Two of our panelists this week have new employment gigs — Heidi Miller with TimeXtender and Olivier Blanchard with Futurum Research + Analysis — while Cyrus Mavalwala is still with Advantis Communications, the company he founded. Topics this week included Wells Fargo’s crisis plans (based on information revealed in an earnings call), Twitter’s efforts to cope with trolls, the high value of press releases in Asia Pacific, Facebook’s decision to allow more graphic and offensive content, the recent cyberattack, new ways of slicing and dicing audiences, chatbots, and Mixed Reality.
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The post FIR #58: Attack of the Things appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

It’s a wide-ranging conversation this week with TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden, Bozell PR and Social Media Strategist Jennifer Stauss, and Zena Weist, director of Marketing and Media Relations for Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas. Our topics included Google’s plan to introduce a mobile-only search index and its implications for content marketers, the further blurring of lines between delivery channels as Facebook enables you to watch Live videos on your TV and a growing number of people watch presidential debates on Twitter and Facebook, the move toward personalized content, a self-made crisis for Delta Airlines, and much more.

• The increasing personalization of content, with examples including a campaign that delivers video based on your facial expressions and a patent for a technology that will display relevant billboards as you drive by

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The post FIR #57: PR on TV appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

We’re thinking of Cindy Crescenzo as she deals with a difficult time and had to bow out of this week’s episode, but David Grossman and Mark Story still joined me for a stimulating conversation about another brand — this time, Tic Tac — that dealt in close to real time with an unwelcome cultural reference; a survey that found nearly 70% of company staffs don’t know what the company strategy is (and bad communication is the top reason); as CCOs and CMOs face the shift to digital, a study from Pew Research Center finds that a lot of people in our audiences aren’t ready, especially to learn via digital channels; and much more.

• A growing number of companies are applying sentiment analysis to internal communication. Is that good or is it to Big Brother-like for employees?

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The post FIR #56: Strategy? What strategy? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Three PR agency thought leaders were on the panel: Gerry Corbett, Phil Gomes, and Joe Thornley. The discussion looked at how Ford and the United Auto Workers handled inaccurate charges levelled at Ford during the presidential debate (and whether real-time marketing is winding down as a useful tactic), whether PR’s future is in integrated marketing (and what happens to traditional media-focused PR), the challenges facing communicators at Wells Fargo, the revelation of an ethically-questionable media tactic by the FDA and other government and scientific organizations, how Internet Society employees were blindsided by trolls, and more.
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The post FIR #55: Beating Back the Trolls appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Employee engagement was a constant theme in this week’s conversation with iCology founder Chuck Gose, internal communication measurement thought leader Angela Sinickas, and BBVA’s global head of employee communication, Peter Vogt. (Don’t worry; if you’re not involved with employee communication, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into in this episode for you, too.) Our topics included a look at the dark side of employee engagement, internal communications’ slow uptake of mobile technology, whether companies need to consider their talent brand, why company mission statements aren’t resonating with employees, and much more.
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