Playmaker’s Blog

 

The Plays of Alex Jones. Influence Strategies that Killed Infowars. And Counterplays to Come.

August 7, 2018

The digital excommunication of hard-right showman Alex Jones and Infowars, his social media juggernaut, is a compact case study on the choices and consequences of influence strategy and the makings for a modern First Amendment showdown. Set against the Taxonomy of Influence Strategies, here’s my take on the play action of this developing political and […]

Going Atomic: The Plays of Politicos, CEOs, NGOs and Bad Guys

May 7, 2018

There’s a quiet and clever conference held every year in D.C.: The National Summit on Strategic Communications. It’s a cross-industry gathering of government, military and business communications. Like none other. I was honored today to be a presenter. Here’s a link to my talk.  

Words are Public. Strategy is Secret. Not for Long.

March 28, 2018

Seth Grimes’ Sentiment Analysis Symposium, held this week in New York City, proved again to be the place for miners of data gold. But presentations on bots, voice and emotion suggested something bigger. Human analytics, anyone? Playmaker chief Alan Kelly helped stretch the agenda with his talk, Beyond Sentiment: Mining for Strategy and Motive. To […]

Radoli’s Take: Netanyahu’s Peacock Nets Iran’s Restraint

February 25, 2018

Playmaker Don Radoli has an eye for influence strategy and the gamesmanship it propels. Watching the high drama of the recent Munich Security Conference, Radoli broke down the influence plays of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took to the podium and raised what he claimed was a piece of a downed Iranian drone. Using the Taxonomy […]

IPR Symposium Showcases a Powerful, Conflicted Craft

December 11, 2017

The recent Institute for Public Relations Research Symposium, held Nov. 29th in New York, was a knothole in the fence that surrounds the cultish and chronically confused public relations and communications industries. Peering in and tweeting out, I had to marvel at the IPR’s clever reflection on the roles and reasons for the functions and their supporting […]