In an era of floods, wildfires, and greenwashing scandals, how organizations talk about the environment increasingly matters as much as what they do. Each year, Earth Day reminds us to pause and evaluate our relationship with the planet. But for communications professionals, reckoning can’t be limited to a single day or a clever social media […]
Content Type: Newsletter
Don’t Wait for the Buzzer: Why Now Is the Time to Prepare for Your Next Earnings Call
March has plenty to celebrate, from Women’s History Month to St. Patrick’s Day, the arrival of spring and the long-awaited end of winter. For sports fans, March brings the frenzy of March Madness, when college basketball teams compete for a national championship. While the tournament itself only lasts a few weeks, every team knows the […]
It Shouldn’t Take a Bridge Collapse to Update a Crisis Plan
As the Port of Baltimore slowly reopens to commercial traffic and the delicate process of removing the massive steel pieces from what is left of the Francis Scott Key Bridge continues, it’s not too early to find crisis communications lessons from how information about the disaster was disseminated. What Is the Message Box? The importance […]
Speaking Out – It’s Complicated
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review, How Companies Should Weigh in on a Controversy, starts with parallel stories of Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and Brazilian cosmetics company Natura and its sponsorship of a transgender actor Thammy Miranda. Bud Light experienced a firestorm backlash and lost customers and market share; Natura stood by […]
Be in the Room Where it Happens
Let’s look at several news events from 2023 to help identify corporate communications trends, and set communications goals for 2024. Corporate Communications Trends and Events Each of these issues has profound communications and reputation impacts. None are going away any time soon. Each was a seismic event, and is an indicator of corporate communications trends […]
Apologies “AND” – Don’t just say you’re sorry
The recent uproar about changes to the Delta Airlines Sky Miles program and apologies from CEO Ed Bastian got us thinking yet again about when and how to apologize, with the added emphasis on the word “AND”. AND what are you going to do about it? We don’t know of any Delta flyers who are happy […]
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: AI Adds a New Wrinkle
We are about halfway through October, aka, Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Communicators should be using this time to alert employees, retirees, vendors, shareholders, and their families and friends about being more aware of their on-line habits and the increasing danger of generative AI scams and attempts. The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has a […]
When to Put Your CEO Out Front in a Crisis
Last month, we wrote about when to ask the CEO to serve as lead spokesperson or representative of the brand in a proactive, positive communications situation. What about a crisis or emergency? CEOs that come to mind who made a difference to a brand or organization in crisis: Jim Burke, at Johnson & Johnson during the Tylenol […]
When to Proactively Put Your CEO Out Front
A recent study by FTI and a Washington Business Journal article on the CEO as the embodiment of the company or organization’s brand got us thinking. Since CommCore works in both camps – proactive communications for media interviews and presentations, and reactive crisis communications and reputation protection, we will devote two issues of The Observer, our monthly newsletter, […]