PR Pros Advise BP’s Dudley

By Michael Bush, July 26, 2010 

Robert Dudley is preparing to replace Tony Hayward as CEO of BP, and some public relations executives think that’s a good move. Advertising Age interviewed two, including Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America. “Mr. Hayward is symbolic of what is wrong,” said Salzman, who also gave some thoughts on BP’s branding on the Huffington Post, “so he needs to be forgotten so that the global community can contemplate forgiving.”

Headstrong, Part IV: Braininess Re-examined

By Marian Salzman, July 23, 2010 

“We might all think about our brains differently now than we did even a decade ago,” says Marian in this final part of her series on the brain, “but one thing that hasn’t really changed is the concept of braininess.” Tina Fey has made braininess sexy, and thanks to Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and others, more kids are aspiring to be tech gurus than ever. Marian talks about her campaign to preserve her “non-brainy hair” (“My whole routine was this: Don’t look brainy but be brainy,” she says) and about the analytical nature and distance of braininess, among other ideas—plus a few conclusions.

Headstrong, Part III: Second Thoughts About Multitasking

By Marian Salzman, July 22, 2010 

On the third anniversary of her craniotomy to remove a brain tumor, Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, has been thinking a lot about brain health. Turns out, she’s very au courant, as more people are talking about multitasking and how it affects their brain ever since a spate of new studies has shown that it’s not all it’s been cracked up to be. In this third part of a four-part series, Salzman ponders technology addictions, distractions and the information onslaught— and how her life since her surgery has been affected by all of them. (Hint: It’s a balancing act.)

Headstrong, Part II: The Creative Process

By Marian Salzman, July 21, 2010 

In this second of a four-part series about the brain, Marian Salzman muses about the functions she took for granted before her craniotomy to remove a tumor in July 2007—from “automatic” tasks such as walking, talking and reading, to the brain’s higher missions such as memory and creativity, the latter of which she calls “arguably job No. 1 for everyone’s brains these days.” Salzman talks about the four steps of the creative process and how her experience has changed her approach to creativity, including becoming more analytical and more open to collaboration.

Headstrong, Part I: My World Turned Upside Down

By Marian Salzman, July 20, 2010 

In spring 2007, Marian Salzman was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a meningioma. A frequent-flying top ad executive at the time, Salzman was also making popular annual trend predictions and keeping up a full schedule of media appearances and international speaking engagements. Brain surgery followed, along with a successful recovery, but not without bumps in the road—and life changes, including a career switch to public relations and a realignment of her advocacy and philanthropic priorities. This is the first in a series of four posts about the brain in general and Salzman’s experience.

Retailers Luring Teens with Social Tools

By Tobi Elkin, July 16, 2010  

Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, talked to eMarketer about kids’ shopping habits, behaviors and expectations. She had this advice when asked for the Q&A how retailers should use social media to reach teen consumers: “Talk their talk and walk in their shoes, but don't overmarket, overpromise or be too in their faces electronically or anywhere else. Realize that reduce and reuse is a green message but also part of teens’ commitment to values. It’s social. It’s not marketing; it’s a conversation, not a lecture.” 

The Consumers’ New Clothes (Sarah Ferguson, Take Note) 

By Marian Salzman, June 23, 2010 

Consumerism has come full circle. Across the world’s major consumer markets, shoppers are becoming people again, returning to financial sensibility, focusing on social values and, after a too-long hiatus, even saving. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR President Marian Salzman observes the strength of the trend in one of its most glaring outliers—Sarah Ferguson, who, in order to pay down a million-dollar personal debt, tried hawking her royal connections and was roundly panned for her green-veined attempt.

PR Firm Creates Teen Sisterhood 

By Richard Lee, June 18, 2010 
 
Two teenage girls from the Stamford, Conn., area are surprised to find themselves intimately connected in their tastes, their perspectives and the ways they approach the world around them. But it’s not Facebook or MySpace that has revealed all this. Rather, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR’s Sisterhood initiative, which was developed to gain an understanding of teen girls as a market demographic, is showing the teens (and the rest of the world) just how closely connected they are. “To put it simply, teenagers are at a new frontier of social culture,” says the agency’s president, Marian Salzman. “They’re changing the field of marketing, altering communications, inventing new lexicons and adopting still-embryonic innovations.” 

Lessons From Mackler 

From Daily Front Row, June 15, 2010 

The Chic Report turns to Euro RSCG Worldwide PR EVP Stacy Mackler to get a read on what business lessons can—and should—be learned from the recent recession. Mackler also offers sound advice and analysis on what today’s mediascape means for doing business in the recession. “Social media seems to have answered a lot of prayers through the recession,” Mackler says. “Ugc (user generated content) is huge and highly impactful. Fortunately, PR budgets are fairly small, so we still see companies that see its worth!”

Teen Girls Share Brand Information With Friends 

By Shannon Bryant, June 7, 2010 

Teenage girls love to share valuable information with their friends, especially when it comes to their favorite brands. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR finds that two out of three teen girls will let their friends know about a sale on a favorite brand, while almost six out of 10 raise the alert when there’s a hot new trend discovery. The study offers other valuable information on this powerful consumer demographic and paints a surprising picture of how the average American teenage girls shops and communicates.