Stories by Brian W. Kelly

Dumb Starbucks was among the top trending stories of the last 24 hours, for sure. And while it has come and gone already, as Los Angeles County health inspectors shut the store down on Monday for operating without a valid permit, it deserves recognition from the communications perspective for several reasons.

Foot, meet mouth. Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL, has done it again. He’s apologized for comments that showed a remarkable lack of empathy for AOL employees. He’s also done PR pros a favor when it comes to convincing C-level executives on why it’s important that they show some compassion for their employees.

CVS Caremark, the country’s largest drugstore chain, is stamping out cigarette and tobacco sales. The move rebrands CVS as a healthcare company, positioning the chain store well beyond its retail business and drawing a sharp distinction with its competitors.

One of the more intriguing facets of the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer concerns the credibility of spokespeople for companies and organizations. The trend lines bear watching for PR executives and communicators looking to both personalize the face of their brand and improve employee relations The 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer online survey sampled 27,000 general population […]

Esurance’s ad buy was a shrewd play, combining paid and social media which has led to earned media—but not necessarily the kind the insurer wanted.

How would your PR message look on someone’s sleeve? What about a wristwatch or a bracelet? Communicating your brand message via wearable technology may be one step closer to the mainstream, following Google’s deal with VSP, the nation’s biggest optical health insurance provider.

Have you cracked the code yet on how to grow your audience on Facebook? We didn’t think so. But that’s understandable. It remains a significant challenge for PR pros and communicators to generate new fans via the social platform.

The ability to monetize your social media channels is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing communicators and PR professionals. Sometimes it may feel akin to rolling a peanut up a hill. But correlating your social platforms to the top and bottom lines is not beyond the realm of possibility. It just takes a different mindset.

The New York Times’ list of its most visited content of 2013 holds a couple key lessons for communicators.

Super Bowl XLVIII is now set, with the Denver Broncos pitted against the Seattle Seahawks. But brand managers and PR pros have been scrambling for weeks if not months to come up with the most effective way(s) to align their message with the big game. Indeed, throughout the next 10 days or so, expect to […]