Hedge funds used to be allergic to PR. Three of the largest in the world rebuilt the playbook — Citadel via Ken Griffin's $2B philanthropy, Pershing Square via Bill Ackman on X, Point72 via the Mets and the Cohen Academy. The actual mechanics.
Sometimes, no matter what, people don't learn.
In 2013 Mastercard ran #InternsWanted \u2014 a six-country social-media recruiting competition challenging students to pitch a product, system, or app for a cashless future. Aliens. Cash-free vignettes. Weber Shandwick, Ketchum, APCO Worldwide. The early playbook for social-first employer-brand work in financial services.
Amex, Visa, Mastercard and the new battle for the default card inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Social media policies in 2026: HIPAA, FINRA Rule 2210, SEC Marketing Rule, MiCA, and the FTC Endorsement Guides. What healthcare, financial services, and crypto must lock down.
UBS's 44-page dress code went viral in 2010. In March 2023 UBS acquired Credit Suisse for $3.25B. The 15-year arc to becoming the world's largest wealth manager with $5.7T AUM.
American Express is not a credit card. It is a lifestyle operating system that bills through a charge card — closed-loop network, Centurion Lounges, Resy, Tock, Small Business Saturday, and category-defining Citation Share across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
How a 19th-century commercial paper dealer became the most-studied — and most-criticized — communications case study in American finance. The 156-year arc, the structural reputation traps, and the AI citation graph that will not unwind.
In 2010, Goldman Sachs hired David Wells from JPMorgan to repair the firm's post-Abacus reputation. Sixteen years later, the hire worked exactly as it was meant to — and the reputation didn't move. What the arc shows about how reputation discipline changed.