Podcasts by Talking Shop Podcast

Episode #66: Twitter's New Office Vernacular, Amazon Goes to Court, and Scabby the Inflatable Rat from 2021-07-26T23:40

This week's show opens with an announcement on the podcast's future, so give it a listen and see what's coming! We can't wait.

For our last show prior to the summer break, we sped through ...

Episode #65: Don't Do This on Slack, and Don't Say This, Either! from 2021-07-19T21:15

With everything going digital in workplaces, it's getting harder and harder to keep secrets or speak with others in confidence. Three leaders in Netflix's marketing team found this out the hard ...

Episode #64: Why Content is So Important and Iceland's 4-day Work Week from 2021-07-11T21:20

Companies have more tools than ever to broadcast their own messages, whether it's via a website, podcasts, newsletters, social media, or all of the above. Breene Murphy from Listen

Episode #63: A PR Master Creates a Big Ol'PR Mess, LinkedIn's New Pronouns, and Critical Race Theory from 2021-07-04T22:40

We ran through more topics on Episode 63 than we have in any other previous episode! (And somehow managed to keep it under an hour...)

We kicked off the show by mentioning the major annive...

Episode #62: Who Wore Their Apology Better: Jeffrey Toobin or Chrissy Teigen? from 2021-06-28T21:40

Episode #62 marks our last show in June, so what better way to welcome in the summer months than by examining two high profile and embarrassing scandals.

Cam and Ewan return to the awkward...

Episode #61: Will the Pandemic Affect Paternity Leave? from 2021-06-21T22:05

It was a busy show this week, with Ewan and Cam discussing everything from Covid vaccinations to Netscape; Christiano Rinaldo to Alexander Hamilton. So let's get started.

Paternity leave i...

Episode #60: BrewDog Employees and CEO Drown the Beer's Reputation in Embarrassing Public Feud from 2021-06-14T15:00

We've talked a lot about legal cases on the show, but this week Ewan brings our attention to other effective ways to handle disputes. Mediation can be a useful part of any dispute resolution pro...

Episode #59: How"Work from Home"is Transforming the Workplace from 2021-06-07T20:05

We have dedicated a whole show to a subject that will affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide: flexible working hours and "work from home".

While staff in many Asian countries have...

Episode #58: Ryanair Becomes Butt of Jokes after Ridiculous PR Statement from 2021-05-31T21:55

We faced some outright silliness this week.

Ewan brought up Amy Cooper, who we discussed way back in Listen

Episode #57: How Social Media Can Sink Your Job Prospects, and Apple Comms Responds to Damaging NYT Investigation on China from 2021-05-24T22:00

What a show!

We covered a lot of ground this week, including the issue of social media and its impact on people's job prospects. Somehow we didn't touch on this fundamental issue in the pr...

Episode #56: How to Build an Inclusive, Millennial-Friendly Company and News Monitoring 101 from 2021-05-17T23:55

We've talked a lot on the show about how the workplace is changing, primarily due to demographic shifts as well as the pandemic. This week, Ewan goes into some detail about how confused managers...

Episode #55: Peloton's PR Stumbles and Creating a Fairer Post-Pandemic Workplace from 2021-05-10T23:20

Peloton, that premium brand that makes pricey exercise equipment for wealthy urbanites, has a knack for finding itself in the news for the wrong reasons. You may recall a television commercial t...

Episode #54: The Battle Over Zoom Cameras and Basecamp's Controversial Experiment from 2021-05-03T23:30

It's probably happened to you: a work or school meeting held virtually over Zoom when your boss or instructor asks you to turn on the webcam. Everybody seems to have a different take on whether ...

Episode #53: Five Practical Tips to Improve Your PR in 2021 from 2021-04-26T15:00

Last week Cam talked about preparing for his first Pfizer shot in Hong Kong, and this week we find out that both hosts got their first dose last week after Ewan secured an early appointment as w...

