News & Opinion

Make sure you tune into the My Company Story Podcast, hosted by Founder, Don Burdge as he talks with Bob Gold & Associates, Founder and CEO, Bob Gold!   In this episode, Gold and Burdge talk about the reality of pivoting your business in times of uncertainty in order to stay relevant. And, how BG&A has recently begun aiding in bankruptcies and lawsuits due to COVID-19 and the increase in the need for these services.   [audio mp3="https://bobgoldpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/MCS-Bob-Gold-4_29_20-5.52-PM.mp3"][/audio]   Bob Gold - “All business is the business of relationships.”   You can also listen to this episode on any of the platforms below:   Apple Podcast: https://buff.ly/2ReeXQv Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/googlemcspodcast Spotify: https://buff.ly/2V7i0ev

  Integration of OpenSync™ across ADTRAN solutions delivers customer experience management of Wi-Fi enabled services, accelerating service creation, scale and network insights   ADTRAN, Inc., (NASDAQ:ADTN), the leading provider of next-generation open networking and subscriber experience solutions, and Smart Home Services pioneer Plume, today announced a new collaboration designed to improve, personalize and secure the home network and streamline connectivity within the rapidly developing Smart Home market. As a result, service providers will have the ideal mechanism to monetize Smart Home Services while significantly elevating the in-home subscriber experience. Plume’s full suite of consumer and ISP services combined with ADTRAN‘s global scale and broad portfolio of broadband gateways, ONTs and cloud management tools will enable service providers to deliver exciting new Smart Home Services, such as Plume Adaptive WiFi™, advanced parental controls, AI Security™ and Wi-Fi motion detection Plume Motion™, to mention a few.   “The ADTRAN and Plume collaboration will vastly improve the consumer broadband experience while helping operators achieve faster time-to-market and time-to-revenue, improved analytics and performance capabilities, and fostering the creation of new and expanded high-value services,” said Dan Whalen, Chief Product Officer at ADTRAN. “Service providers now have a best-in-class, complete, integrated customer experience solution that will dramatically reduce OpEx and customer churn while increasing customer satisfaction and average revenue per user.”    As part of the collaboration, ADTRAN will integrate Plume’s Customer Experience Management Platform via its Mosaic Subscriber Suite, offering ISPs a comprehensive single pane view of their access and smart home network. OpenSync, a key component in delivering Plume’s services, provides an open-source interface between ADTRAN’s Mosaic and the customer CPE, permitting cloud-based applications to access data and management control of the CPE. OpenSync serves as a true differentiator due to its open approach that delivers a path to accelerated deployment of services without reliance on CPE silicon or integration partners.   “Plume is excited to partner with ADTRAN. Together, our global reach will bring new opportunities for market expansion through our combined ISP relationships, technical know-how and ADTRAN’s extensive distribution network,” said Tyson Marian, Chief Commercial Officer at Plume. “At a time when there is increased impetus to provide consumers with flawless and secure smart home experiences through self-install solutions, our services will complement ADTRAN’s product portfolio and also expand their service offering to their customers.”   With a global footprint in over sixty countries servicing Tier 1 Telcos, MSOs, regional service providers and thousands of enterprise networks and SMBs, network operators are increasingly relying on ADTRAN to bring innovative new technologies and services to market. ADTRAN’s history of helping its customers build broadband and enterprise networks has laid the foundation for services that enable superior customer experiences and leverage the capacity created with ADTRAN’s fiber and fiber extension platforms. Together, ADTRAN and Plume are expanding their respective footprints to bring a combination of world-class software, purpose-built hardware, easy-to-implement consumer services and enterprise applications to ISPs, big and small, across the world. Plume is globally deployed in 16 million homes and it manages over three quarters of a billion connected devices from the Plume Cloud. As a part of this collaboration, ADTRAN will now offer Plume’s full suite of Smart Home Services through the Mosaic Subscriber Suite, advancing the subscriber experience across its global footprint.   Specific details on ADTRAN’s expanded Connected Home service offering can be found at www.adtran.com/plume. About Plume® Plume is the creator of the world's first Consumer Experience Management (CEM) Platform powered by OpenSync™. As the only open and hardware-independent solution, Plume enables the curation and delivery of new Smart Home Services rapidly and at massive scale. The Plume service bundle which includes Plume Adaptive WiFi™, HomePass®, AI Security™, and Plume Motion™ is managed by the Plume Cloud, a data- and AI-driven cloud controller currently running the largest software-defined network in the world. Plume leverages OpenSync, an open-source framework which integrates into a broad set of silicon & platform SDKs for connection to the Plume Cloud.   Visit Plume on the web discover.plume.com, plume.com & opensync.io.   Follow Plume on LinkedIn & Twitter.   Plume, Plume Adaptive WiFi, HomePass, AI Security, Plume Motion and OpenSync are either trademarks, or registered trademarks of Plume Design, Inc. About ADTRAN At ADTRAN, Inc., we believe amazing things happen when people connect. From the cloud edge to the subscriber edge, we help communications service providers around the world manage and scale services that connect people, places and things to advance human progress. Whether rural or urban, domestic or international, telco or cable, enterprise or residential—ADTRAN solutions optimize existing technology infrastructures and create new, multi-gigabit platforms that leverage cloud economics, data analytics, machine learning and open ecosystems—the future of global networking. Find more at ADTRAN, LinkedIn and Twitter.  

