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CONTENTSGoogle Analytics. .............1,4Media Training.................1,5Events Calendar .................2The Checklist .....................3Case Study .....................6-7The Week in PR ..................8

WEB ANALYTICS

Google Analytics a ‘Game Changer’ for Ambitious PR Pros Who Aren’t Afraid of Left-Brain Thinking

“It’s a game changer,” said Christopher Penn, VP of mar-keting technology at SHIFT Communications. In fact, Penn believes learning Google Analytics is the most important thing communicators can do to improve their lot. Google Ana-lytics Academy, which offers free online courses, is a good place to start, he added.

“Most PR pros are right-brain folks, creatively driven, whereas the left brain is data-driven. [But] to be success-

We’ve heard more than one communications professional say, partially in jest, that entering PR was a way to to avoid num-bers. Yet the digital age has made PR measurement a joking matter no longer. You may be risking career advancement should you continue to shun analytics. Fortunately, the ba-sics of Google Analytics are within the grasp of those whose strength is not in numbers. Kidding aside, having knowledge of Google Analytics is critical for PR professionals.

How should brands, organizations and other entities counter bad news or what they believe to be inaccurate reporting? Melanie Streeper, a public information officer for the St. Louis City Comptroller and a former TV journalist, took an interest-ing tack when Elliot Davis, an investigative reporter from Fox affiliate KTVI-2, recently tried to interview City Comptroller Darlene Green about whether she had been using a city take-home car that reportedly was costing taxpayers $26,000. After Streeper rebuffed several of his emailed interview re-quests, Davis decided to go to City Hall, find Green in the hallway and question her on camera. Once found, Green started to respond to Davis’s questions about the city-owned

car. That is, until Streeper suddenly stepped in and repeatedly said, “No, no, no.” Then Streeper, shielding her face from the camera with a folder, whisked Green into a room closed to media. Interview over. Watching the footage, who do you think comes off badly and, worse, less than professional?

The episode raises key questions for communicators: What is the best way to react to negative news? Since many stories fade quickly, is a reaction always warranted? By re-sponding, you run the risk of keeping the story alive and encouraging additional coverage. Still, there are times when

How to Turn Bad News About Your Brand or Organization Into a Win

MEDIA TRAINING BY ANdY GILmAN, CEO, COmmCORE CONSuLTING

2 prnewsonline.com • 7.13.15

Google Analytics Forces PR Pros to Focus on ‘Outcomes,’ Not ‘Outputs’

Vol. 72 ISSN 1546-0193

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ful in PR today you have to be adept with both sides,” Penn added. “Learning Google Analytics is not scary. There are certain functionalities you build that will be good enough and then you may find you have a hidden aptitude for it, in which case you can take [analytics] to another level.”

Adds Sally Falkow, strategist at meritus me-dia, “By using Google Analytics you will find out which content is working and which channel is going to help the brand the most...give you the best results.” Using Google Analytics could change your thinking about long-held beliefs. “In PR, we talk a lot about influencers and the idea that someone has a huge influence simply by having big numbers,” Falkow said. “But the real definition of influence is what happens as a re-sult of the coverage.”

For example, Falkow recently executed a PR campaign for a home decorating company. She got the client coverage on The TODAY Show, as well as a story in a niche-like blog covering home decoration. The TODAY Show appearance likely was sexier, but the blog post seriously outper-formed the NBC program in terms of attracting the kind of potential leads the client desired. This is why Falkow stressed that Empty Pages, the Google Analytics function that shows which Web pages are driving the most site traffic, and

Bounce Rate, which indicates the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page, should be part of your measurement dashboard.

Google Analytics is designed to make the nu-merical side of PR more manageable and get PR pros to think in terms of “outcomes,” which can be monetized, rather than “outputs,” Falkow added.

Penn’s “game changer” sentiment is illustrat-ed by one of SHIFT’s clients, the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), which advocates on behalf of family literacy and has an annual budget of $6.8 million.

The NCFL uses Google Analytics Standard, which is free. Google Analytics Premium costs $150,000 annually.

By using Google Analytics, “We were able to quantify that people were accessing our plat-forms using mobile devices more than desk-tops,” said Emily Kirkpatrick, VP of NCFL, who runs the group’s PR and marketing.

