By Phil Rabin, Capitol Communicator editor

We raised the question in our weekly e-newsletter of whether the Washington Redskins should be referred to as “is” or “are” – Read More »

By Dan Rosenthal

There's a peculiar RFP going around right now, for a major local advertiser.  Sadly, I've seen this request before. In what I suppose is an attempt by the marketer to "see how the agency thinks," the RFP supplies no boundaries.  None.

Jones Public Affairs sent out an interesting item about phony press releases sharing fake news about real people and organizations. These releases have traveled over respected newswires and rippled through social media networks like Twitter, stated Jones Public Affairs. To some, it might appear to be a mere annoyance but, in reality, it could have devastating effects on the name and brand you've worked so hard to build.  

By Pum Lefebure, creative director of DESIGN ARMY.  Wedding etiquette dictates many do's and don'ts for the happy couple. But no prenuptial protocol is more important than

By Greg Kihlström, chief creative officer and founder,  Carousel30 Interactive.  About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response.

By Tracy Schario, APR

The profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Rolling Stone magazine is instructive for anyone trying to manage his or her media image. The lesson chief among the takeaways is that denigrating

To help writers, editors, and content creators write effectively for the Web, Yahoo! is publishing "The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World," which, says Yahoo!, is the first guide of its kind to focus on the specific issues associated with developing content for the online medium.

Two-out-of-three Americans consider a general lack of civility to be a major problem for the nation and 72 percent think that poor behavior has gotten worse in recent years, according to a new poll released today by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research. 

By Demetrius Goosbey II.  Recently, I spent a few hours in a dark room under interrogation spotlights reviewing student portfolios.  Most needed a great deal of work

In the past two Newsweek issues, Daniel Lyons, who writes about technology, has focused on Facebook and privacy issues.  In the first of these pieces, he opens with “the latest trend among hipster techies: quitting Facebook. 

By Cheryl Dickison

How many times have you received an e-mail solicitation for an event that reads “only a few seats remain” and you think to yourself, “yeah right, I’m not falling for that trick?” That is exactly what happened to me

By Mike Carberry 

Call me old-fashioned, but I think some big agencies and advertisers might be taking their eyes off the ball when promoting their

By Amanda Gardner, and reprinted from HealthDay News:

Alcohol companies are increasingly using the latest new media technologies -- including cell phones, social networking sites, YouTube and other features of the expanding digital universe -- to reach young drinkers, a new report contends.

By Tracy Schario, APR

Anniversary stories often are not exciting. In fact, I’ve had reporters emphatically tell me, “I don’t write about anniversaries.”

The proverbial “Year of Mobile” came and went, reports Millennial Media. There was no cataclysmic tipping point that shocked industry-watchers into acknowledging mobile as a highly effective and efficient advertising medium. While some were taking a wait-and-see approach, according to Millennial Media, innovative advertisers were in market with creative, relevant and impactful mobile campaigns. They were building mobile sites and branded apps, and they were implementing longer-term mobile strategies.

By Barbara I. Berschler, Esquire

A recently decided case by the 11^th Circuit offers professional photographers a primer on what to do and what not to do in order to protect their copyright interests in their photographs.  While the case involved some well-known players—Kawasaki Motors and Roaring Toyz—and the unveiling of the ZX-14 sports motorcycle at the Daytona Bike Week

By Tracy Schario Johnson, APR

My soon to be sister-in-law is a freelance writer. [www.MichelleTaute.com] Michelle recently sent me a few of the news releases that she receives on a

“Using their own names without mentioning that they work in public relations or as lobbyists, employees of companies with interests in Washington are chattering online to shape opinions in hard-to-detect ways," reported The Washington Post on Saturday.

By Tracy Schario, APR

Forty years ago, Earth Day was created to organize environmental teach-ins, to channel frustrations with nuclear proliferation and burning rivers and to brand a national movement. Earth Day is now a global network powered by a new generation of environmental activists.

CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian has reported that nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive - like the one on your personal computer - that has stored an image of every document you copied, scanned, or emailed from that machine. 

While a majority of marketing professionals and company decision makers view social media as essential to their business, most have not made any money using it according to a recent survey by R2integrated (R2i), a leading Internet marketing and technology company. Further data analysis suggests that companies using social media profitably are more likely to possess defined social media strategies, dedicated social media managers, and follow social media thought-leaders.

Interesting piece in the Orange County Register about the marketing costs for the 2010 census. The bottom line, as you will see, is that the Census Bureau used "swag" or promotional items to motivate people to send in their census form, rather than the more expensive approach of having a census taker come to their door. Much of the Register's piece, which appeared online on April 14, follows:  

By Debbie Friez

The fastest growing social media platform, Twitter, announced on their blog this week they are adding advertising. As co-founder Biz Stone says, “It’s non- Read More »

The Pew Project For Excellence In Journalism has issued its 2010 report on the state of the news media – its annual report on American journalism.

By Matt Goddard

I plan to buy an iPad. How I will use it remains to be seen. It may be my new photo album, or gaming console, or personal music device, or my book reader, or all of the above. It will certainly move all around my house from my basement to my living room, from my bedroom to my patio. I wonder, however, if I will bring it with me when I travel and already have my laptop in tow. 

By Debbie Friez: “What should we be doing on social media ... Which social media platform works best?

Heather Knight, associate creative director, Brunner Digital, attended South by Southwest  Interactive in Austin and  that triggered these observations:

I used to be quite proud of my ability to compartmentalize the public and private parts of my life. I attributed it to my nature as a Gemini. But as the whole gets split more and more (what I share with friends vs. family vs. co-workers vs. clients), even I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

By Karen Riordan

I was pleasantly surprised to see that we sold 60 more tickets than we did the past year for ADDYs. A sold out crowd! The Ad Club also achieved its sponsorship goal for the event (which was unexpected) and although the total number of entries was down, the same number of entrants stepped up and entered back in January.

By Annette Minkalis

Do you need a celebrity to have a successful public service campaign?

The short answer is you don’t need one.

By Alan J. Waldinger, Jr.,

As an editor at Business Wire, I’m used to scouring press releases for any and all mistakes – misspellings, grammatical issues, punctuation errors, etc.  And while our clients do an excellent job of composing releases, there are a few key items that are occasionally omitted from them.  The following aren’t errors in a traditional sense, but correcting them can add to the visibility and utility of your press release.