A couple of weeks ago, I was at a dinner in New York and realized I left my laptop at the office. It was 10 p.m., but I needed to go back and get it. We had just recently moved into our stunning offices at One World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower. As I walked into our space on the 69th floor, I stopped dead in my tracks and looked out the window at the dazzling Manhattan skyline. It’s difficult to capture 20 years of memories into one moment, but that quintessential view did it.
Now that the Paralympic Games have reached their conclusion, here’s how the best brands have been going for gold – and what we can all learn from them.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since we opened our doors at Allison+Partners. I remember it like it was yesterday – the excitement, the nervousness and thrill of starting something new. Scott Allison and Andy Hardie-Brown had the notion of acquiring the West Coast offices of our previous agency, and Jonathan Heit, Matt Lorenz and I all jumped on board. 20 years later, we are all still here. What was a 20-person agency is now a global firm with more than 500 people from around the globe.
The impact of talent on a company’s ability to achieve its strategy can’t be overstated. Research from McKinsey & Company in 2017 suggested high performers can outproduce average performers by 50% to 800%, depending on the complexity of the work. Yet the same study noted some 82% of Fortune 500 executives don’t believe their firms recruit highly talented people.
We've all heard that the PR agency world is fast-paced, competitive and often lands on the most stressful jobs lists – along with doctors, surgeons, dentists, firefighters and police officers.
No, public relations is not life and death – it’s PR, not ER. It’s exciting, rewarding and fun. PR people are storytellers, and most importantly, industry professionals who want to help their clients tell their stories to their numerous stakeholder audiences.
This blog was also published on The Drum.If 2021 had a mantra it would undoubtedly be, time for change. The pandemic brought all the challenges (and opportunities) for brands. In fact, marketers often pondered what to say, how to say it and should I even say it at all. Coming out of quarantine people want greater meaning and authentic connections with brands. Reflecting this, over 80% of marketing leaders are looking to rescale or reinvent the majority of their key strategies (Gartner, Jan 2021). CMOs need to drive to higher business level KPIs while lowering costs. Brands that understand disruption for what it really is — the gateway to innovation — will be on the best footing to not just survive, but thrive in the coming months and years.
Like so many others, my career in healthcare was completely accidental at its inception. Years into a successful fundraising career and weeks into a master’s degree program, I decided to shift gears into health communications knowing little about either. The day after Lehman Brothers crashed, I impulsively accepted a mid-level communications position and a 25% pay cut with a nonprofit focused on strengthening primary care in New York City.
If this new decade has taught us anything, it’s that it will keep us on our toes.
It’s July 2021, some 18 months since COVID-19 started dominating our news cycles. And as the rest of the world continues to re-open, a large proportion of Australia’s east coast finds itself ‘back here.’ – back in hard lockdown, back in online learning mode, back confused about ways of working and back binge-watching state officials’ daily delivery of pandemic case numbers. Our reality TV fix has been replaced by watching the patient zero blame game play out across the media and trying to decode what the latest vaccination guidelines and ever-changing restrictions mean for us and our loved ones.
