This blog entry is the first of six on the state of public relations and marketing in emerging markets. It will be my goal to give an objective, unbiased view of an emerging market’s past and present marketing schemes, as well as to comment on these schemes and to pinpoint the best areas for growth. This entry will focus on the Middle East, with a specific emphasis on the United Arab Emirates

I’m not in the business to review apps. There are enough bloggers out there already staking claim to that arena. But since I’m a “gadget guy," clients, colleagues, vendors and friends have been asking me what apps I use for business. To appease the masses, here’s an alphabetical list of the apps (with links to iTunes) that I consider “must haves” for my daily workflow. Your workflow and

So we lost LeBron. Some folks said that his leaving would crush our hometown – that it would never recover.  Well, hell, we lost  the greatest professional athlete to ever grace our playing fields – Otto Graham – who as quarterback for the Cleveland Browns led his team to 10 championship games, winning seven of those, in the 10 seasons that he played.  Graham took early retirement.Players

I’m not sure yet if Gen Xers can – or even want to – keep up with the Millennials to adopt location-based services (LBS) -- services that are accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network. They pinpoint the global position of the mobile device, therefore showing position of the user.  Either way, these two generations are the primary users of LBS and will help to grow or kill

Public Relations is a craft and an art form. It is also a business and a profession. To really understand what PR is, you must look backward and reach forward. For a 45-year veteran of this profession, three things ring true of the past: ·     In the “old days” relationships with clients were always strong. You became professional friends with one another, counting on each

These days, writing is not exclusive to journalists and modern-day Hemingways. Everyone writes. Whether it is a professional e-mail, a persuasive letter, or an informative article, writing is part of life. You might as well know how to do it effectively. Not only will it increase writing ability, but it will transform mediocre communication into exceptional communication. OrganizationA good writer

It's 6:45 a.m. and I’m ready for another day. I start the coffee, check my e-mail, say a quick "hello" and "goodbye" to my husband as he heads off to work…6,000 miles away. No, he doesn’t have the world’s worst commute -- he is currently deployed in Iraq.  I am counting down the days, and the hours (approximately 7,896),  until I get to actually see him again. Until then, I use Skype

And while the world must accede the socialization of Internet-driven media networks is upon us, let’s not forget the traditional print and broadcast media folks who are still very much here in large quantities in consumer, business-to-business, and professional markets. Don’t think that they are going to disappear. They may change, but not just disappear.New media and social networks can go a

Nearly everyone is familiar with the lauded Old Spice campaign featuring the compelling and satiric Isaiah “The Body” Mustafa, spokesman for the company’s new body wash. The real time YouTube ads featuring Mustafa, dozens upon dozens of them, are much talked about in mass society today, and they have engendered millions of messages on Twitter and Facebook. But as good as this all has been, there

Industry followers such as PR Newswire are strongly stating that lines have become blurred with regard to the usual disciplines of public relations, marketing and sales promotion, and advertising as a result of the Internet, and there is no turning back.To take this to a further extreme, you can throw in the disciplines of customer service, investor relations, market research, and product development