There are many theories for why 18th century mugs, or tankards in British taverns often featured glass bottoms. All of them are relevant to our modern worries about privacy and personal safety. One theory speaks to fear of state intrusion in our lives, as the British Army and Navy would Read more…
It’s a PR nightmare: A story appears that your client or boss thinks should have been about your company. Sometimes it comes with a demand that you contact the reporter and get your company’s name added to the piece, or a challenge to find some other media outlet to tell Read more…
When Amazon abruptly abandoned its plans to locate a headquarters facility in Long Island City, New York (which is a stone’s throw from Manhattan), reactions generally fell into two categories: Those who saw it as a foolish snub of the complex and necessary work of economic development…and those who saw Read more…
Recently, a couple hundred publicly listed companies signed a petition asking the American SEC to limit the activities of shareholder services firms — also called “proxy advisors” — like Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis. They cited the these firms’ influences, ulterior motives, and potential conflicts of interest could disqualify Read more…
Later today, President Trump is expected to sign executive order called the “American AI Initiative.” The preview publicity has been underwhelming, at best, and otherwise rather chilling. The supposed purpose of the document is to set out a game plan for America to compete with at least 18 other countries that have Read more…
I spent a week in the mid-1980’s auditioning for a job as a staff writer at the National Enquirer. The very thought that I’d even try was a shocker to people who knew me; after all, the newspaper specialized in stories about three-headed babies and alien abductions, liberally interspersed with Read more…
[This essay originally appeared as a podcast at The Brand Populist] Well, another Super Bowl has come and gone, and while the Patriots will long remember the addition of another championship to their history, I think the commercials will quickly be forgotten. That’s why Super Bowl ads are so inane, Read more…
I’ve just had an epiphany about why B2B communicators find dealing with the B2C media world so challenging. Most of the “news” in the B2B world consists of whatever a company has just introduced into its marketplace, which is then vetted for veracity and relevance by informed reporters who are Read more…
Protesters in Paris have turned the city into a de facto war zone, their rage seemingly unassuaged by President Macron’s promise to reverse a fuel tax increase. What do the yellow-vestors want? There’s the rub. Nobody knows, including them. To call this miscommunications fiasco a comedy of errors wouldn’t do Read more…
I was just denied press credentials for the oddly-named North American International Auto Show, or NAIAS. It was known more conveniently as the Detroit Auto Show for almost a hundred years before 1989. I’m kinda bent out of shape, even though I’m not necessarily a “member of the press” — Read more…