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Earned media has long been the holy grail of public relations.
For decades, getting your client's message in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal has been the gold standard by which PR agencies are judged.
But as we march further into this age of new media, those public opinion gatekeepers in the traditional media are losing their dominance of the American attention span.
And as evidenced by this year's presidential campaign strategy, that means that PR tactics are shifting as well.
Donald Trump's interview on the Joe Rogan podcast is seen as a pivotal moment in the campaign that cemented his electoral victory.
And Kamala Harris's appearance with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast reached millions of voting age women who were viewed as critical to the Democrat's campaign strategy.
So in this episode of Lead Balloon, we're joined by Colab co-founders Ashley Mann and Lizzy Harris for a post-mortem on the 2024 election in a public relations context.
They discuss why traditional media's influence is waning, how campaigns leveraged podcasts and social media in the run up to the election, and how PR professionals should adapt their strategies.
And they'll touch on the importance of building genuine relationships with members of the new media, navigating influencer marketing, and the challenges of media training in a rapidly changing environment.
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Alex Jones, founder of the extremist conspiracy-theory-peddling digital brand Infowars, has proved again and again that there is no lie he will not embrace and no moral line he will not cross.
For his own, personal benefit, he has victimized the grieving parents of children who were killed in school shootings. He has deliberately stoked fear among his followers in order to sell them snake oil. He has promoted insane conspiracy theories about everything from 9-11 to the moon landing.
And this month, karma FINALLY came around for him in the most epic way possible.
The families of some Sandy Hook school shooting victims—the very people Jones hurt the most—are teaming up with the Onion, America's leading satiric comedy publication, to purchase Jones's Infowars brand at his bankruptcy auction.
So in this episode, we're talking to Leila Brillson, CMO of The Onion, to learn all the delicious details.
In this interview dated November 19, 2024, we'll explore what led to the bidding process, the line between corporate strategy and comedy, and the Onion's blooming partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. And we'll critique this ongoing corporate acquisition not just as a business strategy, but as a cunning publicity stunt and a brilliantly-conceived work of art.
There's a video version of this episode available at https://youtu.be/0JvJuszeNtU
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The videos and stories we’ve seen and heard from Hurricanes Helene and Milton over the last month have been truly horrific.
They're an important reminder that the rescue and recovery crews who rush into these disaster zones are invaluable...
...as is the work of public affairs crews and reporters who document the aftermath of these storms.
They’re giving the outside world a window in to the carnage, making clear the need for aid, and bearing witness to what we’ve lost.
So in this episode, we're going to explore the sacrifices they make in the line-of-duty, and the psychological—and sometimes physical—toll it takes.
We'll meet Molly McPherson and Mike Moore, two former public affairs professionals for the Federal Emergency Management Agency who were assigned to the Hurricane Ike disaster zone in 2008.
It’s an assignment that would change their lives forever—and nearly cut Molly’s short.
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The image of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding in a tank has become synonymous with abject public relations failure.
For marketers and PR practitioners, it serves as an enduring reminder of the power that our mistakes have to burn down powerful people and institutions in one moment of lapsed judgment.
And in the spirit of the upcoming election, in this episode we'll explore what led up to the catastrophe, and its lasting impact on the world of public relations and marketing, with one Democrat and one Republican, both of whom worked in the White House.
Josh King was a junior staffer on the campaign trail for Team Dukakis '88. He went on to serve as White House events director under Democratic President Bill Clinton.
And Kevin Sullivan was the White House spokesman under the 43rd president, Republican George W. Bush.
Together, they'll shed light on the political legend of Dukakis in a tank, offer up a glimpse behind the scenes of the Clinton and Bush administrations, and remind us of a few other times when the republic teetered on the brink of PR calamity.
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Sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland says we need to relax about the changing nature of language.
In her book, "Like, Literally Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English," she notes that language has always evolved. Every generation adds its own spin, and the English language is almost unrecognizable from what was spoken centuries ago.
And for the most part, we agree.
But Dusty thinks there's a *figurative* line in the sand that should never be crossed: the corruption of the word "literally" in modern English.
We talked to Dr. Fridland for episode 43 of this podcast, where she gave us a brief history of how slang evolves, and why it’s a bad idea for brands to try and co-opt it.
And she was so informative and wonderful and fun to talk to.
But, in this clip that we didn’t have a place for in the episode, Dusty still had to press her about her stance on the word “literally.”
