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Crisis Communications

5 Videoconferencing Tips to Conduct Meetings in the Era of COVID-19

Remote meetings can be tricky. As a public relations and marketing firm in today’s market, and especially in the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and social distancing, we at Mecoy Communications know this all too well. Just yesterday, we tried to join an important crisis communications conference call that included 11 other people. After issues

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News

Making Your Gala Earn Much More than Donations

This is Gala Season for many nonprofit organizations, and the smart ones use these annual events for more than fundraising. Beyond honoring those who give the most or can attract the most in ticket and table sales, galas are opportunities to recruit new supporters and re-energize existing ones through strategic communications. It begins with the

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Collateral Development

Digital Disruption Places Premium on Owning Your Platform

With the proliferation of digital and video platforms, the opportunities to engage directly with customers, donors and others via their mobile phones, tablets and laptop and desktop computers are seemingly endless. But too often, these exchanges require using someone else’s real estate — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, etc. — to communicate. The recent changes

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Client news

Using Anniversaries and Milestones to Celebrate Your Organization

Is your organization nearing an anniversary or significant milestone in its history? If so, celebrating it is a great way to publicize your accomplishments and look forward to the future. Marking a major anniversary or milestone promotes pride in the organization, builds goodwill among customers, donors and others and gives you a chance to build

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Client news

Are Newsletters and Blogs Dead?

With the rise of social media, many have argued that newsletters and blogs are dead. They say that social media is more prolific, more immediate and more engaging. It is all that and more. It is also extremely cluttered, and its format is somewhat limiting—especially for organizations that don’t have a budget for video or

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About health

Trump’s Budget Cuts Create Opportunities

President Trump’s budget proposal generated headlines and consternation across the nation. It also created opportunities for those facing cutbacks to tell their story and advocate for funding. One of our clients, LA BioMed, is featured in today’s LA Times’ column by Steve Lopez because of the potential loss of critical funding for its research. The

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News

Three Tips for Protecting Yourself from Fake News

Whether it’s called “fake news” or “alternative facts,” all of us who share content on social media need to be wary of false information pretending to be facts. Even the most knowledgeable social media mavens have fallen prey to Internet hoaxes. Knowing what is fake and what is real news are essential to protecting your

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Collateral Development

Our Newest Publication: Explore and Experience Catalina

Ever wonder about what you can do on Catalina Island beyond the picturesque city of Avalon? We created this issue of the Conservancy Times so visitors to Catalina Island would know how to explore and experience the wildlands, the 42,000 acres of open space under the stewardship of the Catalina Island Conservancy. You can hike,

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Client news

Storytelling for Law Firm Marketing

Creative storytelling to ensure coverage of litigation can be a major challenge for law firms and their marketing departments. Here is an example from our client, WilmerHale Law Firm and the ACLU. They joined other legal advocacy organizations in filing pro bono a lawsuit seeking to stop the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans’) seizures of

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Effective Communications

Lessons from Trump’s “Hamilton” tweets

President-elect Donald Trump’s use of Twitter this past weekend to seek an apology from the cast of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” provides some lessons for businesses and nonprofits seeking social media hits. Trump tweeted that the cast was “very rude” and had “harassed” Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was in the audience, by reading

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Our firm

Thank you for your support!

In this season of Thanksgiving, we want to extend a special thanks to all of you who have supported all of us. We so appreciate the clients who have trusted us with their strategic communications. We are so thankful for our friends and colleagues who have recommended us to others. And we couldn’t do what

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News

See how we got started!

Idea Mensch, a media outlet devoted to entrepreneurship, recently reached out to our founder and president, Laura Mecoy, to get her views on starting and building a business. Following are some of her answers. You can see more at https://ideamensch.com/laura-mecoy/ Where did the idea for Mecoy Communications come from? Taking a page from the presidential,

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Effective Communications

Trumped Up? Three Tips for Getting Your CEO to Prep for Media Interviews

Even Donald Trump’s biggest fans were disheartened by his lack of preparation for the first presidential debate. Shortly after the 98-minute showdown ended, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani tweeted: I assure you that @realDonaldTrump will be better prepared at the next debate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly spent four days preparing

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Collateral Development

See our Newest Publication

Please see our latest edition of the Conservancy Times, a publication we created and produce for our client, the Catalina Island Conservancy. It’s mailed and distributed widely so the Conservancy can share its stories with its supporters, members, Catalina Island visitors and others. This edition’s cover story, A Living Laboratory: Catalina’s Community Based Conservation, describes

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News

Taking Tips from the Presidential Debates

Corporate and nonprofit executives can learn a lot about communicating externally by watching the presidential debates next week and in the weeks ahead. If the past is any indication, the two candidates will have spent hours being coached on how best to answer questions in a succinct and compelling fashion that will connect with voters.

