Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Doug Simon Makes His Predictions for 2011

Monday, January 10th, 2011

To Link To Post: http://bit.ly/dWgJZP

Doug Simon, President and CEO of D S Simon Productions, shares his 2011 predictions for the economy, politics, entertainment, sports, and the PR industry. This is his third year doing so and even we have to admit, he’s been pretty spot on. To view Doug’s 2010 predictions, go to http://bit.ly/dExdZz. To view his 2009 predictions, go to http://bit.ly/gGWWhH.


Doug’s Predictions:

“Let’s get started on the economy: I think we’re going to see a continued slow improvement in the economy during the course of 2011. Unemployment is also going to be dropping but at a slower level than would be hoped for given the state of the recession that we just experienced. One little bump in the road, gas prices are going to increase. I think the stock market, after correctly predicting it’s rise two consecutive years, is going to stay relatively flat, probably up a little bit but still remain in the 11,000’s. I think toward the end of the year, we’re going to see corporate profits, which had an awesome 2010, take a slight hit as they begin to have to expand their employee to meet with the increasing demand.”

“Here are my predictions for U.S. politics in 2011. President Obama will maintain a stronger approval rating then he had last year before the election, in part because he’ll now have the Republican led House of Representatives to use as a counterpoint. I think because of that, no major Democratic liberal candidate will oppose him in the Democratic primary. Healthcare will continue to be talked about and focused on resolutions, potential legislation, etc. but not a lot is going to change to the law that was passed last year, in 2010. Now I have two predictions that are related to Sarah Palin. One is that a second office holder who is on Sarah Palin’s “hit list” on her website will be targeted for assassination this year. Second, and I think this is because Sarah Palin is a lot smarter than a lot of people think she is, is that she’ll decide not to run for the Presidency in 2012 despite the fact that she could easily win the Republican nomination. She’s going to hold off for 2016 when her chances will be better.”

“Media and Entertainment: We’ll continue to see the trend where an increased number of folks get their news information online compared to TV stations as that gap will be closed even further. However, most of that information online will be coming from traditional news sources. We’ll also see what I call the media bias gap, and an example after the recent assassination attempt on Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the New York Times said many cite extremism on both sides for the uptick in violence. It would be like saying that it was the right that was responsible for the anti-government violence in the 60’s, not true, it was the left. Right now, it’s the right that’s generating this violence not the left, period. In the entertainment world, I think The Social Network is going to win the Oscar for Best Picture and Natalie Portman’s going to take it for Best Actress (for Black Swan). This prediction comes from my two teenage sons who say that Idol’s (American Idol) going to see a drop in ratings and relevance and that this will be it’s second to last year.”

“In the world of sports, the big story is going to be labor problems in both the NBA and the NFL. I think they’re going to play out a bit differently. I think for the NBA there is going to be a lockout and the big reason for that is many of the players have enough money not to take a hit if they sit out, even for an entire season. The NFL, with far more money at stake and more players who don’t make huge salaries and have shorter careers, I think that’s going to get settled more quickly. It will be moving eventually to an 18 game season but not necessarily next year. I also, unfortunately as a Knicks fan, do think that the Heat is going to win the NBA championship. The Mets I’m not holding out any hopes for buying playoff tickets this year.”

“I’m going to wrap up my predictions for 2011 with a look at the Public Relations and communications industry. Here I see five things that I’m pretty confident will be happening. One is a move of senior executives from the Advertising world to the Public Relations world as authentic content has become more important, you can’t just buy your way on anymore. It’s got to be relevant to consumers. That’s something that PR has excelled at and that’s where there is going to be the action. News for agencies will be okay, they’ll continue to grow but increasingly corporate communicators are going to be looking to hire people for project assignments and those assignments increasingly are going to be about creating content and also distributing them via social media. Two services that will grow in popularity in the broadcast PR industry are Internet Media Tours as well as Internet Interview Tours. Finally, for D S Simon Productions specifically, I predict that we’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary this year and to do that we’re going to be moving to larger headquarter offices as well.”

