President of award-winning Hellerman Communications (@HellermanComm); PR Agency Exec of Year (@PRNews).
Washington, DC
Joined September 2008
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Trump should make Dude 44 Bravo his next press secretary! Incredible interview.
“I don’t have this story without faith,” says Bravo, the U.S. Air Force officer who was rescued from Iran.
“I am not saying faith is [a] replacement for training,” he says. “Training helps us understand what we do. But faith is the backstop of all of my actions.” cbsn.ws/4xjxqfB
Dolly’s Boots
I keep coming back to Dolly Parton’s big boots and how hard they’ll be to fill. Dolly’s boots carried her through many rough times and many days of glory. Folks talked about the packaging, the blond hair and her enormous smile, but fans knew the real treasure was her cheerful soul that never put on airs. From a one-room cabin all the way to heaven’s open doors, Dolly’s spectacular boots carried the heart that always sang us home. May her memory be a blessing!
If you're investing in earned media but measuring success by impressions instead of opportunities, this article is for you!
odwyerpr.com/story/public/25…
Good morning ☀️
Saw this eye-opening stat from Gartner’s latest “Top Predictions to Inform 2026 Comms Strategies” report: The mass adoption of AI and public LLMs (Grok, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, etc.) is changing everything. As AI becomes the new primary search interface, it’s expected to drive a ~2x increase in PR and earned media budgets by 2027.
Why? Because these “answer engines” overwhelmingly pull from — and cite — credible journalism and earned media. Gartner notes that more than 95% of the links they surface come from non-paid, authoritative journalistic outlets. In short: real PR placements in respected publications now carry far more weight than another blog post or LinkedIn article. Brands without substantial earned media risk becoming invisible in AI-powered results.
1/6
5/6. Are you seeing this shift in your 2026 budgets and planning yet? What’s your biggest challenge right now in prioritizing (or scaling) earned media? Getting buy-in to reallocate from owned/paid? Building deeper reporter relationships? Measuring real AI-era impact?
It's Purim tonight and Esther may be history’s most underrated communications strategist.
Timing.
Coalition-building.
Message discipline.
Still relevant for leaders today. Here's my take on Esther the Influencer:
hellermanllc.com/effective-c…
The Washington Post slashed ~300 journalists or 1/3 of the 800 person newsroom. Metro, sports, books, foreign bureaus—gutted.
This isn’t “another layoff.” It’s a flashing red signal for anyone who still builds authority the old-school way.
Especially elite law firms.
So what actually works in 2026?
Don’t abandon legacy media, reposition it.
Build authority elsewhere first:
-Proprietary research
-Original insights
-Client-only data
-Digital-native platforms
-Speaking & events
Then use rare WaPo/NYT hits as the capstone / mic drop validator -- not the whole story!
Bottom-line question every partner and in-hse marketing pro should should be asking right now:
If the old arbiters of gravitas are shrinking fast…
Where -- and how --are we deliberately building and proving real authority going forward?
The Post cuts aren’t just a journalism story.
They’re your preview of tomorrow.
What are you doing differently this year??