“Based on that metric, we chose to increase funding on mobile audiences in terms of site de-sign and going with a mobile-first strategy. That was directly a result of using Google Analytics,” she added. (See chart below.)

Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2012

Google Analytics > Audience > Mobile> Overview

Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2013 Access by mobile devices continues to rise compared to desktop computers. Phones overtake tablets during this time. This data leads to the development of a new, mobile‑optimized site to ensure a full experience on any device.

Desktop access still dominates, but mobile devices now account for more than 10%. Mobile phones draw close to tablet access. Seeing this trend, Wonderopolis releases a dedicated mobile app to support its growing mobile audience.

Provided by the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) on behalf of its Wonderopolis initiative

MEASURE FOR MEASURE: Wonderopolis, an interactive learning platform marketed by the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), answers

an intriguing question daily. NCFL uses Google Analytics data to inform decisions on how to improve and grow the platform. The above graphic

covered a period when the use of mobile technology increased greatly and led NCFL to develop features tailored to mobile devices.

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THE CHECKLIST

3

August 6, 2015 • San Francisco, CA

Join PR News at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco on August 6 for the Big 4 Conference, where expert communicators will share in-depth case studies from the Big 4 social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.

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7 Tumblr Tips for Getting Your Content Shared With the intense competition for eyeballs, getting your company’s blog post read can be difficult. Tumblr, for example, hosts more than 243 million blogs, so standing out is critical. Paul Rand, CEO of Zócalo Group, points to brands whose Tumblr blogs stand out. Only one of the brands he cites, Coffee-mate, is a client. He also integrates some Tumblr tips.

CONSTRuCT A LANdING ✓PAGE WITHOuT HAVING TO COdE A mICROSITE.

A great example of this is Starbucks’ Frappuccino.com. Rather than hiring a developer and coding a site from scratch, it’s easy to pick a Tumblr theme and build your site. The ability to reblog user-gener-ated content and include fun GIFs makes for a site that embodies Frappuccino’s brand, which exudes youthful fun.

CREATE A uNIquE ✓ExPERIENCE AROuNd A PROduCT LAuNCH OR SPECIAL EVENT.

To drive engagement around the expan-sion of its vanilla flavors, Coffee-mate launched a Tumblr with the theme “Take Back Vanilla.” The company invited Cof-fee-mate fans to celebrate the expan-sion by helping to change the concept that vanilla is tantamount to boring. Fans submitted photos for a chance to have them transformed into wacky works of art. It all lived on Tumblr beautifully.

CROWdSOuRCE. ✓Similar to Twitter, conversations on Tumblr are organized using hashtags.

Create a hashtag for your campaign and encourage submissions, then re-blog them to share.

PROduCE AN ✓ONLINE mAGAzINE.

Whole Foods’ online magazine Dark Rye is another stunning example of Tumblr done right. The Tumblr hits on Whole Foods’ upscale activist vibe us-ing artistic food photography, videos showcasing the brand’s ethos, plenty of reblogs from Tumblr influencers and a promise to “make every day feel like a sleeves-rolled-up Saturday morning in spring.”

SHOWCASE PART OF YOuR ✓BRANd THAT mIGHT NOT FIT ON A .COm.

Remember those chewy, multi-colored, sour gummy candies? Candy maker Trolli uses Tumblr for weirdlyawesome.com. The name pretty much says it all—this blog has a bizarre collection of rainbow-colored GIFs, odes to sour gummy candies and other oddities. Tumblr allows the candy to express its full-on, sugar-high personality. As Ferrara owns the brand as well as Brach’s and Fruit Stripe, among oth-

ers, its presence on the site is rela-tively modest and basic.

REACH A ✓NEW AudIENCE.

denny’s has revitalized its personality with a creative Tumblr page at blog.dennys.com. Known for being the place where grandparents go for early dinners, the company embraced its other big possibility—late-night eats for young people.

Grandma probably wouldn’t ‘get’ this irreverent collection of GIFs and the crowdsourced celebration of the delight of eating breakfast in the mid-dle of the night.

AdVERTISE. ✓Tumblr offers a handful of ad products and, after being acquired by Yahoo in 2013, is looking to grow this part of its business. Sponsored posts can be tar-geted to users’ dashboards based on gender, location and interest.

