Why "The Best PR Is Invisible" Just Stopped Being True, with Pia and Kelly

The first PR firm Kelly ever worked for had a mantra: the best PR is invisible. Then, Pia and Kelly built a decade at Amazon on it. In this episode, they say it out loud one more time and come to the conclusion: it isn't true anymore.Pia and Kelly are the co-founders of Cuore and spent years as communications executives at Amazon, the people writing the words nobody sees. Now chief comms officers are reporting directly to CEOs, executives are expected to be digitally native, and the frontline employee has become the face of the brand. They walk through what that shift actually costs the people living it, and what it means if you're deciding when to bring a communications partner into your own business.They also answer the questions listeners keep sending them, including the one nobody warned them about: what changes in you when you start putting yourself on camera. In this episode:• When to bring in a comms partner for a crisis, and why "early, early, early" isn't a cliché• Why pulling comms into a product launch too soon can waste everyone's time• The "good judgment police" role Kelly's Amazon teams played, and the cost of playing it too well• What the WSJ's reporting on comms leaders in the C-suite gets right about the last twenty years• Why the Kardashians are a masterclass in being everywhere all at once, and what brands should take from it• The line almost every guest on this show has repeated, in different words• What Pia learned about her own limiting beliefs from a year of filming New episodes of Well Said every other Wednesday. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:28 Two months into filming, and what they've learned01:57 The executives who say they want a podcast03:30 "A human having a human experience"04:04 What Pia learned about her own limiting beliefs04:56 When are you actually ready for a comms partner05:37 Storytelling matters as much as the business plan06:14 Crisis comms: early, early, early06:59 When comms gets pulled in too early07:15 "Go write a release," three weeks out08:10 The WSJ piece on comms leaders reporting to CEOs09:41 Digitally native CEOs and selling through social10:54 The relationship economy and the trust economy11:58 The good judgment police13:57 Out of the shadows14:10 "The best PR is invisible," and where it still holds15:38 The Kardashians, everywhere all at once18:22 The frontline employee as the face of the brand19:02 The Amazon driver who danced to the door