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Howard Bragman, the legendary Los Angeles public relations consultant and PR guru passed away from leukemia on February 11, 2023, at the age of 66.

Bragman was known for his pioneering work in the field of public relations, helping to shape the image of numerous celebrities, politicians, and organizations over his long and distinguished career. In his honor, we are bumping this interview with him from our archives to the top of our show feed.

Born in Flint, Michigan on February 24, 1956, Bragman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and quickly made a name for himself in the world of public relations. He founded his own firm, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (BNC), in 1989, and over the years, his clients included a veritable who's who of Hollywood, including Cameron Diaz, Paula Abdul, Stevie Wonder, Sharon Osbourne, Monica Lewinsky, Joe Manganiello, Anna Kendrick, Terrence Howard, Ricki Lake and Melissa Rivers.

Bragman was also a trailblazer in the area of LGBTQ+ representation, working with many LGBTQ+ clients and advocating for greater visibility and acceptance of the community in the media. In 1993, he famously helped Ellen DeGeneres come out as gay on her television show, becoming a leading advocate in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

In addition to his work in public relations, Bragman was also a sought-after media commentator and author, writing several books on the topic of reputation management and appearing on numerous television and radio programs to offer his insights on current events and the entertainment industry. Bragman was an Adjunct Professor in Public Relations at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center for Communication.

Bragman was known for his sharp wit, his tireless work ethic, and his unwavering commitment to his clients. He was widely respected in the industry for his integrity, professionalism, and dedication to the craft of public relations.

Bragman is survived by his husband, Chuck O'Donnell, as well as by his sister, Marcy, and his brother, Barry. He will be deeply missed by his family, his colleagues, and his many friends and admirers in the world of public relations and beyond.

In this podcast, which I recorded with Howard 20 years ago when the internet was just becoming a business communications tool, and he spoke about the impact of on-demand media consumption, and how the shift from appointment-driven to on-demand news consumption makes it more important for public relations consultants to focus ensuring that clients' messages are reaching their target audience, regardless of how or when they consume the content.

Bragman also mentioned that PR is doing a better job than mainstream advertising in utilizing technology to spread the word for clients. However, he cautioned that information on the web can be like cotton candy and urged PR consultants to consider the source and medium when placing stories.

When we spoke, he had just sold BNC to Weber Shandwick, and launched his boutique agency FifettenMinutesbased on Andy Warhols predication that in the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.

Hear the Secrets of Successful PR Howard Bragman, founder of BNC, Bragman, Nyman and Cafarelli, and Fifteenminutes, posthumous in this historical episode of the On the Record Online podcast with Eric Schwartzman.

In this episode of For Immediate Release B2B, Paul Gillin and Eric Schwartzman interview SAP Head of Social Business Sarah Goodall and discuss the risks of relying on social networks to deliver news in a democracy, Sprinklr's Get Satisfaction acquisition, Meerkat and Periscope.

Fair use is an essential tool for journalists, enabling them to draw upon copyrighted material in the name of the public’s right to know. But who decides what constitutes fair use in a medium that spans the globe?

It turns out that many platform providers are designating themselves as judge, jury and executioner. If you’ve ever had a video removed from YouTube because it included a clip from a popular song, you’ll be interested in how the story plays out.

Facebook’s plan to host content from major media outlets may bring the issue of content ownership to the fore.

Sprinklr is acquiring Get Satisfaction, demonstrating how important customer reviews have become to both social media listening and promotion. Get Satisfaction has signed up a blue-chip base of customers that use its embedded review service not only to gather feedback but to drive sales from peer recommendations. Interestingly, companies that host reviews on their own commerce sites tend to generate better feedback than those that don’t.

Have you tried Meerkat or Periscope yet? Many marketers are beginning to tinker with the new tools of live streaming, and we expect to soon see an explosion of innovative content as a result. Here’s a tutorial to get you started.

