Holtz Communications + Technology

Yesterday, 73,000 United Auto Workers at 82 plants walked off their General Motors jobs and launched the first strike against GM in many years. The action came as a surprise to many workers, according to a USA Today report, which noted some workers were “unnerved and are welling to make some concessions to help GM cut costs.”

Given that GM has two…

More and more, I hear communicators counsel their organizations and clients to maintain a “dark blog” in the wings, ready to be activated in the event of a crisis. Whether this is actually a good idea falls into that “it depends” category.

Blogging software, stripped of the elements that make it a blog (like comments and trackbacks), can be used to provide rapid updates as the…

Upon returning to Apple in 1997 after years of exile (or so the story goes), Steve Jobs observed that employees were hunkering down in their offices. Wanting a more free-flowing exchange of knowledge, Jobs ordered urns of coffee and boxes of donuts delivered to Apple’s buildings on Fridays. Employees emerged from their offices to enjoy the caffeine and sugar but, while…

I drink Peet’s coffee. There is none better. I enjoy several Peet’s coffees, but am partial to Arabian Mocha Sanani. Before I moved to the Bay Area 13 years ago, I thought Starbucks was as good as it got, but I’ve never bought a single bag of Starbucks since discovering Peet’s.

Despite the fact that the CEO’s wife was part of the communications practice I…

Despite the fact that, statistically, corporations aren’t adopt blogs at a rapid pace, it’s possible we’ve passed the point of exclaiming each time a big company does opt to start a conversation with its customers or other constitutents.

Time was, a new blog by a major brand roused all kinds of attention. Early adopters were quick to criticize the newcomers’ shortcomings while others heaped praise…

I find, on average, five pitches in various formats in my inbox each day. The delete key lets me deal with most of them in short order. When I see one that I find particularly irksome, I may be inclined to blog about what was wrong with the pitch; I might forward it to my friends over at The Bad…