In IT, a black box is a program that measures output against input in complex systems.
This Black Box is designed to help companies achieve a similar goal in PR. Black Box provides our candid input—based on several lifetimes of experience—for companies that want to measure and improve the performance of PR programs.
The first time I saw a man walking down the street jabbering on a cell phone, I said to myself, “What an idiot.” Now when kids weave all over the road while texting or guys in a restaurant pontificate into their “jawbones,” I think the same. But this isn’t another blog slamming mobile misdeeds.
A client asked why their press release bill was 3X higher than before. Though the answer was a no-brainer — they issued 1 press release one month and 3 the next — I was reminded that these days everybody is mindful of costs. In the future I’ll ask: “Are you sure you want to do this release?”
In the latest example of how corporate attorneys and the judiciary system have way too much time on their hands, an appeals court today overturned the FCC’s decades-old censorship of “fleeting expletives” on broadcast TV. Your favorite stars now may [bleep] at will on-air, as long as it’s short.
Last year a handful of lost souls, fatigued to the core by Web 2.0, opted to “Kevork” their entire social media presence. Mercy killings were available via Suicide Machine and Seppukoo. What drives Man to abandon virtual life? Privacy issues and spamola.
In business we’re conditioned to think big, want more, and right away. Success is gauged by mass markets won instantly. In social media we want followers by the thousand. Are huge “body counts” the ideal goal? Better that your audience be well-defined. The mass part can come after.
Are you as sick of hearing “think outside the box” as I am? The phrase is as silly and meaningless as a mantra. Who the heck thinks “inside a box”? The same tired thinkers urging the rest of us to mentate outside one. Let’s box their ears. Maybe something will shake loose upstairs.
The Fortune 100 company chairman looked at the draft speech and raised an eyebrow. The Dalai Lama quote, on the danger of blindly trusting others’ motives, didn’t sit well. “This is wrong,” he said. “I had dinner with the Chinese ambassador, who claimed that historically they own Tibet.”
Novelist Mark Helprin stepped in a hornet’s nest when he asserted that intellectual property rights should be assigned to an author or artist for as long as Congress sees fit. Not surprisingly, those most incensed were the Internet Freedom crowd — “Digital Barbarians” to Helprin.
The note came in from a puzzled marketing colleague: “No journalists attended our webinar.” No surprise, really. Journalists view webinars as a kind of TiVo in reverse — 100% pure commercial, uninterrupted by news. They’re too busy chasing stories to sit through an hour-long ad.
In tech PR, blogging for business — or any aspect of communications — there are certain things “one just doesn’t do.” Or so say those in the know. But what do they know, really? Personally, I’ve always leaned toward the things I’m not supposed to. Common sense can be a bore. I love iconoclasm.
