The Scoop: Airlines Explain the Reason for Higher Baggage Fees
Major U.S. carriers Delta, American, Southwest and JetBlue announced higher checked‑baggage fees in early April. All airlines attributed the increase to soaring fuel costs and broader operating‑cost pressures. The fee hikes come as airlines grapple with volatile oil prices and tighter profit margins. Executives framed the changes as part of ongoing pricing reviews to maintain competitive base fares.
How to Use Storytelling to Stand Out in a Content-Saturated World
Laura Mansfield, senior vice president of public relations at Tombras, emphasizes that authentic storytelling is the antidote to a content‑saturated, algorithm‑driven market. She warns against over‑reliance on AI, describing it as a tool that should be used intentionally rather than...
4 Reasons Your Writing Accidentally Sounds AI-Generated (and How to Fix It)
Generative AI is prompting brands to label content as “AI‑free” after a 2024 study showed readers prefer human‑labeled copy by 30 percent. The article outlines four stylistic cues—repetitive sentence structures, overused words like “delve,” excessive negative parallelism, and frequent em...
PR, Media & Communications Industry Report
LexisNexis released a new industry report on generative AI adoption in PR, media and communications. The study, based on global research, finds many teams lack governance policies, training, and oversight, exposing them to misinformation and reputational risk. It outlines practical...
A Landmark Ruling Is Reshaping Social Media. Communicators Should Pay Attention.
A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for designing addictive features such as infinite scroll and autoplay, awarding $6 million to a plaintiff who claimed mental‑health harm. The verdict marks the first successful effort to hold social‑media platforms accountable...
The Scoop: McDonald’s CEO Humanizes Himself in New Video Interview
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski sat down with WSJ reporter Tim Higgins for a video interview after his “Big Arch” post went viral for the wrong reasons. He acknowledged the backlash, joked that his kids warned him, and stressed the need...
The Modern Internal Newsletter
Internal newsletters often add to inbox clutter rather than driving engagement. PoliteMail’s new guide reframes them as strategic, outcome‑focused channels, emphasizing purpose, audience segmentation, scannable design, visual discipline, cadence, compelling subject lines, and deeper metrics. The seven best practices provide...
Lost in Translation: Where AI Falls Short on Culture
AI translation tools promise rapid, scalable multilingual content, enabling organizations to reach diverse audiences quickly. However, most models are trained on English‑centric data, leading to literal translations that miss cultural nuance, tone, and idiomatic meaning. The article cites examples where...
Turning Engagement Data Into Content that Gets Results
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School’s communications team uses weekly engagement data to shape its editorial calendar, focusing on student‑centered stories that resonate with families. By tracking open rates, click‑throughs and social interactions, the team pivots content themes toward high‑performing topics such...
AI Is Here to Stay, but It May Not Be the Comms Productivity Engine We Were Promised
Ragan’s 2026 Communications Benchmark Report, based on responses from nearly 900 internal and external communicators, shows that 55% consider AI and technology skills essential for future‑proofing their careers. While two‑thirds report time savings and use AI to generate more content,...
The Scoop: Pepsi Drops Sponsorship of UK Music Fest After Ye Added as Headliner
Pepsi has withdrawn its presenting sponsorship of the UK's Wireless Festival after rapper Ye was added as the headliner, joining Diageo, which also announced it will not sponsor the 2026 event. Both companies issued brief statements, with Diageo noting concerns...
The Scoop: Hershey’s Goes Back to Real Chocolate After Criticism From Reese’s Grandson
Hershey announced it will revert to real chocolate in all its candies by 2027, a move accelerated by public criticism from Brad Reese, the grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups creator. While the company says the switch was already in...
The Scoop: Iran Threatens American Tech Giants with Attack; Most Remain Silent
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it will target the Middle East facilities of major U.S. tech firms, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple and Google, starting Wednesday at 12:30 ET. The threat was posted on Telegraph, warning that each American company will...
How Communicators Can Get the Most Out of Qualitative Feedback
Communicators can now scale qualitative analysis thanks to AI, which processes large volumes of employee and customer comments, transcripts, and open‑ended survey responses. Integral CEO Ethan McCarty described the shift from cherry‑picked anecdotes to systematic insight, turning raw text into...
What Microsoft Got Right About Employer Branding
Microsoft’s HR communications team overhauled its employer brand by grounding messages in employee data rather than leadership‑driven hype. After weeks of focus groups, surveys and external perception analysis, the company adopted a three‑point framework—work with great people, do meaningful work,...
How Fortune 500 Communicators Are Rethinking Employee Communications and Culture
At Ragan’s Employee Communications & Culture Conference in Boston, Fortune 500 leaders from Honeywell, Cisco, M&T Bank and Humana showcased new tactics for engaging large workforces. Sessions highlighted equipping managers with practical toolkits, producing short‑form internal videos using phones and...