Radar posts show up in users’ right rail, and trending blogs appear in the trending tab on mobile. Tumblr also syndicates sponsored posts to Yahoo, resulting in dramatic reach. To learn more, visit tumblr.com/business.

Source: Paul Rand, president-CEO of Zócalo Group. The above is an excerpt from PR News’ Book of Social Media Strategies & Tactics.

To order a copy, please go to prnewsonline.com/prpress



Google Analytics Homes in on Business Outcomes

GOOGLE ANALYTICS FAST TRACK

Take a Google Analytics uclass. Let’s face it, no matter how easy a soft-ware program is to use, there always are tips and tricks you can learn to ensure you are glean-ing the best insights possible. To this end, we highly recommend taking a quick tutorial on how to maximize your Google Analytics knowledge.

Track action with uRL uBuilders. Append links to your website with Google Analytics URL Builder. These URL extensions are added to the end of all links that direct readers

back to your website. This allows you to monitor the inbound traffic generated from your news release, blog post, social messag-ing or online ads. Simply create the URL extension, add it to the end of your website UR, and insert it via a hyperlink or link shortener, such as Bit.ly, into your communications.

Build a better landing upage. One of the best information you can get from Google Analytics is understanding if the landing page you are directing traffic to actu-ally works. Once you have identified the traffic you are sending to the site, it is time to look closer

at how well your landing page converted visitors into interested parties. Did they leave the page immediately or did click on to learn more about your business? If your audience is leaving within seconds after arriving at your site, you need to update your landing page or create a new one more aligned with your outbound marketing message.

Refine your pitch list. uOne of our favorite parts of Google Analytics is the source/medium/referral traffic data. This is perfect for tracking which media outlet, influencer or social network is responsible for driving the most traffic.

This data will help you modify your media pitch lists and social channel messaging/frequency.

understand real-time uresults. An interesting fea-ture of Google Analytics is the ability to view traffic to your website in real time. Have a big launch; once your news has crossed the wire, watch the inbound traffic come in and use this data to make real-time updates and tweaks to your landing page and social support messaging.

Serena Ehrlich, director, social and evolving media, Business Wire, wrote this sidebar.

As it gathered data using Google Analytics Standard before changing its focus to a mobile-first approach, NCFL traced the following indices:

New users u . Spikes help show how much impact big me-dia hits, paid advertising campaigns, and social cam-paigns generate for your site. You want the number of new users to increase. If not, the PR/communications strategy should be revisited and refocused to increase awareness of your brand/cause/campaign.Return users u . This is even more important than New Users, especially for content-based sites. It shows your content is valuable and interesting, and that us-ers are building trust in your brand and even advocat-ing for it. Audience>Technology u . This Google Analytics index provides a clear picture of how users are accessing content (desktop/phone/tablet). This information helps set strategy and priorities for development work.

“It’s not one and done with [Google] Analytics, but an on-going discipline,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s a cascade of informa-tion that provides us with a summary of our audience and waypoint for decision-making.”

She added that with a mobile-first strategy, NCFL now is confident to share results from Google Analytics with the group’s investors, which include major brands such as Toyo-ta and Verizon.

Amid the bevy of tools available via Google Analytics, sources said there are four major components that PR pros need to track closely:

Audience u : What demographic is visiting your site?Acquisition u : How did they get to your site? Behavior u : What did they do once they got there? Conversion u : Did they take any action or exit the site?

Once you have aggregated data you need to take action based on that data, said Serena Ehrlich, director, social and evolving me-dia, Business Wire, who recommended the following process:

determine u the type of traffic your content is generatingTrack u which articles drove the most traffic Track u if there are problems with converting that trafficShare u the data with your marketing counterparts

(To learn more about Google Analytics, attend PR News’ Google Boot Camp, which takes place August 5 in San Francis-co. To register, please go to big4conference.com/google-boot-camp-agenda/. Falkow will speak at the Google Boot Camp, while Penn and Ehrlich will speak at the Big 4 Conference, which takes place August 6, also in San Francisco; ditto on the above URL to register.)

CONTACT: Serena Ehrlich, [email protected]; Sally Falkow, [email protected]; Emily Kirkpatrick, [email protected]; Christopher Penn, [email protected]

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Pick the Right Channel to Counter Bad Newsa response is necessary to curtail a serious hit to your repu-tation and/or sales. Every situation is different, of course. Once you have decided to respond, though, it’s best to select a mix of media channels and tactics that match your stake-holders and messages.

