Fleishman-Hillard veteran Joe Finnigan has published his memoir, “Feisty: Chronicles & Confession of an Old PR Warhorse,” offering insight into nearly 30 years at the agency, including 10+ as the lead spokesman and communications counsel for Anheuser-Busch.
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Finnigan details the transformation of Fleishman-Hillard from a newbie agency into a global force in the public relations industry.
He also dishes on the players involved, including celebrities and captains of industry as well as “hapless buffoons” he encountered along the way working with clients such as McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), Honda Motors, Texas Air, Liggett Group, Brown & Williamson, Hasbro, Enterprise Holdings, Earthgrains/Sara Lee, and Valvoline Oil.
Finnigan uses part of the book to open up about the search for his WWII soldier-father he never knew, which took him to Normandy and the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach.
“Finally, for thirty-five years in the PR business, nearly thirty of them with Fleishman-Hillard, possibly the best full-service agency in the world, during good times and others, with triumphs and setbacks, it was an honor, a point of pride, and more often than not, a pure, unadulterated blast!” Finnigan writes in the introduction.
The book is available for $12.99 on Amazon.com.
Time correspondent Simon Shuster’s “The Showman” demonstrates how Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s masterful knowledge of PR tactics and the power of propaganda transformed him from comedian into a respected world leader.
Iuliia Mendel, who served as press secretary for Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky from 2019 to 2021, will release a book called “The Fight Of Our Lives” in September, published by Simon & Schuster’s One Signal Publishers.
Robert Dilenschneider, former CEO of Hill and Knowlton, is releasing the fifth edition of The Public Relations Handbook on Feb. 15. 
Big Advertising may be down for the count, but the power of marketing lives on. That’s the big takeaway from Paul Dyer’s “Friction Fatigue,” a look at what advertising’s downward spiral means for “future-focused brands."
Sabrina Horn, the high-tech PR guru who sold her Horn Group to Finn Partners in 2015, has published “Make It, Don’t Fake It.”
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