The Day AI Gave My Client Stupid PR Advice
10.15.2025 – One day (it could have been a month ago, it could have been years ago — I’m not telling) the COO of one of my clients asked AI a question: “Should we be putting legal symbols like ® and ™ and © symbols in our press releases?” The COO wanted to protect the company’s trademarks. The CEO echoed the concern. And to be fair, they had a point — trademark law is serious business.
Magazine Cover Story of Your CEO? Think Again…
10.08.2025 – Landing a magazine cover story for your CEO sounds awesome, right?
Well, how about on TWO magazines?
And how about feature stories in three other publications? And then you’re told all these articles would appear within seven days and you’d have about 100,000 views. Whew. Why wouldn’t you jump at this opportunity? Because like the saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true…”
There’s NO WAY in the World Kohl’s Will Publish this Product Review
10.01.2025 – After two posts telling the story about the 102 pairs of socks I didn’t order, you probably thought I was done. Well, I thought I was done too. It’s not a fun experience to have your credit card number stolen and then have someone spend over $400 to place an online order on Kohl’s website for 102 pairs of “Men’s Nike 6-pack Everyday Plus Cushion Crew Training Socks” — and then have them shipped to a local Holiday Inn.
A Kohl-Hearted Online Order – Part 2
09.24.2025 – In Part 1 of this saga, I shared how someone stole my credit card number and ordered $412 worth of Nike socks shipped to a local Holiday Inn. If you haven’t read that portion of the story, you should read it now. In Part 2, I share how I sprang into action after learning this package had been delivered to the Holiday Inn, the unbelievable decision made by the hotel employee I visited, and how a $15.9 billion company thanked me for rescuing some $400 worth of their inventory. Enjoy…
A Kohl-Hearted Online Order – Part 1
09.17.2025 – Interesting PR lessons can be learned when someone steals your credit card number. Besides myself, the primary stakeholders in this event are the credit card company, two vendors, two hotel chains, a local police department, and those who tried to scam me. Here’s the timeline of this story and the role each of these stakeholders played…
A Candid Conversation with a Journalist (Part 4) – PR Pros, Spin, and the Truth
09.10.2025 – One of the most poignant questions I asked Kingsport Times-News Editor Carol Broyles during my July interview with her was her honest opinion of PR pros. The sad reality of the PR industry and the PR pros that work in it is that it has a tarnished image in the eyes of some. That’s because back in the day, publicists would do ANYTHING (lie, twist the truth, etc.) to get the company they were representing in the news. These PR practitioners were given the name “flacks” — a very offensive term for PR pros. Imagine that: PR has bad PR. Yikes. (Who do you hire to fix THAT??) But every industry has bad apples. That’s just how it goes.