You can choose from traditional channels such as press releases, press conferences and op-ed articles. Then there are social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, You-Tube and Vine. You also can meet critics face-to-face, but you should do so off the grid. Recruiting third-party advocates, who have their own channels, is yet another possibility.

THE FACE-TO-FACE APPROACHFollowing its reputation debacle in 2013, Barilla Pasta be-gan by using YouTube, but needed additional tactics to allay its fiercest critics. The crisis broke when Barilla CEO Guido Barilla insulted the LGBT community, saying he would never allow gays to appear in Barilla ads. He even suggested that gays should buy a different brand of pasta.

The comments created a social media firestorm and sparked calls to boycott Barilla pastas and sauces. The CEO issued a video apology (youtu.be/2Tg61KYPLqQ), but con-sumers and large accounts, such as university dining ser-vices, continued boycotting the company.

The resolution to this bad news had to be planned and executed over time; it meant contacting and building relation-ships with the offended groups. After months of meetings and other actions, including creating a diversity counsel, Ba-rilla was able to turn around the issue.

The change was so dramatic that NGOs, such as the Human Rights Watch, now praise the company (wapo.st/1xUXv3g).

As is often the case, the articles touting the turnaround were not as numerous as initial reports of the controversy. But the response from the LGBT community has been sin-cere and heartfelt.

Understand, though, the engagement attempt could have backfired for Barilla. Instead of agreeing to meet with the company, critics could have continued to bash the brand. In this case, however, Barilla’s engagement strat-egy paid off.

uSING VIdEO FOR A dEEPER RESPONSEThere are other ways to combat what you consider unfair media coverage. Consider Wal-mart and how it countered an investigative newspaper article. In April 2012, The New York Times ran a front-page article replete with allegations of Wal-Mart’s bribery and corrupt practices in Mexico (nyti.ms/1Lrjv9A).

Rather than confine itself to a few comments/quotes in the newspaper, that afternoon Wal-Mart decided to post a video on YouTube (youtu.be/hFEdA3iVREI).

David Tovar, Wal-Mart VP of corporate communications, offered the company’s point of view. Why did Wal-Mart choose YouTube? Why not an ad in the Times or other pub-lications? Perhaps send an email to employees, sharehold-ers and other stakeholders? In fact, several of those tactics also were used.

But the YouTube video was perhaps the best channel to reach employees, shareholders, customers and vendors. These groups undoubtedly were curious about the company’s reaction and wanted more than a one-sentence statement in a newspaper. Through YouTube, stakeholders were able to see and hear a fuller, more passionate response.

Advantages of the Wal-Mart approach:

• Rapid, same-day response• One-way communication to stakeholders• Video communicated tone and commitment, not just words

The above examples illustrate several ways to respond to bad news, each with its pros and cons. The Wal-Mart You-Tube video was one-way communications, prepared and ed-ited by the company.

Similarly, the Barilla meetings were private, avoiding the media glare. Those conversations with the LGBT community were frank, difficult and probably very heated. Yet, the company was more in-terested in the end result, rather than attempting to make points immediately by conducting the dialogue in public.

CONTACT: Andy Gilman is president-CEO of CommCore Consult-ing. He can be reached at [email protected]



Childhood obesity is one of the chief health concerns in the United States. In 2013, the American Heart Association|American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) shifted its focus from PR programs solely supporting the group’s original mission of preventing heart disease, to engaging segments of the population to expand the fight against both heart disease and stroke. Part of the change was introducing a kids market. One of the results of add-ing this new market segment was the creation of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, which kicked off in September 2014.

THE GOALSThe prevention of childhood obesity starts at home. To help families understand the risks associated with childhood obe-sity the AHA/ASA created the EmpowerMEnt Challenge.

Since there was little budget dedicated to the initiative, the team leveraged existing materials and repurposed them to create an engaging challenge.

Fortunately, guidelines for avoiding heart disease and stroke in adults are similar to those for children. The four, week-long challenges, intended for the entire family, includ-ed: increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages; reducing so-dium intake; and increasing physical activity. By the end of the month, the goal was to help family members feel better equipped to live heart-healthy lives.