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infographics

How Long Should Your Social Media Post Be?

  Ever wonder about just how long to make that Facebook comment, Tweet, blog post, video, podcast or speech? Most times, shorter is better. But amid the 500-700 word blog posts you regularly see, you might be surprised to find that 1,600 words is the average number of words people read in a blog. Or

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Client news

Veteran prosecutor joins law firm

Our client, Kendall Brill & Kelly law firm, announced today the addition of a new partner, Robert Edward Dugdale. He is a top-ranking veteran federal prosecutor whose extensive trial experience will greatly enhance the firm’s white-collar practice and its litigation expertise. Widely recognized as one of the region’s best trial lawyers, Mr. Dugdale had served

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News

Infographic Tips: Keep it Simple

Infographics create great shareable content for today’s social media, and they’re easy to create. This simple infographic describes how to create a great infographic. It recommends keeping the content simple, the design clean and the facts organized. Following these simple tips will create an infographic that effectively conveys information, attracts attention and drives positive outcomes

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About health

Take a Page from Hillary

  Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign faced the potential of derailing her recent election gains when she went off script and mistakenly praised former first lady Nancy Reagan for her “low-key advocacy” for combating the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Clinton made the laudatory comments in an interview after Reagan’s death, prompting an immediate outcry from

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News

Storytelling Creates Empathy

This new infographic illustrates why storytelling is such an important part of any successful communications effort. It shows scientific studies have proven that telling a story actually alters the chemistry in the brain, triggering releases of chemicals that create empathy and neural connections that cause listeners to put themselves in the place of the subject

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Client news

Our Latest Publication: Conservancy Times

Catalina and the other Channel Islands are often referred to as the “Galapagos of North America” because they harbor a tremendous diversity of plants and animals, including a disproportionately high number of species that are unique to the islands, called endemic species. But these and all island species face a greater risk of extinction because

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Media

Why is the LA Times Investment Good & Bad News?

The LA Times story today reporting on a new infusion of cash – $44.4 million – in its owner, Tribune Publishing, is good news and bad news for journalism. The purchase of a major stake in Tribune Publishing by a Chicago entrepreneur, Michael Ferro, is expected to help the company’s planned bid to buy the

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About health

Opening New Clinic for COPD Sufferers

The celebration of a new clinic to provide rehabilitative services to people suffering with COPD drew a big crowd, including LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, leaders in the COPD community and media. The new clinic is especially great news because it is the first in the area to offer rehabilitative services to people who don’t

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Client news

Celebrating New Park

We’re pleased to join our client, the LA Neighborhood Land Trust, in celebrating the acquisition of a former industrial site in the Del Amo neighborhood of Carson that will become a much-needed park for a community that has been fighting to get a park there for more than 20 years. Acquisition of the 8.5 acre

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Marketing

How to Create the Best Blog Posts Ever?

Turning that blank page into a blog post that will attract readers short on time and attention requires answering that age-old question: What have you done for me lately? Providing useful information or stories that move them in some way creates content that attracts, holds and persuades readers. In other words, they have to see

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infographics

Should your Business be on Pinterest?

With so many options, determining where and when to engage on social media can be challenging for business. This simple infographic will help you determine whether or not to pick Pinterest for your product. Just follow the dotted lines, and you’ll see that Pinterest is best for visually interesting products and services, that it appeals

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Effective Communications

5 Rules for Productive Pinning

Pinterest–the social media site that lets you “pin” your favorite images, stories, recipes and more–is growing in popularity and usage by brands. At least one company, Aha!ology, which is featured in this story in the Los Angeles Times, has built its entire business on helping brands grow their market through the use of pins. While

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infographics

Time to Join Instagram?

With more than 5 million users and 860,000 shares daily on other social media, Instagram is an increasingly important tool in your social media toolkit. It’s especially worthwhile if your product or cause is visually appealing. This infographic gives you an idea of its impact. Have you considered it?

