Verizon's corporate communications chief told Morphy that the company has "taken a hard look" at its legal filings in an effort to make sure "real people" can understand them. "So, yes, we did write the brief knowing that people would be reading it and wanting to understand what our position is," he said."AT&T may not like the message that the ads send, but this Court should reject its efforts to silence the messenger," read the Verizon brief, which also said "AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts."
FDA Nowhere: Spectrum's Melissa Biller was at the FDA social media hearings late last week and concludes that the "FDA has no idea what to do about social media."
"The FDA knows there is a need for implementing guidelines for pharma, but it seems they really don't know where to begin," she wrote on the Spectrum blog today. "They are looking for strategic recommendations from stakeholders - they've never been in this space before and are honestly looking for help on how to best approach it."
Biller gives a good run-down of the final day's focus on averse event reporting.
McCain PR Bobble: Veteran Boston PR pro Lois Paul thinks Sen. John McCain's team bungled the PR response to Sarah Palin's book with their "deprive the story of oxygen" approach.
"When you have lionized someone who bills herself as a 'rogue' and you alienate said rogue, you can't shut the rogue by ignoring her," she said.
PR Cringe: OnStar's communications team likely didn't enjoy reading this ABC/Tampa column about a mother who locked her 9-month-old in the car. She was told by the OnStar service (while her infant daughter was crying inside the car) that her membership expired and that there was nothing they could do to help.
OnStar's PV of public affairs and corporate comms. said they're investigating the case. "We do not condone such a careless attitude for the safety of our subscribers," she said.
Quotes of the Day
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. American Airlines is so integrated around the movie because the main character travels so much. It's extremely unique. It's almost like a car in a road trip film; it's almost a character."
— Billy Saenz, corporate communications director, American Airlines, on the new film "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney
“You’re going out of one pocket into the other to repay the debt. It’s definitely a PR move."
— Brad Coulter, auto industry turnaround expert with O’Keefe & Associates, on GM's announcement that it will start to pay back bailout funds
(Image: PCWorld)
