Episodes
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Matt Prince, senior PR manager of Taco Bell.
After internet outrage when Taco Bell removed its Mexican Pizza from the menu in 2020, the company knew it had to bring it back. The brand reached out to rapper Doja Kat, who had posted multiple times on Twitter about missing the Mexican Pizza, and signed her up as a brand partner, recording a TikTok video and doing some Twitter posts. Then Doja Kat announced Mexican Pizza was coming back at her Coachella performance this year.
To keep the momentum going, the brand is also doing Mexican Pizza: The Musical with Dolly Parton’s involvement, which was initially postponed because the relaunch campaign was so successful Taco Bell couldn’t keep up with demand.
Coffee Break topics:
- Origins of Mexican Pizza
- Keeping your other brands separate
- Logistics of bringing the Mexican Pizza back
- Advice for others that want to take a leap of faith with an idea
- Ensuring you’re on the same page with marketing
- Incorporating your partners to help deliver an activation
- Musical and Dolly Parton’s involvement
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This week on Coffee Break, Hirsch reveals the secret sauce inside his new versatile, agile, generalist agency.
Hirsch, together with Evan Leatherwood (duos at SJR, Hill+ Knowlton and WPP), set up their very own shop in December 2020. Today, with a staff of 20 based out of an office in midtown Manhattan and a suite of services steeped in media relations, content and strategic comms, the agency is thriving. In this week’s Coffee Break, Hirsch opines on talent recruitment, the tech boom migration and creating a flexible culture that embraces a positive work/life balance.
Podcast topics
- Creating a small team of nimble, versatile, generalists with the ability to create efficiencies, greater value and engagement.
- Experimenting with the work week to avoid burnout and integrating programs to ensure success for every member of the team.
- The tech boom migration from Silicon Valley to Miami, Austin, LA and Canada too!
- Hirsch Leatherwood’s tactics for less fire drills and work-free weekends.
- Why investing in talent will become even more crucial for building out teams, culture and attracting long-term growth.
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Gulden Mesara, chief marketing and communications officer at City of Hope.
She talks about starting her new role during Covid, in fall 2020, and how the pandemic affected other parts of the health system, such as cancer care, and people's declining likelihood to keep up to their regular appointments, the implications of that and how to communicate around it
Coffee Break topics:
- Mesara’s new role and what attracted her to it
- Having a joint communications and marketing role
- Moving around for work
- How did Covid impact your new role?
- Anything you did during this time that you are specifically proud of?
- Did anything change as a result of Covid, and if so has it stuck around to today?
- Diversity and health equity, how different classes are impacted and what did City of hope do to bridge these gaps?
- How do you get the message out that healthcare is accessible to all?
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Patrick discusses the importance of having role models in the C-suite and why purposeful business is good business.
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Lou Hoffman, president and CEO of The Hoffman Agency.
Hoffman discusses an unprecedented year of growth at the firm, with revenue increasing 41% to more than $28 million. He expects the trend to continue this year with 50% growth in the U.S. and more than 30% globally.
Hoffman also talks about the agency's plans to return to the office on June 14 on a fully flexible and hybrid schedule structured around an aspiration to be in-office two days a week.
Coffee Break topics:
- The beginning of the agency and what Silicon Valley was like in 1987
- An outstanding year of revenue growth
- The work that is driving the growth
- Was media relations the majority of work when the agency was founded?
- How the media landscape has changed since 1987
- Have other agencies gone away or evolved?
- Surveying employees
- Going back to the office in June
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Ben LaBolt, partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive.
LaBolt was named an advisor to the Biden White House earlier this year to assist in the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, and he was press secretary for the Obama re-election campaign. He also worked on the Rahm Emanuel Chicago mayoral election campaign in 2010.
LaBolt used his digital campaigning experience to start The Incite Agency in 2013, which was acquired by Bully Pulpit Interactive in 2016.
Coffee Break topics:
- Working on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination
- How the process has changed over the past 10 years
- Highlights from Jackson’s nomination process
- Elon Musk and Twitter
- How has social media influenced politics?
- Advice for brands when customers and employees want to know their political stance
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Huq reflects on the world NFTs contribute to, and he responds to accusations from environmentalists about the sustainability of NFTs and Bitcoin. He also previews VeeCon, which takes place this month in Minneapolis.