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Social media

Social Media Cheat Sheet

Still not engaged on social media? Here’s an easy “cheat sheet” to help you understand some of the most widely used social media sites. It is missing some important social media sites, like Instagram. But it’s intended for those who are unfamiliar with social media. This is another example too of how infographics can help

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Fundraising

Storytelling Helps Nonprofits Win Support; Raise Money

Storytelling will create the emotional connections needed to raise funds for your nonprofit. and this video is an effective use of storytelling by one of our clients, Tejon Ranch Conservancy, at a local community meeting. Having strong storytellers, like the Conservancy Public Outreach Manager Scot W. Pipkin, as one of the “faces” of the organization

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Media

Sharing our Social Media Expertise

We’re always happy to help. So when reporter Lisa Schmeiser sought tips for companies and individuals to “be awesome on Twitter” and methods for making your “Facebook feed be less frustrating,” we were happy to provide some of the same advice we give every day to our clients – simple things like saying please and

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Client news

Take a Hike! See our Newest Publication

Located just 22 miles from Los Angeles, Catalina Island offers rare opportunities to escape the crowds. We produced this issue of the Conservancy Times magazine for one of the state’s oldest and largest land trusts, the Catalina Island Conservancy. The magazine describes how hiking is one of the best ways to explore the essence of

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Social media

Is Social Media Truly Free?

Yes and no. Yes, you can create your social media sites for free. But it costs to develop the strategies and create the content that will generate followers, build your brand and help sell your product, cause or organization. Don’t just take our word for it. See the quotes of the social media experts in

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public speaking

8 Tips for Writing Speeches that Move People

Guest Post by Cary Walker   WHY DO SPEECHES MATTER? A good speech informs. A good speech persuades. A good speech entertains. But, most of all, a good speech inspires. It calls the audience to action. Here are some tips for writing a good speech. 1. Start with a topic that interests you. You might

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Effective Communications

How do You Get Your Story Told when Newsrooms are Empty?

A new American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) survey shows newsroom jobs have hit the lowest level since tracking began in 1978, leading to the question: How do you get you story told when there are so few reporters left? ASNE reported that the ranks of newsroom employees shrank 10.4% last year, to 32,900 reporters.

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Copyright

Can I Use That Picture?

With Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and more, there’s more visual properties on line every day, leading to questions about whether you can use a photo or image you’ve found online to illustrate your own blog or other publication. The answer is generally no – unless you have the permission of the person who created it.

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Advocacy

Having an Effective Storyteller

Jonah Marks is just 11, and he’s already mastered the art of storytelling. He developed his storytelling skills over the years by explaining his Type 1 diabetes to his classmates at the beginning of each school year. He essentially tells them that his pancreas doesn’t work like theirs, and then shows them all the equipment

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Client news

Party with a Robot April 8

Forget the Terminator and Chappie. Here’s a chance to party with robots who can perform surgery, protect soldiers on the battlefield, read your mind to control a flying helicopter and teach kids about technology. The Silicon Valley Robot Block Party at the WilmerHale Law Firm in Palo Alto will feature the hottest robotic startups and

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Client news

Storytelling, Fundraising & a Fox Tale

Storytelling can generate the media coverage that will help nonprofits raise funds, especially when the subject is an incredibly cute endangered fox. The Catalina Island fox population had once been as low as 100, but it has rebounded to more than 1,700, thanks to the hard work of the Catalina Island Conservancy and its partners.

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About health

Client News: KNX Interview

Dr. Michael Yeaman, an LA BioMed researcher who’s helping develop a vaccine against the “superbug” MRSA, is interviewed on KNX News Radio’s Spotlight on superbugs, an hour-long special broadcast on the region’s only all-news radio station. KNX reaches more than 1 million listeners a week. To hear the broadcast, please click here.

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About health

Client News: Superbug Vaccine

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s report that more than 100 patients were exposed to the Superbug CRE and two have died from infections caused by the CRE exposure triggered new interest in the development of a vaccine for another Superbug, MRSA, by researchers at our client, LA BioMed. KNBC-TV aired this story about the vaccine’s

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About health

An Easy Way to Improve Immunization Rates

With the recent measles outbreak rekindling the immunization debate, we wanted to share a report from one of our clients about an easy way to improve vaccination rates. Dr. Sylvia Yeh, an LA BioMed lead researcher, reports a 69% increase in vaccination rates among mothers of newborns when a hospital made a simple change in

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News

What do Women Think?

