for Letterman, it was also a textbook example of good crisis management. Please note that this doesn't excuse or condone the veteran talk show host's behaviour. But given the situation in which he found himself, he handled the PR component well.

 

Letterman knew this story (which had been brewing for three weeks) was on the verge of becoming public and he knew that it was going to be big. Rather than hiding from the press or making denials after the fact, he got out in front of the story on his own terms and via his own show that has an audience of millions. If you haven't seen the video, it's worth watching. You can view it here (for now...CBS has been removing versions of the video from YouTube, so we will try to keep a current link posted).

 

Letterman delivers his 'story', as he calls it, with equal parts earnestness, sensitivity and self-deprecating humour. And at the end of the stunning monolgue, he indicates that this is his one and only statement on the matter, saying, "I don't plan to say much more about this particular topic."

 

Where others failed before him (Bill Clinton, Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards...the list goes on), Letterman succeeded. Rather than lying about his indiscretions, hiding from the media or blaming his behaviour on someone or something else, Letterman came clean in an honest, forthcoming, refreshing way. By acting swiftly, he was also able to control the first news cycle and set the tone for all of the media coverage and Internet chatter that followed. Just imagine how differently the situation might have unfolded if the story had been broken by TMZ or Entertainment Tonight.

 

While there is no real winner in this situation, Letterman opted for the best course of action in a difficult circumstance. So far, none of the show's advertisers have pulled out of the show (FYI, advertisers spent more than US$135 million on the Late Show from January to June of 2009). CBS also issued a message of support for Letterman on Friday, saying in a statement that, "We think it was appropriate for Dave to disclose the matter publicly as he has, and we are continuing to co-operate with authorities." The show also benefitted from a bit of a ratings bump, as pre-publicity for Thursday's broadcast led to ratings that were 22% higher than Letterman's average numbers for this season.

 

That's not to say Letterman will emerge from this crisis smelling like a rose. His actions have disappointed some viewers who may choose not to tune in again. And this public airing of his private life is likely to cause him some grief on the home front. Having said that, his PR strategy is a good example of getting in front of a story, taking accountability and being honest with the public. And so far, it seems to have worked for him.

Globe and Mail's Salutin takes cheap shot at PR

In his column in the Globe and Mail this morning, Rick Salutin reveals a serious bias against the PR industry. What's that, you say? A reporter who's got an axe to grind against PR?

Everyone (particularly a newspaper columnist, who's paid to fan the flames of controversy) is entitled to his/her opinion. On that note, here's mine. This column is an unwarranted cheap shot at the PR profession.

Salutin uses the Michael Bryant affair as his platform (the recent case in which a former Ontario politician, in the car with his wife, was involved in an altercation with a bike courier which resulted in the courier's death). After noting that the media coverage of the event has served the public well, Salutin writes, "But there's one element that irritates me severely. It's the presence, since very early, of a public-relations firm aiding Mr. Bryant."

The rest of the column doesn't seem to have a clear point. It just rehashes journalism's old disdain for PR. He also suggests that the other problem at play is that many journalism grads end up in public relations. And that a "depressing quantity of news stories, especially in areas such as medicine, now come from well-produced PR packages sent on behalf of pharmaceutical firms and the like."

He bemoans the fact that PR people "may put words in client's mouths, vet their ideas and advise on whether to speak at all".

Is this guy for real? Salutin has been at this game a long time. His feigned naivete on the role of PR comes off more like a columnist's device than genuine concern. If a prominent public figure gets tangled up in a situation like Bryant did recently, their first two phone calls should be to their lawyer and a PR firm. The man's career, reputation and freedom are on the line. And given the media's love of 'David versus Goliath' stories, the bicycle courier starts out as the clear favourite in the court of public opinion, even though the truth has yet to emerge. Bryant likely has a million things going through his mind. Hiring experienced professionals for council on how to handle his one shot when the TV cameras are shoved in his face is not shocking, insulting, or devious. It's common sense. And if Salutin happened to be the unfortunate individual in the car that night, I'll bet he would have the Globe and Mail's PR firm (that's right, the Globe and Mail has a PR firm) on speed dial - pronto.

