Talking points are a core set of messages an executive or politician utilizes in communicating with stakeholders. It's a term of art for having an outline of your remarks.
— Richard Edelman
We do everything from community management to specific marketing promotions.
In many cases, companies use the crisis moments to pivot to do better. We like to be part of that.
The marketing business has been just about promoting things, but we don't believe that anymore. There has to be a societal component, too.
Corporate blogging strategy requires some specialist insight in order to understand tone, the definition of micro-niche leaders, and subjects to cover.
I think that the direct conversation is exactly what companies need to earn trust of customers. Admit an error. Fix a problem. Commit to doing better. That is only human.
The world has flipped upside-down. It used to be a pyramid of authority; now it's upside down. The influence actually rests with the mid-level people, who speak peer-to-peer. If they're for you, you win.
Social lets consumers talk about the products. You may pay your way onto the Facebook feed, but after that, it's conversations by the users. That's not sufficient because it leaves out what is possible for employees to talk, for R&D to talk, or the CEO to talk.
The number one way to get trust back is to pay your employees well and get them to speak well about the company.
The trust of the mass population can no longer be taken for granted.
My father and I talked every day. He coached me on how to cold-call companies I wanted in our portfolio, how to network at public events, to cultivate senior journalists at important outlets, and how to run a profitable P&L. But, more or less, he allowed me to make my own mistakes.
When I joined the family business, our clients were mostly on the marketing side, from Morris the Nine Lives Cat to KFC's Colonel Sanders.
It may be fine for an artist to be indifferent to the reaction of the viewer to a work of art. A vigorous debate on issues is also beneficial. But the dark vision of a world without truth cannot be our future.
We believe in a best-in-class vertical strategy, with PR at the center as its operating ethos of earned at the core, social by design.
The best tech companies are led by founders with entrepreneurial zeal and strong egos. They consistently deliver what we want and what we need, at prices that decrease over time. The Wall Street firm is a long-standing institution with a more established hierarchy.
Technology has allowed the creation of media echo chambers, so that a person can reinforce, rather than debate, viewpoints.
We have moved beyond the point of trust being simply a key factor in product purchase or selection of employment opportunity; it is now the deciding factor in whether a society can function.
To be silent is to be complicit.
We have got to be more comfortable experimenting with different models. So maybe a client just needs execution people or a lot of young people who are great with social media. We don't always have to give them the pyramidal structure of senior VP and account supervisor.
I love what I do. I really do. I don't find myself administering. I just like to work on clients.
Advertising has always been the 'head boy' of the communications industry, but not anymore. Now the rest - creative, digital, and media - is just as important.
Be smart about selecting your micro niches for communicating in the blogosphere.
When we were doing the launch of Kinect for Xbox, it was very much about getting sort of young blogger-influencer types to try this thing well in advance - a year before launch.
I love playing tennis. I am an exercise freak.
It's urgent that companies tell their own stories on digital platforms.
Have very frequent talks with employees because they are your best allies.
There's a lingering notion that elites continue to lead, and the masses will follow. This historic model of influence was predicated on the belief that elites have access to superior information and their interests are interconnected with those of the broader public.
In 1997, my father appointed me CEO but acted as player-coach, keeping busy on long-term clients such as KFC and international travel brands.
We need the media as the foundation of functioning institutions.
Money is flowing out of traditional advertising into experiential, social, and sports.
The tech industry should make bold commitments to address pressing societal issues.
People go to work at Wall Street firms to make a lot of money. They may not love what they are doing, but the punishing hours and travel are incredibly well-compensated. By contrast, the engineers at technology firms do believe that they can change how we all live.
The lack of societal and institutional safeguards provides fertile ground for populist movements fueled by fear.
Great women, in partnership with great men, will continue to take us forward.
We're promoting the concept of public engagement. It's as much about what clients do as how they say it. It's about being in people's lives, taking on relevant, of-the-moment issues.
I had a job lined up as an assistant brand manager at Playtex, at age 23, all lined up. But my father had an offer to be acquired by DDB in 1978. He said, 'I'd really like you to come into the business for a year.'
I think PR people are caught in this mindset of 'control of the message.' There's a lot more freedom if you give up control. If you allow people to say things that are genuine and admit mistakes and get on.
The Dabo people are consumer marketing geniuses. This is exactly why we acquired them.
PR is premised on truth, trust, and transparency.
Social media has had a corrosive effect on government and trust, and I think it is a real cause for concern.
We like being private because when there is a downturn, as in 2001 and 2008, we do not reduce people. Also, we have flat decision-making. It's quick. We don't have to meet quarterly numbers, and it's all about excellence of work for the client.
The media has to go local and go social.
There is a fear of innovation because people are afraid of job loss.
I want Edelman to remain a family business.
Edelman diversified into public affairs in the late '60s with important programs for the Concorde SST, gaining landing rights at JFK Airport in New York, and in the late '70s generating public approval for the building of the very stark Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C., from a design by the very young architect Maya Lin.
We win with facts that are well expressed and frequently communicated; we lose with silence and indifference to the broader social context.
We aim to be the primary creative partner, digital channel implementer, and relationship builder with influencers.
The tech company needs to win in the war for talent. This means much greater focus on the employee, not simply as cog in the machine, but vital member of a programming team in a race against time and competitors. Wall Street is up-or-out, dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest.
In a world of dispersed authority, the battle for the truth will be won or lost with the employees.
As trust in institutions erodes, the basic assumptions of fairness, shared values, and equal opportunity traditionally upheld by 'the system' are no longer taken for granted.
