What CEOs Can Learn from Social Media About Building Their Brands

Now that social media is clearly a permanent disruption (i.e., here to stay, and making organizations and individuals reinvent themselves if they don’t want to get left behind), it’s worth paying attention to the various ways its precepts can inform professional development, organizational leadership and personal branding. Business “best practices” that have been in use [...]
Apr 11, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media, Technology | Tags: best practices, bold, brand, branding, CEO, CEO branding, change, charisma, clarity, conflict, crisis, disruption, experimentation, failure, Humanize, Jamie Notter, leadership, leadership traits, loyalty, Maddie Grant, organizational leadership, personal branding, professional development, reinvention, Social Media, social organization, stakeholders, strategy, transparency | Leave A Comment »
Branding the Pope

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] I’m writing this just after the conclave of cardinals announced the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who last month became the first modern-day pontiff to abdicate the throne. They charted some new ground, choosing 76-year-old Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first non-European to fill the role in more than 1,200 [...]
Mar 18, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: abdication, Argentina, behaviors, branding, bureaucracy, Catholic Church, change, church brand, communication, conservative, corruption, culture change, debate, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, environment, Europe, Forbes, Forbes.com, George Brandt, honesty, integrity, Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Latin America, leadership development, passion, personal brand, pope, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, progressive, progressive pope, relationships, respect, Romy Ribitzky, Second Vatican Council, secularism, sex abuse, startup, The New York Times, transparency, Twitter, Upstart Business Journal, values, Vatican, Vatican II, vision | Leave A Comment »
The Deal Is Off: What to Learn from the Fall of Groupon CEO Andrew Mason

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Andrew Mason’s unsurprising ouster from Groupon last week wasn’t entirely about his personal brand. As anyone who has been paying attention knows, the group-discount company has been performing spectacularly badly. Its fourth-quarter earnings report was awful, with a GAAP loss of 12 cents per share—that’s 10 cents more (or six times [...]
Mar 05, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Media, Social Media, Technology | Tags: accountability, accounting, accounting gaffes, adolescent, Andrew Mason, Battletoads, behavior, Bloomberg Businessweek, brand, candid, CEO brand, CEO branding, Chicago Tribune, daily deal, Eric Lefkofsky, experience, fraternity, GAAP loss, Goldman Sachs, Greg Smith, Groupon, grownup, honesty, IPO, irreverent, John Paczkowski, juvenile, millennials, personal brand, Peter Kafka, resignation letter, responsibility, Sam Gustin, SEC, share price, Silicon Valley, stunts, tech boom, The New York Times, Time, transparency, video game, Wall Street | Leave A Comment »
Havas PR Is Going Places
Our headquarters office is about to undergo massive renovations, and all the Havas agencies in New York seem to be moving to new spaces. But for now, spring cleaning rules as we get ready to huddle together for 90 days while our new workspace is finished. As part of this move, we are all embracing [...]
Mar 04, 2013 | Categories:Agency News, Media, PR, Social Media, Technology | Leave A Comment »
Would Mindy McCready Have Agreed with Her Final Branding Statements?

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] A colleague of mine recalls a time when a new boss had taken over her department and everyone was anxious. One of his first acts: handing out New York Times obituaries of distinguished people. “Read these,” he said, “and think about what your obituaries would say.” His gambit worked. The ice [...]
Feb 27, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Media, Social Media, Trends | Tags: brand, branding, celebrity, CEO, community, Connecticut, David Collins, death, Facebook, Forbes.com, haring, journalist, Legacy.com, life directive, Life Without End, memorial service, Mindy McCready, newspaper, Nina Lentini, obit, obituary, People, personal brand, position, positioning statement, Princess Di, Social Media, survivors, The Day, The New York Times, transparencys, Whitney Houston, will | Leave A Comment »
2013 Will Be Brutal for CEOs

[Originally posted on CNBC.com.] I recently came across some survey data that suggests 2013 will be a tough year for CEOs—or, at least, many of them believe that it will be. Now that the economy’s “green shoots” of recovery are starting to bud into potential blossoms, expectations are up in terms of performance. It’s no [...]
Feb 19, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: board of directors, brand, brand building, branding, CEO, CEO Snapshot Survey, chief executive, CNBC, corporate brand, economic recovery, Facebook, Harris Interactive, human, human brand, Humanize, identity, Jamie Notter, leadership style, Maddie Grant, management, Mark Zuckerberg, personal brand, personal values, profile, recession, RHR International, Richard Branson, Social Media, stakeholder activism, strategy, team, the economy, Thomas Saporito, Tony Hsieh, transparency, Virgin, Zappos | Leave A Comment »
The Connectivity Conundrum

