Mexico is firing off a $92M push to counter the swine flu and violencecalled “Vive Mexico.” President Felipe Calderon said, “Vive Mexico is a call to action and unity for all.” But a gunfight in the tourist haven of Acapulco is a definite setback to the country, which is also battling drug-related gang violence in addition to the H1N1 outbreak.The press release is alive and kicking, but they could be a lot easier to digest, says Bite PR’s James Walker.
Entrepreneur’s June issue touched base with five business owners and asked them how they knew it was time to hire a PR firm. Said Jamie Pennington, founder a website of vetted executives for projects: ““We wanted to build a national brand quickly and couldn’t afford advertising.”
A PR push to free five Cubans accused of spying picked up 10 Nobel laureates as supporters this week. The men were arrested in 1998 and accused of infiltrating Miami-based exile groups to spy for Castro.
Today on odwyerpr.com (sub req'd):
SEC: PR Firm Was Guise for Fraud
Riptide Handles PR as Activists Trump Shell
Polling Round-Up: Capstrat, Witeck-Combs, IABC
Two Firms Work Stanford Ponzi Case
Hearst Slashes Connecticut Staff
Johnson Staples Opens for Biz
Pedersen: White House Spin Losing Appeal
Quotes of the day:
“I have a great deal more respect for public relation officials, than I did two or three months ago. It's not a position that I want to be in. I'd like to get back to the business of writing down notes, and running the tape recorder myself instead of answering these questions.”
— Boston Globe reporter Scott Allen, amid the paper’s staff fight with owner New York Times Co. over cuts
“How about just changing PR to SR - social relations. I think it's the "media" part that's throwing everyone off re: PR and social media.”
— Christine Perkett, president, Perkett PR, via Twitter (@missusP)