Is Dusty just being a stick-in-the-mud? Or do we need to hold the line on "literally?"
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When you're working with high-profile people in fields like PR, marketing and branding, things are always changing.
History gets uncovered. New information comes to light that changes everything. And sometimes an opportunity comes along to learn just a little bit more about a topic of interest.
So in this episode, we're revisiting three separate tales from Lead Balloon’s four-year run to dig deeper, uncovering some new "holy crap" moments that we never saw coming.
From episode one, we find out how the manager for world-famous-Internet-meme-Grumpy-Cat feels about being cast as the villain on our podcast.
From episode 13, how the Harmon Brothers agency, creators of the viral video ads for the Squatty Potty, have become involved with the rightwing-conspiracy-fueled media landscape of the "Sound of Freedom" film, distributed by Angel Studios, that made headlines in 2023. We also learn that they're working on an eyebrow-raising marketing/entertainment crossover called Homestead, based on the Black Autumn book series. And, we dig in to their other past projects, including Covenant Eyes and VidAngel.
And from episode 40, Dwight Chapin—who served in the Nixon administration and did prison time as part of the Watergate scandal—talks about how he punked Nelson Rockefeller at a political press conference, and shares his sincere regrets about his time in politics.
Plus, we're joined by our old friends, marketer and strategist Kyle Brown and Andrew Julian, senior sports editor for the Messenger, to talk about what's next for Lead Balloon as a podcast.
Cheers to 50 episodes, everyone.
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At the end of his first week working in public relations, Lead Balloon host Dusty Weis did something so dumb, he could have been fired on the spot.
During a meeting with one of his new bosses, prominent Milwaukee politician Jim Bohl, Dusty made a bad assumption and recklessly insulted Jim to his face.
Dusty wasn't fired, and the pair went on to work well together at City Hall for five years.
But they never again spoke about what was said on that fateful day in 2012.
That is, until the launch of Lead Balloon, when they recorded this important conversation about making mistakes, forgiveness and leadership.
So in this remastered early episode of Lead Balloon, Dusty recounts the hilarious tale of the dumbest thing he ever did, with the help of colleague Ken Leiviska.
Then, he and Jim Bohl revisit the insult to note some important lessons for media professionals transitioning into a career in political PR.
And finally, Dusty checks in with two other City Hall officials, city clerk Jim Owczarski and public information manager Bill Arnold, to see just how close he actually came to getting fired in his first week on the job.
Don't forget, I could really use your feedback about the future of the show.
Please take the survey at podcampmedia.com/survey
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UFOs have traditionally been more of a pop culture phenomenon than an actual science.
But with the recent declassification of Navy gun camera footage that shows unexplained craft seeming to defy the laws of flight and physics, there's a growing movement among the aviation, military and science communities.
They insist it's vital to destigmatize the conversation around Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs, which is the preferred nomenclature for the inexplicable occurrences.
Because the craft seem to do things that are impossible for our current level of aeronautical technology, and have interfered with the operation of other aircraft in-flight.
And if they aren't American, they pose a national security threat regardless of whether they're from China, Russia or... somewhere else.
So in this episode, we talk to former Navy Lt. Ryan Graves, the founder of Americans for Safe Aerospace and a former Navy F-18 pilot who has experienced encounters with UAP. He was also one of three experts called to testify at a Congressional hearing in July.
He'll share the things he saw that convinced him that UAP are a serious issue, what made him decide to come forward as the first military pilot to go public with his concerns, and why so many pilots experience UAP but choose not to report it.
Then, we'll discuss how his organization is leading a campaign to destigmatize the conversation, promote UAP reporting, and bring transparency to the issue.
Visit podcampmedia.com/survey to give some feedback about the future of the Lead Balloon Podcast!
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Let's be honest: political groups don't have a great success rate when it comes to their strategic communication tactics.
Every election cycle, American voters are bombarded with mailers, emails and text messages that mostly just get trashed or deleted.
And when a Political Action Committee like NextGen America is charged with reaching out to younger voters, they face an even more substantial task in motivating the perennially under-performing youth vote to make their voices heard.
But this year, NextGen America made headlines nationwide when it leveraged a new, unconventional tactic in its get-out-the-vote efforts for a Wisconsin State Supreme Court race.
Using a small team of staff volunteers, the group reached out to young people on the dating app Hinge, urging them to register and pledge their vote on an app that's typically reserved for romance and relationship seekers.
And, with success in that race, the PAC is now looking to scale up its tactic for the nationwide presidential election next year.
