The PRovoke Media Podcast

In a keynote conversation that featured GSK Consumer Health global corporate affairs SVP Dana Bolden and Walgreen Boots Alliance (WBA) chief communications officer Aaron Radelet, H+K New York EVP Avra Lorrimer examined the role that communicators are playing in closing health equity gaps, finding that their role has — in this respect at least — never been more important. 

The leap from communications to business leadership remains rare within major multinational corporations, but it is one that Jackson Jeyanayagam undertook when he became VP and general manager of Clorox's consumer business in 2019. In conversation with PRovoke Media editor-in-chief Arun Sudhaman at the PRovokeGlobal Summit last week, Jeyanayagam talked about the lessons he has learned along the wa...

Jennifer Risi, Cheryl Overton and Alyssa Garnick — owners of The Sway Effect, Cheryl Overton Communications and Agean PR respectively — are part of a growing number of independents who are teaming up to win and service accounts that require more than individual small shops can handle on their own. They join Diana Marszalek on the PRovoke Media podcast to discuss the new network model, and how it’s...

As COP26 gets underway, two leaders from strategic communications consultancy Fourtold, Omar Mockbil and Tatu Liimatainen, who head up the firm’s EU advocacy and EU public affairs businesses respectively, join Maja Pawinska Sims on the PRovoke Media podcast to talk about the regulatory and policy milestones around environment, climate and sustainability leading up to the summit, and what it might...

This episode tackles mental health from the pharmaceutical new perspective with Robert Murphy, head of external communications at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical and Kelly Dencker, EVP, Director of healthcare at Coyne PR. We anchor the conversation in a piece that Otsuka published in Forbes' BrandVoice platform:  These 3 Changes Can Help Us Overcome The Mental Health Pandemic  by Jodi Helmer. In the...

In this episode of the PRovoke Media podcast, PRovoke Media's executive editor Aarti Shah talks to Gabriel Stricker who has been immersed in Silicon Valley for two decades with senior roles at Google, Twitter, Niantic, the Emerson Collective, and most  recently at Color. They talk about how Stricker nearly took on the top communications job at Theranos — and the lessons he learned from that near m...

In this PRovoke Media podcast, Lippe Taylor CEO Paul Dyer discusses his new book Friction Fatigue, in which he challenges brands to accept the failures of advertising and start engaging consumers on their own terms.  

Being Human in a Tech-Enabled World is a four-part video series from PRovoke Media in partnership with AxiCom on how different aspects of life and work – as humans and communicators – have changed since we were thrust into a virtual and hybrid world and how they might change again in the future, now the power of technology has been realised. This third episode features AxiCom’s Aaron Virola and Em...

In this episode of the PRovoke Media podcast, Walgreens Boots Alliance CCO Aaron Radelet talks about how the Covid pandemic elevated the role of pharmacies and health & wellness retailers like Walgreens, Duane Reade and Boots as part of the larger healthcare system.  

Lenovo Asia-Pacific communications head Genevieve Hilton joins the PRovoke Media podcast to discuss how the in-house communications role is changing. In conversation with PRovoke editor-in-chief Arun Sudhaman, Hilton discusses the changing balance between global and local communications, the importance of inclusivity, the rise of sustainability as a function, and more. 

We've partnered with Real Chemistry— formerly W2O — on a new series Healthy Bites. In each episode, we will have a quick chat with a healthcare expert to provide a digestible "what you should know" to help the industry stay ahead of the rapidly changing healthcare public relations and communications landscape. In this episode, PRovoke Media executive editor Aarti Shah talks to Dan Carter, digital...

The research is clear: flexibility now ranks second only to compensation on what employees care about — and it hits even harder with diverse employees. According to  Future Forum data : 80% of Black, 78% of Hispanic, and 77% of Asian respondents want a flexible working experience, either through a hybrid or remote-only model. This compared to 74% of white employees. This race breakdown paints a st...

