Reputation Town

Leafs fire Keefe, Cdn army's minecraft logo, university protests and Galen blames the customers

This week, we break down some of the more recent PR stories in the news, including the Toronto Maple Leafs parting ways with their coach (and his video farewell), one of the Leafs players compares his teammates to 'gods', the Canadian army declares war on good design, the handling of the university protests and Galen Weston thinks customers are 'misguided' in their criticism of the Loblaw brand amid high grocery prices. 

Maryland bridge disaster, the Huberman hit piece, cops vs LEGO, MLB, Marineland and Princess Kate

This week, John and Warren discuss numerous PR-related stories in the news, including the comms around the Maryland bridge disaster, the reputational implications of the New York Magazine hit piece on YouTube neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, a California police department that got under the skin of the makers of LEGO, MLB's alleged gambling crisis, rumours swirling around the impending closure of Marineland and the continuing scrutiny around Kensington Palace's PR practices. 

Dr. Terry Flynn joins us to break down the comms around KateGate and other PR stories of the week

This week, we're joined by PR legend Dr. Terry Flynn, Graduate Director and Associate Professor for the Master of Communications Management Program at McMaster University. The anchor story of this week is the ongoing KateGate situation, which is the last story of the pod. Other stories we talk about this week include the dangers of over-media training your spokespeople, Toronto Police's advice to homeowners to leave their car keys by the front door to give easier access to car thieves, TikTok's lobbying initiative that backfired, Molson's great PR move to profile women's names on hockey jerseys and Ron MacLean trying to salvage his reputation/friendship with Don Cherry. Hope you enjoy this episode! 

Brad Ross joins us to discuss Google's woke AI, Shane Gillis on SNL, Arizona Coyotes and more

This week, we're pumped to have communications veteran Brad Ross join the pod. Brad was the communications face of the Toronto Transit Commission for a decade and then the Chief Communications Officer for the City of Toronto. He's recently started his own communications business and he joined us this week to chop up stories including MLSE's security snafu, Shane Gillis hosting SNL, the NHLer cut by the Arizona Coyotes following a troubling social media post, Google's woke AI platform, a workplace podcaster who got into hot water and more. 

Boeing, Kyte Baby, Cloudflare, Bill Ackman vs Business Insider and Trudeau's vacation

For the first episode of 2024, we are very happy to be joined by a special guest: US-based crisis and PR expert Molly McPherson. In this episode, the panel does a deep dive into some of the more compelling issues, crisis and reputation stories in the news recently, including Boeing's lingering safety woes, the viral HR stories from Kyte Baby and Cloudflare, the ongoing war between Bill Ackman and Business Insider and the ethcis controversy around Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent vacation. Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy this episode! 

CBC layoffs, Ivy league weasels, Sports Illustrated’s AI crisis and the Chicago Blackhawks

This week, John and Warren look at some of the recent PR stories in the news, including the speculation of CBC paying bonuses to execs despite laying off 10% of its workforce, the abysmal testimony of three ivy league university presidents earlier this week, Sports Illustrated gets busted using fake/AI personas and some final thoughts on the Chicago Blackhawks/Corey Perry situation. 

Texas A&M fires coach, Bud Light in bed with the UFC, a reneging sportscaster and Mr. Beast

In this episode, John and Warren ramble on about a few recent stories, including the massive severance package to Texas A&M's outgoing football coach, a sports radio personality who made a bold promise on-air only to back out of it, the off-duty pilot who tried to crash a plane full of people, Bud Light's hail Mary partnership with the UFC and two stories about Mr. Beast one in which he's suing the company behind his Mr. Beast Burger and the other where he's getting some hate for building 100 wells in Africa. We hope you enjoy this episode and if there's a story you'd like us to cover, be sure to send us a note. Thanks for listening. 

Buddy Guy, plane lady update, Trump & Tucker and ’bad apples’ in journalism

In this episode, John and Warren ramble about the new contract the Maple Leafs signed with Auston Matthews, how to create a legacy in the style of Buddy Guy, the latest social media posts from Tiffany Gomas (the plane lady) and the strategy behind Donald Trump's sit-down with Tucker Carlson. The podcast wraps up with a discussion about working with reporters and what preparations spokespeople can take to prepare for the admittedly small percentage of journalists who might be a tad unethical or unprofessional. 

Bell Media layoffs, LIV/PGA, RFK Jr., Liz Gilbert’s self-cancellation and more

In this episode, we break down some recent stories including Bell Media firing 1,300 people, the PR fallout from the LIV/PGA merger, author Elizabeth Gilbert's self-cancellation of her upcoming book, RFK Jr's end run around mainstream media on the podcast circuit, when should the crisis management firm become part of the story (if ever) and why running away from a media scrum is a bad look. Thanks for listening and if there's a topic you'd like to hear us chat about on the pod, please let us know. 

Bud Light, Elizabeth Holmes’s rebrand, anti-capitalist coffee shop and Elon vs. the comms dept.

In this episode, John and Warren discuss Harry and Meghan's nearly catastrophic car chase, the NYT puff piece on Elizabeth Holmes as she prepares to go to prison, the anti-capitalist coffee shop that nearly went out of business in Toronto, the ongoing Bud Light controversy and what do you do as a comms person when you work for a CEO like Elon Musk?