After nearly four decades of telling other people’s stories, I’m finally telling one of my own — my family story. Some stories find you. Some stories follow you. And some stories wait more than a century to be told. For me, Josie is that story. I’m incredibly proud—and deeply humbled—to announce the upcoming publication of…
What the Queen of Country Taught Us About Authenticity, Resilience, Reinvention — and Building a Brand People Don’t Just Recognize, But Love! There are brands you recognize. There are brands you remember. And then there are brands that somehow become part of who we are. Dolly Parton was that kind of brand. And now, as…
How quickly the world’s biggest branding success became its biggest communications challenge. Only weeks ago, the FIFA World Cup accomplished something extraordinary. It united continents. It filled stadiums. It energized cities. It introduced millions of international visitors to America in ways no advertising campaign ever could. In a recent WordSmith dispatch, I called it America’s…
Taco Bell Reminds Us Every Crisis is Really a Test of Trust There are moments when a crisis arrives so unexpectedly that it changes the conversation overnight. One day you’re selling Crunchwrap Supremes and Baja Blasts. The next you’re setting up war rooms, stopping trucks, pulling ingredients from restaurants and trying to reassure millions of…
For decades, marketing campaigns largely revolved around one goal: Visibility. Buy the ads.Book the interviews.Secure the media coverage.Drive awareness. But today’s communications environment looks very different. Explore why more visibility ≠ more impact. Traditional media influence has fragmented.Audience attention is scattered.And consumers increasingly move fluidly between platforms, creators, experiences and communities. That shift is forcing…
For years, conversations about disinformation focused largely on media platforms, algorithms and emerging technologies. But a new report from the Institute for Public Relations suggests something deeper is happening: The public increasingly expects communicators themselves to take a more active role in addressing it. According to the Institute’s 2026 Disinformation in Society Report, 76% of…
Strong messaging is often talked about in abstract terms. Clear. Compelling. Authentic. But what does it actually look like? What does strong messaging sound like in a speech, a media interview, a brand narrative, or a moment of crisis? The answer is surprisingly consistent. Whether you study great leaders, effective communicators, or enduring brands, strong…
Out-of-this-world publicity doesn’t come around often. But when it does, great brands know what to do with it. Nutella — the iconic chocolate hazelnut spread — found itself in exactly that position when a jar floated across a live broadcast inside NASA’s Artemis II capsule during its recent lunar orbit mission. It wasn’t planned.It wasn’t…
Most organizations don’t struggle because they lack something to say. They struggle because what they say doesn’t land. Messaging is developed.Campaigns are launched.Content is published. And yet — The audience doesn’t engage.The message doesn’t stick.The impact falls short. The instinct is to push harder. More content.More channels.More visibility. But messaging rarely fails because of effort….
You Don’t Have a Visibility Problem. You Have a Messaging Problem. Organizations today are under constant pressure to be more visible. The assumption is simple: if more people see us, we’ll grow. More content.More posts.More channels. But visibility isn’t the real problem. Clarity is. Every day, organizations push out more content into an already saturated…