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Lightfoot Press Secretary Ruiz joins Culloton + Bauer Luce
Chicago (January 5, 2021) — Culloton + Bauer Luce today announced Anel Ruiz has joined the public affairs and crisis management firm as Senior Vice President after completing her tenure as Press Secretary to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “Anel is a battle tested strategist. With her roles at the highest levels of city and county
Crisis management: Three questions to ask your team before the holidays
Growing up, I learned one tried and true axiom of crisis management by watching my mom sell real estate. Inevitably, every summer, as we would prepare to go on our family vacation, she would manage to sell a house the night before we were set to leave. A flurry of phone calls would ensue, followed
Crisis communications: Keys to your success
By Lynn Holley Most of the time, crises that pop up in organizations can be handled with well-thought-out crisis communications plans that, with some tweaking, can be adapted to a number of scenarios. Then there are the issues that come out of left field. The nightmares … For example, back in the early 2000s, no
Five questions to test your crisis readiness during the COVID-19 pandemic
By: Natalie Bauer Luce With a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in, well, pretty much everywhere, is your organization ready for the next wave and potential crises that could come with it? Have you taken the time to look at what your crisis management team did right during the initial outbreak when responding to crises?
Crisis communications: Fruitful failure and the crisis premortem
By Lynn Holley For me, inspiration often strikes at very inconvenient times, like when I’m driving. In 2014 after teaching a popular crisis communications class at the University of Illinois with my colleague Dennis Culloton, an aha moment came as I was in my car listening to the "Freakonomics Radio" podcast hosted by journalist Stephen
Crisis communications: So much has changed but the right approach has not
By Lynn Holley It doesn’t matter if you are a multibillion dollar corporation that delivers millions of goods daily to consumers’ doorsteps or a dog grooming service working out of a leased space in a strip mall, you both have something in common. You can and will face a crisis at some point. The sooner
Return to Center: Find Your Guiding Principle in Crisis
By Natalie Bauer LuceThe late night show hosts are delivering their monologues from home. Restaurants and bars around the country are all but deserted, and our great American cities look like they have been cast as the setting for the latest zombie apocalypse blockbuster.Meanwhile, I’ve used the term “pandemic” in casual conversation more times in
Baseball, We Need You Now
By Dennis Culloton Let’s take a break from our home confinement and the very serious business of flattening the COVID-19 curve to warmer thoughts about where we would normally be today--at the ballpark for baseball’s opening day. My Cubs would have been facing their rivals the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee and teams all over the
From the Virus, Leaders Will Be Forged
By Dennis Culloton, CEO, President, Culloton + Bauer Luce The entire globe and its leaders are undergoing a massive test of crisis management and crisis communications as we grapple with the global COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic. We’ve seen the worst of humanity over the last several weeks, from stifling public discussion of the outbreak in
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: PR Lessons for 2020
The start of the year brought another reminder of the importance of public relations for transportation companies as NPR reported that Amtrak Asked 2 People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride. This fiasco comes on the heels of Boeing’s ongoing effort to repair their image after the grounding of their 737 Max
Reaching Millennials, Gen Z at the Speed of Business
THOUGHTS FROM THE SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL THOUGHT LEADERS By Dennis Culloton When you work at the 2019 speed of business, how do you stay creative and competitive? How do we reach Millenials and Generation Z? How do we get our message out for our clients when legacy news media brands are in the financial red
Culloton Strategies Rebrands as Culloton + Bauer Luce
Culloton Strategies announced today that the public affairs and crisis management firm has rebranded as Culloton + Bauer Luce, adding principal Natalie Bauer Luce as an equity owner. “I am excited to kick off this chapter for our team and to call Natalie my partner. She is simply one of the most skilled communications strategists
Bittersweet Time for Journalism Awards
Dennis Culloton, President and CEO This is the 30th year of the Chicago Bar Association’s Herman Kogan Media Awards. I’ve been involved since the first year of the program in my newsradio days and now as the chairman of the CBA’s committee. This year’s awards and the current environment highlight the paradox of the news
Innovation and Wild Turkey: Remembering Herb Kelleher
By Dennis CullotonHerb Kelleher once drank a plastic cocktail glass of soda after he extinguished his cigarette in it on a dare—well, actually a warning—from me. So I hope he will appreciate that I grinned when I read of his passing at age 87 yesterday. At a time when it is trendy in business to be considered
MGM’s Unconscionable Choice
Dennis Culloton, President and CEOMGM Resorts International announced last week they had sued 1000’s of plaintiffs who had sued the company after last fall’s bloody Mandalay Bay Las Vegas shooting. On October 1, Stephen Paddock fired his semiautomatic rifles out his 32nd floor Mandalay Bay Hotel room onto country music goers below killing 58 people
The Real News on Social Media Giants
By Dennis Culloton, CEO and president The investigation into alleged collusion by President Trump’s campaign with the Russians –and his protests of “fake news”--has overshadowed what may be the longer lasting impact of Russian meddling in U.S. elections-- the real news that the biggest media companies in the world were grilled on Capitol Hill.Social media giants
WHILE I WAS ROOTING–What we learned this month in crisis communications
By Dennis Culloton CEO, President It’s no secret this space is reserved for Cubs fans and we’ve often used Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s wit and witticisms to illustrate larger crisis communications leadership truths.As we lick our wounds from being eliminated from the National League Championship playoffs by the Los Angeles Dodgers (3 home runs including a
Every Crisis Pales In Comparison to Las Vegas
By Dennis Culloton In a week like the one America has just experienced, it seems trite to discuss crisis communications like we do here in this space--everything pales by comparison to the tragedy in Las Vegas. We like to preach that in times of crisis, communicating to your customers and the public is a priority. That priority
Weatherman Shows How to be Ready for the Eye of the P.R. Storm
By Dennis Culloton, CEO, presidentIt’s just getting started but it has already been a brutal hurricane season. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey walloping South Texas, many unexpected heroes emerged but one Harris County meteorologist stepped into the spotlight with a great lesson for all business, civic and political leaders who find themselves in the
Leaving the Press and your Spokesman in the Dark is No Strategy
By Dennis Culloton, CEO and President, Culloton Strategies and University of Illinois Visiting LecturerAs I recently wrapped up another mini-semester teaching Crisis Communications at the University of Illinois, it struck me that this year more than ever, students had the unprecedented experience of learning by watching a startling array of major crises befalling brands and
So, Who Wants to Fly United?
Steve Hamilton and Andrew TouhyIn what was the airline video shown around the world that generated a grave PR disaster for United Airlines, their response to the crisis only made it worse. Even as this story continues to unfold, PR and crisis management professionals can refer to this case as a blueprint of what not
McDonalds Goes Rogue
Steve Hamilton – Digital Media DirectorAndrew Touhy – Senior Account Executive Within seconds of this being posted to the McDonald’s corporate Twitter account, it was retweeted over 1,000 times and spread across the internet. Knowing that the tweet would be short lived, many Twitter users made sure to archive it.McDonald’s has since released a statement reading
Dangerous Divisiveness
Andrew Touhy, Account ExecutiveCrisis is often self-inflicted. There are countless examples of companies bringing a media storm upon themselves, and a recent casting call issued by Cadillac was no different.Per an image posted by Reuters news service, the luxury car company issued a casting call notice that said their filming agency was looking for “any and
Social Media and Picking Fights in 2016
Katherine Krall, CS InternMark Twain once advised to “never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.” His recommendation to avoid becoming engrossed in heated conflicts with journalists is based on the limited reach and influence that the general public had in the 19th century. During Twain’s lifetime, reporters purchased barrels of ink
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