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The Flack

The Flack™ for Friday, June 2, 2023

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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Inside the Push to Make Everyone Friends at Work – In today’s world of hybrid work, people are finding it more difficult to build relationships with colleagues. This has some employers worried the lack of personal connection is hurting their company culture and potentially the bottom line. Enter the corporate Friend Squad. How we wish we were kidding. Your nightmares are becoming a reality. The Wall Street Journal has the story.

The Graduation Speech You’ll Never Hear – It’s graduation season, and with graduations come commencement speeches. Always optimistic, usually formulaic and often trite, these speeches have changed little over the years. Forbes dares to dream of a speaker taking a different approach.

Yeezy Sneakers Go Back on Sale as Adidas Looks to Move Past Kanye West Controversy – This is awkward. Adidas is trying to move forward with its Yeezy brand after ending the brand’s relationship with Kanye West. The company parted ways with West last year after a series of anti-semetic remarks and erratic behavior by the artist. Will fans embrace Yeezy sneakers once again? This story lays it all out.

FIFA’s 2026 World Cup Logo is Part of a Confounding Branding Trend in Sports – Many are excited about the 2026 World Cup in North America, with games being hosted across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. That excitement quickly shifted to puzzlement when, after the 45-minute FIFA World Cup 26 Official Brand Launch ceremony, the logo for the 2026 tournament was revealed. Fast Company digs into the lackluster design and the story behind it.

When Twitter’s Watching, Companies Behave Better – It’s understandable if you are sick of hearing about Twitter. Since Elon Musk purchased the social platform last year, there have been loads of changes and even more controversy. But have you ever thought about how we’ve all benefited from Twitter’s existence? Two Harvard professors did just that, and the results are pretty amazing.

 

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Feed Your Head:

4 Distractions that Derail Meetings — and How to Handle Them

Plugged in and Logged on: A History of the Internet on Film and TV

 

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.