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Controversy over an Auckland cafe’s sign behind a counter shows that in terms of reputation risks, the new normal is looking like the old...
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May 11, 20201 min read
Clumsy use of words destroys clarity
The confusion this week over the meaning of ‘elimination’ shows how critical words are to persuasion. Under pressure and stress, what...
Apr 14, 20202 min read
How are we doing at communicating the lockdown: NZ Communicator of the Year
Not surprisingly, the speed of the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in communication missteps. Even the Prime Minister has had some...
Jun 4, 20191 min read
How Generation Z will change us
An online spat between two beauty vloggers over hair vitamins has shown one possible future of public discourse. It’s ugly. Millions of...
Jun 4, 20191 min read
Is authenticity unobtainable?
The ideal of an “authentic” organisation persists because audiences respond best to expression and actions that lack artifice (that is,...
Jun 4, 20191 min read
Strike first, and repeat
Widespread praise for the Government’s Wellbeing Budget shows the power of not leaving it to others to define your position or product....
Mar 4, 20192 min read
Staying cool under fire
While firefighters battled the large wildfire that broke out in Pigeon Valley, on the outskirts of Richmond in the Tasman District,...
Dec 10, 20181 min read
Santa abandoned
The haste of organisations to avoid criticism has been spotted by journalists, who now use the PR industry’s thoughtless “apologise and...
Nov 5, 20181 min read
What your job says about you
Following the Jami-Lee Ross controversy, there was a lot of attention on the study by BPR’s Mark Blackham and academic Geoffrey Miller...
Nov 5, 20181 min read
Lamb hunter
The corporate world can tie itself in unnecessary knots. Imagine a large business exporting meat that was criticised for killing them....
Sep 18, 20185 min read
Kaepernick campaign; no harm, no foul?
The reaction of pundits to Nike’s “believe in something” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick is so confused that it offers no lead for...
Sep 4, 20182 min read
New Zealand thinks Waikato is just cows and a river
A new study released by PR company BlacklandPR, shows that New Zealanders think Waikato is largely cows and a river, and it appears that...
Sep 4, 20181 min read
Don’t train to be boring
On RNZ’s Checkpoint this week, John Campbell ridiculed comments by Genesis Energy CEO Marc England on the basis that he “could hear the...
Aug 3, 20181 min read
Power gap
Within minutes of a power outage in Wellington today, punters were speculating on the reasons. Power began being restored after two...
Jul 10, 20171 min read
Sky TV caught offside with All Blacks fans
If you insist on making an unpopular decision then at least have the courage to stick by it. Sky TV broke into its coverage of the All...
May 16, 20171 min read
When sponsorship sours
Companies sponsoring stuff would have whistled with relief that they weren’t BNZ when a prominent rugby player taped over their logo on...
Oct 18, 20161 min read
When not to respond
The New Zealand Rugby Union did not need to enter the issue of a Wellington rugby player escaping conviction for street violence. The...
Sep 19, 20162 min read
Real Response: Virgin Bread
Bürgen’s campaign to attract “Bürgen virgins” to try their bread in bed sparked a little negative feedback on their Facebook page. This...
Aug 22, 20161 min read
Real Response: The Box Cutter
The writer of a “human interest” story on Stuff about safety box cutters got in touch with Foodstuffs to ask whether their staff used...
Aug 18, 20161 min read
Real Response: The Brewery
Most of the time organisations apologise in public, they either don’t need to, or they do it in a dreary, formulaic and saccharine...
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