The campaign had four main objectives:• Increase awareness and engagement of health living

among families online, especially around childhood obesity

How an Integrated media Campaign Tackled the delicate Subject of Childhood Obesity

TIPS FOR dRIVING AN INFLuENCER STRATEGY

1. understand FTC Guidelines. The FTC has strict guidelines on what you can and cannot do with influencers in the social space. For example, be sure the blogger includes a disclaimer showing that he or she received a product for free. It must be clearly displayed for the reader. Twitter endorse-ments should also include a clearly visible disclosure, like #Ad or

#sponsoredby(company name) at the beginning of a tweet.

2. Find your influencers. Find influ-encers who have well-connected ties to your target audience. Use a listen-ing tool, like Sprinklr, Twitter search and Technorati, to identify your core influencers.

3. Build a relationship. Before you contact influencers to make an ask, start engaging them in social media. They are more likely to want to partici-pate with an organization that already is engaging with them.

4. make it easy. Set clear expecta-tions, and make it as easy as possible to work with your brand.

5. Be authentic. What’s in it for the influencers? Be honest and build a real, authentic relationship.

Krisleigh Hoermann wrote this sidebar.

• Boost traffic to AHA resources, and overall engagement of those assets

• Earn challenge participants online and increase overall online engagement

• Engage a national media sponsor, and at least one on-line influencer

THE ExECuTIONAt the beginning of every good PR strategy is a solid, evi-dence-based target audience. The AHA/ASA focused on par-ents and general caregivers, like grandparents, aunts, uncles, even teachers and school administrators. Children (ages 6-9) were a secondary focus in the hope that they would feel em-powered through the activities and help their families make lasting changes at home.

“This event was vital to the continued growth and out-reach for our newly developed market area focused on kids,” said Matthew Bannister, executive VP of communications for the American Heart Association. “The month allowed us to interact with consumers in a way we haven’t before. We wanted to meet them where they are—be with them in their home, in the grocery store, as they exercised and online—to help motivate and support them.”

To help make the event appealing and fun for consumers, the team created a series of sharable graphics that included an event illustration, Facebook cover image, widgets, thumb-nails and banners.

To host the challenge, the team created the EmpowerMEnt Challenge Facebook Event page for ongoing engagement and encouragement, and linked it to the AHA/ASA’s healthier kids website for people who wanted to get more information.

CASE STUDY

Krisleigh Hoermann

By Krisleigh Hoermann, director of operations, digital and social media consultant at American Heart Association, and Alex-andra Paterson, national communications lead, Kids Market, department of public and media relations, American Heart Associa-tion National Center.

7prnewsonline.com • 7.13.15

AHA/ASA local communications staffs across the country were armed with quality promotional materials to assist PR and social media efforts.

Engaging with multicultural audiences also was top-of-mind, so providing Spanish-language materi-als alongside English assets was crucial.

In addition to the materials available to lo-cal communications staffs, the national PR team worked closely with NBC News to create a media-ready toolkit for affiliate and Owned & Operated markets that included canned on-air segments they could run during September.

As part of this package, four science-rele-vant segments were created that focused on childhood obesity. The segments were 90 sec-onds long and broken down by various themes throughout the month. Each video was hosted on AHA/ASA’s YouTube site for easy access to the stations.

To foster organic conversations within the group’s social channels, the team held a series of Twitter Chats offering tips related to the week’s theme that provided additional tools and program information to support people during their month-long journey.

THE RESuLTSDuring the EmpowerMEnt Challenge, the Face-book segment of the Challenge earned more than 1,200 participants, beating the original goal by more than 500 percent. The Challenge itself reached 113.9 million consumers, with more than 6,800 views and 9,800 mentions. The website saw a 69 percent increase in page views. Numerous national media placements and influencer engagements were instrumental in the success of the campaign, such as Huffing-ton Post, The TODAY Show and Child magazine.

“With the new focus on the kids market, the challenge created a community that could be the cornerstone for initia-tives moving forward,” Bannister added. “The way the event was executed helped elevate the brand and put this new mar-ket on the map.”

LESSONS LEARNEd1. Start small; don’t overthink. By setting concrete goals

and using proven tactics you can create a successful cam-paign to build on in the future. It gives you plenty of room to test and find out what works for your program.