Coffee Break topics:
- Huq’s new role at the company
- The future of NFTs
- Are NFTs the modern version of collectibles?
- What brand managers should look for when considering NFTs
- Consumer brands that have caught Huq’s eye
- Environmental impact of business
- VeeCon event this month
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Dave Tovar, SVP, communications & government relations, GrubHub.
He talks about the reputational issues facing the food delivery industry, particularly after the front-page article of New York magazine last September that detailed the fraught lives of NYC-based delivery workers.
Coffee Break topics:
- Why the move from McDonalds and how is it?
- The importance of delivery drivers
- What is Grubhub doing to make drivers' lives easier?
- Some of the things Tovar is doing to put ideas into action
- Other businesses Tovar and Golin have worked together
- In your sector, are you seeing how important PR jobs are and how your employees value their jobs?
- Retaining talent
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Leela Stake, global head of FH4Inclusion and global co-lead of True Mosaic.
Stake, one of PRWeek’s 2022 Women to Watch, stopped by during Celebrate Diversity Month to discuss diversity in all its forms, across ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability. FH4Inclusion is FleishmanHillard's pro-bono arm that works with clients that can’t afford to hire a global PR firm. In 2020, FH4 joined forces with True Mosaic, Fleishman’s DE&I comms practice. FH4 has provided more than 30,000 hours of pro-bono services.
Coffee Break topics:
- Background on FH4Inclusion
- Working with people spread out around the globe
- What are you doing for Celebrate Diversity Month in April?
- Following through with previous diversity promises
- What work are you most proud of?
- Working with the African American Policy Forum
- Navigating (on behalf of clients) the division of people and opinions in the world
- Businesses and their morals post-George Floyd’s murder
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Coffee Break topics:
- Tells us about Lavoie and how the company did in 2021
- Company name and how that reflects the work LavoieHealthScience does
- References to work that supports what Lavoie was speaking on in the last answer
- Launching an IR Practice
- Boston’s market & where LavoieHealthScience fits in
- How has covid-19 impacted people and their perception on healthcare
- How does innovation thrive without in person meetings?
- Returning to the office
- Health Equity in healthcare and LavoieHealthScience’s contribution to it
- Future endeavors you are excited for
Follow us on twitter: @PRWeekUS
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Miroslava Gribova, deputy MD, Be-it Agency
Be—it Agency is one of the leading communication consultancies in Ukraine and part of a consulting group One Philosophy. The agency has 18 years of experience in building reputations for its clients and is a Weber Shandwick affiliate in Ukraine. Clients can trust Be-It Agency with strategic consultancy for change and a resilient future, building an authentic reputation, creative solutions and integrated campaigns development and implementation, sustainability programs design and roll-out, and crisis and CEO communications. With a team of over 40 experts, we have an in-house strategy, creative, design & production, events, and content distribution.
Coffee Break topics:
- The current situation in Ukraine
- Be-it Agency, it’s people, what they do and what happened to them once war struck
- Gribova’s husband still in Kyiv
- What would you like to see the international community/businesses do to help Ukraine?
- Misinformation about war
- Protests from Russia that are anti-war
- Thoughts on President Zelenskyy
- Campaign for McDonalds and why it is important to Gribova
- Why did you want the campaign to still be a part of global awards with the war?
- Revisiting how businesses can help Ukraine creative industries
Follow us on twitter @PRWeekUS
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Coffee Break topics:
- Intro to Haun Ventures
- Crypto
- Different forms of Crypto
- Is Andreessen a part of this fund?
- Any potential future investments?
- Biggest misconception about crytpo and web free?
Follow us on twitter @PRWeekUS
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Coffee Break topics:
- The history of Havas Formula
- A difficult time followed by a turning point
- Being a general market agency
- Why did you gravitate toward the Havas team?
- Future plans with the company
- The new work environment post-COVID-19
- Does every region have their own rules for returning to the office?
- Where PR fits into Havas
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Coffee Break topics:
- Starting a new job in a new city during COVID-19
- Companies making the work environment more convenient for employees
- A record year financially at Mattel
- Approach to content and IP
- Barbie as an icon and how her role has changed to meet today’s standards
- How are agencies supporting Barbie's new role?
