Random Musings on This Week’s Public Relations News

It seems like not a week passes that some local newspaper doesn’t complain about someone hiring a PR agency.  This week, it was a newspaper called The Day in Connecticut griping about the fact that the town of Groton, Connecticut hiring “a firm founded by former Connecticut television newscaster Duby McDowell, to help spin the story of the staggering cable television losses.” McDowell was seemingly hired because the city lost $27 Million dollars in a cable TV business – and there was a possibility the city’s bonds would be downgraded. Clearly this is a case where Daniel Boorstein’s quote would be applicable – “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” Clearly this program was no star – and needed excellent spin.  Hence, the necessary hiring of a public relations pro.

In preparation for a public hearing, and a media onslaught a professional was hired. What could be more obvious than hiring a communications professional to deal with the media? Is not perception everything? Amazingly, one rarely reads of accountants or architects being attacked by the media – but the PR business is regularly slammed and am simply tired of it. Wish we in the PR industry had better advocated advocating for us. Am sure McDowell did great work and deserved to be hired.

Point Two

The jury is still out in terms of business applications for social media – but a statistic I read this week from Slicktext.com which revealed that 98 percent of text messages are actually read, this is simply stunning.  One can expect to see an increase in B to B usage of SMS text messages – it is completely opt-in and has to be an area which sees a lot of growth as people continue to be more inundated with marketing messages. In generally, for B2B social media in 2013, Twitter is the most-used platform and LinkedIn is second.  One wonders if that is a direct study or considerations based upon SEO are considered.  Interesting food for thought.

And

Interesting video on EBay Looking to Mobile Markets by FT which shouldn’t be overlooked.  Interesting story: http://video.ft.com/v/2316693458001/Ebay-looks-to-mobile-market – and indeed as Richard Feynman said “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.”  Mobile isn’t going anywhere, and even behemoths like EBay cannot rest on their laurels.  In order to grow, corporations must be prepared to evolve.  Kudos to EBay.

SOURCE http://everything-pr.com/random-musings-on-this-weeks-public-relations-news/242073/

Who Are The 100 People Most Influencing Jewish Life?

The Public Relations war which Israel faces is indeed a very real battle which influences politicians, minds, hearts, pocket books and so much more. From the liberal media which is so often Anti-Israel to Al-Jazeera who continues to expand, grow and succeed, Israel is regularly denigrated and harmed by the media.

As CEO of 5WPR, so often I hear from Jewish journalists of their need to be “im-partial” and of the need to “present both sides of the issue.”  Of course, their impartiality is anything but truthful – and the agenda of helping Israel and the Jewish people is vitally important.

Tonight in New York City, The Algemeiner Journal hosted a star-studded event where it unleashed its first annual ‘JEWISH 100’ list of the ‘top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life.”

As the description for the list said: “Throughout millennia of tumultuous Jewish history, our people have been inspired and led by a select few. Icons revered by the Jewish community have included powerful military leaders, prophets, visionaries, scholars, innovators, pioneers, kings, saints, politicians and righteous gentiles. What they all share in common, is their appreciation of the unique contributions of the Jewish people in serving as a voice of moral conscience for mankind and their willingness to make sacrifices for its continuity.” The list of the top 100 people alive today… and people who have a significantly positive influence on the important Jewish or Israel related events of our time.”

In front of attendees as diverse as Dr. Ruth and criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, community leaders including Rabbi Arthur Schneir, Malcolm Hoenlein, Abe Foxman and others, a star-studded crowd heard of the importance of media from Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel who reminded the audience of the power of words.

The awaradees on the The 1st Annual Jewish 100 list included Dr. Ruth Wisse of Harvard, Matisyahu Miller (the musician – sans beard), technology visionary Yossi Vardi, Steven Spielberg, John Hagee of Christians United for Israel, Billionaire Warren Buffet, Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky of Chabad, Howard Kohr of AIPAC, Efi Stenzler, the Chairman, KKL-JNF, Brigadier General Daniel Gold (the inventor of The Iron Dome), Rabbi Sholom Lipskar (Aleph Institute, The Shul), Petr Necas (Prime Minister of the Czech Republic), Tamir Pardo (Director of the Mossad), the richest Jew in the world Sheldon Adelson, Philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, the youngest Knesset member Stav Shaffir, Putin’s buddy, Rabbi Berel Lazar the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Avi Mayer of the Jewish Agency, and, naturally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And to ensure that there’ll be plenty of debate -  for every 2 Jews there’s 3 opinions - President Barack Obama was named on this list.There were palpable chills in the room as the recipients were named and Ido Aharoni, Consul General for the State of Israel spoke of the importance of standing together to support the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Am Israel Chai – The People of Israel Live!