Special Guest: Sarah Goodall, Head of Social Business, EMEA, SAP

Employee brand advocacy programs are difficult enough to implement when your people all speak the same language and live in the same country, but what do you do when you program spans dozens of borders, languages and cultures? That’s the task that special guest Sarah Goodall of SAP tackles in her role as Head of Social Business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Sarah’s experience will be of interest to any communications professional who works with a multicultural audience. You’ll be particularly interested to hear her observations on the characteristics of specific cultures, from the outgoing social networkers in Italy to the intensely private Scandinavians.

Morgan Stanley’s recent decision to loosen the reign for their financial advisers on Twitter is the latest in a long list financial services social media case studies. Last December, FINRA fined Barclays $3.75M for system is record keeping and email retention failure.

And last June, the regulator warned investors against trading on “pump-and-dump” emails. The finance industry has their social media conferences and consultants. Because of specific finance industry rules and regs like FINRA 10-06 and 11-39 and SEC Risk Alert: Investment Adviser Use of Social Media, using social media in financial services must be in accordance with applicable advertising, account origination and document retention requirements.  

Mike Langford (@MikeLangford) is the CEO of finservMarketing and a financial services industry veteran with 20 years of experience in roles spanning customer service, finance and investment advice and management at Fidelity Investments, State Street Corporation, The Pioneer Group and BFDS.  In this episode, he explains how Certified Financial Planners, Investment Advisers and Bankers can use social media effectively and responsibly. Social Media for Financial Services Topics Discussed:

Who regulates how financial service companies use social mediaDifference between social media guidelines and actual, enforceable lawSocial media compliance requirements for financial services providersHow to satisfy social media archival and supervisory requirementsResponsibilities for financial services over static vs. interactive social media postsBest practices for originating new accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter and FacebookRegulating advertising and public appearances, which social media is consideredAvoiding adopting or becoming entangled with social networking sitesCompliance through policy and social media training for financial servicesHow to make you’re prepared to comply with random FINRA spot checksAnd much, much more

Photo by Claire Anderson on Unsplash

Ideally, you want someone with a neutral point of view editing Wikipedia entries, not PR firms clandestinely gussying up their client’s pages. 

PR has a conflict of interest. But that doesn't mean they can't also help improve the accuracy of Wikipedia entries or that they shouldn't have a right to do so.  

It’s been an issue for a while now, because if a PR representative wants to alert a Wikipedia editor to an inaccuracy on a client’s entry, there’s no clear process for ethical engagement.  

In January 2012, Phil Gomes (@philgomes) wrote an open letter to Jimmy Wales to initiate a rational discussion about how public relations can effectively contribute to Wikipedia entries.   Shortly thereafter, he and John Cass formed Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement (CREWE).  

In February 7, 2014, William Beutler (@BeutlerInk) managed to convene a meeting of digital leaders for the world’s leading PR agencies, academics and Wikipedia editor volunteers to address issues of transparency and disclosure surrounding the ethical participation of corporate representatives to improve the accuracy of their respective entries.  

On June 16, 2014, Edelman, Ogilvy & Mather, Burson-Marsteller, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, PNConnect, Peppercomm and Allison + Partners affirmed a commitment to abide by Wikipedia principles and endeavor to ensure that employees and clients do the same.  

And finally, Wikipedia updated their terms of use to "clarify strengthen the prohibition against concealing paid editing on all Wikimedia projects.”   In this episode, Phil Gomes and Sam Ford discuss the history and impact of the PR industry’s joint statement to abibe by Wikipedia’s terms of use.  

Phil Gomes’ successful career in the communications field is characterized by his passionate interest in technology, media, and emerging forms of communication. He serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman Digital.  

Sam Ford (@Sam_Ford) is Director of Audience Engagement with Peppercomm, an affiliate with both MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing and Western Kentucky University, and co-author of Spreadable Media.  

