• Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Adpulp

The Chronicle of Bright Ideas

  • About
  • Ad People
  • Featured Creative
  • Political Advertising
  • Content
  • Social Media
  • Media Trends
  • Contact

Dear AdPulp Readers Who Work In PR,

March 3, 2008 By Dan Goldgeier

Just how typical are guys like Mark Penn in your industry?
Paybarah-MarkPenn1V.jpg
‘Cause the controversy du jour today is this story in the LA Times about Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign:

As the campaign faces a make-or-break moment, some high-level officials are trying to play down their role in the campaign. Penn said in an e-mail over the weekend that he had “no direct authority in the campaign,” describing himself as merely “an outside message advisor with no campaign staff reporting to me.”
“I have had no say or involvement in four key areas — the financial budget and resource allocation, political or organizational sides. Those were the responsibility of Patti Solis Doyle, Harold Ickes and Mike Henry, and they met separately on all matters relating to those areas.”
Howard Wolfson, the campaign’s communications chief, answered that it was Penn who had top responsibility for both its strategy and message. Another aide said Penn spoke to Clinton routinely about the campaign’s message and ran daily meetings on the topic.

He’s the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, a big-time global PR firm and WPP subsidiary, so I’m sure he’s got some skills, but watching this election season I’ve never seen anyone try so hard to convince the world that up is down, night is day, and 1+1 is 3 — and be so seemingly bad at it.
I mean, PR people are usually incredibly effective at what they do. What am I not getting here? What’s the deal?

Related

Comments

comments

Filed Under: PR

About Dan Goldgeier

Dan Goldgeier is a Seattle-based freelance copywriter with experience at advertising agencies across the U.S. He is a graduate of the Creative Circus ad school, and currently teaches at Seattle's School of Visual Concepts. Dan is also a columnist for TalentZoo.com and the author of View From The Cheap Seats and Killer Executions and Scrubbed Decks.

Primary Sidebar

About

The Chronicle of Bright Ideas. Launched by David Burn and Shawn Hartley in 2004. Read, shared, and debated by a rogue group of ad pros ever since.

Breaking News

  • Spotify’s In-House Creative Team Is Raising The High-Bar April 21, 2018
  • Hot Desert, Cold Brew April 18, 2018
  • Frustrated Fido? Walk It Out With Rover April 14, 2018
  • What Marketers Can Learn from Hootsuite Academy April 12, 2018
  • Minute Maid Questions What Good Is, Decides, “this is GOOD” April 11, 2018
  • Are You Open to the Massive Business Opportunities in EQ? April 10, 2018
  • My Y Story: A Star-Studded Original Content Series by the Y April 8, 2018
  • Tim Horton’s Has The Coffee That Brings Canadians Together April 7, 2018
  • Take the Long Way Home in a Citroën April 7, 2018

Get Adpulp in Your Inbox

Receive an email notification when we publish a new article.

Navigate by Topic

Connect

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on E-mailFollow Us on RSS

Inkl Up!

Help support Adpulp with financial contributions on a per-post basis. Sign up for @Inkl today.

Footer

Translate

What People Are Reading

  • Spotify's In-House Creative Team Is Raising The High-Bar
    Spotify's In-House Creative Team Is Raising The High-Bar
  • Spotlight on NW Creative: Nike Makes A Better Box
    Spotlight on NW Creative: Nike Makes A Better Box
  • Georgia's Peach New And Improved. Tagline Is Another Story.
    Georgia's Peach New And Improved. Tagline Is Another Story.
  • O, Say Can You Swim?
    O, Say Can You Swim?

Search the Site

Hours & Info

Off Madison
[email protected]
Always on.