Michael Vick - When media training isn't enough

If you're a football fan or a dog owner, you know who Michael Vick is. Once one of the most electrifying players in the NFL, Vick ended up in prison in November 2007 for his involvement in a dogfighting ring. Now, fresh out of prison, he is preparing to make his NFL comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles (with a two-year deal could earn him nearly $7 million).

 

Americans love their football. But not as much as they love their dogs. Because of the disgusting nature of Vick's crimes against defenseless animals, he would need to face the public and answer some tough questions before he'd be able to hit the field again. To his credit, he stepped into one of the most intense media spotlights in the world for his first major interview - 60 Minutes.

 

If you didn't get a chance to see Vick being interviewed by James Brown on 60 Minutes, it's worth watching (you can view it here).

 

It's clear that Vick was very well coached prior to the interview. He said all the things he needed to say in order to begin repairing his tarnished public image (e.g. that he was sorry, that he showed poor judgment, that he failed as a leader, that he let people down, that he was disgusted with himself, even that he deserved to lose his $130 million football contract).

 

In the days following the broadcast of the interview, a large number of media observers, bloggers and members of the public remarked that in their opinions, there was something crucial missing from the interview. Was it sincerity? Empathy? A certain look in Vick's eye that was supposed to show he was truly remorseful? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

The bottom line is that a significant portion of the viewing audience simply didn't believe him. As the interview progresses, it becomes clear that even Brown (the interviewer) is skeptical of Vick's authenticity, asking him, "Michael, is this you talking, or the Vick team of attorneys, image-shapers and the like?"

 

Despite Vick's exceptional handling of the mechanics of the interview, this was one of those times when media training simply wasn't enough. Public relations is about changing minds or changing behaviour. And while Vick said all the right things, it's not clear whether he actually changed any minds.   

 

File under 'brutal news releases'

PR folks should get a kick out of this recent news release from the Joint Canadian Tanning Association. It was issued in response to recent media coverage about the alleged damaging health effects of tanning beds. I would specifically draw your attention to the quote at the end of the release - it borders on ridiculous.

Here's the link...

Employee communications done right by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

Internal communications often gets the short end of the stick.

Employees are arguably an organization's most important audience. They're the lifeblood of any company. They need to be the first audience you communicate with and the message needs to be clear, honest and free of B.S.

Sadly, too often internal communications happens like this... Long after the communications plans are written, the key messages have been approved and the news release is being prepared for distribution, someone invariably says, "I guess we should do something for employees too".

The following letter was written by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to that company's employees, explaining the sale of Zappos to Amazon in a $900 million deal. The letter is long. But it is also an excellent example of how to communicate a complex, important message to your most important audience. It has just  the right tone, answers the burning questions with openness and outlines the rationale for the deal in an easy-to-understand and compelling way.

If part of your job entails internal communications, print out this letter, give it a thorough read and save it. It's a great example of employee communications that you'll find yourself revisiting in the future for inspiration and ideas.

The content of the letter follows below:

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009
From: Tony Hsieh (CEO - Zappos.com)
To: All Zappos Employees
Subject: Zappos and Amazon

Please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. (My apologies for the occasional use of formal-sounding language, as parts of it are written in a particular way for legal reasons.)

Today is a big day in Zappos history.

This morning, our board approved and we signed what’s known as a “definitive agreement”, in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos (there are over 100) will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock. Once the exchange is done, Amazon will become the only shareholder of Zappos stock.

Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say “Amazon acquires Zappos” or “Zappos sells to Amazon”. While those headlines are technically correct, they don’t really properly convey the spirit of the transaction. (I personally would prefer the headline “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”)

We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos — continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are switching out our current shareholders and board of directors for a new one, even though the technical legal structure may be different.

We think that now is the right time to join forces with Amazon because there is a huge opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths and move even faster towards our long term vision. For Zappos, our vision remains the same: delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors. We just want to get there faster.

We are excited about doing this for 3 main reasons:

1) We think that there is a huge opportunity for us to really accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and culture, and we believe that Amazon is the best partner to help us get there faster.