Sleep Number’s Linda Findley on Her Rise From Communicator to CEO
Linda Findley, who rose from a journalism‑trained communications role at Alibaba to become CEO of Sleep Number, used the Page Spring Seminar to argue that communications is not a support function but a form of leadership. She highlighted the importance...
Prologis’ Head of Social on Why People-First Beats Brand-First
Prologis’ head of social, Natalie Calvo, explains that a people‑first approach—amplifying employee voices—outperforms a brand‑first strategy for niche B2B sectors like industrial real estate. She notes the team posts only three to four times a week, spending most of her time...
How to Prep for Unscripted Scenarios in Public
In an era where smartphones turn any slip into a viral story, PR strategist Ron Berkowitz warns leaders to treat every public moment as a potential crisis. He cites the U.S. Open hat incident involving Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek, which...
Take Control of Your Personal Brand by Showing Up
At the 2025 Future of Communications Conference, PR strategist Lorraine K. Lee emphasized that personal branding is a lived reputation, not a self‑crafted narrative. She outlined three actionable steps—auditing one’s reputation, showing up strategically on social platforms, and building influence...
Stop Sending More PR Pitches. Use GEO to Predict Which Ones Will Land.
PR director Katherine Caraway urges agencies to stop volume‑driven outreach and adopt a predictive pitch probability model. The model assigns a 1‑5 score to three variables—Inbox competition, relationship strength, and newsroom resource pressure—producing a 15‑point likelihood metric for each pitch....
Social Listening Is Now a Leadership Imperative
Social listening has moved from a marketing tool to a leadership imperative, with executives now monitoring brand reputation and crisis signals in real time. Nicole van Zanten, co‑president of ICUC Social, notes that leaders are using community‑derived insights to guide...
The Scoop: Pinterest CEO Writes Op-Ed Advocating for Under-16 Social Media Ban
Pinterest CEO Bill Ready published a Time op‑ed urging governments to ban social‑media access for anyone under 16, arguing that self‑regulation has failed. He highlighted Pinterest’s own safeguards—private accounts for under‑16 users and removal of social features—as proof that safety...
John Deere’s Archives Are Powering Its Modern-Day Marketing
John Deere’s heritage team is turning its extensive archives into a live content engine for marketing and PR. By surfacing vintage assets—like a historic snowmobile—the company generated over half a million Instagram likes and sparked engagement across platforms. The archivist...
Free Webinar: Key Takeaways From Ragan’s Social Media Conference
Resolver is hosting a free, on‑demand webinar on March 25 that distills the key insights from Ragan’s Social Media Conference. Intelligence analyst Emily Wellens will recap dominant themes such as platform algorithm volatility, AI‑driven risk assessment, creator‑centric strategies, and evolving measurement expectations....
Why Cultural Insight Beats Product Messaging Every Time
UScellular abandoned product‑centric messaging in favor of cultural insight, launching the "Phones Down for Five" campaign that highlighted growing screen‑time fatigue. By framing phones as both connectors and distractors, the brand tapped a tension people already felt, prompting genuine conversation....
What Communicators Get Wrong About AI-Assisted Measurement
Communicators using generative AI for measurement often overlook prompt engineering, leading to unreliable insights. AMEC Managing Director Johna Burke emphasizes that AI can accelerate pattern detection but cannot replace critical thinking or define strategic relevance. She advises starting with data...
The Next Phase of Social Strategy: Giving Audiences Ownership of the Story
Social marketers are moving from one‑way authenticity to audience ownership, inviting fans to co‑create brand stories. Panels at Ragan’s Social Media Conference highlighted how gaming, National Geographic, Xbox and U.S. Soccer use two‑way conversation, repeatable formats, and layered content capture...
What’s the Difference Between Measurement, Metrics and Analytics?
Internal communication teams are under increasing pressure to prove the business impact of their messages. The article clarifies the distinction between measurement (collecting raw data), metrics (evaluating that data against goals) and analytics (interpreting patterns to explain outcomes). It shows...
Elevating the Voice of the Practitioner at Ragan
Ragan Communications has appointed Rachel Salis‑Silverman as its inaugural chief communications officer, a role designed to embed the practitioner’s perspective into the company’s programming, community, and learning initiatives. Salis‑Silverman brings more than 25 years of strategic communications experience, most recently...
The Scoop: FCC Chair Threatens Media Could Lose Licenses over Iran War Coverage
FCC Chair Brendan Carr warned broadcasters that airing what the agency deems misleading coverage of the Iran‑Russia war could trigger license revocation. He posted on X that broadcasters must "correct course" or risk losing their FCC licenses, citing a public‑interest...