We've partnered with Real Chemistry— formerly W2O — on a new series Healthy Bites. In each episode, we will have a quick chat with a healthcare expert to provide a digestible "what you should know" to help the industry stay ahead of the rapidly changing healthcare public relations and communications landscape. We are launching the series with Emily Poe, group president of integrated communications...

Ahead of PRovoke Media's Asia-Pacific Summit, Ogilvy PR Asia president Emily Poon joins the podcast to explore how creativity is evolving the region. Poon, who also judged this year's Cannes Lions, finds that new platforms and sources of influence are reshaping what PR storytelling means in Asia. 

Relationships are tricky, and those between brands and consumers are no exception. In this conversation, Diana Marszalek speaks with P&G Ventures communications head Lauren Thaman and imre executive creative director Patrick “Sully” Sullivan about the complexities of striking the right tone in consumer communications, particularly at a time when people want greater corporate purpose but also are s...

Maja Pawinska Sims joins Arun Sudhaman on the PRovoke podcast to discuss the latest developments in Hong Kong's interminable PR saga, following the news that the Relaunch Hong Kong campaign will be delayed, and is being criticised by lawmakers as a waste of public money. 

Over many years of judging PR campaign awards, the metric that seems to resonate most strongly with judges is: did this campaign impact the business positively? And one of the most powerful ways to demonstrate this is via lead generation. We recently had a conversation with Susan O’Brien, VP of marketing and communications at Cisco's ThousandEyes and Nikki Festa O’Brien, SVP at PAN Communications,...

Even before the pandemic, skincare was booming — and rather than taking a hit when the world moved online, its demand accelerated as people sought to look their best on camera. In this conversation, Aarti Shah speaks to Caitlin King, assistant vice president at CeraVe and Lisa Wolleon, EVP at Coyne PR, about the intersection of self-care and skincare and the complexities of communicating self-care...

In this episode of the PRovoke Media podcast, Aarti Shah talks Beth Haiken, EVP at Method Communications , about the firm's journey from being an office-first culture to one that prioritizes finding and keeping great talent, no matter where they are based. Haiken talks about how this change shifted the agency's focus from the number of hours to the quality of the work — and brought a more intentio...

After working for the likes of Activision and Amazon, UCLA’s Mary Osako became her alma mater’s first vice chancellor of communications in September 2019, with the goal of maximizing the impact of the university’s new strategic communications division. In this podcast, Osako talks to PRovoke Media’s Diana Marszalek about how she forged ahead with her goals while unexpectedly also managing Covid co...

Maryellen Royle is partner and global head of operations of Evoke Kyne, PRovoke Media’s 2021 healthcare PR agency of the year. In this podcast, she talks to Diana Marszalek about what it takes to create content that matters amid a plethora of information, and how effective communications can positively impact public health.

As Shutterstock’s head of creative, Flo Lau oversees creative output for the global provider of stock photography, stock footage, and stock music. In this podcast, she talks to PRovoke Media’s Diana Marszalek about how Covid changed the way brands think about content creation, and the long-term impact on the process.

This episode of the PRovoke Media podcast looks at the complex interplay between the tech companies/PR teams and the media, including the emergence of techlash and what's driving momentum against the tech companies now. Our guest Nirit Weiss Blatt , PhD is author of Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication and a USC Center for Public Relations research fellow. Blatt recently published  an OpEd on te...

If the media always seems to be in crisis, it’s because, well, it is. As the number of global crises mount, quality journalism continues to be threatened by a seemingly unending barrage of media closures, layoffs, and furloughs. This, and its ultimate implications, was the topic of the latest episode with Gabriel Stricker, CCO at Emerson Collective and on the board of directors for The Center For...

There’s been an explosion of interest in women’s health recently. The category, deemed ‘femtech’ by some, is currently a $700m market that’s expected to boom to more than $1 billion by 2025. Of course, women’s health isn’t new, so what, exactly, is different about today's momentum? That’s the question we asked in the latest episode of  “License to Accelerate: Perspectives on the Future of Health ”...