Edge of Reason

New Blog Home - Follow me

2011-11-11T15:05:00.000-04:00

Moving this blog to a new home. Thanks so much and see you in the new digs! Coffee Cup Communications

A is for Apple (Not the Fruit)

2011-11-02T06:38:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, I read an article about a recent study that showed kids between the ages of 2-5 are more likley to be skilled in in the ins and outs of a smartphone, than they are with the ins and outs of tying their shoes, which in past generations was a learning/development milestone. So when I saw this image this morning, I chuckled. Signs of the times!! How ancient our childhood joys must

The Evolution of Evaluation...or is it?

2011-07-01T15:54:00.001-04:00

On 21 April 2007, GlaxoSmithKline started a communications revolution when the pharmaceutical giant became the first company listed on the FTSE 100 share index to send a tweet. Eight months later, on 5 December 2007, Carnival Cruises set sail on its Facebook adventure, becoming the first FTSE 100 company to establish a presence on the social networking site. Today, 67 members of the FTSE 100

JetBlue Continues to Differentiate its Brand

2011-05-09T21:04:00.000-04:00

With the simple tagline of "If you wouldn't take it on the ground, don't take it in the air", JetBlue has been attempting to differentiate itself from its competitors. The ads which are clearly YouTube-ready are simple and challenge some of the unpopular airline policies which many travellers complain about - simply by transferring them to the random chore of taking a NY taxi or buying a soda. It

How Do You Measure PR?

2011-03-30T06:20:00.000-04:00

PR Measurement is critical and not an option! I have found recently that in doing assignments, with limited word counts, that one of the shortest sections, if not the shortest section is usually the Evaluation and Measurement section. Much goes into the strategy and tactics sections, with details going into the appendices, but the poor Evaluation section suffers. In real life, it shouldn't and

Rock the Red Pump

2011-03-09T16:42:00.000-04:00

I ran across the Red Pump Project a few weeks ago while blog hopping and thought it was such a fun and creative way to get women talking about HIV/AIDS. I mean really...what do most women love, if not shoes? I think having an excuse to wear a pair of red heels is great on a normal day. Wearing your killer ruby reds to raise awareness about how HIV/AIDS affects women and girls around the world is

Master's Dissertation and the Increasingly Vast Communications Word Cloud

2011-02-16T13:51:00.000-04:00

So you've gone through one full semester and part of a second and you have been exposed to theories and case studies and group projects and brainstorming. You have gotten excited over parts of a module and depressed over an entire module and it all leads up to one defining moment. The selection of a dissertation topic. It is probably the single most stressful moment of your academic career. And

Lights. Camera. Fashion. And the evolution of media relations

2011-02-12T08:04:00.001-04:00

Photo credit: AP Photo/Andrew Burton via Yahoo News Hair. Makeup. Couture. Press. Publicists. Bloggers. New York Fashion Week is on and what I love about this is how the media landscape has changed from a few years ago to what it is now. Social media has changed the face of media relations across the PR industry. Gone are the days when having a by-line in a newspaper made you the most

Valentine's Day - 2011 style

2011-02-09T09:04:00.004-04:00

I found this great video by the always great Socialnomics, and it was too cute not to share. Also a rewind to the past.

Public Relations - Does it Make Cents?

2011-02-01T07:06:00.000-04:00

While doing research on a project over the past week, I realised that the question of budgets for PR was a nebulous one in the literature. So of course I went to the real world via Twitter and the feedback was not that surprising. In my own experience, over the course of a few different jobs in both the private and public sectors, the process around PR budgets varied. In one role, we had a flat

Return of a PR Superstar

2011-01-09T05:32:00.000-04:00

I must first apologise to everyone for being such a bad host. I have been beyond busy and the blog was a victim of my new life. But I promised that 2011 would see me doing much better so please accept my apologies and give me another chance! I guess I should tell you that I am now a full time Masters student in London - in what else? Communications (with a lot of Marketing as well). I have been

Trade-off: No Frills, No Thrills

2010-08-23T07:50:00.001-04:00

On my recent vacation I had cause to use Ryanair for the first time ever. Here was an opportunity to be impressed. Now one may think that you pay for what you get with a low cost airline such as Ryanair, but really...has it come to this? I did not expect the frills and the pomp and ceremony, but I did not expect what I got either. The check-in process was terrifyingly bad, long and torturous, and

Village to Village: Doing Right by Animals and Our Brand

2010-08-19T08:45:00.000-04:00

My BFF is part of a great initiative in Tobago, which is aimed at reducing the stray animal population in the sister isle of Tobago, and promote animal welfare on the island. It is always such a big thing for me more as a Trini, and not so much as a huge, gooey dog lover myself (I cannot see a dog and pass it straight), to travel and see animals treated well - I mean beyond the normal boundaries

20 years later...

