Unique insights and actionable ideas from The Darnell Works Agency’s daily quest for greatness.
World Oceans Day has been celebrating the ocean on 8 June every year since 2002. The need for protective action for the ocean has never been greater.
For people everywhere, in one way or another, the ocean connects us all. World Oceans Day formally unites and rallies each of us to protect and restore our precious shared ocean. Specifically,
DWA principal Roger Darnell had the great honor of serving as a judge for the 2021 World Wildlife Day Film Showcase: Forests. “It is a wonderful feeling,” he said, “knowing that so many gifted storytellers and supporting organizations are dedicated to informing and educating the world on the importance of forests and conservation.”
Read moreExperience the 2021 World Wildlife Day Film Showcase on 3 March
You and your loved ones are cordially invited to join more than a billion of your fellow humans to participate in Earth Day – the only global event celebrated simultaneously by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities – by helping expand its mission into a much more ambitious affair.
This case study appears in Roger Darnell’s new book on communications consulting, coming in 2021.
Back in 2011, my clients at specialized creative agency Leviathan joined together with some very talented colleagues to help the pioneering electronic musician and producer Amon Tobin and his record label, Ninja Tune, promote what would become one of the decade’s biggest musical tour stories. Immediately after its premiere in Montreal, Adrian Covert of Gizmodo called it “the concert of the future, today.” In retrospect, to me, there were a few key aspects that made ISAM Live so phenomenal. First, Mr. Tobin had a 15-year history of pushing the creative boundaries in sound recording, sound design and music production as part of Ninja Tune, a London-based indie record label known for visionary innovation. With that ground situation, the expectations of anyone on the outside looking in were already very high.
If you haven’t already read it, I also encourage you to review this candid interview with my dear friend Lisa Cleff Kurtz, who is a philanthropist, education and arts activist, and a bona fide rainmaker.
Many other noteworthy experts also offer sage business development advice that you can easily find online… often for free. Here are five more that are definitely worth subscribing to right away.
I have a longstanding working relationship with a CEO who recently changed jobs. Coming into his new company, he told me that his mantra was this: He intended to center every marketing initiative around PR strategy. In virtually every industry, I’m seeing many wise marketing industry leaders endorsing this idea. Another prominent example from the past several years comes from Jason Harris of San Francisco- and NYC-based Mekanism, where in an interview with HubSpot.com, he described his agency’s framework for creating shareable content.
“Our approach is to always think about the PR headline. Why will the idea, content, innovation, etc., travel? Why will people care, and why will they want to talk about it and share it? If there is no PR headline, the idea won’t be shareable. That is our goal on every project.”
The video I’m embedding with this article perfectly demonstrates the increasing focus on PR, presenting the 47-minute “Content & Storytelling: Is the PR Landscape Shifting?” session from the 2014 CDO Summit in NYC.
Read moreMarketing Imperatives: Center Everything Around Your PR Strategy
The publishers of Campaign, a leading business media brand serving the marketing, advertising and media communities, offer an editorial on their website entitled “What’s the secret of a long ‘marriage’?” In that, former Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO chief executive and current CEO of Girl Effect Farah Ramzan Golant offers these wise words: “The key to long-term client relationships is constant reinvigoration…. You should constantly be looking at how you can do things differently, keep freshening the account teams and stay ahead of the game.” As a communications consultant providing ongoing, dedicated counsel to a small roster of clients, I firmly believe in these vows. Among many activities aimed at ongoing education and innovation, I regularly participate in webinars being presented by industry thoughtleaders, adopting the best ideas and lessons into my arsenal. One in particular, presented by five-time published author and entrepreneur Deirdre Breakenridge entitled “Eight Techniques of the New PR Champion,” began paying dividends immediately.
For years now, career counselors, management consultants, self-help gurus and many others have encouraged us to apply the concepts of brand management to ourselves. For anyone who is beginning this daunting process, just getting going can be a big challenge considering how much advice there is to be found. Bearing that in mind, I wanted to provide some guidance. First, I invite you to check-out the video playlist I’ve embedded above, which will help you get a handle on the main ideas at work here so you can begin applying them to yourself. The playlist also includes several more in-depth presentations, including a complete course in Personal Branding Education.
Below you’ll find several excellent articles that will allow you to get fully up-to-speed. Finally, for a couple of examples of how everything can add up once you’ve successfully applied these lessons, I invite you to check-out the web presence for author Bret Easton Ellis at http://BretEastonEllis.com. On a more personal note, you might also be interested to see http://RKDarnell.com.
Last Updated June 20, 2016. Back on Sept. 27, 2009, Ken Burns and his colleagues began revealing the history and splendor of, and public passion for, America’s national parks. As you can see if you watch the videos in the embedded playlist, this six-part series by Burns and Dayton Duncan tells the story of a … Read moreAmerica’s national parks, part 5: Go!
So far in history, there is only one feature-length motion picture executive-produced by yours truly. Twenty-six years after graduating from film school, I’m very proud to have earned Co-Executive Producer credit on this highly intelligent feature documentary. First screened at the 2016 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana and the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, “Kickstarted” was lovingly co-directed by my friends Jason Cooper and Jay Armitage. I’m guessing that my unique contributions may be characteristic of many EP credits.
Essentially, Jason and Jay engaged me during the film’s Kickstarter campaign to help them generate more press coverage, and happily, that worked out well. The film was ultimately funded thanks to many factors; chief among them were the resourcefulness, skills and determination of the directors, as well as producers including Kim Sherrell, Chris Gartin, JP McMahon and Tristan Drew. It’s a badge of honor to have contributed.
Read moreFeature documentary “Kickstarted” ready for World Premiere
