Archive for April, 2009

Angela A. Buonocore, SVP & CCO at ITT Corporation, on how ITT’s communications function is structured to operate globally but exist close to and provide value to individual business units.

It may be the most embarrassing branding error since GM found out that the Chevy Nova meant “no go” in Latin America.

And it’s a reminder of what happens when clueless people try to use Web 2.0 language because they think it’s cool but have no idea what it means.

Last week, the National Organization for Marriage, a conservative organization opposed to gay marriage, launched a new $1.5 million “Two Million for Marriage” initiative that it dubbed “2M4M,” evidently in an effort to appeal to younger, web-savvy people. (For those of you who are interested, PR Place has the scoop on activist Maggie Gallagher, who is behind this group and a related “Institute.”)

NOM also launched Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, urging supporters to “use those networks and invite your friends.” (more…)

In early September 2005, just days after Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans and enacted similar damage on FEMA’s reputation, I moved from Austin to D.C. to heed a call from the White House to serve as the chief speechwriter for FEMA’s newly-appointed director.

Back then, social media was the last thing FEMA was prepared to handle. Today, FEMA is one of many federal agencies using Twitter and other social media channels to reach their customers: taxpayers.

Network World recently reported, “From NASA to the General Services Administration, more federal agencies are embracing Twitter as another Web-based channel to communicate news and engage in conversations with U.S. citizens.” The site also provided 10 tips for early-adopting federal staffers ranging (more…)

A few years ago, I was sitting in the regional office of a senior regulatory official with the FDA. At the time, I was the publisher of Food Chemical News, a regulatory information service that she and many other FDA and USDA officials subscribed to – and, I’m pretty sure, still do.

It wasn’t a sales call, exactly. About 1,000 miles from our home base in Washington, D.C., it was more one of those show-the-flag tours to solidify and, perhaps, expand our relationship with some of our biggest customers. So I asked her why she spent hundreds of dollars a year to subscribe.

“It’s the only way I can find out what’s really going on back at headquarters,” she said.

I was reminded of that conversation when I read media writer Howie Kurz’s recent column in the Washington Post on the (more…)