2) Amazon supports us in continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Zappos brand and with our unique culture.

3) We want to align ourselves with a shareholder and partner that thinks really long term (like we do at Zappos), as well as do what’s in the best interest of our existing shareholders and investors.

I will go through each of the above points in more detail below, but first, let me get to the top 3 burning questions that I’m guessing many of you will have.

TOP 3 BURNING QUESTIONS

Q: Will I still have a job?

As mentioned above, we plan to continue to run Zappos as an independent entity. In legal terminology, Zappos will be a “wholly-owned subsidiary” of Amazon. Your job is just as secure as it was a month ago.

Q: Will the Zappos culture change?

Our culture at Zappos is unique and always evolving and changing, because one of our core values is to Embrace and Drive Change. What happens to our culture is up to us, which has always been true. Just like before, we are in control of our destiny and how our culture evolves.

A big part of the reason why Amazon is interested in us is because they recognize the value of our culture, our people, and our brand. Their desire is for us to continue to grow and develop our culture (and perhaps even a little bit of our culture may rub off on them).

They are not looking to have their folks come in and run Zappos unless we ask them to. That being said, they have a lot of experience and expertise in a lot of areas, so we’re very excited about the opportunities to tap into their knowledge, expertise, and resources, especially on the technology side. This is about making the Zappos brand, culture, and business even stronger than it is today.

Q: Are Tony, Alfred, or Fred leaving?

No, we have no plans to leave. We believe that we are at the very beginning of what’s possible for Zappos and are very excited about the future and what we can accomplish for Zappos with Amazon as our new partner. Part of the reason for doing this is so that we can get a lot more done more quickly.

There is an additional Q&A section at the end of this email, but I wanted to make sure we got the top 3 burning questions out of the way first. Now that we’ve covered those questions, I wanted to share in more detail our thinking behind the scenes that led us to this decision.

First, I want to apologize for the suddenness of this announcement. As you know, one of our core values is to Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication, and if I could have it my way, I would have shared much earlier that we were in discussions with Amazon so that all employees could be involved in the decision process that we went through along the way. Unfortunately, because Amazon is a public company, there are securities laws that prevented us from talking about this to most of our employees until today.

We’ve been on friendly terms with Amazon for many years, as they have always been interested in Zappos and have always had a great respect for our brand.

Several months ago, they reached out to us and said they wanted to join forces with us so that we could accelerate the growth of our business, our brand, and our culture. When they said they wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand (as opposed to folding us into Amazon), we decided it was worth exploring what a partnership would look like.

We learned that they truly wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand and continue to build the Zappos culture in our own unique way. I think “unique” was their way of saying “fun and a little weird.”

Over the past several months, as we got to know each other better, both sides became more and more excited about the possibilities for leveraging each other’s strengths. We realized that we are both very customer-focused companies — we just focus on different ways of making our customers happy.

Amazon focuses on low prices, vast selection and convenience to make their customers happy, while Zappos does it through developing relationships, creating personal emotional connections, and delivering high touch (”WOW”) customer service.

We realized that Amazon’s resources, technology, and operational experience had the potential to greatly accelerate our growth so that we could grow the Zappos brand and culture even faster. On the flip side, through the process Amazon realized that it really was the case that our culture is the platform that enables us to deliver the Zappos experience to our customers. Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) made it clear that he had a great deal of respect for our culture and that Amazon would look to protect it.

We asked our board members what they thought of the opportunity. Michael Moritz, who represents Sequoia Capital (one of our investors and board members), wrote the following: “You now have the opportunity to accelerate Zappos’ progress and to make the name and the brand and everything associated with it an enduring, permanent part of peoples’ lives… You

are now free to let your imagination roam - and to contemplate initiatives and undertakings that today, in our more constrained setting, we could not take on.”

One of the great things about Amazon is that they are very long term thinkers, just like we are at Zappos. Alignment in very long term thinking is hard to find in a partner or investor, and we felt very lucky and excited to learn that both Amazon and Zappos shared this same philosophy.

