MELISSA MARASCO

Have you ever scrolled past a product with perfect 5-star reviews and kept looking until you found the 4.3-star option with 2,000+ reviews? Your brain just did something fascinating: it rejected perfection as fake and sought authenticity through imperfection. Your instinct was right. The 4.2-4.5 Star Sweet Spot Northwestern University's Spiegel Research Center  partnered with PowerReviews to analyze millions of product purchases. The findings contradict everything traditional

Writing is table stakes. If you're skilled with words, you've met the minimum requirement for a communications role. But the professionals who will define the next era of this industry understand something deeper: modern communications is fundamentally about human psychology. Strong communications professionals weave behavioral economics and psychological principles into every campaign, every narrative, every strategic decision. They recognize that their work isn't about tran

Two powerful forces are colliding in the modern workplace, and the timing couldn't be more striking: a generation socialized on instantaneous feedback is meeting an AI revolution that's fundamentally reshaping how we evaluate performance. The Performance Distribution Problem Traditional performance reviews operated on a bell curve - some employees excelled, most performed adequately, some struggled. AI is compressing that distribution in unexpected ways. Research from MIT and

The psychology of power is undergoing a fundamental transformation. For decades, executive presence meant projecting certainty, commanding rooms, and demonstrating unilateral authority. But a new leadership paradigm is emerging—one that distributes power, acknowledges uncertainty, and treats influence as a shared resource rather than a zero-sum game. For executive communicators, this shift demands we completely rethink how our leaders show up. The Shifting Power Dynamic Resea

For too long, communications has been misunderstood as a transactional discipline—a simple game of pitching stories and collecting press clips. But that narrow view fundamentally misrepresents what great communicators actually do. Communications isn't just about earning media coverage; it's about playing reputational chess, where every move shapes how stakeholders perceive your organization, often three or four steps ahead of the immediate moment. David Ogilvy famously said,

In an age where consumers encounter thousands of marketing messages daily, something interesting is happening: the brands that resonate aren't just selling products—they're inviting us into fully realized worlds. World building, a concept borrowed from fantasy literature and film, is emerging as a powerful framework in brand communications. The underlying psychology is fascinating: our brains process narrative immersion in remarkably similar ways, whether we're exploring the

When a brand, public figure, or organization faces a crisis, traditional playbooks tend to default to legal reviews, tightly worded...

I recently returned from a trip to Japan — a country where tradition and modernity exist in a seamless, respectful balance. As I walked...

In the workplace, we all wear masks—adapting our behaviors, tone, and expressions depending on the environment. This concept is...

As we approach 2030, the communications landscape is set to undergo a profound transformation. The traditional pillars of media...

Stranded on a desert island with the task of building a modern, integrated communications team? While the challenge might seem daunting,...

The recent controversy surrounding the It Ends With Us  movie has sparked conversations about the unseen tactics of PR, including smear...

The communications landscape is undergoing seismic shifts. The collapse of traditional media outlets, the rise of AI tools like...

As we step into 2025, one trend is clear: generative AI (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT are no longer just experimental novelties—they’re...

In today’s digital-first world, public relations is evolving beyond managing media relations and crises. With the rise of deep fakes,...

Communications professionals can draw valuable insights from the world of child development. As experts in connecting with audiences,...

I fondly remember my first role out of college: working at a digital marketing firm as an SEO specialist, generating content for...

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, brands are vying for attention in innovative ways, and one of the rising trends is the...

In today’s hyperconnected digital world, brands face increasing threats from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, social media...

In today’s digital landscape, “stan culture” has become a powerful force shaping the way brands interact with their audiences. But what...