Author Archives: Jeff Wilson

5 Simple Tips to Make Corporate Anniversaries More Meaningful

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
Last night, Tina Fey and the gang at “30 Rock” celebrated the show’s 100th episode. The episode was full of the standard anniversary clip montages and the ubiquitous lineup of guest stars including Michael Keaton, Rachel Ray, Matt Lauer, Brian Williams, Tom Hanks and Dean Winters, the actor who stars [...]

Social Media Lessons Businesses Can Learn from Jimmy Fallon

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
If you live in Richmond, Va., – or know someone from here – it’s evident that the place has been caught up this week in a haze of excitement about Virginia Commonwealth University’s improbable berth in the NCAA Final Four.
Tuesday night, as I was watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he [...]

15 Tips to Land That First Job in PR (Reloaded)

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
About this time of the year, our agency, CRT/tanaka, gets inundated with resumes from eager, young college students inquiring about internship opportunities and entry-level positions. Because of the economic downtown over the past few years, the outlook for new college graduates hasn’t been very good, which certainly includes jobs in public [...]

With 51% of men saying they are chief grocery shoppers, why are marketers still ignoring us?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
I love to cook. I would never describe myself as a “foodie,” but I enjoy cooking. I find it mildly therapeutic.  After a long and stressful day at work, I enjoy going home and whipping up a tasty meal. On weekends, when I have more time, I enjoy cracking open a [...]

Pop 2.0: Is Social Media Creating the Next Dot-Com Bubble?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
Last year, I celebrated my 10th anniversary with my agency, CRT/tanaka. I was hired as a member of our then-Tech Practice, right at the height of the dot-com bubble. It was a heady time for PR. In many ways, we were meandering through an unchartered territory – much like the Old [...]

5 Tips to Turn Employees into Corporate Brand Ambassadors

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
In September, my PR firm – CRT/tanaka – brought together the employees from our five offices for a corporate retreat. Along with providing quality professional development and strategic planning sessions, the retreat was a great way to interact with co-workers outside the confines of the office or a conference call.
The retreat [...]

Is PR Ready to Adopt a Standard Set of Measurement Principles?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (wilson0507)
I returned Tuesday evening from Washington, D.C. invigorated after attending the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Conference. The conference offered great learning and networking opportunities with my peers in the PR industry. However, this year, the most intriguing session I attended wasn’t actually listed in the official conference guide.
I [...]

Are Churches and Other Houses of Worship Taking Full Advantage of Social Media?

By Jeff Wilson (@wilson0507)
Lately, I’ve been thinking a great deal about religion in this social media age in which we live. Last week, someone I went to high school with – but hadn’t seen in years – sent me a Facebook request to “like” her church. At first, I was a little surprised by the [...]

What’s in a name? As BP works to rebuild its image, could a name change be inevitable?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
In Shakespeare’s classic “Romeo and Juliet,” it was fair Juliet who quipped, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” While this may have held true for star-crossed lovers in Shakespearean times, the same doesn’t hold true for corporations operating [...]

Are U.S. brands and businesses ready to embrace QR Codes in a big way?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)
For a while now, I’ve been reading about Quick Response or QR codes and have been intrigued by the technology. What exactly are QR codes and what do they do?
The technology isn’t new. QR codes were first developed in 1994 by Japanese company Denso Wave and are stylized barcodes that can [...]