It’s a perennial question with great significance to marketers because women tend to control the purse strings in most families. Here’s a good infographic that provides a look at what women think about 2015:

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News

Kirby Delauter – Don’t Use My Name

In our continuing discussion about improving email and other digital communications, we had to share how one locally elected official’s Facebook rant made him a top-trending topic and punching bag on Twitter; a source of numerous memes, like the one here, and the subject of unflattering coverage in media around the country. Kirby Delauter, a

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News

A Beluga Whale of a Mistake

Broadcasting digitally is fraught with the potential for mistakes, and one organization, DoSomething.org, recently made a “beluga whale of a mistake,” as it said. The organization, which works with young people on social campaigns, accidentally sent a text message to 2.1 million of its members that said: Hey Can-tributer! Together you donated 510,543 items! Wow!

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News

AARP Helping Caregivers

We work with the AARP in educating its membership about a wide range of topics, including this month’s article on how one California legislator is using her firsthand experience to help the millions who provide care to their aging loved ones. Please see it by clicking here. Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown helps her husband, Hardy, with

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News

Correcting Mistakes: Responding Quickly & Effectively

Credibility is a hard-won attribute in today’s fast-paced and multi-dimensional communications landscape. Thorough editing, fact checking and reviews by multiple levels of people within a company or organization will help guard against mistakes. But when they do happen, the challenge is retaining the organization’s credibility in handling the mistake. With a 24/7 news cycle, quick

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News

Sony Hack Attack, Part 2: More Ways to Avoid Damaging Communications

Our recent post on the Sony hack attack generated a great deal of comment on LinkedIn, mostly from people who agreed that email should be treated more carefully. Most agreed with our contention that that “all communications should be professional. Being derisive, racist or sexist in comments not only opens us to litigation and damaging

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News

Lessons from Sony’s Hacked Emails

The revelation of racially insensitive comments in emails written by Sony Pictures Entertainment co-Chair Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin provide another lesson in what not to do with our most frequently used form of communication. Their comments, suggesting President Obama would only like African American-focused movies, came to light because of a cyberattack on

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News

Why are People so Bad at Pitching Stories to the Media?

Pitching stories to the media is a fine art. Most people have no idea what makes for a good story. We have a background in reporting. It helps us be more successful because we understand what makes a good story. PR News created the following infographic, which details many of the tips for successful pitching.

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NPR Coverage
News

Three Lessons from Bill Cosby’s Silence

Bill Cosby, once one of the most beloved TV sitcom fathers, tried to remain silent when decades-old allegations of rape and sexual assault resurfaced in the media on Saturday. But his silence reverberated through the media’s echo chamber, spreading more widely with each passing hour. Cosby only shook his head and said nothing when first

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News

Honoring Veterans’ Sacrifices through Storytelling

As we honor our veterans today for their many sacrifices for our liberty, we are reminded of one of the great storytellers of modern times and his ability to capture one of history’s greatest moments, the taking of Pointe du Hoc during the Battle of Normandy. Whether you liked his politics or not, you must

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Who uses social media more?
News

Do Men or Women Use Social Media More?

This is a fascinating look at the differences in the sexes’ use of social media. While this plays to stereotypes, it’s probably not surprising to see women leading men in the use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media that aims to build relationships of all types. The men, not surprisingly, are more likely to

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News

Giving Back

We believe in giving back to the community, and we are especially proud to be raising money and serving as spokespersons for JDRF, the world’s largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research. Our president, Laura Mecoy, and her son, Ryan Walker, were interviewed on Los Angeles classic rock radio station, The Sound, to promote

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News

What Taylor Swift Can Teach Us about Marketing

With numerous awards, sold-out concerts and one of the country’s biggest fan bases, Taylor Swift is a proven marketing phenom at the age of 24. The launch of her latest record, “1989,” offers even more examples of how she’s mastered the PR and marketing game, all of which can be instructive for marketing other products.