2. Bring in your key players early. By having key depart-ments at the table, we were able to ensure the campaign would be successful. Since we’re eager to expand the pro-gram we’ve decided to change the name to mesh with our branding—Life is Why Family Health Challenge.

3. Create a clear influencer strategy. Know who the in-fluencers are and how they interact with the market before reaching out to them. It’s always better to approach influenc-

ers after you’ve built a good relationship than before. Make sure you understand FTC regulations, too. [See Tips for Driv-ing an Influencer Strategy]

4. Allow budget and time to produce bilingual materi-als if your target audience is bilingual. If your target mar-ket speaks more than one language, co-create assets that work across all your audiences. You’ll be more likely to get increased participation.

5. Produce quality video for social sharing and broad-cast. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on video, but make sure it has good lighting and sound and delivers an engaging message.

6. meet your consumers where they are. Engage with them. We believe our campaign was successful because we talked to our constituents. We were a part of the conversa-tion, not just pushing messages. No one wants a friend who always talks himself. Keep that in mind.

CONTACT: Krisleigh Hoermann, [email protected]; Alexandra Paterson, [email protected]

WE GOT THE BEAT: The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s EmpowerMEnt Challenge was divided into four theme weeks during September 2014, offering consumers a range of challenges they could participate in.


THE WEEK IN PR

Burson-marsteller Rolls Out Cuba 1. Offering. That was fast. Less than a week after the U.S. resumed its diplo-matic ties with Cuba, PR agency Bur-son-marsteller unveiled the Burson-Marsteller Cuba Specialty Team. The unit is a U.S.-based offering providing clients with strategic counsel regarding the political and economic environment in the U.S. and Cuba. Services include real-time analysis of U.S. government policy development and strategic com-munications planning and execution, including digital and social media out-reach. It’s impossible to know if Cuba will again become the tropical paradise it was pre-Castro, when U.S. tourists flocked there for its beaches and cul-ture. What seems definite are opportu-nities for U.S. brands to do business in Cuba. Burson has decided to get in on the ground floor.

Rise of the Title-Less Leader: 2. The corner office may be losing some of its luster when it comes to leadership. More than 40 percent of people sur-veyed believe leadership should come mainly from the organization and all employees, compared with 25 percent of respondents who believe leadership should come just from the CEO, ac-cording to the fourth-annual Ketchum Leadership Communication monitor (KLCM), which was released last week, (see graphic below). Indeed, the top-down mentality that has ruled corporate America for decades may be coming to

a gradual, yet steady end. Communica-tors need to be on the lookout for in-house employees with solid leadership qualities who can carry a message and reside outside the C-suite. Despite be-ing known for their dogged indepen-dence, only 35 percent of Millennials chose leadership by everyone, com-pared with 52 percent of respondents age 55+. The online survey, which was conducted in February and March, took the pulse of 6,029 respondents in 12 global markets.

Toyota PR Chief Resigns:3. This was inevitable: Julie Hamp, Toyota’s PR chief and the highest-ranking wom-an in the automaker’s 77-year history, earlier this month resigned. The res-ignation came two weeks after Hamp was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing painkillers into Japan. At a June 19 news conference, Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident, supported Hamp and expressed the company’s belief that she had broken the law unknowingly. Things changed apparently. Our guess is Toyota—wanting to cut its losses—gave Hamp a little push. With Hamp gone from the company, the focus most likely will shift to who succeeds her. Hamp will be released from po-lice custody in Japan, and authorities likely will not charge her with a crime because they found little criminal in-tent, the Japanese Kyodo News ser-vice reported last week.

Reputation Institute Industry 4. Rankings: The recently released rank-ings should provide PR managers with some context about consumer percep-tions regarding the industries they rep-resent. Depending on where your indus-try is on the spectrum, the score can have either a “halo effect or a damag-ing impact on consumers’ perception about your brand,” according to the study. That should help inform your con-tent marketing/social media strategy.

