The latest edition comes from a Little Caesars restaurant in Roswell, NM. A video is trending of workers playing indoor baseball with pizza dough. Unless the employees were aliens from the alleged Roswell UFO crash of 1947, the incident may pass quickly since the general public has become more desensitized to these videos. Read more
CommCore Blog and News
The Trade Show Challenge
Most of us use December to reflect on the year as a time for holidays. However, for many it also means lots of preparation time to get ready for major trade shows and conferences which begin after the New Year. Read more
Communicating About Safety in Unsafe Times
Be honest: When was the last time you read the safety card in the airplane seat pocket, reviewed the office evacuation wall chart, or even looked at where the exit signs are in a bar or theater? Read more
Corporate Activism: CEOs Are Stepping Out
For decades, conventional wisdom for corporate CEOs was to steer clear of controversial issues and politics. Why risk alienating your customer base and shareholders?
No longer. Driven by activist investors, advocacy social media campaigns, a more diverse workforce, and a polarized national political and social atmosphere, CEO activism is on the rise. Read more
Of False Facts and Smears: PR Tips for Effective Response
“Truth is no longer dictated by [news] authorities, but is networked by peers. For every fact there is a counter-fact and all these counter-facts and facts look identical online, which is confusing to most people.” Read more
Jack Goes Outside the Box
Jack in the Box’s Teriyaki Bowl Ad Campaign features a simple innuendo between “bowl” and private male body parts that critics say has overtones of sexual harassment. Others say it was very clever:
- Adweek accused the fast-food chain of “launching one of the most tone-deaf ads of the #MeToo Era.”
It’s Never Okay…There are “no take backs” in a Crisis
It’s clear that John Schnatter, Papa John’s former chairman wishes he didn’t say that word…but he did. Now that a few days have passed since the incident became public, we can gain a few valuable crisis lessons. Read more
What’s Good for the Goose Isn’t Necessarily Good for the Gander
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg got generally high marks from PR pros for his appearance before the U.S. Congress in April. Not so much for his just completed testimony before lawmakers of the European Union.
Starbucks Doesn’t Pass the Buck
Starbucks’ crisis communications plan, to shutter all 8,000 U.S. stores the afternoon of May 29 for bias training for some 175,000 employees goes “far beyond the playbook,” CommCore CEO Andrew Gilman told the New York Times. Read more
The ABCs of the Three Fs Rule
Not even three months into 2018, and from a crisis communications standpoint it already feels like a full year: Parkland. #MeToo. North Korea. Steel and aluminum tariffs. “Sh#thole countries.”
Are there any lessons leaders can glean from these controversies? Read more