No matter how many people on the list you agree or disagree with, publications like The Algemeiner, The Times of Israel, and other Pro-Israel publications which tell the truth about Israel and the Jewish people are simply vital.  The Jewish 100 list can be viewed at www.algemeiner.com


SOURCE http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/ronn-torossian/

NYC Anti-Israel Event Hosted By the Gay Community

On the heels of the Anti-Israel activities with the high-profile BDS event at Brooklyn College, another City University of New York School now has plans to host another high-profile Anti-Israel event. On April 10-11, 2013 a “Pinkwashing” Conference sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Studies Center will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center. While taxes continually rise in New York City, one wonders if there are public funds, tax dollars or university tuition fees being used for these Anti-Semitic gatherings.

“Pinkwashing” is a term used by anti-Israel activists to promote the idea that the Government of Israel protects the rights of the LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community) as a “smokescreen” to avoid attention of supposed human rights violations of the Palestinians.

Amongst the sessions to be held on the public grounds of CUNY include “Aiding Israel: How The Iranian Media Bolsters Israeli Pinkwashing”, “The Settler Colonial Bio-Politics of Scrubbing Israel and the United States”, “Urban Activism Space in Palestine”, and other academic elite talk for harming Israel. Not the fantasy of a PR firm
but you reading it right – they claim Iranian media is helping Israel with the gays.

The reality is that Israel is a champion of gay rights which hosts tens of thousands annually at one of the largest gay pride parades in the world. Israel is one of the most open countries in the world (not just the Middle East) for homosexuality. The Mayor of Tel Aviv recently proclaimed “We are trying to create a model for openness, pluralism, tolerance – live and let live.” Meanwhile, in the rest of the Middle East, homosexuals can be hanged. When Qatar was awarded the 2022 Football World Cup, the President of the sport’s governing body warned gays to “refrain from sexual activity” in Qatar as homosexuality is illegal.

Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a member of the Board of Trustees of CUNY recently noted “It’s just amazing that one of the few free societies in the world like the state of Israel should be a target for people so stupid that they can’t recognize what their fate would be in any other nation in the Middle East. They don’t need a program of tolerance, it’s a made up term to further an anti-Israel bias.”

Wiesenfeld added: “Let them try their luck, any of them – the members who are going to attend this conference and the participants – let them try their luck with the Islamists, with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, with Assad in Syria, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in Saudi Arabia. This is a continuation of idiocy by people, leftists, anti-Semites, and Islamists – not Muslims but political Islamists – to demonize Israel. For all the things they do freely in this country and Israel, they would end up like the victims of Bashar Assad if they were to do this in any other country in the Middle East.”

Delusional anti-Semitism.


SOURCE http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/103474/

Community & Giving Back

Whether it’s the Gates Foundation or donors like Ron Hershco, volunteers who help children or the vital team behind Kars 4 Kids, there are so many in all communities who give back regularly.  Some great quotes about giving:

·       “Those who devote their lives to serving our country, children, and neighborhoods are giving back. They have answered the call to serve.” Jennifer M. Granholm

·       “I really enjoy doing charity, for a good cause, it’s like the least I can do, I really enjoy that stuff. I enjoy giving back.” Alex O’Loughlin

·       “I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out in the community and the world. Think globally, act locally I suppose. I believe that the measure of a person’s life is the affect they have on others.” Steve Nash

·       “It’s enough to indulge and to be selfish but true happiness is really when you start giving back.” Adrian Grenier

·       “No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anne Frank

·       “I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I’ve had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.” Ken Blanchard

 ·       “I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.” ~ John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

·       “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Muhammad Ali

·       “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar

·       “If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up not doing nothing for nobody.” Malcom Bane

Ronn Torossian is an entrepreneur and philanthropist.


SOURCE http://www.jewocity.com/blog/community-giving-back/7433

Quotes on Israel and The Jewish People

The State of Israel is constantly in the news, and as CEO of 5WPR would love to see more positive information and quotes about Israel.  Some quotes about the importance of Israel to the Jewish people.

• “One kingdom comes and another goes, but Israel abices for ever.” Baraitha
• “Who prays in Jerusalem is as one praying before the Throne of Glory, for the Gate of Heaven is there.” Pirke Derabbi Eliezer
• “If a land has a soul, then Jerusalem is the soul of the Land of Israel.” David Ben-Gurion
• “I look at Jerusalem as being a beacon for the three monotheistic religions.” King Abdullah II
• “Even during the time of Jerusalem’s stumbling, men of faith did not cease from [living] there.” Talmud: Shabbat 119b
• “The Land of Israel is the House of God.” H. Ibn Attar
• “The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.” Benjamin Disraeli
• “Jerusalem is the very heart of the Jewish State.” David Ben-Gurion
• “The world depends on Israel’s piety.” Isaac the Blind
• “No city in the world, not even Athens and Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.” David Ben-Gurion

Many people, like my friend Mark Birnbaum who visited Israel for the 1st time this year visit and are amazed at how great the country is.