Episode #52: A Politician Finds Himself Naked on Zoom, and Why Vaccines Struggle with PR from 2021-04-19T23:55

We made a full year! What better way to mark the first anniversary of the PR & Law Podcast than with another humiliating story of a bumbling, high-profile individual and his lack of computer...

Episode #51: What's Next for Amazon Staff and Brands Find Themselves Stuck in the Middle of Culture Wars from 2021-04-12T23:25

This week we learned that the strongest push yet for a union inside e-commerce juggernaut Amazon fell short. Ewan sifts through the wreckage to try and find the way forward for both the company ...

Episode #50: Amazon Braces for a Workers'Union and Why You Should Avoid an April Fool's Day Gag from 2021-04-05T21:45

The ballots have been cast and the counting has begun on a vote that could bring foundational change to Amazon.com, the "everything store" that has only grown during the pandemic. Amazon has fou...

Episode #49: A Debate on Long Working Hours and Facebook PR Floods the Zone from 2021-03-29T21:20

While vaccinations are happening and people are itching to get out from under the year-long COVID-19 pandemic, some parts of life may never go back to normal -- such as remote work. Ewan and Cam...

Episode #48: The Boom in Companies Spying on Employees, and AstraZeneca's Loss of Trust from 2021-03-22T23:08

Workers often suspect their bosses may be spying on them, either via security cameras or software that can track their internet use. But as Ewan explains this week, it's gotten much, much worse ...

Episode #47: Burger King's Controversial (or Just Misunderstood?) Tweet from 2021-03-15T22:20

Sometimes companies inadvertently draw media attention for a mistake -- or gaffe -- in their communications. Amazon is a great example, which just had to change its new phone icon becau...

Episode #46: Check Before Signing that Contract, and the 2021 State of Social Media for PR Pros from 2021-03-08T22:10

The pandemic has shaped or impacted nearly every business over the past year, including how PR professionals use social media and other digital tools to get their messages out. This episode mark...

Episode #45:"Intimacy Coordinators"and a New York Governor Fights New #MeToo Allegations from 2021-03-01T15:30

It was a rough week for New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo after two former staffers came forward to complain of sexual harassment. While many cases have come to light amid the #MeToo movement...

Episode #44: Oops! Ted Cruz's PR Blunder, and Be Careful What You Say in a Job Interview from 2021-02-22T22:20

It's that time of year when people are out looking for jobs, and employers are posting new openings. Ewan brings some timely advice on how both employers and prospective employees can protect th...

Episode #43: Layoffs are Never Easy, but Bell Canada Shows How Atrocious PR Can Make it Much Worse from 2021-02-15T23:05

Traditional media companies around the world were facing tough economic circumstances before the pandemic started, and are now in an all-out struggle just for survival. It's in this context that...

Episode #42: How Amazon's PR Team Handled Jeff Bezos'Departure as CEO, and What to do About Cyber-bullying from 2021-02-08T22:08

We touched on a couple of cyber-bullying cases during last week's show, with online harassers terrorizing victims for more than two decades and leaving many of them broken. This week, Ewan looks...

Episode #41: Robinhood's Huge Unforced Error from 2021-02-01T22:40

This year certainly hasn't started quietly! After intense media focus on Washington DC in early January, it shifted quickly to Wall Street this week after Redditors helped launch a small retail ...

Episode #40: What Communicators Can Learn from Amanda Gorman's Powerful Poem at the Inaugural from 2021-01-25T20:45

Public speaking is often a big part of the job for PR professionals, and this past week provided some excellent examples of how to do it right. We mention the inaugural address of US President J...

Episode #39: WhatsApp's Self-Made -- and Disastrous -- PR Fail from 2021-01-18T22:15

WhatsApp has won the title of biggest #PRfail of 2021! The popular chat app, owned by Facebook, created its own crisis when it sent a sloppy notification to two billion people that sparked an ex...

Episode #38: Facebook Can't Get Anything Right, and Google vs. Labor Unions from 2021-01-11T23:15

Happy New Year!

It's great to be back to kick off 2021 -- and already there's no shortage of topics to discuss.