- How do you sway people that purpose can also be profitable?
- Employee engagement and the role of upper management
- Navigating hybrid work
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Coffee Break topics:
- Intro to Morning Consult and its growth
- Decision intelligence and its birthplace in a modern world
- What stands out in the last week in your data collection, and did any data surprise you?
- What does your data show in regards to how Americans can agree more?
- How to ensure your data isn’t biased and represents people as a whole
- Opening new offices and designing them to attract employees back to the office
- Tips for employers in service industries on bringing employees back to the office
- What’s next for Morning Consult?
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Coffee Break topics:
- Overview of Imre
- Trends in the PR world
- Working with regulations in the pharmaceutical industry
- How does the accessibility of information for everyday people change how PR agencies are able to do their work?
- How has healthcare and pharma changed due to COVID-19?
- Changes in pharma marketing
- Finding cures to cancers and HIV
- Tips for writing a speech and being a speechwriter
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Coffee Break topics:
- How have the last couple years been for Kite Hill PR?
- Retaining workers in today’s uncertain climate
- Do clients have any sway when it comes to hybrid work at agencies?
- Running an agency during a time when many women are leaving the workforce
- Kite Hill’s clients and the trends being seen within the focus of our environment
- The future of live events
- Things to be on the lookout for in PR
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Art Stevens, managing partner, The Stevens Group.
Stevens talks about the world of PR agency acquisitions — a hot topic right now — and what he is seeing in the marketplace. The interview includes advice for those considering selling their agency, the different types of deal, why deals can go sour and pitfalls to avoid, and more.
Stevens has been a PR agency M&A consultant for 15 years, having sold his own firm — LobsenzStevens — to Publicis Groupe in 1999.
Coffee Break topics:
- About The Stevens Group and the role Art Stevens plays in the company.
- How does a deal come about and what do you do for clients?
- PR agencies’ overall rise in business and the M&A market’s impact
- Private equity firms vs. PR agencies as buyers and how business is different
- Biggest differences going with a private equity deal or going with an agency
- Previous leaders staying on with a company after being acquired vs. new leadership
- Pros and cons of a company making many acquisitions over a short window of time
- Stagwell Group and Finn Partners investment
- Real Chemistry’s growth
- What is the difference in doing business with major holding companies?
- Tips for companies looking to sell and pitfalls to watch out for
- How to not let being acquired overshadow the quality of your business and the attention you give clients
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Stephanie Crockett, president & COO, Mower.
The Syracuse, New York-based executive assumed the role of president and CCO in June 2021, after 17 years at the agency, which has 10 offices in the U.S., including five across New York State.
Crockett identifies trends in public affairs and healthcare PR, pinpoints the biggest misconceptions about life and PR outside the big metropolitan areas and talks about the population exodus from big cities during the pandemic. She also talks about CEO and chairman Eric Mower and his ongoing role in his eponymous firm since its founding in 1968.
Coffee Break topics:
- Crockett’s experience since taking over as president at Mower in June 2021
- Current status of remote and hybrid working and expectations for the future
- Biggest challenges over the pandemic and hopes for future opportunities
- Trends in public affairs and healthcare
- PR scene around the country — i.e., small town vs. large city — and things that fly under the radar that need more recognition
- Biggest misconceptions of industry outside of big cities
- Predictions on whether people will move back into the cities after leaving
- Eric Mower’s current role with the company
- Advertising marketing and PR roles within Mower
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This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Chris Gidez, founding partner of G7 Reputation Advisory.
Gidez is a 30-year industry veteran with stints at Chevron, Texaco, Caterpillar, Hill+Knowlton Strategies and Edelman. He discusses the big debate around climate change, whether PR and advertising agencies should work with clients that still operate in the fossil fuel space, freedom of speech and the right to representation.
He refutes accusations that the energy sector perpetuates climate deception and argues that communicators in-house and at agencies supporting them should play a key role in evolving their energy transition strategies. He also points to significant progress in the automotive sector in looking beyond carbon.
Coffee Break topics:
- Gidez and his background in the industry
- Climate change and fossil fuels
- How to help companies in the fossil fuel industry expand into new green policies
- How oil and gas differ from the tobacco industry
- Undercover Exxon lobbyist
- Solutions for a more sustainable future
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