The Innovator's Mic

Cheryl Gale, President of March, chatted with Samantha Mayowa, Head of Global Communications at VMware Carbon Black. Cheryl and Samantha talked about how much headspace PR leaders have dedicated to DEI up to now, specifically in Boston where the PR scene remains predominantly white despite a diverse talent pool available. Samantha also shared ways that these PR pros can expand their reach to give more people a seat at the table, as well as advice for candidates with unique backgrounds frustrated by inclusivity challenges.

Mental health has taken a more prominent space in the public consciousness, especially in light of the pandemic. Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness through its app and online content offerings, is one of many apps folks are turning to during these times. The company even launched free services and offerings to users in response to COVID.

On today's episode Olivia DeJesse, Senior PR Associate at Headspace, covers the ins and outs of wellness tech PR. We discuss how the market is growing, the role of influencer marketing, and answer the question: are certain consumers being under-served or overlooked?

Artificial intelligence is a technology that shows a lot of promise but it's also one that brings up a lot of ethical questions around data privacy, transparency, bias, and more.

As VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Samasource, Heather Gadonniex has a lot of perspective on these issues. Today, Samasource is an impact-driven for-profit tech company. Heather’s professional background – and Samasource’s founding story – both sit at the intersections of impact and growth. Heather shares lessons and insights on impact marketing, product marketing, and ethics in AI.

We cover all of that and more in an interview that will be helpful to any marketer and PR pro who needs to tell the story of complex industries with thorny issues.

How can something as cold and calculating as a computer actually make people feel more connected to each other?

The new memoir from Affectiva CEO and founder Rana el Kaliouby talks about her personal mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The book is called Girl Decoded and it was the selection for the latest installment Overbooked, the March book club.

Hailey Melamut and Janabeth Ward join the show today to discuss its most important themes, including the mission to more humanity to tech interactions, the state of racial diversity in tech, and the unique challenges of being a woman and a leader in a male-dominated industry.

Overbooked rolls on. Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.

Many of us know that we should probably be eating better. But sometimes good information on nutrition feels hard to come by and even harder to follow - especially for those who don't have easy access to affordable food or knowledge.

Sandy Purewal, a former PR professional turned well tech entrepreneur, is the founder of Superfied. His goal is to make everyone self-sufficient in their everyday wellbeing by changing the way they think about food - what they eat, how they eat, when they eat - and why it matters.

We talk to Sandy about whole-body health, about the rise in well tech and the trends that define that market, including some of the consumer trends identified in March's Year of Smart Living report. And we ask Sandy what marketers should know about wellness in a future that's increasingly being shaped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The team here at March has been reading Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology, the memoir by March client, and Affectiva CEO Rana el Kaliouby, along with co-author Carol Colman.

On today's podcast, March Account Supervisor Hailey Melamut discusses her unique role as the book launch manager, which placed her in the middle of the book publishing, distribution, and promotional process. It's a behind the scenes look at what goes into book marketing.

Our chat also offers valuable lessons in how to pivot - Rana's book was published on April 21, which meant that many of the promotional activities occurred during the COVID-19 outbreak, which naturally meant a lot of big changes to the marketing plan. Find out what they did to make it all work.

For many people around the country, we're approaching nearly two full months of self-isolation due to COVID-19. The pandemic has affected our way of life in so many ways, and that's no different for the public relations industry.

Marketers, PR pros, and communicators have had to navigate a new reality where news coverage is so focused on the medical, economic, and social impacts of the virus. It's really hard to talk about anything without also talking about the coronavirus, which means brands have to be careful about how they choose to present their business at this time.

T. Garland Stansell is the newly elected Chair of the Public Relations Society of America. He is also the Chief Communications Officer for Children's of Alabama. He joined Hacks and Flacks to discuss how brands are changing the way they communicate and the long-term impact of this pandemic on the public relations industry.

These were already turbulent times for journalism, and that was before a global pandemic put issues like trust, bias, and the impact of digital technology into even sharper focus.

Cision has published its 2020 State of the Media Survey. They received more than 3,000 responses from journalists in print, broadcast, digital, and social media across 15 countries. The results paint a picture of an industry that is coping with new and familiar challenges in the wake of COVID-19 but also shows signs of optimism for the role that journalism will play in the recovery.

Seth Gilpin, Product Marketing Manager at Cision, joins Hacks and Flacks to cover the major insights from the survey, including important lessons that PR and communications professionals need to know. How can PR professionals support journalists at this time, and how do journalists feel about the future of their industry?

Download the 2020 State of the Media Survey: https://www.cision.com/us/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-media/

Register for Cision's 11th Annual State of the Media LIVE! (4/28 from 2-3pm ET): https://www.cision.com/us/resources/webinars-events/2020-state-of-the-media-live-stream/

Guests include Anthony Ha of TechCrunch, Sarah Paynter of Yahoo Finance, and Julie Carl of the Toronto Star 

Tech media expert Sam Whitmore has been producing in-depth coverage of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the tech media. You can read all of his coverage over at mediasurvey.com. Today he joins the show to tell us how the tech media is handling the crisis, how coverage has changed, and what PR professionals should expect when they engage reporters.

March Vice President Kelly O'Brien covers the PR and brand side of the equation. What are some of the dos and don’ts around engaging journalists, which brands are rising to the occasion during this tense time, and how will this all shake out in the long run for our industries?

It's an old trope, but there's a reason why people say "a picture is worth a thousand words." Visual images tell a powerful story: human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and research shows images are much more persuasive than text alone.

Shlomi Ron, CEO of Visual Storytelling Institute, understands the power of visual storytelling. He turned his passion for Italian cinema into an agency that works with clients to help them harness the effectiveness of visual media. On today's show, he explains how visual stories can help brands stand out in a crowded marketing landscape, and explains some of the core principles that make up great visual stories.

Shlomi also hosts the Visual Storytelling Today podcast and runs the Italian cinema blog cafe Pellicola.