A story out of Richland County, South Carolina reports that two high school students were expelled for kissing on a school bus. Apparently kissing violates the school’s “sexual misconduct” rules. The parents of the two students are appealing the decision. I just had to post the school board’s statement:
“The district does not discuss disciplinary action [...]
Students expelled from kissing on a bus – were their tongues going round and round?
Brady admits injury, realizes there are no secrets in football
Quarterback Tom Brady of the Super Bowl-bound and undefeated New England Patriots finally admitted he suffered an ankle injury in the AFC title game with the San Diego Chargers.
Rumours spread like a cold in a kindergarten class since Brady was spotted sporting a foot cast last week by paparazzi cameras. Patriots coach Bill Belichick normally [...]
Hill & Knowlton Canada information session: a report
I attended an information session at Hill & Knowlton Canada today and thought I would share some of my thoughts and tag it to a new category, “Jobbing Out” where I’ll discuss the environment of employment in public relations and corporate communications.
The hour-long presentation led by Human Resources Manager Paule Bellegarde laid out a history [...]
How crises are like rabies
Wikipedia lists the initial symptoms of rabies as including: paralysis, cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, hallucinations, progressing to delirium. Corporate CEOs and their communications advisers can easily relate when a crisis hits.
A troubling story emerged in Toronto yesterday as a man who purchased a dog at a Dr. Flea market for [...]
Marketing music in 2008: Go integrated or go home (and download the songs for free)
I’ll admit that I am unfamiliar with the music of Mars Volta. But I couldn’t help taking notice of the integrated campaign the prog rock band and their label, Universal, are marketing their new album, The Bedlam in Goliath.
The CD, which drops January 29th, is making every effort to gather some publicity momentum while offering [...]
Veritas fumbles Scrabulous assessment
Veritas Public Relations puts out an excellent newsletter called Touchdown & Fumbles which is a round up of the best and worst communication plays of the week. I’m a long time subscriber and I’d be lying if I said that the format of Stractical was not largely based on TD&F.
But Veritas’ principal media coach, Bob [...]
Scrabble to Scrabulous: Cease (7 points) and Desist (also 7 points)
I am an average Scrabble player. This troubles me as I consider myself to be a maven (10 points) of the English language, a connoisseur (13) of words and an expert of exposition (19). My averageness (you might want to challenge that one) is all the more exposed by the feverishly popular Scrabulous game on [...]
Playhouse Disney mixing business with pleasure
Playhouse Disney, an Astral-owned television station for kids, does not accept traditional 30 second spots. Like their big brother, the Family Channel, the station cross markets with toy and snack companies and fills their programming with product placements. This partnership is growing, according to Media in Canada.
The emergence of product placement and cross promotions in [...]
Sixers GM reaches out to depressed fan
In what may be the best display of blogger relations ever, Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Ed Stefanski decided to contact and ultimately be interviewed by a blogger referring to himself as the “Depressed Fan.”
The Sixers are a “rebuilding” team which means the NBA playoffs are probably a few years away and that can be hard [...]
Chinese blogger killed for taking a picture
There’s nothing really to add to this story. Anyone who works in or with media should stop and reflect for a moment on how amazing it is to live with a mostly free press acting with mostly free speech.
