Big Hit: The Economist

6/11/09 -- When we learned that our client Scott Page of The Lifeline Program was speaking at a conference in London last month, we took the opportunity to schedule some interviews with leading news outlets there including The Economist.

The results of our efforts hit today as Scott was quoted in a big story about the state of the life insurance settlement business. We are proud to point out that he was the only executive from the industry quoted. And it is probably the biggest story written about the industry this year.

The second paragraph caught my eye as a great pull-out quote:

Touchy or not, the industry is in bouncy shape. It is even becoming a magnet for those Wall Street alchemists who brought the world the joys of mortgage-backed securities and credit-default swaps. Now they can wager on death as well as default.

Click here for the full story in The Economist.

--John

Latest Edition of David & Garcia PR Newsletter

6/8/09 -- Check out the latest issue of our newsletter. It includes a new design, original content and links to news clips and our own videos.

• Hear branding guru Bruce Turkel play the harmonica
• Watch SBA lender extraordinaire Chris Hurn on Fox Business News
• See me get a straight-razor shave.
  

http://davidgarciapr.com/makingnewsjune2009.htm

--John

http://www.davidgarciapr.com

Publicity and YouTube Influence Legal Settlement

6/5/09 -- Here’s another one for the “PR Works” category. Last summer one of our law firm clients took on a medical liability case, and we helped stir things up with the local media in our client’s market. A number of segments about the medical facility ran on several news stations.

We posted copies of the news segments on our client’s Web site as well as on YouTube. Apparently, the company in question didn’t like that too much.

As a condition of the legal settlement, the company asked our client, and therefore us, to pull down the online copies of the news segments.

We are often asked about the value of PR, and we regularly have to discuss intangibles.

• In this case, what is it worth to an injured victim and their family to have one more point of leverage against a company that harmed them?
• What is the value for the law firm to be able to negotiate an additional aspect of the case and perhaps increase the settlement amount for its client?
• Did the publicity and online history of this case enable the injured party to get a larger settlement?

We don’t know the answers, but we know the intangible value exists.

--John

http://www.davidgarciapr.com