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.
We got a call from a young engineer who advises oil companies on deep sea drilling. What were our thoughts on holding a seminar on blowout prevention, charging press $1200 to attend — but forbidding questions? “I’ll pay double the ticket price to see that,” I replied.
The social media genre brings to mind the 1960s “flower power” movement. “Trust,” if not love, is in the air, and that’s a noble sentiment. Trouble is, you rarely see a carefree, happy freak doing much of consequence. The “dogs of war” rule business and great PR, too.
When you’re selling, what attribute do customers most care about — features, benefits, price, company stability? All that, sure, but what they really want to know is who else has used the product or service, why they chose it, and how it has performed. Media are exactly the same.
Yesterday’s Telecom Hub meeting, a monthly conclave of Washington, DC-area communications industry folk, may have convened under the gray skies of a chilly Spring day, but most speakers seemed almost sunny about the sector’s future.
Years ago I interviewed motivational author Wayne Dyer. I found him incisive, pragmatic, brilliant and at one point irascible — like CEOs I’ve known and admired. It was such a welcome contrast to his warm, fuzzy public persona that I quickly liked the man and forgave him his books.