POOR

<40AVERAGE

60 -69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70 -79WEAK

40 -59

REPUTATION LEADERS NETWORK2015 US Industry Rankings

POOR

<40AVERAGE

60-69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70-79WEAK

40-59

Highlights

Industry scores can help put

company scores in context, as

consumer perceptions about an

industry can have either a halo

effect or a damaging impact on their

perceptions about an individual

company

• The Technology industry remains

in the Average pulse range

• The Technology industry average

went up only 1.6 points from

2014

2015

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Rank

9 76.49

73.34

71.54

71.22

69.88

69.51

68.46

67.29

66.13

65.04

Consumer

Industrial

Healthcare

Hospitality

Retail

Energy

Financial

Technology

Information & Media

All Pulse scores that differ by more than +/- 0.9 are significantly different at the 95% confidence level.

Pulse scores are based on questions measuring Trust, Admiration & Respect, Good Feeling and Overall Esteem (captured in the Pulse score on a 0-100 scale).

The Technology industry includes both

B2B and B2C technology companies


POOR

<40AVERAGE

60-69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70-79WEAK

40-59

Highlights







company





2014

2015

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Rank

9 76.49

73.34

71.54

71.22

69.88

69.51

68.46

67.29

66.13

65.04

Consumer

Industrial

Healthcare

Hospitality

Retail

Energy

Financial

Technology

Information & Media






POOR

<40AVERAGE

60-69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70-79WEAK

40-59

Highlights







company





2014

2015

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Rank

9 76.49

73.34

71.54

71.22

69.88

69.51

68.46

67.29

66.13

65.04

Consumer

Industrial

Healthcare

Hospitality

Retail

Energy

Financial

Technology

Information & Media






POOR

<40AVERAGE

60-69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70-79WEAK

40-59

Highlights







company





2014

2015

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Rank

9 76.49

73.34

71.54

71.22

69.88

69.51

68.46

67.29

66.13

65.04

Consumer

Industrial

Healthcare

Hospitality

Retail

Energy

Financial

Technology

Information & Media






POOR

<40AVERAGE

60-69EXCELLENT

>80STRONG

70-79WEAK

40-59

Highlights







company





2014

2015

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Rank

9 76.49

73.34

71.54

71.22

69.88

69.51

68.46

67.29

66.13

65.04

Consumer

Industrial

Healthcare

Hospitality

Retail

Energy

Financial

Technology

Information & Media





PR movers:5. Ketchum said that Christy Salcido has rejoined the agency as senior VP and director of the Ketchum West Brand Marketing Practice. Salcido worked at Ketchum from 1992 through 2002, specializing in consumer brands. Prior to rejoining Ketchum, Salcido was most recently senior VP at Porter Novelli…Greentar-get Global Group tapped Kevin Iredell as the PR agency’s research director. Iredell most recently led the research business at American Lawyer media...Edelman announced the appointment of Kish Rajan as senior VP and senior advisor in the agency’s Public Affairs practice. Rajan, former director of GO Biz, will be based in Edelman’s Sacra-mento, Calif. office.

FAR MORE RESPONDENTS FEEL LEADERSHIP SHOULD COME MAINLY FROM THE ORGANIZATION AND ALL EMPLOYEES, RATHER THAN JUST FROM THE CEO.

presence to work every day.

41%

25%

Source: Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor

Entry Deadline: July 10, 2015Final Deadline: July 17, 2015

IT'S TIME TO ENTER! PR News' Digital PR Awards is the industry’s top honor in the PR and communications digital space, recognizing outstanding digital initiatives among corporations, agencies and nonprofi ts. The coveted awards set the industry benchmark for excellence across all areas of digital PR. The winners of the Digital PR Awards are those organizations that took risks, made tremendous strides and understand the power of digital communications in public relations. Your hard work is done – now it’s time for you and your team to get recognized for it! The awards will also salute the PR, marketing and communications executives behind the scenes who make these digital initiatives shine.

Blog (Organization)

Cause Marketing/CSR

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Digital Communicator

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Digital PR Firm of the Year

Digital Marketing Campaign

Digital PR Team of the Year/ Corporate

Digital PR Ream of the Year/ Nonprofi t

Email Newsletter/s

Employee Communications

Facebook Communications

Infl uencer Communications

Intranet

Listening Campaign

Location-Based Digital Campaign

Media Relations Campaign

Microsite/Custom Site

Mobile Campaign/Mobile App

Most Engaged Brand

New Digital Service/Product

New Site

Online Community

Online Newsroom

Podcast or Videocast

Public Affairs Campaign

Redesign/Relaunch of Site

SEO

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Video

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