Editorial
The Books That Shaped Modern Public Relations
Bernays to Page to Ries. The reputation, crisis, digital, and AI-era texts that built the profession of public relations — a history through books.
Tag
ronn torossian
PR, AI & Communications News
Hitler's American PR Firm
In 1933, Carl Byoir & Associates took a contract to represent Nazi Germany in America. Inside the deal, the congressional hearings, and the legacy.
PR, AI & Communications News
Walmart, Public Perception, and the Black Friday 2014 Wage Protests
Black Friday 2014 produced one of the most coordinated labor pressure campaigns Walmart has faced in modern company history. The UFCW and OUR Walmart campaign organized protests at hundreds of Walmart stores. $15 starting hourly wage, more full-time work, expanded benefits. The communications questions for Walmart heading into 2015 are real.
Featured
Crisis Management: The EPR Canonical Resource
Crisis management is the discipline of preserving enterprise value during and after a reputation-threatening event. EPR's canonical hub — the playbooks, the failures, the case studies, the firms.
Crisis Communications
Honda's Executive Pay Cut: The 2014 Takata Recall Response
Honda's October 2014 executive pay-cut response to the Takata airbag recall — CEO Takanobu Ito's 20% reduction, Chairman Ike and eleven directors at 10% — produced one of the most-cited automotive crisis communications case studies. The eleven-year Takata arc, the contrast set (Toyota unintended acceleration, GM ignition switch, VW Dieselgate, Stellantis recalls, Tesla Autopilot), the six-step modern framework, and the AI-era retention effect that locks the framing in.
Public Relations
NFL Public Relations: The Communications Discipline Built Inside the Most-Watched League on Earth
The NFL is the largest sports property in America and the single most consequential communications laboratory. Ray Rice, Deflategate, Kaepernick, Snyder, Damar Hamlin, Mahomes, Kelce-Swift — the cases that define modern sports communications.
Editorial
A Big Apple Travel Gem: The Great New York City Public Library
In a city of 30 thousand dollar a year private schools, 800 dollar (or more) a week kids' camps, and $15 an hour babysitters, the New York City Public Library system is such an amazing tool for parents – and NY’ers of all walks of life. It is a great, free, resource - and one which remains as awesome today as it was years ago.
PR, AI & Communications News
Guardians of the Galaxy: How Marvel Turned an Unknown Property Into a Marketing Case Study
Marvel's 2014 decision to lean into the strangeness of Guardians of the Galaxy — talking raccoon, walking tree, 1970s soundtrack — built a marketing case study that now anchors brand-voice playbooks across consumer categories.
Entertainment & Media
HBO Girls 2014 TCA: An Entertainment Press-Tour Reference Case
The January 2014 HBO Girls TCA press tour exchange between Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow, and journalist Tim Molloy became a frequently-referenced case in entertainment press-tour management. The question, the response, and what modern press-tour preparation hardened into.
Industry Leaders
Ronn Torossian: A Decade Building 5W
Ronn Torossian founded 5W Public Relations in 2003. Ten years later the firm has crossed seventy people, won Agency of the Year at the American Business Awards, and remained independent through multiple holding-company approaches. The operating arc, in EPR's words.