All this being said, this was not an easy decision. Over the past several months, we had to weigh all the pros and cons along with all the potential benefits and risks. At the end of the day, we realized that, once it was determined that this was in the best interests of our shareholders, it basically all boiled down to asking ourselves 2 questions:

1) Do we believe that this will accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and help us fulfill our mission of delivering happiness faster?

2) Do we believe that we will continue to be in control of our own destiny so that we can continue to grow our unique culture?

After spending a lot of time with Amazon and getting to know them and understanding their intentions better, we reached the conclusion that the answers to these 2 questions are YES and YES.

The Zappos brand will continue to be separate from the Amazon brand. Although we’ll have access to many of Amazon’s resources, we need to continue to build our brand and our culture just as we always have. Our mission remains the same: delivering happiness to all of our stakeholders, including our employees, our customers, and our vendors. (As a side note, we plan to continue to maintain the relationships that we have with our vendors ourselves, and Amazon will continue to maintain the relationships that they have with their vendors.)

We will be holding an all hands meeting soon to go over all of this in more detail. Please email me any questions that you may have so that we can cover as many as possible during the all hands meeting and/or a follow-up email.

We signed what’s known as the “definitive agreement” today, but we still need to go through the process of getting government approval, so we are anticipating that this transaction actually won’t officially close for at least a few months. We are legally required by the SEC to be in what’s known as a “quiet period”, so if you get any questions related to the transaction from anyone including customers, vendors, or the media, please let them know that we are in a quiet period mandated by law and have them email tree@zappos.com, which is a special email account that Alfred and I will be monitoring.

Alfred and I would like to say thanks to the small group of folks on our finance and legal teams and from our advisors at Morgan Stanley, Fenwick & West, and PricewaterhouseCoopers who have been working really hard, around the clock, and behind the scenes over the last several months to help make all this possible.

Before getting to the Q&A section, I’d also like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this long email and for helping us get to where we are today.

It’s definitely an emotional day for me. The feelings I’m experiencing are similar to what I felt in college on graduation day: excitement about the future mixed with fond memories of the past. The last 10 years were an incredible ride, and I’m excited about what we will accomplish together over the next 10 years as we continue to grow Zappos!

-Tony Hsieh

CEO - Zappos.com

Q&A

Q: Will we still continue to grow our headquarters out of Vegas?

Yes! Just like before, we plan to continue to grow our Las Vegas operations as long as we can continue to attract the right talent for each of our departments. We do not have any plans to move any departments, nor does Amazon want us to because they recognize that our culture is what makes the Zappos brand special.

Q: What will happen to our warehouse in Kentucky?

As many of you know, we were strategic in choosing our warehouse location due to its proximity to the UPS Worldport hub in Louisville. Amazon does not have any warehouse locations that are closer to the Worldport hub. There is the possibility that they may want to store some of their inventory in our warehouse or vice-versa. Right now, both Zappos and Amazon believe that the best customer experience is to continue running our warehouse in Kentucky at its current location.

Q: Will we be reducing staff in order to gain operational efficiency?

There are no plans to do so at this time. Both Zappos and Amazon are focused on growth, which means we will need to hire more people to help us grow.

Q: Will we get a discount at Amazon?

No, because we are planning on continuing to run Zappos as a separate company with our own culture and core values. And we’re not going to be giving the Zappos discount to Amazon employees either, unless they bake us cookies and deliver them in person.

Q: Will our benefits change?

No, we are not planning on making any changes (outside of the normal course of business) to our benefit packages.

Q: Do we keep our core values?

Yes, we will keep our core values, and Amazon will keep their core values.

Q: Will our training/pipeline programs or progression plans change? Will there still be more growth opportunities?

We will continue building out our pipeline and progression as planned. The whole point of this combination is to accelerate our growth, so if anything, we are actually anticipating more growth opportunities for everyone.

Q: Will we continue to do the special things we do for our customers? Are our customer service policies going to change?

Just like before, that’s completely up to us to decide.

Q: Can you tell me a bit more about Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO)? What is he like?

We’d like to show an 8-minute video of Jeff Bezos that will give you some insight into his personality and way of thinking. He shares some of what he’s learned as an entrepreneur, as well as some of the mistakes he’s made.