So in this episode, we talk to NextGen America's National Press Secretary Kristi Johnston. She not only pioneered the idea, but led from the front by reaching out to voters on Hinge herself, and she'll share what she learned, how her tactic is different from other forms of youth outreach, and why authenticity is key.
Plus, we meet, Noah Turecek, a young man from Wisconsin who matched with Kristi on Hinge, to get his view.
Visit podcampmedia.com/survey to give some feedback about the future of the Lead Balloon Podcast!
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On January 18, 2018, the entire State of Hawaii received an ear piercing alert on their cell phones.
"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Those with a keen memory will recall that the Aloha State was NOT, in fact, wiped off the map by a missile strike.
It was a false alarm.
But what it revealed about the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system should concern every strategic communicator.
Because while the WEA system has the potential to be a powerful lifesaving tool, it is routinely misused by emergency managers and misunderstood by the public.
With little to no federal oversight, the manner in which this system is used is left up to more than 1,600 local jurisdictions.
As a result, users are being bombarded with too many notifications that are not germane to their immediate safety, and that is conditioning us to ignore potentially life-saving alerts in the future.
So in this episode, we parse lessons from Hawaii's WEA SNAFU with Commander Bhavini Murthy, a medical epidemiologist and researcher with the U.S. Public Health Service, and Dr. John Anderton, the Associate Director for Communication at the Centers for Disease Control’s Office of Readiness and Response.
We learn from an expert on WEA messaging what jurisdictions nationwide are doing incorrectly. Dr. Jeanette Sutton is an Associate Professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the State University of New York at Albany.
And, Dusty works to instigate WEA reforms in his own backyard with Milwaukee County Supervisor Shawn Rolland.
By the way, if you've ever wondered what to do in the event of a nuclear missile strike, here are some resources from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/index.htm
Visit podcampmedia.com/survey to give some feedback about the future of the Lead Balloon Podcast!
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The robot revolution has arrived.
And they're coming for your marketing or content creation job.
The advent of generative artificial intelligence chatbots—most notably tools like Chat GPT and Midjourney—is poised to revolutionize creative industries. These tools use deep learning technology to generate new content based on prompts from human users.
But will this be the end of creativity as we know it, or a new implement to help creative people be even more creative?
In this episode, we hear from "Jess," a copywriter who was laid off from her job at a well-known national logistics company and "replaced by Chat GPT."
And then, we talk to Renato Fernandez, the Chief Creative Officer at the LA-based, global creative agency TBWA / Chiat / Day. They’re a three-time honoree as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, have been recognized thrice as Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year, and are seen as a pioneering leader in the incorporation of generative A.I. into the creative workflow.
Together, Jess and Renato will generate a picture of an industry facing an inflection point...
And, indeed, a battle for its very soul.
We mention an interesting study we saw this week about how human-generated SEO content performs better than A.I.-generated content. You can find that here:
https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/ai-vs-humans-content-writing-seo-experiment/
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Every professional communicator has had a day that seems like it came straight out of a TV sitcom.
For Rob Davis and John R. Montgomery, working at the Chicago ad firm Leo Burnett in the early 2000’s, it was a regular occurrence.
In fact, the stories from their time there were so singular, that when they shot a pilot and pitched it to Hollywood, it was picked up and run as a CBS sitcom starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
From wacky hijinks to high-stakes drama, unbelievable coincidences to larger-than-life personalities, "The Crazy Ones" sourced its comedy from real-life agency anecdotes, amplified by the creative genius of its all-star cast and famed executive producer David E. Kelley.
And Rob and John found themselves on a wild Hollywood ride that would alter the course of both their careers.
In this episode, they tell us what it took to get the project off the ground, what it was like repackaging their professional lives as TV scripts, and how they pitched a new approach to brand integration on television that was years ahead of its time.
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"How do you do, fellow marketers? We think it would be pretty 'on fleek' if you would stop trying to use slang terms to make yourself more relatable to young people."
Certainly, brands swooping in and trying to leverage youth culture to drive sales is nothing new.
But as bad as it was in the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, the advent of social media marketing made it 1000 times worse.
The internet never forgets, and whether it's the "Silence, Brand!" meme or the "How Do You Do, Fellow Kids" Reddit group, the web is littered with examples of companies whose attempts to ingratiate themselves with young people have earned outright scorn instead.
