On communication, professional and otherwise.
by David Murray // Leave a Comment
Just now I'm racing down Ashland Ave. on the last leg of my four-mile run, and I'm barrelling past a round-faced drunk with a beard that makes his head look like a purple tennis ball.
"Heyougotaspare …" he slurs just like Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show, and in the split second before he finishes his sentence, I figure he's about to say 'dollar'—"cigarette?"
Instinctively I slap my gymshorts pocket and, finding no Chesterfields, I say a quick but sincere apology and run on, laughing.
by David Murray // 1 Comment
I'm the new editor of ContentWise, a six-times-yearly ezine that goes out to a few thousand lucky but hungry dogs like us who make a living making words and pictures and videos and stuff.
For my first issue, a special thing on video, I leaned on pal Steve Crescenzo to tell us when to use video and when only writing will do. It's not rocket science. "Problem is, too many communicators are just churning stuff and reacting to stuff," Steve says. "They just never go through that thought process." His points are illuminated by winners of the inaugural Strategic Video Awards.
Go here to see the issue, and if you like it, go here to subscribe.
Like its motorcyclist editor, ContentWise is handsome, and it's free.
by David Murray // Leave a Comment
Back in the 1960s, a few communicators, all of them crazy, suggested that if you wanted to create a truly compelling employee publication, you'd hire a real journalist from the outside and leave him to his work. No approvals. Chips fall where they may.
Well the closest thing I've seen to that actually happening is the 100-year-old Rotarian Magazine, a once-sleepy rag for the do-good association. Now it's staffed by several erstwhile Playboy editors and writers and it's totally kick-ass. Learn all about it here.
Anybody wanting to do something similar with their corporate publication should get in touch. I have some ideas.
(Yeah, I didn't think so.)