Starbucks runs more philanthropy than most consumer brands its size. The Starbucks Foundation has distributed over $200M since 1997. Ethos Water has invested $24M+ in clean-water programs. The College Achievement Plan has produced 20,000+ graduates. Here is the current architecture, program by program — and why the model works.
One of the best ways to succeed in business is to become a social media speaker, because apart from branding your company, you’re branding yourself.
Social Media has become an inextricable part of our culture, for better or worse. One thing is for certain: every one of us learned something from social media this past year, whether it was how to spread the word about important issues or how to safeguard our personal data.
The PR trends that actually matter in 2026 — eight structural shifts. AI Communications, Citation Share, founder-led publishing, AI-engine crisis pre-positioning. Named B-tier (Mercury, Ramp, Linear, Magic Spoon, Olipop) and C-tier (Resend, PostHog, Topicals, Vacation Inc.) exemplars throughout.
Target's full Facebook trust arc — the 2013 holiday data breach (40M cards, $200M+ total cost), the Tylenol-model crisis response, the 2018 same-day services pivot (Drive Up, Shipt, $30B owned-brand portfolio), the 2023 Pride controversy (-5.4% Q2 comps, -25% stock), the 2024-2026 governance reset, Target Circle's 100M members, and the Bullseye continuity discipline.
In 2013 brands measured social health in Facebook fans. Tesla never bought one. The brand built an earned audience across X, YouTube, and owner communities that the engines now cite as the EV reference. The structural shift from paid-fan-acquisition to earned-citation.
Instagram announced today their release of Instagram Direct, a new tool for sending on the spot photo and video messages to fiends. What significant more than the 150 million who will be using this tool, is amazing potential for what could be called "residual advertising effect."
Holiday season for most brands is a marketing question. For Uber it is a demand engineering question — how to communicate surge pricing during the highest-demand weeks of the year without alienating riders. The playbook, the 2014 crisis that defined it, and the 2026 evolution.
Cision released its 2013 Social Journalism Survey, and found that despite popular belief, journalists do rely on PRs when sourcing their stories.
From Lay's Do Us a Flavor to Doritos Crash the Super Bowl, Starbucks White Cup, and the Royal Family / Vatican institutional precedents — the Facebook contest playbook in the AI engine era.