Just want to give a quick shout-out to our friend, Ruth Bachman, subject of a nice feature by Jeff Strickler in today’s Star Tribune. Ruth serves with Jorg on the board of the University of Minnesota Foundation, and we’ve been helping her spread the word about her efforts to raise $1 million for research at the [...]

This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com. To view the original, go to http://bit.ly/9ENk03. The Shirley Sherrod saga highlights the vulnerability of a reputation in the Internet era — and the lessons apply to companies as well as individuals. For anyone who was asleep last week: Sherrod, a federal agriculture official, was vilified, [...]

Editor’s note: This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com. To view the original, go to http://bit.ly/azMH7e. Newsmakers have always tried to manipulate the media for the best possible coverage. But today, the game is more than ever stacked against the news outlets – and against news consumers hoping for more than self-serving sound [...]

Editor’s note: This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com. To see the original, go to http://bit.ly/aXHLDs. The opening of Target Field is undoubtedly one of the most successful product launches in recent memory. And make no mistake, it truly is a product — a $545 million product that will generate untold millions in [...]

“Big ideas trump big budgets.” Our agency was built on that mantra.  We usually get hired because our client is looking for a heavy dose of creativity to stretch their marketing dollar.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t work with some healthy budgets.  We do. But because our clients don’t often throw terms like Gross Ratings Points around, they are forced to find ways to build [...]

The Federal Trade Commission raised quite a stink a few months ago when it released its new guides governing endorsements and testimonials, which the commission itself said would “affect testimonial advertisements, bloggers [and] celebrity endorsements.” I’m co-presenting at the next Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association event, a discussion about ethics around social media marketing. As you [...]

Well, it appears Mark McGwire is finally ready to talk about the past – something he refused to do while embarrassing himself in front of Congress five years ago.  He admitted this week that he used steroids and human growth hormone for a decade during his celebrated baseball career.  This revelation wasn’t exactly startling to fans who [...]

We’re throwing open the doors to the local PRSA Chapter at 8 a.m. on Nov. 20, as we’re hosting a “Friday Roundtable“ discussion entitled “Managing Economic Challenges and Anticipating New Opportunities in 2010.”  My co-facilitator will be Marsha Pitts-Phillips, who is PR Manager for the Greater Twin Cities United Way. Here’s what I can promise to those [...]

As long as cameras have been small enough to stuff inside a duffel bag, a suitcase or a pocket, they’ve been used to expose actions people would probably rather have kept private. In most of those cases, there’s a PR team somewhere working hard to earn their paychecks — or perhaps reconsidering their career paths. [...]