Category Archives: video blog

PR’s Top Pros Talk…COVID – Julie Crabill



Julie Crabill, Chief Marketing Officer at GoNoodle, discusses how public relations fits into a CMO’s workload, and how communications professionals can effectively work with both a CCO and a CMO. She shares tips on how companies can become better clients and how agencies can help. Julie also notes the value of leveraging local news channels to get your message out there.

Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of diversity and urges marketers to understand that it’s a profit center, not a cost center.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…Internal Communications – Linda Dunbar



Linda Dunbar, Communications Executive & Founder of Diversity Decoder, spoke with our host and CEO of D S Simon Media, Doug Simon, about changes in internal communications as a result of COVID and social justice issues. It is more important than ever to continually check in and communicate with employees as we’ve moved towards a remote work environment.

Linda also discusses the information gap in communications when it comes to having difficult conversations about diversity in the workplace. Linda is optimistic that we are going to see more businesses actively pursuing and supporting diversity inclusion.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…COVID – Michael Schoenfeld



Michael Schoenfeld is the VP for Public Affairs & Government Relations and CCO at Duke University. In this conversation with host and D S SImon Media CEO, Doug Simon, Michael shares best practices for communicating a university action plan regarding COVID to multiple stakeholders in times of uncertainty and avoiding a “blame the student” mindset.

Michael emphasizes the importance of frequently conveying the need for flexibility and the need for resilience. He also discusses how colleges that may lack resources and funding of a top research university with a medical center can manage the ongoing crisis.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…Leadership – Liz Kaplow

Liz Kaplow is the Founder & CEO of Kaplow Communications. She shared with the host and CEO of D S Simon Media, Doug Simon, tips on effective leadership during these challenging times. Liz emphasizes the increased importance of human leadership and the increased link to external and internal communications. She also tells us how to maintain a consistent mindset in this time of uncertainty and volatility.

Liz is optimistic about the future of PR and its role in telling great brand stories. She notes “Those connections with executives from the brands we represent are more important than ever. Their stories are more important than ever…I do believe that what we do and our contributions will make a huge difference as we move into the future.”

PR’s Top Pros Talk…COVID & Social Justice – Lin-Hua Wu



With a company like Dropbox, there is a unique challenge of making sure its brand resonates with both businesses as well as individual consumers. The company’s Chief Communications Officer, Lin-Hua Wu, breaks down how to navigate this task, especially with the lines between home and work being so blurred during these strange times.

With the current remote work environment, there is also a new challenge of balancing positive stories about the brand with what’s going on externally. Lin-Hua emphasizes the increased need to be tone appropriate and use empathy when dealing with these issues.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…Social Justice – Rosemary Ostmann



We live in a time of multiple, evolving crises. It’s different from other crises that we’ve faced in my career, says Rosemary Ostmann, President & CEO at RoseComm. Generally, when tragedy strikes, we scramble to understand what happened and then and we begin to recover.

The most important thing for communicators to do now is to listen to what’s going on around them and be responsive as the situation changes. With so much confusion and potential for misinformation, all brands have a role to play in educating their stakeholders and helping the public navigate through these challenging times. This is especially important for organizations in the health and education fields where she spends much of her time.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…COVID – Ray Day



The most successful organizations will be those that spend most of their time focused on the future, says Ray Day, Vice Chair at the Stagwell Group. COVID digitally transformed and disrupted the world of communications and forced everyone to learn new ways to prosper in the digital era. Ray emphasizes the importance of implementing digital as a strategy not a tactic.

The role of communicators has never been bigger. Organization leaders need to strive for end to end digital transformation in order to thrive in the new normal. Ray urges communications professionals to embrace the mindset that new technologies will help them do their jobs more effectively and effectively, not make their jobs obsolete. A future mindset is the best thing that communicators can bring to their organizations or their clients today.

PR’s Top Pros Talk…COVID – Johna Burke



Organizations need to be using data driven measurement and evaluation in their program every day, says Global Managing Director at AMEC, Johna Burke. Companies that don’t are getting further and further behind.

By leveraging data, organizations can make much smarter and effective decisions when it comes to making cuts and reallocating resources. Johna stresses the importance of evaluating tonality and sentiment among other factors that drive communications strategy. It is important to continually understand and reevaluate priorities on a day to day basis and make changes to your messaging accordingly.