So in this episode, we talk to Holden Jurisich, a 24-year-old Gen Z meme expert, and his dad Jay Jurisich, the founder and creative director of the Zinzin naming and branding agency in San Francisco, to explore case studies of this phenomenon in action.
Plus, sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland explains how this pattern has played out, again and again, over the centuries of English language history.
Because, while you’ll find dozens of articles explaining how to incorporate youth slang into your social media marketing, or urging you to be ironic and self-aware when you speak to Gen Z in their own language, the best advice is and always has been:
Don’t.
Just don’t do it.
Because the kids don't like it.
Check out the blog post by Holden: https://www.zinzin.com/observations/2022/how-do-you-do-fellow-kids-gen-z-speak-in-naming-and-branding/
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Communicating during and about the Covid-19 pandemic is a topic we've discussed several times on this show, including in our most recent episode.
And, as of today, May 11, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus Public Health Emergency is expiring.
But just because Covid is "over" doesn’t mean we won’t still have to discuss it as strategic communicators.
And so in this bonus episode, we bring back someone who has been a voice of reassurance and reason throughout this horrible, three-year ordeal.
Bill Pierce was a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services in the George W. Bush Administration. Today he’s a crisis communications consultant at APCO Worldwide and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.
We'll discuss the nuances you need to understand as a strategic communicator in the "new normal," best practices to keep in mind, and what it all means for the world of business and public policy more broadly.
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When the unstoppable force of online dating met the immovable object of global pandemic social distancing, there was no road map for what would come next.
Michael Kaye is the director of brand and communications for the online dating app OkCupid. And, in the early days of the Covid lockdown, he and his team faced decisions that weighed on no less than the continued existence of the company.
After all, what is a stay-at-home order if not an existential threat to a company whose customers want to get matched up with new people to meet and date?
Facing this and other previously unthinkable realities in 2020, Michael and his team made the bold decision to retool their messaging—and indeed their core operating strategies—to embrace social responsibility over conventional profit.
It was a calculated risk that panned out in the long run, as we'll learn from Michael and a pair of OkCupid users—Lauren Stines and Jake Sandvik—who each have their own stories of love finding a way, even in the midst of global crisis.
Special thanks to London indie musician Garlen Lo for sharing his song, "Lover's Lover" for this episode! Visit www.garlenlo.com to learn more.
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It is now only a matter of time until someone attacks your reputation with a deepfake, according to the experts.
So-called deepfake technology, which can synthesize audio and video of things that never happened, has arrived en masse.
And, while these tools for generating potential disinformation were previously only available to trained experts and big institutions, recent advances in artificial intelligence technology mean that ANYONE can create fake videos... nearly instantly, with little to no training, for FREE.
Accordingly, experts like Dr. Hany Farid from UC-Berkeley say deepfakes are suddenly being used the wage disinformation campaigns every day.
So in this episode, Dr. Farid cites some examples of how deepfake technology is being used to attack important people and institutions, and lays out strategies that strategic communicators can use to try and protect their clients and employers.
We talk to Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, the Emmy-winning film directors who used a viral deepfake of President Richard Nixon to try to warn society about the growing threat, and learn some shocking facts about the technology.
And we meet Noelle Martin, a lawyer, researcher and activist from Australia whose reputation has been targeted with deepfake pornography. Noelle tells us about her efforts to create legal recourse for the non-consenting victims of deepfake porn and her battle to reclaim her reputation.
Because deepfake technology no longer poses a reputation threat "sometime in the next few years."
It poses a threat RIGHT NOW.
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It has been called “The Greatest Speech Never Given.”
Drafted as a contingency plan for President Richard Nixon on the occasion of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the memo entitled "In Event of Moon Disaster" is inarguably a better piece of writing than any of the presidential remarks actually delivered on that day.
Penned by White House speechwriter William Safire, today it is hailed as a work of rhetorical and poetic genius. It has inspired major Hollywood features, played a central role in moon landing anniversary observances, and even been used as a tool to educate information consumers on the dangers posed by deepfake technology.
And yet from July 20, 1969 until its rediscovery in 1999, this striking piece of American history remained buried in obscurity, its brilliance unrecognized among the millions of pages of documents archived from the Nixon administration.
So in this episode of the Lead Balloon podcast, we will track the path of the "Greatest Speech Never Given," from William Safire's desk, to Nixon's Chief of Staff, to its disappearance from and re-emergence in the national discourse.
