Tracey Mendrek, Executive Vice President Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an Executives' Club breakfast featuring well-known Chicago architect Jeanne Gang. While many in the audience expected a speech about architecture and the mechanics of building, Ms. Gang surprised us with a more global view. It was about building, but not in the traditional
Julia Schatz, Senior Account Executive I think one of the biggest PR blunders was made at the very end of 2013 by the now infamous Justine Sacco, a PR executive for the company that owns Match.com, the Daily Beast and more. Late December, before getting on an international flight, she tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope
Tracey Mendrek, Executive Vice President My PR wish list is all about time and the lack of it. I wish for a tool that can take every email news alert that comes into my inbox and dump it into a document that has been prioritized based on my interest. The tool would know from day-to-day
Ashleigh Johnston, Account Executive In crisis communication, we focus on when brands mess up, when an employee goes rogue or just generally when things go wrong. Airlines are a repeat offender, as fares continue to rise and service decreases. However, one airline crafted a PR stunt that you can’t help but smile about. Passengers were
Julia Schatz, Senior Account Executive Lululemon has faced their fair share of PR obstacles this year (think see-through yoga pants) so one might expect me to write about their crisis management. However, in the spirit on the holidays, I chose to focus on a recent campaign Lululemon’s PR team has done very well. Despite my
Dennis Culloton, President and CEO How would you motivate the dishwasher? It makes no sense out of context, but this is an important question to ask a candidate for any leadership position. Bill Keena, a client of ours, was once tasked with interviewing several MBA students for a management job at a hotel. In addition
Tracey Mendrek, Executive Vice President There have been a series of stories recently in the news about the lack of women in leadership positions in the U.S. No doubt women still face stiff challenges getting into the C-suites and boardrooms, but the times they are a changin’. There are at least three notable announcements this
Tracey Mendrek, Executive Vice President This past Saturday the sports world stood still for one single second as the Auburn Tigers ran back a missed field goal 109 yards to score the game winning touchdown over the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tom Rinaldi memorialized it in the outstanding YouTube video One Second Lasts Forever that has
Angela Benander, Vice President of Advocacy and Corporate Responsibility Here’s a conversation I’ve had more than once lately: New Acquaintance: “So, what do you do?” AB: “I work at a boutique public relations firm. I specialize in crisis management and communications. I started my career in Washington.” NA: “Oh, like Olivia Pope??” AB: “Who?” NA:
Nicole Roman, Operations Manager We have quite the crew at my mom's house. Our dinner table resembles the United Nations-my family is a mix of Italian, Polish, Irish and German. My parents adopted two of my brothers from South Korea and my stepsister is Mexican. Between siblings, spouses, partners and their kids, we have at least