reputation management

PR giant Brunswick Group will handle British Petroleum's PR strategies in the months to come, Politico reports. The publication describes the future campaign as "aggressive." For BP's sake, I can only hope that Politico just used a figure of speech. British Petroleum is in no position for aggressive PR campaigns. What they need is a advocate/relationship management type of approach, and as much transparency as possible for a company in their position. So far, BP's response to questions regarding the massive Gulf oil spill they caused was vague, and lacked transparency. Hopefully Brunswick Group will have the common sense to advise... Read More >

We've got leaked gadgets all over the press this week, and they give some serious insight into the future of consumer electronics, and Apple's brand image and influence. For a company like Dell, the leaked plans of its upcoming tablet may seem to be a bit of good press. For Apple, however, the leaked iPhone 4G images threw the company into a frenzy. After Apple had announced the upcoming iPhone 4G, it seemed all too lucky that a member of the press should end up with photos of the device. Turns out, an Apple engineer had forgotten his phone at... Read More >

As the auto industry continues to struggle with its safety regulations, expectations and promises to consumers, U.S. safety regulators have begun an investigation into a possible brake failure in General Motors vehicles. The probe could affect up to 6 million trucks and SUVs sold between 1999 and 2003 model years. The timing on such a probe isn't so great--Toyota is still facing a great deal of scrutiny for its brake problems, but GM has issued its own recalls earlier this year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary probe, according to Reuters, after receiving 110 consumer complaints... Read More >

Cars, kids toys, candy bars, and now even Pringles potato chips appear to be less safe than we once thought. In the news today the Food and Drug Administration recommended that Proctor & Gamble recall some of its products. According to the reports, the chips contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) which was produced by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. That company issued a recall last week after finding Salmonella in their equipment. Who thinks about Salmonella in potato chips? We had all better now it appears. Killer potato chips, only in the 21st Century. The really bad news is, Pringles is... Read More >

A huge story from India today reveals an alleged sex scandal involving Swami Nithyananda, one of India's most popular spiritual gurus. A sex video, supposedly depicting Swami Nithyananda with as yet unidentified Tamil actress, was aired by several India TV outlets. This holy man has a worldwide following extending all over India, to Malaysia and even the United States. Everything PR News found the original Sun TV broadcast(below). Apparently Swami Nithyananda is promoting "sexual healing" now? Update: I could not help but add a video of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" the atmosphere of this article was so thick with irony.... Read More >

In January, Bank of America's corporate website, and the bank's image as a whole, suffered because of some technical difficulties and poor crisis response from the Bank's customer support team. Twitter appeared to be the Bank's only medium of communication, to the dissatisfaction of the customers who are less web savvy and prefer other means of information (like news, email announcements, etc). Today, similar reports could affect Wachovia. A few minutes ago login issues and website outage have been reported by a few credible sources like the Huffington Post and The Business Insider. Apparently, some customers have problems login into their... Read More >

Branding in this day and age means a lot more than having an advertisement on television or in a magazine. Even when it comes to managing your own brand, the presence of social media has changed the way in which we present ourselves, our messages, and the way in which the world interacts with us. With all of the information transpiring around us, it's easier than ever to keep up with the quickening pace of correspondence and media-sharing. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's easier to maintain our brand's reputation. Knowing what's going on with your own brand isn't everything,... Read More >

More divorces these days are being blamed on Facebook. It seems that connecting, or reconnecting, with friends can lave a pretty ugly snowball effect. According to a UK divorce website, 1 in every 5 divorce suits filed mention Facebook. Whether it's a wall post that you thought was private or a session you forgot to log out of, Facebook activity can get married people caught up. It used to be other tell-tale signs that got married people in trouble, such as perfume on the clothes or a phone number left in a pocket. Then it was email and text messages.... Read More >

This is not a Halloween joke, as you expected. Walmart and Star Legacy Funeral Network, Inc have partnered to supply Walmart customers with a rather macabre range of products: coffins, urns and memorial jewelry. These will be sold at walmart.com starting this October. Caskets are only shipped in the US, and they are not available to all areas. But as spokesman Ravi Jariwala says, this is a "limited beta test to understand customer response." Since the most probable customers for such items will be dead or close to it , I assume the test will go well and soon the... Read More >

This is not a case for the “goofy awards” – we “offer” those to correct some small mistakes or blunders that, if corrected, can only benefit the reputation of the “awarded.” This is a more likely a case for “PR horror stories” than anything else. The Orlando Sentinel and a few other high profile news sites report that Showbiz Promotions, based in Jacksonville, had planned to sell its Caylee Sunshine doll for $29.99. This doll was apparently meant to represent "a tribute" to Caylee Marie Anthony a little girl who disappeared on July 15, 2008. Her remains were found five... Read More >