Reference Links:

Top PR Firms Promise They Won't Edit Clients' Wikipedia Entries on the SlyWired: Wikipedia clamps down on paid editors and sockpuppetry The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #761: June 23, 2014 Lawsuit: Rogue Wikipedia editors conspired to manipulate Wikipedia pages to ruin reputation of philanthropist, charity he co-founded

About the Podcaster: Eric Schwartzman is a best selling author, speaker, blogger, trainer and advisor.  Join him weekly at PR Tech Wednesdays.

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Manning Selvage & Lee CEO Mark Hass goes On the Record...Online at the 2008 PRSA International Conference about MS&L’s strategy for penetrating China, his acquisition strategy for buying new firms and what it takes to be a managing director at MS&L.

Mark Hass, CEO of Manning Selvage & Lee has held this position since April 2005. In this role, Hass leads MS&L and its global leadership team, and acts as a strategic counselor to the firm's largest clients, including General Motors, Philips and Procter & Gamble. Hass joined MS&L in 2002, when his public relations agency, Hass Associates, was acquired and merged into MS&L. As CEO of Hass Associates, then Michigan’s largest PR firm, he was a senior counsel to GM, and a key consultant for Chrysler Corp.

Show Notes:

2:42 - Hass on his keynote speech at the 2008 PRSA International Conference.

3:46 - Hass on how new media is changing the public relations industry.

5:50 - Hass on how to convince board rooms that social media is important.

8:41 - Hass on the relationship between stock price and new media adoption rates.

9:13 - Hass on Google’s big secret.

11:07 - Hass on the future of media relations as a PR agency revenue driver.

12:42 - Hass on reinventing the business of public relations.

14:09 - Hass on the economic future for MS&L.

17:07 - Hass on emerging PR markets.

18:51 - Hass on penetrating emerging markets like China and India.

22:38 - Hass gives advice on what he looks for in a new PR hire.

24:26 - End

Eric Schwartzman is the founder of online newsroom management service iPressroom and creator of the New Media PR Boot Camp, which has been attended by over a thousand public relations and marketing executives from private, public, government and nonprofit sectors.

Most people think social media policies are just for regulated industries.

It is true that regulated industries have more rules to comply with. But social media compliance is everybody’s business.  

Whether you’re business is regulated or not, there are dozens of federal and state regulations and local ordinances that dictate how you can and can’t use social media lawfully for business.  

In this podcast, Chris Kieff (@ckieff), Director of Sales Support and Operations, Sprinklr and Eric Schwartzman (@ericschwartzman) reveal strategies for building trust and verifying compliance.

Up to now, that strategy for winning social media compliance at most companies has been to issue a social media policy.   But no one reads your social media policy. They sign for it, and put in the bottom drawer.  

Despite the fact that 80% of employers have social media policies, 70% have disciplined employees for social media misuse, research shows.   We'll also walk through the major US rules and regs that impact how organizations can and can’t use social media lawfully in the workplace.     Enterprise Social Compliance Topics Covered:

Trust gap between leadership and regular employeesOptimizing the impact of official voices on unofficial voicesCreating a workplace environment where employees are trustedWhat GM did wrong when they tried to rebuild trust with socialInspiring employees to serve as goodwill ambassadorsManaging the risks associated with employee advocacy programsWhy social media policies don’t prevent employee misuseUnmanaged risks around encouraging employees to use social mediaTeaching employees about the risks of noncompliant social media useFines and penalties of noncompliant social media useNLRB and how employers can police social media use at workComputer Fraud and Abuse ActCommunications Decency ActDigital Millennium Copyright ActFTC Disclosure GuidelinesFDA, HIPAA, FINRA and FFEIC GuidelinesAnd much, much more

Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

If your social media policy requires your employees to include a disclaimer in their social media posts that their opinions are their own, that's unlawful, according to a US Federal judge who called the restriction “unreasonably burdensome."

How can you include a disclaimer in a Facebook Like anyway?  

The development is the latest in a series of decisions by the NLRB, which has been challenging employers to reconsider whether or not they have the right to dictate how their employees use social media at all.  