Ronn Torossian is an entrepreneur.


SOURCE http://www.jewocity.com/blog/quotes-on-israel-and-the-jewish-people/7332

It’s Uniquely Offensive for America to Intervene in the Israeli Democratic Process

With all of the talk about the unique Israel-America relationship, American interference in Israel’s democratic elections is indeed uniquely offensive. In this week’s upcoming election, and in many previous Israeli elections the American President has been active in attempting to help the left win in the only real Middle Eastern democracy. This is no way to treat one’s so-called “closest ally” – and America does not involve itself in this way in Russia or European or Asian countries.

No matter who is elected as the next Israeli Prime Minister, when elections are held this Tuesday, one can rest assured that Israel will remain the only country in the Middle East where the American flag isn’t burnt regularly.

With all of the talk about the unique Israel-America relationship, American interference in Israel’s democratic elections is indeed uniquely offensive. In this week’s upcoming election, and in many previous Israeli elections the American President has been active in attempting to help the left win in the only real Middle Eastern democracy. This is no way to treat one’s so-called “closest ally” – and America does not involve itself in this way in Russia or European or Asian countries.

No matter who is elected as the next Israeli Prime Minister, when elections are held this Tuesday, one can rest assured that Israel will remain the only country in the Middle East where the American flag isn’t burnt regularly.

An update on the most recent case in point:

• Last week, a few days before the Israeli elections, President Barack Obama was quoted as saying “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” Obama reportedly commented that with “each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.” The leak of this comment is clearly an attempt to get Israelis to vote for someone Obama would be ideologically closer to than Netanyahu – but I wonder if the heralded Start-up Nation needs Obama to tell its free citizens how to vote? Perhaps Obama should focus on the many countries in the Middle East which are hostile to the United States.

This isn’t the first time American intervention has occurred on the eve of Israeli elections:
 

• In 1992, when Israeli Prime Minister Shamir refused to surrender to President George H.W. Bush’s demands that Israel stop building in Judea and Samaria, Bush withheld loan guarantees on the eve of Israeli elections. He then dispatched his Secretary of State James Baker to campaign for the Labor party. Indeed, Shamir lost the election and polls showed that the Israeli public was upset about the crisis between America and Israel and reacted accordingly. (The aftermath of this election brought Israel the Oslo peace process which has resulted in tens of thousands dead. Had America not intervened, perhaps the Middle East would be safer today.)
• Four years later Bill Clinton did everything he could to aid then PM Shimon Peres in his bid to stay in power – including making a virtual joint campaign appearance. The President appeared with Peres in Israel and in the U.S. during the campaign and repeated Labor Party electoral slogans almost verbatim.
• In the late 1990s, Ehud Barak was enlisted by President Bill Clinton to help bring down Netanyahu’s government. Clinton went so far as to pressure the coalition partners of Netanyahu’s Likud to bring down the government – and Clinton’s close aides and political strategists. James Carville, Stanley Greenberg and Robert Shrum ran Barak’s election campaign. (Barak is almost universally regarded in Israel as an awful Prime Minister. In late 2012 he announced his resignation from political life.)

American meddling in Israeli elections is offensive, and it must end. Politically, and from a public relations standpoint, Israel should remind America of the many benefits it brings to the table as an ally – and not just vice versa.

The great Prime Minister Begin once told an American ambassador that “we are not a banana republic” – and Israel continues to thrive and flourish.

Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR and a passionate supporter of Israel.


SOURCE http://www.algemeiner.com/author/ronn-torossian/

Ron Hershco: Arts & Chabad Of Oceanside

A real estate developer, Ron Hershco who recently donated a building to be used by Chabad of Oceanside as he resides in Long Island with his family has also announced generous donation of 2590 Atlantic Avenue, a 19th century bank building in Brooklyn to the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.  Rush is a prominent non-profit which helps youth develop their skills in arts and entertainment.

Hershco credits Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz for introducing him to the organization – and they plan to make the building “green” friendly.  They have created green walls, which are essentially growing walls that reduce energy usage.  The site is being created and maintained by the Horticultural Society of New York (HSNY).

Inside the building there will be professional gallery space, art classrooms, a student art gallery, and numerous art studios for local artists.  Ron Hershco has helped further develop Brooklyn.


SOURCE http://www.jewocity.com/blog/ron-hershco-arts-chabad-of-oceanside/7271