      Kaitlyn Webb, Account Coordinator, Bob Gold & Associates was honored in Cablefax - The Magazine’s Work Culture List as the 2020 "Employee Spirit Hero."   This year's winners are being highlighted for their innovative and attractive work environments in the media and broadband industry alongside dynamic individuals like Webb who mentor and champion their colleagues.   See complete listing of Cablefax "The Work Culture List 2020" honorees here.

Plume, CMO, Todd Grantham joined Light Reading, Editor-in-Chief, Phil Harvey on the Light Reading podcast to discuss the data, trends and insights from Plume’s Work From Home data dashboard, and how consumer device usage is changing in light of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.   Listen to what Grantham has to say about what the company is learning by looking at data from more than 700 million computers, smartphones and entertainment devices on Plume's service provider customer networks.  

If you missed this week’s PR Tech Wednesdays organized by Eric Schwartzman featuring BG&A's very own Bob Gold and PR pro Kimberly Goodnight of Media Playground PR, no need to fret - watch below!   In this episode, Bob and the PR super panel discuss the entirely new challenges and uncertainty our industry is facing in this unprecedented time of global shutdown. How must businesses evolve to not only survive, but thrive during this pandemic? And what can businesses, marketing teams and PR pros do to stay top of mind with media and consumers to succeed in a rapidly shifting landscape?   Be sure to watch the video below for these critical insights and more! You can also watch past episodes of PR Tech Wednesdays here.  

By Roxanne Leone, Director Marketing and Public Relations Hundreds of communications, marketing and digital professionals gathered at the PR News Crisis and Measurement Summit 2020 in downtown Miami just 4 weeks ago not fully anticipating where we would be today with COVID-19.     With the virus spreading across the globe, every PR and marketing professional must be wearing their “crisis communicator” hat – expert or not – yet 37 percent of companies surveyed by PRNEWS and CS&A International have never conducted a crisis exercise to prepare their teams.    On the flip side, over 62 percent of organizations do have crisis communications plans filed away that quite possibly have never been updated. The time is now…to dust it off, adapt and refresh your plan to ensure you are communicating with your employees, stakeholders, partners and customers during this time of uncertainty.  Pull together a crisis team  If you haven’t already done so, rally your primary crisis team to provide internal direction and reflect a consensus across all executives. This team should craft a plan for short-, mid- and long-term steps to ensure consistency of messaging. In addition, midsized to large organizations should put a secondary team in place to represent each department, such as legal, compliance, human resources, IT and others to keep them informed every step of the way.  Determine key messages  Determine what you are doing and going to do from a corporate point of view and how you want it communicated. Are you addressing outrage or fear? Are you talking about cleanliness and safety? Are you reducing hours of operation? Are there any new avenues for reaching customer service and technical support staff? Document messages for each applicable audience and secure consensus among all teams not to falter execution across the board.    If you have any bad news to share whatsoever, do it once, so it doesn’t trickle out slowly and you can focus your efforts on the good, proactive things you are doing.  Select methods of communication  Consider the best ways to communicate with your various audiences. Think about your website, social media platforms, intranet, email or a combination. If your role is in marketing or promotional PR, you should consider fine-tuning your media relations approaches and a short holding statement might be preferable. If the media reaches out to you, it’s important to respond to all requests, to be sensitive to deadlines, stick to the facts and to provide all reporters with the same information.    For more information on how to manage, plan and communicate during a corporate crisis, read our blog It is Not Too Late: Review Your Crisis Communication Plan Now and download these HubSpot templates for guidance, Crisis Communication and Management Templates .    If you need one on one assistance, Bob Gold & Associates will get you off and running quickly, whether that means dusting off that old crisis communications plan or creating a new crisis management strategy. As one of Clutch’s top 2020 crisis communications firms in the Los Angeles area, you can count on us. 