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News

He Said What? Five Basic Rules for Crisis Communications

Twenty-five years ago, as viewers tuned in to watch Game Three of the 1989 World Series in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the stadium’s foundations and caused widespread damage in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The 6.9 magnitude temblor knocked down a section of the Bay Bridge, collapsed a

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News

Six Commonsense Tips for Avoiding Email Contretemps

California Public Utilities Commission President (PUC) Michael Peevey’s  announcement yesterday that he would not seek another six-year term in the job was not a surprise after emails revealed a cozy relationship with at least one of the companies, PG&E, he’s charged with regulating. Peevey had withstood his critics’ charges in the past, but the emails

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News

News from our Clients

Art Papier, the founder and CEO of Logical Images, the company that created VisualDx, writes in The Health Care Blog about how clinical decision support tools could help prevent the misdiagnosis we saw with the first case of Ebola in the U.S. On the patient’s first trip to the hospital, the Emergency Department physicians misdiagnosed

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News

Telling Your Stories in Pictures

Capturing special moments — both public and private — is an important part of telling your story. Halloween is one of those special times with the kids that will be part of your family’s story. Don’t miss a chance to capture the fun and excitement in photos. Our colleague, Jon Crowe, is offering a photo

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News

PR more welcoming to Women than Journalism

Editor Jill Abramson’s termination from The New York Times earlier this year triggered a renewed discussion about gender equity in journalism. Unnamed sources reportedly used words like “pushy” to describe her management style. Most women regard this as a pejorative way to describe practices that would be called “assertive” if a man did the same. Reporters,

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News

News from our Clients

Interested in plein air paintings, like this beautiful one by John Cosby? Then join the Catalina Island Conservancy on Oct. 26 in Balboa for its annual art show and sale. Here’s more information. Researchers at LA BioMed have resolved a dispute about the timing of one of the most common abdominal surgeries, gallbladder removals. Here’s

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News

LA Register Folds: Another Nail in Print’s Coffin?

It’s no surprise to see the news today that the LA Register newspaper is folding and giving up on its grand experiment in print journalism. All of us who love newspapers had great hopes but knew that this was probably an ill-fated effort to restore an antiquated concept of actually reading your news in a

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News

Top 5 Reasons for Re-branding

By taking responsibility for the beheading of two American journalists, the radical group now identified as ISIS by most in the media has turned the name of an Egyptian goddess into a dirty word. Unfortunately, several companies also have the same name. CNBC’s Jane Wells tackled this topic in her report today. She reported that

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News

Are press releases still relevant?

The answer from a new Business Wire survey is a resounding yes. Its survey of 300 journalists found 9 out of 10 had used a press release in the preceding week. While there is increasing focus on social media to speak to a wide constituency, only 1 percent of the journalists surveyed by Business Wire

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News

FIVE TIPS FOR A POWERFUL PRESENTATION

With studies showing the fear of public speaking ranks up there with the fear of death, speakers are often advised to picture their audience naked. Don’t worry. You don’t have to strip the audience bare to communicate effectively. But you do need to become intimately familiar with who your audience will be before deciding whether

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News

The “Gig Economy”

This is a term that’s gaining popularity as our nation shifts from the traditional 40-hour, one employer, office-driven workforce to a more entrepreneurial and independent workforce. Rather than jumping into the car for a long commute to an office, America’s workforce is increasingly opting for a more mobile and, arguably more creative and efficient, way

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News

South Beach Doc Speaks

Here’s a great opportunity offered by one of our clients for health care professionals to hear from Dr. Arthur Agatston, the developer of the South Beach Diet and the Agatston Score:  

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News

Why Do Journalists Make Good PR People?

A prospective client recently asked why we pride ourselves on being former journalists. Our network includes two former journalists, both of whom left the business several years ago and have spent the intervening years mastering the skills of communicating beyond the pages of a newspaper. The experience we have gained since leaving the news business

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News

Diversity in the Media

The racial tensions in Ferguson highlight once again the need for diversity in the media, and an excellent post by Gabe Rosenberg shows that newsrooms have made few advances in hiring a more diverse workforce. As the Pew Research Center has shown, the percentage of minority (a word that really no longer fits in California

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News

What’s in a Name?

On this morning’s highly rated KTLA-TV newscast, the anchors spent a couple of minutes ridiculing the term Mayor Eric Garcetti used for his “Great Streets” program. He called it “urban acupuncture,” and that became the headline in the LA Times, rather than the “Great Streets” brand. Unfortunately for the mayor, the news anchors seemed to

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News

It’s Alive!

A new infographic from Burrelles Luce, the media monitoring service, shows newspapers aren’t dead yet. Circulation in the nation’s top 25 newspapers has grown an average of 25% over the last five years. More than half of Americans are still reading their newspapers in print, and some of the country’s savviest investors are buying newspapers.

