Happy Super Bowl weekend to all who celebrate. Yesterday, while trying to explain American culture to my existentially curious six-year-old, the first example I gave was "Super Bowl." Peak parenting. Send me your fave commercials/PR campaigns so far.
Let's group chat. 👇️
📣 Let's talk exec comms: Let this be your permission slip - if your exec doesn't have anything interesting to say, they're not going to stand out in our AI slop age. People can sniff out generated slop while unique, contrary insights will win. Take this case study from Databox's CEO. Plus: unique thoughts beget earned opportunities. (I can attest. This week alone I've had 3 inbound press inquiries, including that one publication I used to always try get my brand’s leaks out of, Business Insider. As Michael Scott says...)
📰 Bezos-owned Washington Post laid off 300 journalists. Which is fair given the fledgling Amazon has been struggling as of late. Wait… it's not? It has $75M to spend on a doc that most certainly isn't pay-for-politics?! Here's what you can do: support the WaPo guild by donating here, or sharing posts like this one from impacted WaPo tech reporter Drew Harwell.
You tell me: With 300 new WaPo competitors now on the market, will traditional pubs or indie journalists prevail in the next decade? One for the indie vote - WSJ's formidable Joanna Stern is the latest to join the ranks of self-publishing.
🤖 Jim Prosser of Person Familiar wrote my favorite Substack in weeks, titled Building Things Is Comms Now. Let this be your sign to stop scrolling, and start building. (Don't know where to start? I got you.)
💬 Bestie talk: It's been a great few weeks for comms pros in the headlines (see here, here, and the aforementioned here). But I also want to caution why resting on our laurels is dangerous, and what you should do instead.
🎙️ One for the road: This first-person account of what it's been like living in Minneapolis. As told to Heavyweight’s Jonathan Goldstein, maybe the best storyteller of our time. (Apple / YouTube / Spotify)
Chat soon,
Gab Ferree
Founder & Your Comms BFF, Off the Record
PS: Last week's most-clicked was Hootsuite's 2020 post about not doing business with ICE. Lolz. Two weeks after the initial uproar, their social accounts are still silent.
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