Time for another entry in my random series of “tips for young PR pros.” Actually, the idea to write these posts was initially inspired by one of my old GolinHarris colleagues who always talked about creating a “what they don’t teach you in J-school” class to share with junior executives. Or, as I might call it, “The things you should be doing on the job to keep the job.” So Tuesday I was discussing my “theory of summer” with...

Five reasons to hire Ron Antonette as a communications consultant, timed to the Feb. 19 #HAPPO social media job referrals and searches.

I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the brightest and most creative people in the communications business, both as bosses and mentors and as colleagues and, most luckily for me, as direct reports. One of my bosses always used to say that everything was analogous to dating. Another that the PR business, mostly about service, always comes down to waitressing — taking the order and organizing all the chairs in the room. (To this...

Random thoughts, observations and recent happenings that take more than 140 characters … The Lost Symbol felt more like “National Treasure 3” than “The Da Vinci Code 2.” (And didn’t one of the “National Treasure” movies also tackle the subject of the Masons?) Despite all the buzz on Twitter and elsewhere, Dan Brown’s latest is not worth the hype and attention that it’s receiving … although I’m sure the publishing...

I’ve read a number of comments about Pizza Hut’s obvious PR stunt — seeking a summer intern to Twitter about their activities. The NYTimes.com story is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/business/media/20twitter.html?_r=2 Some have written that it’s a timely response to Domino’s Pizza’s effective use of social media to combat their recent crisis, while others have reasonably suggested that a major brand...

We bought our Long Beach home in the late 1990s, before the housing bubble began inflating. We thought that Long Beach homes were undervalued relative to other “Beach” cities (Manhattan, Hermosa, Huntington), and expected that other young professionals would come to the same realization and settle here. We were fortunate in that this indeed has happened, and that our neighborhood has flourished over the past decade. I’m moved...