The Scoop: Grammarly Apologizes for AI Tool that Mimics Writers Amid Legal Dispute
Grammarly announced it is shutting down the “Expert Review” AI feature after backlash and a class‑action lawsuit. The tool generated editing suggestions styled after real journalists, including Julia Angwin, who claims her name and reputation were used without permission. CEO...
3 Ways to Treat AI Prompt Engineering as a Comms Workflow System
Ragan Training launched a new course, “Prompt Like a Pro: GenAI Prompting for Communicators,” teaching how to treat AI prompt engineering as a structured communications workflow. The curriculum emphasizes strengthening prompts to reflect context, building documented prompt libraries, and using...
A 4-Part Process for Building an Executive Voice Framework
The article outlines a four‑step process for creating an executive voice framework: audit existing leader communications, define three to five messaging pillars aligned with company values, build a practical voice playbook with sample language, and map each executive to the...
The Non-Obvious Guide to Understanding People on Social Media
At Ragan’s Social Media Conference 2026, Rohit Bhargava introduced the SIFT framework—Space, Insights, Focus, Twist—to help communicators cut through digital noise. He argues that creating mental space, seeking unconventional sources, curating ideas deliberately, and adding a surprise element produce content...
The State of AI & Communications Report: From Adoption to Authority
Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy released its first benchmarking report, showing that AI experimentation is now near‑universal among communications teams as of March 2026. While AI is accelerating content production, the study finds a widening gap between usage and formal integration,...
The Reputational Risk Hidden Inside Drug Pricing
Drug pricing is increasingly viewed as a reputation issue, not just a financial decision. Carreen Winters of MikeWorldWide argues that pricing choices shape public perception of a company's values, as illustrated by Novo Nordisk’s 50% cut to GLP‑1 drug prices....
6 Steps for Creating GEO Friendly Social Posts
Brent Bowen of Sparkcade Marketing outlined six practical steps for making social media posts GEO‑friendly, emphasizing structure that appeals to AI discovery tools. He urged marketers to frontload questions and answers, use list formats, and be precise while retaining brand...
The Scoop: NYT Interview with Nike’s Elliott Hill Shows Art of CEO Profile
The New York Times ran a profile of Nike CEO Elliott Hill that reads like a meticulously staged comeback story, spotlighting his athlete outreach, ties to Phil Knight, and a jet‑set lifestyle. The piece highlights Nike’s recent struggles—declining running sales, falling stock,...
A Practical Playbook for Making Locked-Down Enterprise AI Smarter
The article offers a hands‑on playbook for turning locked‑down enterprise AI into a useful partner by feeding it structured context. It introduces three "context cards" – personal, organization, and project – that capture role, company values, SOPs, and initiative details....
SHEIN’s U.S. Influencer Marketing Director on the Secret to Partnerships
SHEIN’s U.S. influencer marketing director Jennifer Brown explains that rapid agility, authentic creator collaboration, and aligning cultural moments with brand purpose turn influencer partnerships into measurable business results. She cites successful campaigns with Cardi B, Normani’s debut fashion line, and a...
Turning Sentiment Into a Strategy
PR experts are urging a move from basic positive‑neutral‑negative sentiment tracking to an emotion‑focused strategy. Bianca Prade highlighted that emotions such as joy, anger, fear and trust better predict purchase intent, churn and crisis velocity. She introduced three critical metrics—velocity,...
How Cinnabon Built a Social Fandom by ‘Marrying’ Slim Jim
Cinnabon’s social media manager Hannah Gregus sparked an unexpected dialogue with Slim Jim on X, initially without a formal plan. The spontaneous banter evolved over a year into a fan‑driven narrative that culminated in a tongue‑in‑cheek "wedding" featuring vows, polls, and...
Schneider Electric Canada’s Head of Communications on Rethinking the Executive Script
Jodi Smith-Meisner, head of communications for Schneider Electric Canada, argues that authenticity now outweighs polished messaging in executive communications. She warns that organizations often go silent during periods of change, allowing rumors to fill the void. Smith-Meisner advocates an internal‑first...
The Scoop: Ring Pulls Flock Safety Partnership After Super Bowl Ad Backlash
Ring announced it is canceling its planned partnership with Flock Safety after a Super Bowl ad sparked privacy concerns. The collaboration, which would have integrated Flock’s AI‑driven “Search Party” tool into Ring cameras, never went live and no footage was...
What Sesame Street Got Right About Brand Voice on Social Media
Sesame Street’s social media success hinges on three simple principles: a consistent brand voice, treating the brand as a relatable person, and an audience‑first mindset. Eder Reynoso coined the “Cookie Monster rule,” insisting every post sound unmistakably like the brand....