While the storming of the US Capitol dominated coverage last...

Episode #37: Employment Lawyer Matthew Dewar on How Companies and Employees Can Navigate COVID-19 from 2020-12-20T21:35

The vaccines are being rolled out as we speak, but that doesn't mean COVID-19 is behind us. The pandemic has left tens of millions of people out of work and companies struggling to stay alive. T...

Episode #36: How to Fire People Properly (and Respectfully), and Why a Blog Beats a News Release from 2020-12-14T19:55

It's the end of the year, and that can sometimes mean layoffs. It's cruel to let somebody go right before Christmas - at least in western countries - but it happens more than you'd think. This w...

Episode #35: The Controversial Firing of an Anthem Singer for Joining an Anti-Lockdown Protest, and Avoiding Trouble at Holiday Parties in a Pandemic from 2020-12-07T19:00

We had lots of content planned this week, but a late-breaking story drove a number of requests to the PR and Law Podcast... and we definitely take requests! The longtime anthem singer of an NHL ...

Episode #34: Can Your Employer Force You to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine? from 2020-11-30T23:58

It looks like we're getting closer to a COVID-19 vaccine, and maybe several of them. Once they're approved and available for widespread distribution, it raises...

Episode #33: Are You Slacking Off While Working From Home? Plus: Why YouTubers Should Be Included In Your Communications Plan from 2020-11-23T23:45

An Listen

Episode #32: How PR has Changed, What Companies Often Overlook, Jeffrey Toobin is Fired, and a Baseball GM Smashes the Gender Barrier from 2020-11-16T18:35

We had the privilege of welcoming Edelman Hong Kong Head of Corporate Simon Murphy to the show this week to get his perspective on how the PR industry has changed over the years, what companies ...

Episode #31: The Election Episode: Trump and Biden's Election Night PR Strategies, Speeches, News Coverage, and Prop 22 Battle in California from 2020-11-09T15:15

We wondered if we'd have a winner declared by the time we recorded Episode #31, and we just made it: Joe Biden was declared President-Elect after securing enough votes in the electoral college t...

Episode #30: What It's Like Arguing Before the Supreme Court, What Companies Must Do to Prepare for a PR Crisis, Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Greenwald from 2020-11-02T21:00

We welcomed special guest Allyson Lee to the PR & Law Podcast this week to talk about her case, which was heard before the Supreme Court of Canada. Very few cases make it that far, so Lee's ...

Episode #29: A Humiliating (and Costly) Zoom Call for a Prominent Journalist, Why ESG and CSR are Critical to PR, the Joy of RSS feeds, and Canada's Contribution to the Alt-Right from 2020-10-26T14:00

It's not everyday that a case like this lands on our lap: a prominent journalist exposed himself on a company Zoom call, apparently unaware that his colleagues...

Episode #28: The Dreaded Workplace Investigation, All About Content Marketing, Travel Bubbles and New Albums from 2020-10-19T23:15

We've all heard about workplace investigations, and many of us have been a part of them in some form or another. This week Ewan talks about why workplace inves...

Episode #27: What To Do If Your Boss Gives You A Performance Improvement Plan, Trying to Spin Your Way Out of an Extra-Marital Affair, and eBay's Cockroach Scandal from 2020-10-12T12:35

The dreaded Performance Improvement Plan is something workers want to avoid, but employees do have ways to protect themselves. Ewan gives some great advice on how to respond to PIPs, as...

Episode #26: Dissecting White House Communications over President Trump's Health, Walmart's $20 million Discrimination Settlement, and US Militias from 2020-10-05T13:10

We debate Walmart's recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit claiming the company had discriminatory hiring practices because of a physical test used to scr...

Episode #25: Facebook Staff Challenge Zuckerberg in Leaked Audio, Zuck's Friendship with Trump, Managing a Cyberattack PR Crisis, and How to Stay Safe Online from 2020-09-28T22:55

We hit the quarter century mark by looking closely at the internal strife at Facebook after audio from staff meetings was leaked to reporters. Ewan looks at th...

