Insight

African Textiles Make Their Way onto the Fashion Runway

African textiles have long demonstrated a unique artisanship and not-easily-replicated patterns, varying throughout the years in reflection of the continent’s rich but vacillating history of turmoil and peace.

Will the EU’s Ban on Animal Testing Affect the U.S. Market?

The recent European Union decision to ban imports of all animal tested cosmetics has the rest of the world wondering whether other major players – including the U.S. – will follow suit. Is it only a matter of time before the ban catches on in those countries? Or will it take a serious impact on sales to convince the pair of economic heavyweights to see the light?

Celebrities Use the Old Song-and-Dance to Pitch Cleaner Products

Products that “sell themselves” rarely need anyone to know that a famous person likes them, too. Can celebrity endorsements of products help to mitigate a lack of scientific evidence? Or are there other factors at work that have the effect of popularizing products of little or questionable value?

Are Beauty Bloggers Shifting the Spotlight of Fashion Week?

Fashion bloggers have firmly established their place along the runway at New York’s semi-annual Fashion Week. But with beauty bloggers making their way backstage, will press coverage of the event broaden to the beauty beat?

Rolling Out Shock and Awe in the Fight Against Unhealthy Living

The British government recently began running shock advertisements intended to fight the twin evils of obesity and smoking. But can shock alone convince people to give up bad habits for good?

Client or Employee Satisfaction: The Business Balancing Act

What’s the key to success – employees or customers? Of course they are both true. There is not just one ingredient to business success, there are several. The Balanced Scorecard approach, for example, lists four areas of focus that a business must balance in order to succeed over the long term: employees, customers, finances, and processes.

3 Important Public Relations & Communications Trends for 2013

The public relations industry continues to evolve. Marketing, communications and social media have played an important role in this evolution. Agencies are finding themselves diversifying beyond traditional PR and integrating other disciplines to continue their relevancy in the field.

Refining Your “Elevator Speech”

Have you ever had the opportunity present itself where you have one chance to share an important message? Or have to connect with someone quickly, whether it’s a one-on-one meeting or in front of a large group?

Will Lance Armstrong Restore His Image, Or Tarnish It Forever?

After losing the respect of competitors and fans following an explosive report that he used performance enhancing drugs, disgraced cycling champ Lance Armstrong looks to clean up his PR train wreck, complete with noxious chemicals, by chatting up Oprah Winfrey. But will the toxic cloud over Armstrong’s head fade away, or spread its poison forever?

Half-Truths, Spin & Propaganda: Why PR Needs to Embrace the Quest for Truth

Corporations have all kinds of checks and balances to prevent misrepresentation of information, from lawyers to government to their consumers. There’s no reason that public relations can’t operate as one of these arms. In fact, it is our duty to ensure that what the public hears is true.