Stories by Seth Arenstein

Whose Court? A California court is deciding whether or not to honor a clause that prohibits Wells Fargo customers from suing the bank over the phony accounts scandal. Should the clause hold in court, wronged customers will forced to submit to arbitration, an option seen as more favorable to Wells Fargo.

With the multitude of social media and online channels, it’s easier than ever to push out information. Everyone with a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account is a publisher. On the other hand, the proliferation of channels makes it fiercely competitive to get noticed. Yet if it’s important that your organization or brand showcase its expertise and be seen as a principal in its field, thought leadership is one way to go. Below are some ways the Orange County Corrections Department (OCCD) is weaving thought leadership into its PR plans.

Creative Solution: A tip of the cap for creativity to MyTravelResearch.com (MTR), a firm in Australia that’s taken on the task of publicizing what many in the developed world take for granted: toilets. Nov. 19 was U.N. International Toilet Day, an effort to publicize the need for more toilets, in the developing world especially, and encourage people to use them. The U.N. says 1 in 10 people still defecate without a toilet daily. This, the U.N. says, results in disease, environmental health challenges, increased mortality and lack of productivity at work. It’s also a security issue as sometimes wild animals mistake squatting humans, especially children, for food. The U.N. wants to create adequate toilet provisions globally by 2030. To raise awareness MTR created the Toilet Tourism Awards, whose proceeds will be donated to the U.N.’s effort in the winner’s name.

With digital’s breakneck speed influencing crises, you’d think new tools and technology that can help in crisis management would be priorities for communicators. Not so fast. A judicious mix of traditional and digital is the preferred method of Eric Wohlschlegel, director, media relations, American Petroleum Institute (API), who will be speaking at PR News’ Media Relations Conference, Dec. 8, in Washington, D.C.

Well before Tuesday brands knew that this was an unusual election. Its surprising conclusion in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirmed that thought many times over. Obviously there are so many emotions to deal with and questions to answer; however, this brief essay will confine itself to the election’s implications for brands.

There are so many ways to send messages, yet email shows few signs of declining. In fact, it’s growing, according to the latest statistics from the Radicati Group, which predicts 3 billion people will be using email by the end of 2019. That’s about one-third of the world’s population.

The Chicago Cubs taught the world last week that nothing lasts forever, especially when you define forever as 108 years. And Sir Isaac Newton, well before Blood Sweat & Tears’ Spinning Wheel, said, not sang, “What goes up, must come down.”

Those two bits of knowledge explain this week’s Data Dive, where, for the first time in quite awhile, consumer engagement with U.S. B2C brands’ posts are down, according to Shareablee data provided exclusively to PR News Pro.

There are so many lessons for brands and brand communicators to learn from the awful mishap in Australia late last month. It vies with Wells Fargo for one of the poorest performances during a crisis, ensuring its enshrinement in PR textbooks and classrooms for years to come.

The second part of a two-part series about building an employee intranet. This part of the article deals with the actual build and design of the system and why it’s important to keep a beta user team and your C-suite advocates briefed.

What will the new year mean for PR pros and what skills should they bring with them. We ask 5 communicators what successful PR people will need.