PR's Top Pros Talk

Michael Roth, Owner and Managing Partner, The Bliss Group, discusses the importance of integrating earned media with paid media. He emphasizes the need to form strategic alliances with practices with relevant expertise. Michael also shares how his experience in law school helped him navigate through PR.

Wendy Lund, CCO, Organon, discusses the challenges of establishing a culture focused on women healthcare. She emphasizes the importance of having a vision to be successful in overcoming those challenges. Wendy also shares key insights from Organon’s research on how to communicate with women about healthcare.

Jonathan Jordan, General Manager, Edelman Southern California, shares key findings from the agency’s Trust Barometer special report, “The Belief-Driven Employee.” He discusses the rise of pandemic-induced burnout, and the ways leaders can effectively reduce it. Jonathan also shares how his background in management consulting has helped him succeed in the PR industry.

Ali Taekman, Partner, BPCM, discusses how brands can effectively integrate celebrities and influencers into their media campaigns. She emphasizes the importance of using both celebrities and influencers to achieve different levels of impact. Ali also shares insights into the agency’s heavy focus on sustainability.

Jennifer Temple, Chief Communications Officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, reveals brand strategies she has learned since the company’s split from HP. She discusses how the brand shaped its own narrative, despite consumer association with the former firm, and tactics used to build brand awareness and differentiation. Jennifer also dives into creating a brand image while HPE needed to undergo restructuring with a new CEO and business model.

Alina Diaz, Managing Director of Consumer Practice at MSL Group, speaks on the new means of interactions between communicators and consumers. She emphasizes the absence of physical touch creating new means of internal and external marketing, which has shown to vary between different demographics. Alina also touches on the change in consumer sentiment on virtual communication and responses to it.

Art Stevens, Managing Partner at The Stevens Group, goes deep into the intricacies of mergers and acquisitions. He shares tactics for brands to optimize their firm in order to maximize value for a buyout, for both buyers and sellers. He also touches on the demographic shift in employee tenure at modern companies, and where the next generation is heading with regards to ownership and sale of firms.

Cori McKeever, Global President of Healthcare at Golin, discusses the means in which firms can optimize their campaigns and communications to appeal to the right audiences. She takes it further into her specific industry, healthcare, and how the modern climate on health following COVID can influence the PR tactics brands implement. She emphasizes the distinction in tactics used to reach Pharma clients and general health/wellness clients.

Lisa Rosenberg, Partner + President, Consumer Brands at Allison+Partners, shares insights on the future of brand communications. She speaks about how her experience as a judge at Cannes provided a window into how brands can deploy a compelling narrative to forge meaningful connections in an increasingly fragmented world. Lisa also explains how brands can avoid becoming a “chaser of culture” and move towards making a more sincere and meaningful impact.

Alex Slater, CEO and Founder of Clyde Group, shares findings on where company leaders stand when it comes to DE&I engagement. He offers guidelines for brands on how to get involved to aid healthy conversation and awareness. Alex also discusses the main principles that Clyde Group follows to be best agency to work with and work for.