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Restoring common sense to communications means many things to us. A return to basics. A focus on our four key principles of communications: truth, clarity, engagement and collaboration . An approach built on the idea that senior-level experts should do the work as well as guide the overall effort with and for our clients. It also means highlighting what makes us unique as a firm. RENEW PR is, among other things, a gay-owned business. We are proud members of the Capital

As we continue to build a consulting business based on "Restoring common sense to communications," we’re thinking about new ways to engage an increasingly diverse variety of clients in solving communications challenges. In addition to working with Our Network Partners , we're now collaborating with leading counselors in related industries such as online and television broadcasting and live event management. The driver of this concept is simple: while the lines between vario

Despite the presence of so-called “religious freedom” laws on the books in 30 other states, the original version of the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) signed into law in Indiana last month ignited a firestorm of controversy in a very short period of time. Given that the bill is somewhat similar (although much more broad) to other existing state laws, why did this one generate such swift, negative reaction? There were many reasons – including the fact that the bi

Note: This post, written by Ben Finzel, originally appeared on PR Newser on March 18, 2015. Separating the politics of the situation for a moment, let’s consider the communications lessons from the stunning rise and shattering fall of Congressman Aaron Schock. The fourth-term Congressman from Peoria (literally – you can’t make this stuff up) yesterday announced his resignation from Congress (effective March 31) after a six-week news cycle that churned out revelation after

We started this agency because we’re passionate about restoring common sense to communications. We want to help business, organization and advocacy leaders communicate more effectively about the impact of their energy and environment business decisions on the global community, economy and environment. One of our principles of communication is clarity. We apply that standard to ourselves as well. We think it’s important to be clear about what we are committed to so that clie

In building our business, we thought a lot about what we stand for and what we believe. Our thoughts kept coming back to simple things like The Golden Rule and the Robert Fulghum book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Talk about restoring common sense to communications! But some things really are that simple. As the saying goes, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything*. For us, it's not difficult to articulate what we stand for: o

When we set out to build a new communications consulting firm focused on the mission of “restoring common sense to communications,” we knew we’d need to have smart partners with whom to collaborate along the way. While we have deep experience in strategy, messaging, media and partnerships, we wanted to be able to offer broader expertise, greater geographic reach and enhanced capabilities. That led us to develop “ Our Network Partners .” These nine partners comprise a network

We’re debuting our new logo today – check out the upper left-hand corner of the website or look below to see it. We are so excited to have a new logo for our new business. We’ll be using it across all of our public platforms (check out our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles today – and follow and like us while you’re there) and in our email and written communications. We want to thank the good folks at The Campaign Workshop for their excellent work in designing our

Note: This blog was originally posted by Ben Finzel on LinkedIn on November 12, 2014. As President Obama today announced a breakthrough new greenhouse gas emissions reduction deal with China , at least one prominent observer noted that the agreement is a sign of growing confidence in China in “non-fossil” energy sources including renewables . Indeed, China has been ramping up investment in renewables and now plays a significant role in global renewable energy markets.

Note : This blog was originally posted by Ben Finzel on LinkedIn on September 15, 2014. I’ve been involved in energy and environmental policy and communications long enough to have witnessed a number of different “moments” for various energy technologies: the rise and fall (and rise again?) of fuel cells; the debut of larger, more efficient wind turbines; the increased efficiency of solar panels; the promise of “revolutionary” biofuels; etc. etc. Some of these technologie

Note : This blog post was originally posted by Ben Finzel on LinkedIn on September 22, 2014. Last weekend, the world’s largest-ever march to demand action on climate change filled the streets of New York City. And this week, New York City is hosting the largest assembly of world leaders ever convened on the topic. President Obama will address the United Nations and multiple climate meetings and programs are taking place. In conjunction with these activities, political a

I've never been a big fan of New Year's resolutions: they've always seemed temporary. Will you really commit to that improvement all year long? This year was different. I made a big one: to renew. Specifically, after working in Washington for 25 years, I resolved to: refocus my professional endeavors around the issues, opportunities, challenges, people and organizations that motivate me. refresh my commitment to collaborating with smart people on compelling, invigoratin