Now that all the college kids in my neighborhood are back at school after the year-end holidays and January terms, I’ve been thinking about parent-child connectivity. (My children are still small, but in our always-on world, I know I’ll have to address this sooner than I might think.) I heard a story not too long [...]
Feb 13, 2013 | Categories:Features, Insights, Social Media, Technology, Youth | Tags: cellphone, child, children, college, connection, connectivity, day care, email, Facebook, George Washington University, helicopter parent, involvement, National Survey of Student Engagement, NPR, parent, parenting, phone, preschool, smartphone, student, text, tweet, Twitter | 1 Comment »
Mayor of New York, a Helluva Brand

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, Fiorello LaGuardia: The mayors of New York City have long been men with outsize personalities and strong personal brands. Not only have they had one of the most influential, highest-profile platforms in the nation, but they’ve also been strategic about positioning themselves and shaping the way others [...]
Feb 12, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Politics, Social Media | Tags: 9/11, Andrew Cuomo, brand, branding, Cablevision, climate change, Democrat, Ed Koch, Fiorello LaGuardia, Forbes.com, gun control, Hurricane Sandy, Independent, Joe Lhota, legacy, lymphoma, Madison Square Garden, mayor, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Michael Bloomberg, MTA, New York, New York City, New York Daily News, personal brand, philanthropy, political party, Quinnipiac University, Republican, Rudy Giuliani, Sandy, September 11, smoking ban, soda ban, subway, transit, Twitter, unbranded, Village Voice, website | Leave A Comment »
Our Best-in-Class Global Collective
Havas PR North America is part of the global Havas PR collective, a borderless group of agencies worldwide that are connected for one commitment: Getting to the future first. Faster. We’re ranked ninth in size and third in social media effectiveness among all PR agencies globally, we’re CSR leaders, we include a Financial Agency of [...]
Feb 02, 2013 | Categories:Agency News, CSR, PR, Social Media | Tags: Cannes, Carrefour, collaboration, CSR, European Commission, Financial Agency of the Year, Future First, global, global collective, Havas PR, Havas PR North America, Healthcare Agency of the Year, local, momentum, Social Media | Leave A Comment »
Kate Middleton and the Branding of a Duchess

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] In what was undoubtedly old news to anyone who has been paying attention to the British royal family, St. James’s Palace issued an official statement last week to announce that “Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in July.” (Hello, [...]
Jan 29, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media | Tags: baby, brand, branding, British monarchy, British royal family, Cambridge, Carole Middleton, child, Cirque du Soleil, Daily Mail, duchess, E!, family, hair, Kate Middleton, Kim Kardashian, merchandise, Michael Middleton, MILF, Morrissey, personal brand, pregnant, Prince Harry, Prince William, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, royal, St. James's Palace, Today, Twitter, URL, Us Weekly, Windsor Castle, Yummy Mummy | Leave A Comment »
From Bradley to Lena: Personal Branding on the Red Carpet

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Pleasure and entertainment are probably the main reasons people tuned in to the Golden Globes and its red carpet pre-show on Sunday. It’s safely sanctioned, free fun to see the fashion and hairstyles and the reactions to them. But these events are also fascinating as trend barometers, pointing out what’s new [...]
Jan 17, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Fashion, Features, Media, Social Media, Trends | Tags: actor, Badgley Mischka, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Brands, Carey Lowell, celebrity, Claire Danes, Emily Blunt, evolve, Fashion, girls, Giuliana Rancic, Glamour, Golden Globe Awards, HBO, Hugh Dancy, hyphenate, influencer, Jack Black, Jennifer Garner, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, John Krasinski, Kate Hudson, Keith Urban, Kristen Bell, Lena Dunham, Liev Schreiber, Lincoln, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, personal branding, personal brands, Pinterest, Polyvore, power couples, purple, red carpet, Richard Gere, Savannah Guthrie, star, style | Leave A Comment »
Should Branding Begin at Birth?

