The Layoff List
April 27, 2020
5:04 pm
We regretfully present a running list of articles addressing layoffs, furloughs and salary cuts across the world of editorial.
>> Strategies & Pitch Opps
Keith Shaw: How to Duck the Roundup and Build Higher SOV
April 22, 2020
5:44 pm
Reporters and editors love roundups, because it lets them quickly provide readers with lists of different companies providing similar offerings around a single topic, especially when that topic is timely (witness all the Covid-19 roundups lately). But PR agencies tend to dislike them, because they don’t get as much credit for a roundup placement…
What to Expect — Apr. 20-24, 2020
April 20, 2020
3:59 pm
As the Covid-19 crisis moves well into its second month, we’ve noticed a dwindling number of new story approaches to try. Roundups, with their low-payoff SOV, still rule, especially in B2B. This week did spot a few emerging approaches — pretty much special reports — but still providing paths for most tech companies and agencies.
Amanda Orr: Edit Themes for Pitching the Recovery
April 15, 2020
2:22 pm
[PR pro Amanda Orr writes:] Like much of the country, communications teams both in-house and at PR firms have been in a holding pattern. As we look at the Johns Hopkins tracker on a daily basis, watching the numbers of infections and fatalities climb, we knew (at least I hope most of us knew) that this wasn’t the time to send emails or make cold calls…
What to Expect — Apr. 13-17, 2020
April 13, 2020
12:22 pm
Last week we polled B2B contributed content gatekeepers, nearly all of whom wanted the same kinds of pitches they received before the Covid-19 nightmare. Our research echoed what we heard last month from reporters and editors.
David Strom: Covid Do’s & Don’ts
April 8, 2020
3:50 pm
David Strom says: “My inbox is overflowing with a virus: all Covid, all the time, with pitches and experts offered from all walks of life. It isn’t just the infosec vendors, either: I’ve gotten pitches from genealogy vendors, and how sports reporters are coping now that there are no professional games being played.”
Contributed Content Gatekeepers: ‘Biz as Usual’
April 8, 2020
2:15 pm
With few exceptions, contributed content gatekeepers are operating the way they always did before Covid-19 — serving the readers who buy products, manage teams and have projects to deliver. Here’s what nine of them said this week.
What to Expect — Apr. 6-10
April 5, 2020
7:42 pm
Last week at this time we saw strategic content from levels high above the reporter level, on “What will it take to get past this coronavirus thing?” Here’s what’s coming this week, and how you can get a piece of it.
CNBC’s Jon Fortt on Covid-19’s Impact on Edit and PR
April 5, 2020
5:16 pm
CNBC anchor Jon Fortt offers his perspectives personally, not representing the views of his employer CNBC.
Keith Shaw: Pitching Robotics During Covid-19
April 1, 2020
12:58 pm
Writes tech edit vet Keith Shaw: “I’ve noticed a shift, given the coronavirus outbreak, in the types of robotics and automation stories that technology media sites are pursuing. At the top of the list now are stories about robots and automation companies that offer services and software that are helping to combat the virus…”
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
‘Bloomberg Tech’ Now Open for Registration
January 6, 2025
Registration is now open for the ‘Bloomberg Tech’ F2F event, being held Jun. 4-5 in San Francisco. With the current early-bird discount, a ticket runs $1,500. There is no better way to build relationships with Bloomberg’s notoriously elusive tech reporters.
Congress to Investigate the Omnicom-IPG Deal
December 20, 2024
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.
SWMS Predictions for 2025
December 10, 2024
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.
Talk About Confidentiality…
December 10, 2024
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.
Introducing ‘SWMS Sound Thinking’
November 22, 2024
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
Business Insider Reporters Starting to Go on Camera
November 19, 2024
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.