Immersion Neuroscience, the world’s most advanced predictive software company unlocking neuroscience to measure what people love, announced today a new Immersion Index revealing people's reaction to celebrities’ vs. elected officials’ communications about the current COVID-19 pandemic.     Immersion researched the most effective way to share information with the public about coronavirus.  This new study compares celebrities and their social media messages with elected officials.   “The best way to determine if communication is effective is to measure how well it "sticks" in the brain.  Science has established that when the brain is immersed in information, it is remembered, shared with others, and acted on. Highly immersive information is what will reduce the spread of the coronavirus and save lives,” said Dr. Paul J. Zak, Founder of Immersion.   The research study: Immersion asked participants to turn on their Apple watches or other wearable sensors and emailed them six videos to view online.  The videos ran for one-and-a-half to two minutes and featured President Trump; Vice President Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force; Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is a member of the Coronavirus Task Force; Georgia Governor Brian Kemp; singer Cardi B; and actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, all speaking about the coronavirus outbreak.    The study revealed that communication about coronavirus by government leaders is significantly more effective than a celebrity rant or an offbeat video with miniature horses, for example.    The Immersion platform aggregated neurologic responses and returned an average Immersion value from 1-10 for each video.   Immersion Index results for communication effectiveness are:   Mike Pence: 6.28 Donald Trump: 4.24 Georgia Governor Brian Kemp: 4.24 NIAID Head, Dr. Anthony Fauci: 3.91 Actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger 3.24 Rapper, Cardi B: 2.96   Vice President Pence generated neurologic immersion that was 48% higher than the next most immersive speakers, a tie between President Trump and Governor Kemp.  Dr. Fauci was a close third at 53% less immersive, while Arnold and Cardi B were at the bottom of the list at 61% and 64% less immersive than Mr. Pence.    The results show that fact-based videos from elected officials, delivered without theatrics were significantly more immersive, meaning these are more likely to motivate actions by citizens.   “We salute celebrities for reminding the public to be safe.  But, when times are tough, this study shows that brains know that experts provide the most valuable information. If you ask people which videos they "like" or find "entertaining," they will choose the stars over the experts.  Extensive research has shown that "liking" has no relationship to what people do.  In this time of crisis, action is what matters.  That is why measuring neurologic immersion is so important,” said Immersion CEO Scott Brown.   Fifteen years of peer-reviewed research has proven that when the brain produces a specific set of unconscious responses called "immersion," it identifies an experience as valuable.   Immersion’s proprietary solution and software is the world's most accurate way to measure the brain's unconscious emotional responses to virtually any type of content – whether it’s video, music, live events, training, educational resources and more. Developed by distinguished research scientists, Immersion’s simple to use and scalable predictive SaaS platform democratizes neuroscience so that anyone can measure what people love at scale.    The Immersion platform is unique in its ability to perform distributed neuroscience which becomes essential at a time when the world is sheltering in place.  Immersion measures brain responses any place that people are using a mobile app that sends data to cloud servers. Algorithms developed by Immersion scientists infer brain activity from a small wearable sensor.   To learn more about Immersion, visit www.getimmersion.com. 

MARCH 16, 2020 – Clutch, the leading B2B ratings and reviews platform, named 75 top marketing and public relations firms in its latest report.   These firms are highlighted for their expertise in some of Clutch’s major marketing and public relations categories. These categories include:   Corporate communications Crisis communications Event management Influencer marketing Online reputation management   Clutch’s top companies must have a track record of positive client relationships. Clutch collects in-depth reviews with past clients through both a detailed online form and phone conversations.   Alongside reviews, Clutch looks at the services companies offer, their past awards, and more.   Clutch will continue to expand its public relations and marketing research. Interested agencies should create a Clutch profile now or submit further reviews to increase their chances of ranking next year.   “It’s critical to be able to communicate effectively nowadays, as customers are receiving more information from more channels everyday,” said Clutch Customer Experience Analyst Maadhurya Duvvuri. “These agencies have shown they can produce results to help clients communicate well or get noticed.”   The full listing may be found here.

Over the years, we’ve learned that if we focus on client satisfaction, we’re golden. In any partnership, the most important consideration is our customer’s happiness.    That’s why we continue to refine our knowledge of best practices for corporate communications, event management, and online reputation management firms. We’ve maintained a strong focus on the latest trends in crisis communication as well.   It’s no surprise that we’ve been recognized by Clutch, a B2B directory resource site, as a leader in those same categories!     Our public relations services have been rated according to Clutch’s data-backed methodology. They analyzed our market presence, specialized services, and, most importantly, verified client reviews. Using the results of this research, they determined that we’re a leader in our industry.   Looking at our reviews on the ratings and reviews platform, it’s no surprise that we’ve achieved this award. Our nine reviews average out to a stellar 4.9 rating out of 5 possible stars!   “Clutch has been a great partner for our agency - and a primary source of referrals to us.” — CEO, Bob Gold & Associates   All of our reviews give us exceptional ratings for the quality of our services, our ability to meet deadlines, and our value for cost. We also received high ratings on the client’s willingness to refer our services to others.     This award reminds us why we’re named Bob Gold & Associates, instead of Bob Silver and Associates. Our founder, Bob Gold, has a last name that exemplifies our high standards.   We’ll never be satisfied with positive recognition. Instead, it inspires us to continue striving to reach higher levels of customer satisfaction. If you’ve been searching for public relations assistance, we’d love to chat! We’ll help you tell the story your audience has been waiting to hear.