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] I’ve written extensively about brands—personal brands, community brands, conference brands and so on. But I’m certainly not alone. This era is widely regarded as the age of the brand. But most of the personal branding conversation doesn’t focus on the age at which we begin branding; it focuses more on adults [...]
Jan 09, 2013 | Categories:Brands, Features, Social Media, Trends, Youth | Tags: Blue Ivy, branding, Brands, career, children, college, community brands, company brands, conference brands, domain, hiring, name, parenting, personal brands, school, search engine, TED | Leave A Comment »
CSR A-List for Two Years Running (and Other Awards)
For the second year that PR News has compiled a CSR A-List, Havas PR has been on it. This year, we were one of the chosen 10 for our long-term commitment to doing good work, especially our research into causes, our Baker’s Dozen initiative (donating $1 million in time for every $12 million in revenue), [...]
Jan 08, 2013 | Categories:Agency News, CSR, Media, PR, Social Media, Technology | Tags: Baker's Dozen, blog, Bulldog Reporter, CSR, CSR A-List, digital, Ellen DeGeneres, Ford Warriors in Pink, media relations, PR News, social, The French Will Never Forget, traditional media, Transitions Optical, Urban Zen Foundation, video | Leave A Comment »
Rethinking Quality of Life

[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] This is the eighth in a series of 14 posts expanding on Salzman’s forecasts for 2013 in her annual trends report, a program of global communications group Havas Worldwide. This year’s book, What’s Next? What to Expect in 2013, was published on 12/12/12 and is available at 120MBooks.com. Salzman [...]
Dec 28, 2012 | Categories:CSR, Features, Politics, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: Apple, Arab Spring, corporate social responsibility, CSR, debt, economic crisis, Google, mindfulness, Occupy, positive psychology, simplify, spending, stress, Tea Party, Trends, trendspotter, trendspotting, What's Next? | Leave A Comment »
12/12/12
Our annual trends report launched on Dec. 12. This year’s book, What’s Next? What to Expect in 2013, is the first title under our agency’s new 120M Books imprint. It takes a look at trends in 30 categories affecting the global culture now and next, from Africa and An Imperfect World to Tomorrow’s Money and [...]
Dec 17, 2012 | Categories:Agency News, Social Media, Trends | Tags: #120MBooks, #whatsnext, 120M Books, Africa, Co, Facebook, imperfection, money, Twitter, What's Next? | Leave A Comment »
What’s Next for an Imperfect World?

[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] This is the fifth in a series of 14 posts expanding on Salzman’s forecasts for 2013 in her annual trends report, a program of global communications group Havas Worldwide. This year’s book, What’s Next? What to Expect in 2013, was published on 12/12/12 and is available at 120MBooks.com. Salzman [...]
Dec 14, 2012 | Categories:Features, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth | Tags: authenticity, Botox, Brazil, CGI, China, cosmetic surgery, digital imaging, digital photography, Facebook, Havas PR, Hipstamatic, imperfection, India, Instagram, London, Olympic Games, Oscar Pistorius, Paralympics, perfection, plastic surgery, South Korea, tattoos, Trends, trendspotter, trendspotting, What's Next? | Leave A Comment »
An Affair to Forget: Today, Rebranding Becomes Him (Petraeus, Et Al)

[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Years ago I wanted to write a book, Another Woman: From Cleopatra to Marla, but now that seems to take us only halfway through the evolution of the mistress. After Marla Maples, who secretly dated Donald Trump for two years in the ’80s while he was still married to Ivana (before [...]
Dec 09, 2012 | Categories:Brands, Features, Politics, Social Media, Trends | Tags: affair, Bill Clinton, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, damage control, David Letterman, David Petraeus, Donald Trump, Francois Hollande, John Allen, John Edwards, Marine Le Pen, Marla Maples, mistress, Monica Lewinsky, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pamela Harriman, Paula Broadwell, personal brand, personal life, Petraeus, powerful man, rebranding, Rielle Hunter, Ségolène Royal, The New Yorker, Tiger Woods, trendsetter, Twitter, Valérie Trierweiler, Vanity Fair, VICE | Leave A Comment »
12 Days of Havas: Delete Blood Cancer