Dwight Chapin, who served as Deputy Assistant to President Nixon and helped plan the Public Relations strategy for the moon landing, will tell us more about his colleague Bill Safire, and how they positioned the moon landing from a strategic communication context.
Joe Lopez, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Richard Nixon Foundation, will discuss the memo's rediscovery and display in the Nixon Presidential Library.
And Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, co-directors of the viral Emmy-winning short film “In Event of Moon Disaster,” will discuss their decision to reimagine the remarks by using deepfake technology to synthesize a video of Richard Nixon actually delivering the momentous speech.
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There’s a disturbing new trend making waves in the world of online content creation.
Corporate blogs, mom-and-pop business websites, podcasts…
Even stuff that you posted years ago to your personal website or social media.
It’s now being examined, sifted through and screened by artificial intelligence bots, which are programmed to search for copyright violations.
The practice has become known as “copyright trolling,” and when the bots find copyrighted images, they send a letter or email demanding payment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to settle the claim, threatening costly litigation if the recipient does not swiftly comply.
And for the unsuspecting, often well-meaning online creators who receive these letters, it can be a disruptive, scary and expensive experience.
Working on behalf of copyright holders like the AP and the AFP, companies like PicRights and Higbee & Associates may have outdated copyright laws on their side. But according to our guests in this episode, that doesn't make their practices ethical or moral.
Pierre-Nicolas Schwab is a Belgium-based marketer, technologist and business consultant, and the founder of the market research firm Into the Minds. He has blogged about his experience being accosted by PicRights, and exhaustively researched the company and its methods.
And Caroline Fox is the principal attorney at CJFox Law in Richmond, Virginia. With an agency background in public relations and social media, she now works as an attorney specializing in copyright, trademarks and advertising / media compliance, and has advised numerous clients who have received demand letters from PicRights.
Together, we'll explore how these operations work, what the implications are, and how to protect yourself. Because, if you or your company creates content on the internet, you might be surprised to learn just how vulnerable you are to copyright trolling.
Subscribe to the Podcamp Media e-newsletter for regular updates on what we've got cooking.
And check out these wacky results from when we asked an A.I. to draw "Evil Robot Copyright Lawyers" for us.
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Now with 50% new footage!
During Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Bud Light launched a new advertising strategy that was... unconventional, even for them.
Instead of frogs or "wazzap" guys or silly superstitions, this campaign focused on attacking Bud Light's rivals for using corn syrup to brew their beers. Stranger still, outside observers noted that the beer giant borrowed other conventions from the world of political mudslinging, twisting facts, doubling down on vague talking points and attempting to build a consensus against Miller Lite and Coors Light.
But the brewing barons at Anheuser-Busch didn't count on the little guys... specifically, members of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) who took exception to the attacks and rallied to the defense of MillerCoors.
We've remastered this classic Lead Balloon episode to add the perspective of new key players, including:
MillerCoors (now called Molson Coors) Chief Communications Officer Adam Collins
NCGA CEO Jon Doggett
NCGA past president Kevin Ross
Additionally, we've refined the original storytelling with NCGA VP of communications Neil Caskey, Brewers Association spokesman Paul Gatza, and friend-of-the-show Kyle Brown. Together, we'll break down the ultimate failures of "the Corn Syrup Wars," untwist the misleading claims made in Bud Light's ads, and detail the long-term ramifications for all the brands involved.
Subscribe to the Podcamp Media e-newsletter for regular updates on what we've got cooking.
Listen to the NCGA Podcast episode from which our new footage was sourced.
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It's been a busy year here at Podcamp Media.
So busy, in fact, that we almost forgot to recognize a pretty significant milestone in Dusty's career.
20 years ago, Dusty got his first job behind a microphone. He was 17-years-old, working an after school gig at his local radio station in Monroe, Wisconsin, when he was afforded the opportunity to voice the overnight shift and eventually ride the news desk.
It ignited a passion for storytelling and audio that has guided his career ever since—during his 10 years in the radio business, then his career in public relations and content marketing, and finally in his role as founder of Podcamp Media and host of Lead Balloon. Connecting with and serving an audience has always been a guiding star.
So in this this bonus episode, Dusty calls up his first audio boss, Scott Thompson—co-owner of Big Radio in Monroe and afternoon show host—to talk about those formative experiences, lessons, people and memories that set the stage for every step in his career that would come after.
Plus, we dig into the archive and pull out a few audio clips from early in Dusty's career, just for giggles.
Lead Balloon will be back with new episodes in 2023.
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