2010-07-27T11:25:00.000-04:00

Though I am miles away from Trinidad and Tobago, and actually since I am on vacation, I have zero idea of dates and stuff like that but it was a Facebook status update that reminded me that 20 years ago, our lives were irrevocably changed forever to varying extents. The degree of where we have changed as a nation is still under examination but I wrote this last year on the anniversary of one of

Out on Vacation

2010-07-14T10:27:00.000-04:00

If there are any earth shattering developments in social media or PR or marketing or anything fun, leave me a comment. Take care. I'll be back with you in about a month's time.

This Time for Africa

2010-07-12T07:23:00.000-04:00

One month, 64 games and 145 goals later, the world's biggest event is over. Dry those eyes and pack away those vuvuzelas because you have to wait another 4 years until the next one. But what a World Cup it has been. I think this tournament will be one that will be remembered for years, for a variety of reasons - footballing and non-footballing reasons. But I think as the sun goes down on this

Bringing Pretty Plaques to Life

2010-07-09T06:34:00.000-04:00

Effective leadership means connecting the dots for employees - David Grossman This is the truth. Too often, strategies and plans fail because the executioners do not fully understand the direction. Yes, they may have a brief which outlines what is required. Yes, they may have the tools to complete the given task. But do they fully understand the importance, the impact, the background - the why,

On Sale: Your Small Business

2010-07-08T06:39:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, my mum and I had a Mum/Daughter shopping day and I had not been to Grand Bazaar since the interchange was opened cause frankly, I did not know how to get in. lol. But in any event, we made and during our mummy/baby adventures, we checked out a new store - J&K Signature Styles, which had only opened at its second location that same week. Needless to say I got some very nice

White is apparently Right in China...or is it?

2010-06-25T07:33:00.001-04:00

This morning a somewhat interesting story caught my attention on BBC (did I ever mention that I love BBC and that I dress with my tv on BBC, and then listen to it on the radio on my drive to work?). White guy in a tie. I am sure some of you already know about it but for those of you who don't, it's basically white men for hire in China - paid to wear a suit, go press palms with Chinese

Out of Touch with the Public's Reality

2010-06-23T07:07:00.000-04:00

Though I have been caught up with the football, I am still in touch with the rest of the world. This is more than I can say for Tony Hayward, who thought it would be a good idea to go boating in an elite yachting event while barrels and barrels of oil gush into the ocean. It says a lot about not just Tony Hayward but about executives in general. There are many senior executives who somewhere

Licence to Kill. Licence to Tweet.

2010-06-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

Even with the football fever gripping my senses, I am still aware that the world is not a giant football revolving around the sun. The news headline on BBC news that morning was "Utah executes convicted murderer by Firing Squad". I have a host of other issues with this story but one of the most talked about aspects of it is definitely the tweet heard around the world. Many people felt the

PR Blues - The Fall of the French Football Team

2010-06-21T07:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the problems for Les Bleus continued to escalate with the team refusing to participate in a public training session. The expulsion of one of their players, Nicholas Anelka seems to have been the last straw in an already tenuous situation. The entire debacle does nothing for the image of the French and has attracted the scorn of global onlookers who have labelled the team as "

Don't Hog the Ball: Adopting the Football Model in Business

2010-06-18T06:51:00.001-04:00

Football is a team game; it always has been and it always will be. Having good positional sense, communication skills, and an awareness of where your teammates are is far more important than being able to perform a step over or shoot effectively from 30 yards or more. - Bleacher Report And like football, communications in an organisation requires teamwork and the ability to create synergies

The World Cup's PR superstar

2010-06-16T07:04:00.000-04:00

The 2010 World Cup is in full swing and the matches so far, in my opinion have not been as exciting as hoped, but it's only the first round so I am not too worried. But the REAL buzz of the tournament so far has been the loud, unapologetic and fancy-free vuvu. The vuvuzela has been creating quite a riot - literally and otherwise - in this year's World Cup. Many people are irritated by the noise

USA vs England: Perception vs Reality

2010-06-15T06:34:00.002-04:00

So the NY Post debuted this now infamous cover on Sunday after the USA drew 1-1 with England at the World Cup on Saturday. Now, to say this cover annoyed me initially would be an understatement. I mean, a draw is not a win, not by any stretch of the imagination. That's just reality. A draw does not give you 3 points, but merely 1, and furthermore, the quality of the goal which brought the USA