The Public Relations Blog

In a courtroom, even the most confident witnesses often get the story wrong. They remember what they think they saw — not what actually happened. The same problem happens in marketing every day.

Companies ask new customers, “How did you hear about us?” and then take those answers at face value. Unfortunately, people are unreliable narrators of their own buyer journey. Human memory isn’t a recording; it’s a reconstruction.

As a result, marketing teams build reports, dashboards, and even budgets on faulty self-reported attribution — and that can lead to costly, misleading conclusions.

Recently, I was interviewed by a leading enterprise technology publication about the lessons corporate leaders can learn from the AWS outage. The conversation revealed something every brand — not just cloud providers — should take seriously: Crisis communication is as critical as technical resilience.

As search evolves from links to language, the humble press release is experiencing a powerful resurgence. Not as a tool for vanity metrics or mass wire spam, but as a strategic asset that feeds both generative AI models and answer-based search engines. Smart brands are rediscovering how to use news releases to shape how they’re understood, quoted, and recommended by machines.

1. Cracker Barrel’s new social media lead reflects on “busy” first 60 days
2. Taco Bell leverages celebrity cameos for its new “Crispy Chicken” menu
3. Charlie Kirk’s death exposed gaps in crisis communication plans.
4. 60-second close: Navigating crisis and creativity

1. AI is shaping brand visibility through media coverage
2. Taylor Swift’s Orange Wave sparks brand buzz
3. 60-second close: The power of earned media and visibility

1. The domino effect of Prime Day — retail's new Black Friday
2. Chipotle, Deliveroo, Lime: Quirky campaigns round‑up
3. Adidas resurrects its “Superstar, The Original” campaign
4. 60-second close: The many faces of PR strategy

We asked ChatGPT directly how it uses earned media and news releases to shape its responses. Its answer reveals exactly why PR is now central to AI-powered discovery. If your brand isn’t showing up in trusted coverage, you’re invisible to the algorithms shaping today’s conversations.

Explore the full exchange and its implications for your PR strategy regarding AI relations.

1. Lessons from the Nintendo Switch 2 pre- and post-launch
2. X hires third PR lead in a year
3. 60-second close: Aligning messaging with reality

1. Baseball + Oscar Mayer + AI = a PR home run
2. Hostess rolls out “Munchie Mobile” on 4/20 to reach millennials and Gen Z
3. 60-second close: PR strategy in a transforming experience economy

1. Epic Universe’s opening day dominates social media with viral organic posts
2. Lowe’s launches new strategy, closing several underperforming locations
3. 60-second close: PR strategy in a transforming experience economy