Brown Miller Communications, Inc.

Matt, Well said! Amazing how quickly people freak...

2013-01-10T13:22:52.782-08:00

Matt,

Well said! Amazing how quickly people freak out over government intervention on behalf of their health, but have no problem with industry poisoning them and spending billions to train them to consume garbage. Ah well, I'll hold off on my basement carbination kit for now.

Mike

The trouble with this tax is that it's in a so...

2012-05-28T19:43:24.219-07:00

The trouble with this tax is that it's in a socioeconomically diverse city where the "wealthy" already shop outside Richmond leaving only those without means or mobility to pay higher prices at our one supermarket, corner stores, and fast-food joints. That's even worse than a simple regressive tax and extracting up to $8M annually from our most underserved neighborhoods is not helping the poor.

This tax places a fee on businesses instead of the soda drinkers. Richmond's food retailers, already struggling with tight margins, will have no choice but to distribute the added fees and labor among all their merchandise in order to remain competitive, which translates to higher prices for staples for our poorest residents. If they choose to risk driving away customers and raise only the cost of soda the higher price will do nothing to deter the consumption of sweetened beverages.

Richmond has many vacant storefronts and a shortage of grocery stores yet retail chains like Trader Joes, Safeway, Mi Pueblo either refuse to come here or have left town for neighboring cities. If we pass a tax that makes it even costlier to do business we can be assured that the shunning of Richmond will continue if this tax is passed.

Everyone agrees that the obesity epidemic is a very serious problem and must be addressed. Soda taxes on a State level, say on the supply-side where it's invisible to consumers, would be a smart way to generate an equitable revenue stream for retailer incentives, obesity education, and physical exercise opportunities for our youth. Taxing Richmond's poor is not the solution.

This is a really great Blog! Very creative and li...

2012-01-16T15:24:42.663-08:00

This is a really great Blog! Very creative and lighthearted. Thanks for the posts!

Patrick Cavanaugh

All in all - the "community" of Wikipedi...

2011-12-13T23:33:55.604-08:00

All in all - the "community" of Wikipedia does a pretty good job of balancing, pruning, renovating, or just plain editing content on its website for creditability (although notable exceptions do apply). A force that powerful needs to be embraced by any and all - and that includes the smallest business owner to the largest CEO. The facts and information are out there and, creditably sourced, everyone has the right to post them.

I agreed corporate websites are the place for that...

2011-12-13T14:26:21.833-08:00

I agreed corporate websites are the place for that sort of information, but the big problem with Wikipedia is that is has become a major source of information for both the general public and the news media.

Over the last few years there have been a number of news articles that have used information from Wikipedia what was 100-percent wrong. Then that wrong information is amplified 100-fold on news websites all over the world.

The news gathering field has changed so much in the last decade, and reporters are under so much pressure today, that fact checking has just about gone out the window. Plus beat reporters, those reporters who were familiar with a subject, industry or issue, are practically nonexistent now. So it is much easier to lead reporters astray with wrong information.

And I have no idea what the solution is. But it won't be easy.

If you are editing a page for a client (regardless...

2011-12-13T13:11:01.481-08:00

If you are editing a page for a client (regardless of whether you are a PR firm, or a social media expert, or just a marketing consultant), the operative word is FOR, i.e. you are editing that page for a particular reason such as the client pays you to keep that information up to date. There should be no reason to protest that. I am however not completely convinced that Wikipedia the the correct venue for information about private or public companies. That does seem to me as belonging on a dedicated web page rather that a Wiki, but then I could be accused of being more than a little ignorant of the actual details of this controversy. I do believe that allowing random people to edit Wiki entries places all the information on Wiki's into question, thereby causing people to question the information available on Wikipedia. Placing the information on a dedicated website controls access to the information, thereby ensuring the veracity of the information. Just my random musings. Jim Stoutamore

I like your graphic here that shows the rivals lik...

2011-11-21T13:06:14.078-08:00

I like your graphic here that shows the rivals like the NCAA Championships; The Consumerist should have had a graphic like that. I read on their website that that Comcast executives distributed an email encouraging their employees to vote multiple times for Charter may have caused them to get even more votes as the “Worst Company in America.” In all my years working for DISH Network I couldn’t help but wonder how Comcast could even stay in business but now that people know that satellite is a worthy competitor I have had the pleasure of speaking to many of those disgruntled (former) customers. Keep up the good work Comcast; the rest of us (competitors) thank you.

Banning fast food advertisements from children'...

2011-10-10T13:00:11.849-07:00

Banning fast food advertisements from children's television programming sounds like a good idea to me.

Thank you for the informative video.

We ended up getting a slightly used washer off of ...

2011-08-30T08:53:06.612-07:00

We ended up getting a slightly used washer off of Craig's list. It has been working just fine. Saved a lot of money as well. Been looking for a new frig lately. Needless to say we haven't set foot in the local Sears. While I'd perfer to buy American, just can't when the product is crap.

Yeah, based on Kenmore's OLD name for reliabil...

2011-08-29T17:18:07.362-07:00

Yeah, based on Kenmore's OLD name for reliability we also replaced a top loading washer and dryer with a Kenmore front loader. The washer has been nothing but trouble. For us the cost effective way to keep it running was to pay the hundred dollar/year service fee. We've tried to pay it only when we need a fix but we've had it for 3 of the 5 years we've owned the washer. So our 700 dollar washer has costed >$1000. that doesn't include the 6 weeks last year when part after part was ordered for the washer (non of them worked) and we were forced to do our laundry at the laundry mat. The fridge has been less expensive because I've become very good and dismantling it manually to defrost it. I've done that about 10 times since we bought it. I've got the whole procedure down to about 3 hours.