Jonathan Crotty, partner at the law firm Parker Poe in Charlotte, who an article about this new development explains:  

Why restricting employers from requiring an “opinions are my own” disclaimer is unlawful

How the decision impacts corporate social media policies

How required disclaimers might chill workers rights to organize and bargain collectively

Impracticality of complying with required social media disclaimers

Why restricting employees from using logos and trademarks is also unlawful

How the NLRA. which was enacted in 1930. governs social media usage today

How employers should react to this development

And much, much more

Eric Schwartzman is a best selling author, speaker, blogger, trainer and advisor.  Join him weekly at PR Tech Wednesdays.

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The number of social media policy violations by employees has doubled over the last 16 months.

 Ann Handley didn't violate anyone's social media policy, and those aren't schadenfreude likes from Beth, Shel and Richard.

They're only there to demonstrate what kind of screen capture you need to take of a Facebook post if you're documenting a social media policy violation.  

Don’t get us wrong.  We love social media and value free speech.

We’re not condoning violating anyone’s personal privacy rights or their rights to discuss wages, hours and working conditions concertedly.  

Used effectively and responsibly, numerous research reports show that social media increases profitability, productivity and job satisfaction.  

But when social media is used by workers who haven't been taught to play the social media compliance game, violations are more likely to occur. And enforcing a social media policy requires proof of a violation.  

With social networking as popular as it is, social media misuse has become one of the costs of doing business.

This show is about documenting misuse when it occurs, before it's removed.

We talk to former broadcast journalist and Red Cross public affairs officer Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) -- who currently serves as communications strategist to Alabama Power (@AlabamaPower) -- who walks us through what he’s learned in the trenches about documenting social media policy violations.   Best Practices for Documenting Social Media

Policy Violations Discussed:  

Overcoming social media policy enforcement challengesJob titles that typically enforce social media policyRequired skills for enforcing social media policyHow to document social media policy violationsUse of screen capture tools to record violationsDocumenting social media policy violations on FacebookDocumenting social media policy violations on TwitterDocumenting social media policy violations on LinkedInRisks of storing social media policy violations in the cloud

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What steps has the FDA taken to provide the pharmaceutical industry with guidance and regulations around how to use social media for marketing and what should be in their social media policies?  

We talk to John Mack (@pharmaguy), Editor & Publisher of the Pharma Marketing Network about the issues and challenges of regulating how pharmaceutical companies on social media.    

Pharmaceutical Digital Marketing Topics  

What the FDA has done so far to try and deliver social media guidance to drug companiesThe difference between social media "guidance" and actual regulationsChallenges for pharmaceutical companies associated with maintaining Facebook PagesHow drug companies are hedging their bets and marketing on social media in lieu of guidanceThe British Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority's informal guidanceMobile Medical Apps

Pharmaceutical Digital Marketing References  

FDA Approved Medical Mobile AppsDose of Digital: Social Media Wiki

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How money and politics drove the Kansas Board of Regents to issue a social media policy that threatens academic freedom statewide with Doug Bonney, chief counsel and legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.  

State legislators threatened to cut funding after a journalism professor sent out an angry tweet blaming the NRA for the Washington Navy Yard Shooting.

The Kansas Board of Regents responded by issuing a Draconian social media policy to try and deter faculty and staff from saying anything that might attract the disdain of elected state officials.   Topics discussed include:  

Concern among educators that politicians could try and control the conversations about a host of issues of public importance by threatening to cut funding. Why the first draft of the Kansas Board of Regents social media policy caused a ruckus and what they did to try and fix it.The new draft of the policy released on May 14, 2014, which some say it still chills free speech rights and is an over reaction to an isolated incidentWhy tweets sent off hours from a personal device on a home network are safer than those sent from an employers device or networkProblem of references to the "improper use of social media" in the new policyGenerally, citizens have more free speech rights than government employees, because government employers have some rights to impose restrictions. Also the NLRA, which protects private sector workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively do not apply to government workers or airline or railway employees for that matter, as well.Who has greater free speech protections: private sector or government employees?Issuing a looser social media policy  with stricter social media training, assessment and certification

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