Q: I’m a business/financial reporter. Can you talk like a banker and use fancy-sounding language that we can print in a business publication?

Zappos is an online footwear category leader and Amazon believes Zappos is the right team with a unique culture, proven track record, and the experience to become a leading soft goods company; Zappos’ customer service obsession reinforces Amazon’s mission to be the earth’s most customer-centric company; Great brand, strong vendor relationships, broad selection, large active and repeat customer base; Amazon believes Zappos is a great business — growing, profitable and positive cash flow; Accelerate combined companies’ scale and growth trajectory in the shoe, apparel and accessories space; Significant synergy opportunities, including technology, marketing, and possible international expansion.

Q: What is the purchase price?

This is not a cash transaction. This is a stock exchange. Our shareholders and option holders will be issued approximately 10 million Amazon shares on a fully converted basis. The details of the deal terms and how the shares will be distributed will be filed with the SEC on Form S-4 and will be publicly available when it is filed.

Q: Can you talk like a lawyer now?

This email was sent on July 22, 2009. In connection with the proposed merger, Amazon.com will file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission that will contain a consent solicitation/prospectus. Zappos’ shareholders and investors are urged to carefully read the consent solicitation/prospectus when it becomes available and other relevant documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the proposed merger because they contain important information about Amazon.com, Zappos and the proposed merger. Shareholders and investors will be able to obtain the consent solicitation/prospectus when it becomes available at www.sec.gov or www.amazon.com/ir.

Certain statements contained in this email are not statements of historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations, are inherently uncertain and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from expected results include those set forth in Amazon.com’s Current Report on Form 8-K, dated July 22, 2009.

Q: Can you please stop?

okthxbye

Hill & Knowlton adds digital bench strength

Hill & Knowlton Adds Digital Bench Strength to North American Corporate and Public Affairs Practices

Brendan Hodgson to Accelerate Integration of Next-Generation Digital Reputation, Crisis and e-Advocacy Strategies

NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Hill & Knowlton announced today that Brendan Hodgson, a 10-year veteran in the digital PR space, has been promoted to senior vice president for North American digital corporate and public affairs, reinforcing the company's commitment to advance the integration of current and emerging social media and digital communication strategies across these critical areas of its business.

Effective immediately, Hodgson will divide his time between Hill & Knowlton's US and Canadian operations, helping to advance the role of digital within Hill & Knowlton's corporate and public affairs practices, with a particular focus on corporate reputation protection and recovery, digital risk management, and online advocacy. His role will involve providing senior client counsel while accelerating staff training and education.

A 13-year public relations veteran and trained journalist, Hodgson most recently served as vice president in Canada's digital communications group where he was charged with helping Hill & Knowlton clients build traction in the new media space. In that capacity, he provided online reputation management, e-advocacy and crisis counsel to private and public sector organizations across a variety of sectors including energy, oil and gas, aviation transportation, not-for-profit, B2B manufacturing, and technology.

"Hill & Knowlton has traditional strengths and leadership in corporate and public affairs. We're very focused on the integration of digital channels into all that we do and having Brendan lead this area of digital expertise will increase our value to our clients and accelerate our push to inform all our work with a strong digital point of view," said Julie Atherton, worldwide director, digital, Hill & Knowlton.

Two PR jobs in Toronto

Our friends at Cramer Company International are looking to fill two PR positions in Toronto:

The first job is a senior agency role, doing food-related PR for one of the firm's national clients. The salary is $85K plus.

The second is a three-week media relations contract with an agency located in downtown T.O.  Focus area is food and consumer goods. Must have experience working in an agency, doing food-related PR and conducting media relations.

For more info, contact Roxanne Cramer at 416-929-2629 or roxanne@cramercompany.com. 

Edelman appoints new CEO for Canada

Edelman Worldwide has tapped Heather Conway to be the new CEO of its Canadian operations. Here's the Globe and Mail's coverage of the story.

10 reasons why Joe Jackson should not be allowed near children or a microphone

Need more evidence that Michael Jackson's dad is a media relations and parenting disaster? Check out this recent article from The National Post.