By Kirsten Funk Over the last year, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) initiatives have been catapulted into the spotlight among both consumers and investors. Companies are being pressed to do more than just operate successful businesses. Regardless of the scale of your CSR or ESG campaign, social media is a critical…
By Anna Morris Change is inevitable, and as a company grows, it becomes even more critical to have processes in place to facilitate and champion change. Successful change management puts the focus on a company’s employees and helps them embrace and lean into change. If employees aren’t on board, the outcome will reflect that at…
Originally published in PRSA’s Strategies & Tactics on March 1, 2021. By Celia Willis Imagine your company as a human body for a moment. (In fact, the word “organization” stems from the Greek organon, meaning body.) Revenue and profit feed it. The face is your reputation, the skeleton is your company’s structure and the genome is…
By Jasmine Agyemang “Unprecedented” became the buzzword of 2020 when the pandemic first began to wreak havoc on everyday lives. The list of impacts for employees, businesses and consumers is significant, and the PR space is no exception. The events of the last year threw a wrench in even the most strategic communications and PR…
By Danielle McGivney As we reflect on the past year, we can’t help but recognize the ways COVID-19 and the events of 2020 have impacted our lives – particularly our relationships and how we interact with one another. Human connection and communication are the lifeblood of a thriving community, and admittedly we’ve had to get…
By Celia Willis The value of being independent — as a country and as individuals — has been a point of pride in American culture. However, everything morphs under stress, and stress we have had. After experiencing what’s felt like several years’ worth of challenges just in the past six months, we are seeing evidence…
By Anna Morris Research shows that people truly begin to understand a company’s values when decisions are made to sacrifice short-term profitability in favor of demonstrating or prioritizing values. In the early months of 2020, we got to witness companies across industries respond in different ways to COVID-19, each in alignment with their principles. PepsiCo…
By Anna Morris Nine years ago, only 20% of companies published a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. Fast forward to 2020, and nine out of 10 companies in the S&P 500 now publish a report. CSR reports have become an increasingly important way for organizations to formally explain how their operations are impacting the world.…
By Janna Dawson In his book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice was the “the magic number of greatness” to become world-class in any field. He suggests that 10,000 hours of practice was even key to The Beatles’ success. Believe it or not, the same philosophy can be applied…
By Ed King In our busy lives, it’s just a little too easy to confuse activity with progress. We’re all guilty of it sometimes. For my fellow analysts and strategists out there, this problem can look like spending hours crafting an approach, building surveys, setting up measurement systems, gathering data or designing dashboards to display…