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News

Breathe Free MB on KNBC

We wanted to be sure you saw KNBC-TV’s report on Breathe Free MB, the public education campaign we’ve put together for Manhattan Beach to explain the city’s new Smoke-Free Public Places ordinance. In this report, you can see some of the signage we’ve developed with our graphics partner, Robin Weisz, to educate the public about

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News

Please Help – for Your Health and the Health of the Community

We need your help on Tuesday, July 22, in downtown Manhattan Beach. We are working with the City of Manhattan Beach on “Breathe Free MB,” a public education campaign about the City’s new Smoke-Free Public Places ordinance. We are seeking volunteers to help distribute materials to Manhattan Beach businesses. If you could spare 90 minutes

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Conservative Storytelling

As we like to say, storytelling moves audiences. They connect emotionally to stories, and they remember stories. Jonah Goldberg, a LA Times op-ed writer and a conservative, in his column today, writes about the importance of storytelling to political ideology. He says conservatives don’t do a great job of storytelling – but liberals can’t sell

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News

Congratulations WilmerHale

We’re proud of all our clients, and especially pleased when they get the recognition they deserve. Law360, one of the leading national legal news sites, conducted a survey and found WilmerHale, one of the nation’s pre-eminent law firms, is the “most-favored” IP group by corporate counsel. WilmerHale specializes in intellectual property litigation and represents some

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Location, Location, Location

This is the successful real estate investor’s mantra, and it also applies in many successful communications campaigns. We were in Oklahoma when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in support of Hobby Lobby’s policy denying health insurance coverage for certain types of contraceptives on religious grounds. The response here – in the “buckle of

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News

OC Register Fail

The OC Weekly’s analysis of the OC Register’s failure to fulfill its mission to grow its business through the revitalization of print media shows that – much as everyone suspected – the new owners were looking at the changing media landscape through rose-colored glasses, at best, or even blinders. It is a blow-by-blow description of

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Going Viral

It’s the goal of every successful marketer, and many claim to have made an art of it on YouTube and other video sharing services. Jukin Media, for instance, has based a whole business on figuring out what will go viral and monetizing it. PR professionals are always looking for ways to go viral – including

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News

NY Times Red-Faced Over Intern?

Our friend, the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, is one of the nation’s best media reporters. Today, he has a great story about the Post’s rival, the New York Times, hiring an intern who had been an Obama speech writer. Paul covers it in a very even-handed fashion. There was a time when such political affiliations

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Developers Buying Support?

Our friend, Bill Boyarsky, has an interesting look at how neighborhood groups are wringing concessions from developers by getting contributions to their associations in exchange for the neighbors supporting the developers’ projects. Building almost anything in California is difficult, and it’s no surprise the developers would view these contributions as the “cost of doing business,” which

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Stopping the Spin Cycle

Spin control — an attempt to give a bias to news coverage, especially of a political candidate or event. -Dictionary.com Too often, we hear clients suggest that we should “spin” something. We, instead, discuss how to explain something because spin has lost its spin. Today’s consumers are much too savvy to be spun, and today’s

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News

Hot Properties Make News

For many Angelenos, the rapidly rising equity in their home is their retirement plan, so housing prices are always a great source of interest. Add to that the stories of celebrities who can pour millions into a mansion, and you have a recipe for a bestseller. At least, that’s the idea at the LA Times,

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News

OC Register Optimist

We would have to put ourselves in the category of the nostalgic NYU academic Clay Shirkey faulted here for hoping the OC Register’s big commitment to print would work. We knew the economics probably didn’t work. After crawling under our car for the third day in a row to fish our paper out, we know

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News

Long Strange Trip it’s Been

The NY Times Maureen Dowd decided to try out some marijuana edibles in Colorado, now that weed is legal there. What followed was more than a bit disturbing for her and a great yarn for the Times. So now she’s being taken to task for being so silly to sample edibles alone and to fail

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Douglas Jeffe: Wright is Victim of a Stupid Law

We want to share with you this recent posting by our colleague, Douglas Jeffe, and his wife, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, on Joel Fox’s must-read political blog, Fox and Hounds, about the flaws of the residency law responsible for Senator Wright’s recent conviction.

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News

Sorry, I was on Mute

How many times have heard or had to make that excuse for checking out while on a conference call? For conference call participants, this humorous look, via video, captures all the things we hate about conference calls – from the barking dog in the background to the cellphone participant who keeps dropping off and dialing

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