All in all, I can't shake the feeling that Sears is addicted to the bad profits of their service business and they have stopped investing in the thing that made them successful - quality products.

I just talked to someone from the service department. No joy. I told them I was done unless they could fix it; they decided that my future business wasn't worth their investment. So good buy sears CC. No more tools from Sears either I'll go to Home Depot. No clothes for me or the kids or the wife, we'll go Kohl's. No Lands End (really bummed about that one). No jewelry, or electronics. No Camping supplies or exercise equipment.

BTW, just to be fair. My Kenmore microwave has been fine. No trouble at all.

Very helpful tips and proven techniques. It's...

2011-08-17T14:27:42.092-07:00

Very helpful tips and proven techniques. It's great to see the powerful application of public relations when done with precision and passion. Thank you for sharing your best practices!

I will copy this information. I'm sure this is...

2011-07-21T02:01:37.680-07:00

I will copy this information. I'm sure this is a big help to those intermediate social media specialists.

Oh the pain of it all.

2011-05-21T15:46:11.852-07:00

Oh the pain of it all.

Yeah for moms and PR pros everywhere! Loved the p...

2011-05-06T19:52:58.256-07:00

Yeah for moms and PR pros everywhere! Loved the perspective Muriel.

Now at what point will your mom understand what you do as a PR professional? That's where worlds collide. :)

This brings back fond memories of Christmas in my ...

2010-12-24T09:43:32.626-08:00

This brings back fond memories of Christmas in my hometown of Tyler, a little Danish community in southwestern Minnesota. In true Danish tradition, our main celebration was on Christmas Eve, when our family would attend church and then travel to my bestemor's (grandmother) farm for dinner. When we arrived at the farm, my uncle would open the door and invite us in with a hearty "Glaedelig Jul." Soon dinner would be served, starting with Danish meatball soup with dumplings, followed by Christmas goose and all topped off with tart cranberry pie with a dollop of sweet whipped cream. I'm drooling just thinking about it. After dinner, Bestemor would slip through the pocket doors into the darkened living room to have a chat with Santa. After getting the lowdonwn on who had been bad or good, Santa would knock on the door before leaving, and Bestemor would open the doors to reveal the lighted Christmas tree. We would then all join hands and dance around the Christman tree, singing Christmas carols. Finally, the kids would pass out the gifts to everyone. My bestemor truly made Christmas a magical time.

You share some great ideas and thoughts about team...

2010-11-13T16:28:29.907-08:00

You share some great ideas and thoughts about team building in this blog post. I hoped you wouldn't mind me re-posting it in the 'your story' section on my relatively new website. See the link here.
My aim is to inspire others about the benefits of team building and the types of activities which are possible. Thanks Alison.
P.S - If you do have any concerns with me sharing your story, please get in touch via the contact form on my site.

It is so nice to have a company recognise that the...

2010-11-10T21:00:50.782-08:00

It is so nice to have a company recognise that there employees deserve a 'play' in terms of building their cohesive team. And you mentioned a cooking class which is great to hear about. We're in Sydney, Australia and there is a highly regarded company called VictorsFood ( http://www.victorsfood.com.au) who does the same thing and it was fantastic for the team to be part of this, particularly great for morale. Wish there were more companies this smart.

Nicole, this is awesome! I found my self using ...

2010-07-17T11:53:15.501-07:00

Nicole, this is awesome! I found my self using 'ctrl c' on a few components here as I outline a social media plan for my org. THANK YOU!
Constance Crawford
Director of Marketing, Capital Public Radio

Great post, social media can be a huge payoff for ...

2010-06-15T16:37:21.296-07:00

Great post, social media can be a huge payoff for a business if its done right, will save and share post website seo company

Happy Meals - they aren't just for kids anymor...

2010-06-09T22:00:03.472-07:00

Happy Meals - they aren't just for kids anymore!

Good advice! We eat "fast food" regular...

2010-06-08T13:13:49.651-07:00

Good advice! We eat "fast food" regularly. But by that I mean that when I take my two toddlers to McDonalds, we order Happy Meals with their desired sandwich, substitute apples for the fries and choose milk instead of pop. I realized that there's more than enough food for me in a Happy Meal, too, so that's what I order! Only $3.99 and enough to satisfy a 37-year-old.

I think we could do better. I also think we could ...

2010-05-10T16:54:39.161-07:00

I think we could do better. I also think we could see immediate benefits simply by liberalizing our drug laws since they are a main reason our prisons are so crowded.

Never buy a kenmore refrigerator. they are made to...

2010-02-23T21:05:43.426-08:00

Never buy a kenmore refrigerator. they are made to fail.

Ours lasted 6 months. Pieces of garbage. Screw Sears!

The blog is really nice one and full of informatio...

2010-02-22T03:35:22.136-08:00

The blog is really nice one and full of information we appreciate the kind of information you have provided in this post. The information are so useful for all of us and we would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for this wonderful information.The things you have discussed about in this post which are supposed to be very helpful for us. Because of these wonderful information in this post the blog can be viewed again and again.

Good for you! May all your tweets be profitable on...

2010-02-17T14:58:32.347-08:00

Good for you! May all your tweets be profitable ones.

Ken