Links: New York Times Article on the Attempted Assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords

Dr. Peter Salgo: Feeling sick? See Your PR Person

Monday, April 19th, 2010

To Link To Post: http://bit.ly/9MaGOd

Douglas Simon CEO & President of D S Simon Productions spoke with Dr. Peter Salgo, Host of the PBS Show, Second Opinion at the PRSA Health Academy Conference about the future of healthcare and move toward wellness after healthcare reform.



Some of Dr. Slago’s VlogViews:

Doug’s question: You’ve said PR people might actually be more important to the future of health in this country than Doctors?

Dr. Salgo’s response: “In a very real sense, I believe that. Doctor’s if they are treating disease will treat the failures of the health system of the future. The healthcare system of the future will be there to promote, wellness and doctor’s will be there as a backstop.”

“I don’t think globally to the nation, it (healthcare reform) is going to make health care cheaper. It may even make it more expensive as people live longer but it’s going to make people better. It’s going to make them healthier.”

PRSA Health Academy Conference Series:

Dr. Peter Salgo

Dr. Peter Salgo

Leigh Fazzina

Leigh Fazzina

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Ellen Beth Levitt

Ellen Beth Levitt

Mayo Clinic’s Linda Donlin and Warren Harmon, Mayo Clinic Making Your Brand Word of Mouth

Monday, April 19th, 2010

To Link To Post: http://bit.ly/cFeOVe

Douglas Simon, CEO & President of D S Simon Productions vlogs with Linda Donlin and Warren Harmon from the Mayo Clinic at the PRSA Health Academy Conference in Chicago.


About this post:

Warren and Linda of the Mayo Clinic hosted the Pre-Conference Seminar at the PRSA Health Academy Conference. Here is an overview of the event.

Some of Linda’s VlogViews:

“We’re able to measure how many people are communicating with us and how many people are coming to the Mayo Clinic.”

Some of Warren’s VlogViews:

“It’s really about telling the right stories, getting good writing together with the right producers.”

“It’s all about engagement. If we can introduce technically to get over audience to feedback… then we can become more influential with our message delivery.”
health, healthcare, social media, pharma, online video, PRSA Health Academy Conference, Linda Donlin, Warren Harmon Mayo Clinic

PRSA Health Academy Conference Series:

Dr. Peter Salgo

Dr. Peter Salgo

Leigh Fazzina

Leigh Fazzina

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Ellen Beth Levitt

Ellen Beth Levitt

Man Finds Bypass Alternative via Online Video

Monday, April 19th, 2010

To Link To Post: http://bit.ly/9bDXwT

Douglas Simon, President & CEO of D S Simon Productions vlogs with Ellen Beth Levitt, the Director of Public Affairs & Media Relations at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore at the PRSA Health Academy Conference in Chicago.


Some of Ellen Beth’s VlogViews:

Ellen Beth told Doug about how a man from Buffalo, N.Y. found an alternative to traditional heart bypass surgery by searching on the Internet. He discovered Ellen Beth’s video podcast with a surgeon who performs minimally invasive heart bypass surgery using a robot. The man decided that was what he needed and he booked a flight to Baltimore.

“With a Google search, he found our video with our heart surgeon who was doing minimally invasive heart bypass surgery using The DaVinci surgical robot. The interview showed him that there was another option to have bypass surgery with a much faster recovery compared to traditional heart bypass.”

“About the same time he was watching this interview, an email from Southwest Airlines popped up on his computer that advertised special $49 flights from Buffalo to Baltimore. He thought this was a sign–and he decided to book a flight.”

Here is the follow up video Ellen Beth’s colleagues at the University of Maryland Medical Center made with this patient, Ronald Bress, telling his story: http://www.umm.edu/videos/heart/pss_bress.htm.

UMM’s hospital Web site: www.umm.edu
UMM’s YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/ummcvideos
UMM’shospital Blog site: http://medcenterblog.org/
UMM’s twitter site: http://twitter.com/ummc
UMM’s Facebook site: www.umm.edu/fb

PRSA Health Academy Conference Series:

Dr. Peter Salgo

Dr. Peter Salgo

Leigh Fazzina

Leigh Fazzina

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Linda Donlin & Warren Harmon

Ellen Beth Levitt

Ellen Beth Levitt