Episode #24: Shock (Again) over Racism in China, Why it's Important to Have Unfettered Access to Case Law, TikTok's Aggressive PR Statement, Enya and the Beastie Boys from 2020-09-21T12:00

While America continues to wrestle with racism, most people would be shocked at how tolerant other countries are of overt discrimination. Case in point: the removal of Star Wars actor John Boyeg...

Episode #23: China's 2 Food Delivery Giants Face the Same PR Crisis Differently, Who COVID-19 Hurts Most, Fleeing to Taiwan, and White Parents from 2020-09-14T23:00

It's not widely known outside of China, but the country's food delivery services are already light years ahead of everyone else. The food delivery market - estimated at US$45 billion per year, o...

Episode #22: Never Say"No Comment"and More Foundational PR Tips, the Perils of Navigating Workplace Cultures, and How to Manage a Bad One from 2020-09-07T23:55

We open the show talking about renewed protests in both the United States and Hong Kong, then dive right into the confounding issue of workplace cultures after Netflix's strange unique wo...

Episode #21: Communications During Racial Unrest, Comparing Convention Speeches, Hair Discrimination, and NBA Players Take a Stand from 2020-09-01T22:09

What a week! Another senseless killing of a black man in America by law enforcement, an historic boycott by NBA players, more violent protests in U.S. cities, and the 2020 Republican National Co...

Episode #20: Should Uber Drivers be Treated Like Employees? Also:"Cancel Culture", a Baseball Broadcaster Ruins His Career in a Split Second, and Groundhog Day from 2020-08-24T23:05

Uber and Lyft drivers in California are demanding to be treated as employees, with all the benefits and protections that entails -- but will it work? Could the ride sharing companies survive? We...

Episode #19: McDonald's Plunged Into Crisis Over Serial-Dating CEO, Why His Severance is Threatened, How to Manage Crises on Social Media, and the Booming 1980s Adult Film Industry from 2020-08-17T14:30

We dissect the fascinating case of former McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who was fired last year for having a consensual relationship with an employee in violation of the company's policies. ...

Episode #18: Top PR Minds Share Ideas to Save Ellen DeGeneres, Why Accepting a Demotion During COVID-19 Isn't a Given, and Jim Carrey Opens Up from 2020-08-10T16:25

The scandal engulfing Ellen DeGeneres has been a PR nightmare for the popular talk show host, but also creates a significant challenge for the brightest minds in PR. We dissect what has transpir...

Episode #17: Crisis Comms Expert Edward Segal on Communicating COVID and Facebook's Fumbles. Also: New Work Contracts,"Karen", and Success Addiction from 2020-08-03T20:20

The author of "Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies Listen

Episode #16: How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Nailed Her Speech, the Seattle Kraken Give a Lesson in Marketing, and Unsafe Workplaces from 2020-07-27T00:50

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows off her communications skills in a passionate rebuttal to Republican Ted Yoho following a confrontation earlier in the week. We dissect her approach and explain wh...

Episode #15: Can You be Forced to Wear a Mask? Also: PR Tips from a Veteran Spin Doctor, Canada v. USA, Trump's Twitter, and a Homeless Baseball Team from 2020-07-20T21:40

Lessons from the world of PR and employment law are more pertinent than ever, especially as the pandemic continues to spread rapidly across the US and now in H...

Episode #14: What is TikTok, and Why are Governments Banning It? Plus Discrimination on Religious Grounds and Robinhood from 2020-07-13T23:58

We raced through the show this week with so much to cover. We kicked off looking at how COVID-19 has come back with a vengeance, and not just in the US this ti...

Episode #13: United Airlines Hits Some PR Turbulence, Hong Kong Falls, Advertisers Unlike Facebook, and Vietnam and Canada Find COVID Success from 2020-07-06T15:00

United Airlines runs into both legal and PR trouble this week after some ill-advised comments from its Chief of Communications on precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on board.

H...

