This spring I celebrate the 20th anniversary of By the Sea Communications, LLC. Does that make me proud? Absolutely. [ Read More ]
Brand Development
Maximize the ROI of Media Coverage
As you think about the allocation of your marketing budget, consider the immense ROI (return-on-investment) of a piece earned media coverage. I have been helping companies, including major global corporations, businesses headquartered abroad and countless U.S.-based companies of all sizes, earn great media coverage for more than 30 years. The ROI is tough to beat. [ Read More ]
SpaceX Wants Us to Become an Interplanetary Species
Over the weekend, I watched all five episodes of “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” on Netflix. If you haven’t heard by now, it is a series on the recent SpaceX “Inspiration4” spaceflight which carried four non-astronaut civilians and no one else. I enjoyed the series mainly for the insights it gave me, however varnished, of SpaceX. It was also great to see 27-year-old women in high roles within the company including leading training of the civilians, mission communications with the capsule and quality control immediately prior to the flight. [ Read More ]
What Mahomes Said to Brady
Tough loss for Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl yesterday. It must have felt wretched especially since most people were expecting him and his team to win. As a spectator, from the safety of my home, I felt sympathy for him and also knew he has plenty of time to accomplish many more great things in his beloved football career. [ Read More ]
Reputation and Its Fragility
I recently listened to part of The New York Times Dealbook Summit, a live virtual event, hosted by the popular Andrew Ross Sorkin. One particular session titled “The Race for a Vaccine” included Bill Gates, Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, and Professor Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project. It was a great session, and something Bourla stated about company brands is worth repeating. [ Read More ]
PR Expert’s Take on the Democratic Debate
There is nothing like a presidential race to demonstrate the importance of a personal brand and the nuance of communications. As a PR expert in Seattle, it was easy to pick up on things in the Democratic debate last night that would help and/or hurt a candidate. [ Read More ]
Hello Amsterdam
I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Amsterdam. What a lovely city! I mainly went there for work – to check out the design influences, understand their impressive city rebranding campaign, talk to a robotics company and a variety of other business-related pursuits. I saw Banksy and Icy & Sot at Moco, their modern art museum, and Fukase at Foam, their main photography museum. And I saw the big “I Amsterdam” sign (more on that later) in front of the famous Rijksmuseum. [ Read More ]
My Take on the Lip-Syncing Police Videos
The U.S. police videos with the men and women in uniform lip-syncing and dancing to famous songs, including this gem from the Seattle Police Department, are an awesome idea. Not only do they help the internal morale of these police stations, they help humanize the police in their communities. Suddenly, police forces across the nation are going from “one of them” to “one of us.” [ Read More ]
Engage Humanity
Engage humanity. That is the tagline I came up with and I still love it. It was for an Australian company called Whispir that is in the communications space. I was working with them on a massive brand development project last year and worked directly with Jeromy Wells, the creative, smart and kind CEO of the company. [ Read More ]