TechCrunch is growing. By our count, the 16-year-old title has added six contractors in recent months. Here’s who they are and what they cover, with contact info.
There’s a back door to landing a C-title profile in the Wall Street Journal. There’s also a catch: the executive must maintain a “personal board
Former AP, PC Week and Computerworld journalist Bob Scheier helps develop thought leadership content for global B2B companies. He is very, very good at it. In this Q&A, Bob shares tips and tricks for getting techies to come across with clear, usable insight.
SWMS contributor Amanda Orr writes: Remember those job interviews where they ask you to share your greatest weakness? And there were always those annoying people who refused to answer the question but instead positioned a strength as a weakness (“Oh, my greatest weakness is that I’m simply a perfectionist and I put in too many hours!).
SWMS contributor Bob Scheier writes: Everyone and their brother seems to be looking for “thought leadership” these days – the unique, thoughtful insights that show you understand the technology you sell, and the industry you’re selling into.
Fast Company seeks applicants for its upcoming Most Innovative Companies issue, due March 2022. FC this month held briefings to help prospective applicants shape their approach. Below is a summary of one session based on notes taken by an SWMS subscriber who attended.
One of the more predictable, and sadder, moments in my work with clients comes when I ask for a customer case study to help illustrate all the good things their hardware, software or services can do.
Protocol has not only hired a boatload of top journalists in its first 18 months, but also has recruited almost 200 contributors whose work appears in a thought leadership vertical called Braintrust. If you represent thought leaders, you’ll enjoy this Q&A with Protocol associate editor Kevin McAllister — your pitch contact — and Protocol president Tammy Wincup.
Industry Week senior editor Laura Putre wants your contributed content and is willing to do more than most gatekeepers to get it.
SWMS contributor Rhiannon Pacheco writes: Landing a product review in Wired is a big win. We sat down with senior editor Michael Calore to learn more about who and how to pitch, whether Wired takes exclusives, and how product coverage can be a cultural reflection of sorts.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Well, for now it’s Jim Jordan… but such news illustrates the kind of world we seem to be headed for. Adweek has the details, subscription required.
No “predictions” post will appear on this site. That said, quite a number of subscribers have asked for a Zoom/MS Teams presentation on what 2025 will bring. A conversation is precisely the right tool for the job. After the election — and with AI transforming publishing and life — “2025” is best discussed among peers, not predicted. So if you’d like to have a confidential group exchange on what stands to unfold, and why, and how comms pros can come out on top in spite of it all, drop a line and we shall schedule something.
According to Adweek, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky were in merger talks for eleven and a half months before the transaction was announced this week. Amazing that it didn’t leak.
Should PR pros stop visiting X, with all its lies and hate? It’s only going to get worse. Or are tidbits from targets too important to walk away from? Click here to watch tech edit vet David Strom and I disagree (at high speed) about this, as one compelling visual after another pops up on your screen. In 2025, SWMS will officially launch “SWMS Sound Thinking,” designed to be “argumentative insight in six minutes or less.” Each segment will explore a timely and controversial topic of interest to tech comms pros. This prototype runs 5:25. Hope you enjoy it — feedback vital and welcome! –Sam
New EIC Jamie Heller has asked her reporters to start going on camera — for the BI TikTok channel — to explain the big, deep-divey story they just published. Other publications do this — especially archival Fortune. BI is now on that too. Game on.
At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.