Episode #12: A Raucous Debate Over the'Gig Economy', Uber Driver Sues Uber, When Doxxing Goes Too Far, VIP Parties and Root Bear from 2020-06-29T19:30

Cam and Ewan debate the 'gig economy', going back and forth over whether millennials and Gen Z have lucked out with all the cool digital opportunities, or whether they're stuck building a career...

Episode #11: The US"Gives Up", the Supreme Court Defines"Sex", a Glimpse into the Horrific Culture of Hazing, and Jon Stewart Returns from 2020-06-22T12:15

Hazing is an ugly ritual that permeated junior hockey for years, but those responsible are now facing a reckoning. We discuss why the toxic culture behind hazing is a PR disaster for a sport tha...

Episode #10: Social Justice and #BLM Raise Stakes for Brands, Cathay Pacific Bailed Out, Harry Potter and Gender Dysphoria, Seinfeld vs. Maron from 2020-06-15T11:50

What a show! A lot is packed into this week's episode, including a look at how companies are increasingly under-the-gun in an age of social justice, with consumers demanding more than platitudes...

Episode #9: HBO Max's Marketing Mess, Facing Your Own Decline, and Why Women are Carrying the Burden of COVID-19 from 2020-06-08T23:55

The impact of COVID-19 is being felt worldwide, but not evenly. We look at how women have an even heavier burden, particularly with kids unable to attend classes. Also, with HBO Max officially l...

Episode #8: How Brands are Responding to George Floyd, the Firing of Amy Cooper after a Racist Outburst in Central Park, and Hong Kong Might Not be Dead Yet from 2020-06-01T15:30

We just lived through one of the busiest news weeks since we started the show, and we tackled all of it! We dive into the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the nationwid...

Episode #7: Beijing Pulls Hong Kong Closer with Security Law, Why Some Legal Firms Wrongly Insist on Paper, and COVID Becomes a Part of Life from 2020-05-25T10:45

Hong Kong was in the headlines again this week after Beijing took a drastic step to force a national security law on the semi-autonomous region. We dive into the issue and potential fallout, whi...

Episode #6: Shocking Anger at the"Fake News"Media, Balancing Law and PR Risks, COVID Delirium and Get it in Writing! from 2020-05-18T12:00

We play a shocking piece of audio from a protest in New York where people shout profanity at a journalist who turned up to cover the protest. The news media may have a bigger PR problem than new...

Episode #5: The Embarrassing Leak of Private Misogynistic Chats on Instagram, COVID Chaos in the White House, and Why People are Unhappy in Retirement from 2020-05-14T20:30

**This episode is being republished due to technical issues. If you've already listened to Episode 5 you can obviously skip this. If not, hope you enjoy and sorry it's late.**

Thi...

Episode #4: Guns as an Identity, Battle Over Victoria's Secret, China's Newfound Diplomatic Aggression and The Last Dance from 2020-05-04T01:15

This week, Cam and Ewan look at how COVID-19 has impacted the sale of Victoria's Secret, the soaring stock market, China's new "wolf warrior" diplomats, the massacre in Canada and rapid adoption...

Episode #3: How to Sue China for COVID-19, Funerals in an Era of Social Distancing, and China Battles with Thailand... Online from 2020-04-27T01:20

This week, Cam and Ewan look at US courts potentially opening the door for individuals and companies to sue China over the economic fallout from COVID-19, the potential permanent changes to glob...

Episode #2: Zoom Scandal, a Debate Over the"China Virus", and What to Do if Your Workplace is Unsafe from 2020-04-20T01:30

We open the show by looking at COVID-19 from two very different spots: Toronto, where a "shelter in place" edict continues to leave streets empty and businesses closed, and Hong Kong, where thin...

Episode #1: Laid-Off Employee Rights During COVID-19, Permanent Changes to Work, and Masks as a Cultural Symbol from 2020-04-13T01:55

With COVID-19 continuing to cause mayhem around the world both medically and economically, there was no shortage of angles to discuss in episode one of the PR & Law Podcast.

Below are ...