Sometimes in life, without any real explanation, you happen to find your perfect match. That’s what happened when we reached out to Delete Blood Cancer, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center, as part of our 12 Days of Havas. Delete Blood Cancer was in the process of revamping its marketing approach with a new [...]
Dec 07, 2012 | Categories:CSR, Features, Health and Wellness, Marketing, PR, Social Media | Tags: 12 Days of Havas, blood cancer, bone marrow donor, Coty, Delete Blood Cancer, donor registry, Havas PR, Katharina Harf, Peter Harf | Leave A Comment »
12 Days of Havas: #GivingTuesday

Before most children take off their Halloween costumes, the holiday shopping season starts with an influx of commercials flooding our favorite TV shows and retailer emails flooding our inboxes. Although I admit to partaking in those Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals, part of me always feels guilty that the real meaning of the [...]
Dec 03, 2012 | Categories:CSR, Features, Media, PR, Social Media | Tags: #GivingTuesday, 12 Days of Havas, 120M Books, Black Friday, Bob Woodruff Foundation, celebrity, charitable organizations, community, CSR, Cyber Monday, doing good, Donna Karan, Havas PR, Heroes at Home, holidays, Hurricane Sandy, media relations, philanthropy, PR News CSR A-List, retail, shopping, Urban Zen Foundation, veterans, Warriors in Pink, What's Next? | Leave A Comment »
Sound of the Year for 2013: Co

[Originally posted on the Huffington Post.] This is the first in a series of 14 posts expanding on Salzman’s forecasts for 2013 in her annual trends report, a program of global communications group Havas Worldwide. This year’s book, What’s Next? What to Expect in 2013, will be published on 12/12/12 and available at 120MBooks.com. Salzman [...]
Nov 29, 2012 | Categories:Features, Social Media, Trends | Tags: 120M Books, brain, Brand Me, Co, community, connection, connections, copreneurial, copreneurs, cyber, digital, economy, forecast, Havas Worldwide, individualism, Marian Salzman, neuro, scandals, screens, Social Media, techno, Trends, trends forecast, trendspotter, trendspotting, zeitgeist | 1 Comment »
Trendspotting: A Story in Pictures
A few years ago, digital image programs basically meant Photoshop. But with the increasing number of picture-sharing sites like Imgur and Instagram, which now is now more popular on mobile devices than Twitter is, users have the freedom to manipulate and share photos like never before. This has led to a new type of storytelling, [...]
Nov 28, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: digital images, Facebook, Facebook timeline, Fancy, Imgur, Instagram, mobile, photos, Photoshop, pictures, Pinterest, share, Social Media, storytelling, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Trendspotting: Digital Stress
With our fast-paced lives and the current economic uncertainty, it’s no surprise that a new study shows that work-related stress is on the upswing. Living in this digital age and its expectation of constant reachability is partly to blame; a report from the University of Michigan said that most college students are physically unable to [...]
Nov 21, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth | Tags: addictions, cellphone, digital addiction, digital age, digital devices, Magic Mind, stress, the economy, University of Michigan, Windows 8, work-related stress | Leave A Comment »
12/12/12
Mark your calendars for the launch of our annual trends report. This year’s book, What’s Next?, will be the first title under our agency’s new 120M Books imprint. It takes a look at trends in 30 categories affecting the global culture now and next, from Africa and An Imperfect World to Tomorrow’s Money and Your [...]
Nov 13, 2012 | Categories:Agency News, Social Media, Trends | Tags: #120MBooks, #whatsnext, 120M Books, 2013, Africa, annual trends report, Co, Facebook, global culture, mind and mood, money, Psyche, Trends, Twitter | Leave A Comment »
Online Means No More Shopping to Die For

No one used to love shopping in stores on Black Friday more than I did. It was a ritual that started with my mother on Thanksgiving morning, before the turkey and stuffing even made it into the oven. Getting the morning paper was like Christmas Day, with the anticipation of shopping. We’d map out our [...]
Nov 06, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Features, Marketing, Media, Social Media, Technology | Tags: Amazon, Best Buy, Black Friday, cloud, Deloitte, holiday sales, holiday shopping, IBM, mobile, mobile apps, mobile shopping, National Retail Federation, online shopping, retail, retailer, shopping, shopping stampede, SOASTA, the economy | Leave A Comment »






