Archive
News & Opinions
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PR People (Should) Say No… or Should They?
August 27, 2013
A short while ago, I stumbled on a blog post titled Creative People Say No and before even getting into the post’s content, the title had my attention. Particularly the “no” part. It got me thinking about our fascinating, dynamic industry of PR and Communications. Please forgive the sweeping generalisation I’m about to make, but go with me on this for a sec… As PR consultants, we are trained to be YES people. We say...
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Why Music and Productivity (Should) Go Hand in Hand…
August 21, 2013
Take a walk through FleishmanHillard’s Bryanston offices and you’ll find headphones and plenty of them - generally attached in one way or another to people’s ears. This does not signify, as one might assume, that somebody up top keeps hiring antisocial hermits but is actually, according to a recent study, a sure sign of employees who are dedicated to keeping productivity levels high in the workplace. This particular study spoke to 1 000 small and medium...
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A Company is Only as Good as its Leadership
August 19, 2013
There is a shortage of good leadership in modern society - I mean what has happened to the leadership that built this country? The leadership that people like Oliver Tambo, Albertina Sisulu and Nelson Mandela brought to South Africa. Napoleon Bonaparte once said “a leader is a dealer in hope.” In the six months that I have spent as an intern at FleishmanHillard, I have learned quite a lot of about the industry but never...
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Are We Becoming Too Moany?
August 13, 2013
A look at whether social media is enabling bad consumer behaviour… We love social media. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. All major brands are there and accepting user feedback (if they value the long term success potential of their company, that is). Like it or not, these platforms have provided the empowered consumer with a tool, which they can use anytime to their best advantage. Your ISP dumps you and you can’t get online, tweet @Mwebguy. You’ve...
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Crossing Over
August 8, 2013
Many see it as a sell out or crossing over to the dark side. As I write this blog watching the Proteas play Pakistan, wishing I was there covering the match, I begin to realise that all is not lost especially with the era of social media and blogging. Yes indeed I am that sports girl looking to commentate and analyse the latest sports coverage; yet, now I work in the world of PR...
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Big Data is Useless
August 6, 2013
In an age where everyone publishes and creates information, passively or actively – Big Data exists, and it does so whether we want it to or not, and whether companies invest in it or not. Everything we do online and some of the stuff we don’t, whether we are aware of it or not, creates data. Our searches, our emails, our calls, our transactions, even smart devices create data about what we do, say and...
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I Belong in PR
August 1, 2013
At about the same time as the office started buzzing about “The Louise Marsland event on PR trends”, I got some valuable advice from Van Baard. Van has been around so her advice would be pretty valuable. She said to me “Get involved in traditional media. Understand traditional media. Do not isolate yourself within the silo that is Social Media or Digital because you will always approach it from a marketer’s perspective.” Confusing much? Let’s...
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FleishmanHillard South Africa Launches Innovative Crisis Communications Methodology for the Digital Age
July 31, 2013
Cross-Industry Experts and Cutting-Edge Digital Tools Provide Global Protection for Clients’ Reputation, Staying Ahead of Social Media Johannesburg, July 31, 2013 — FleishmanHillard (FH) announced today the expansion of its global crisis practice with agency-certified global experts applying a new, proprietary methodology against the most complex crises. Labeled as ARC (Assess, Resolve and Control) the methodology is unique to FleishmanHillard and will be rolled out locally. “FleishmanHillard’s global crisis practice is driven by one simple...
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The Oscar Dilemma
July 29, 2013
South Africans continue to be bombarded with news coverage pertaining to the Oscar Pistorius case and we can only expect it to heat up in the weeks prior to his next court appearance on 19th August this year. Granted, the news cycle did slow down following his bail hearing on 22nd February but I did smile to myself as the juggernaut of photographic exposés and documentaries started appearing prior to his court appearance on 4th...
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When You’re 140 Keystrokes Away From a Corporate Crisis
July 18, 2013
Written by Harald Simons If you are a corporate leader of a multinational company today, and aim to protect your reputation for the long term, you need to ask yourself two questions: Are we nimble, and are we quick? A little less fairy-tale and a lot more true: Are we properly organized, and can we respond in time when faced with a crisis? If you still rely on manuals that are over six months old...