Nail 'Em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities & Businesses (Paperback)

~ (Author) "We're gonna nail 'em!..." (more)
Key Phrases: black franchisees, good crisis management, power list, Kathie Lee, Culture of Attack, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This should be required reading for those interested in the media and anyone who has any doubts as to the truthfulness of what the media is shoveling." -- Bully Magazine, April 11, 2000 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Today, businesses and celebrities are finding themselves the front-line targets of attacks by headline-seekers, the news media, disgruntled former employees, litigious adversaries, and many others. And it's crisis managers like Eric Dezenhall who step in to fight the bad publicity and sometimes even turn the wave of negative opinion on the attackers themselves. NAIL 'EM! explores the personalities, conflicts, and motivations involved in such attacks and describes Dezenhall's unique communications approach to slowing, preventing, and reversing such situations.

Reflecting our changed perspectives since September 11, 2001, Dezenhall establishes that crisis management is often personality driven, as exemplified by President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, whose plain-talking, straightforward styles earned the public's trust immediately after the terrorist attacks. Next he shows how the art of communications cannot solve deeper problems, as seen in the poor effects of American leaflet drops in Afghanistan and various official responses to the anthrax scare. Finally, he analyzes how the cultural landscape has shifted since September 11, giving examples of how the news media as a whole may be becoming more balanced, while cautioning that even in this changed climate corporations and public personalities will not be immune from attack.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 342 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591020476
• ISBN-13: 978-1591020479
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #968,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fascinating insight into today's contraversial PR issues, June 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nail 'Em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities & Businesses (Hardcover)

I attended the author's book signing and after hearing him speak for almost an hour addressing comments and taking questions I did not want the discussion to end. Mr. Dezenhall is brilliant, extremeley funny and very resourceful. He writes the book with the same engaging prose and examples. He singles out the prototypes in many of the highly contraversial clients and situations he deals with in his work. We begin to see a pattern in the victims, villians, vehicles and values of the pr attacks and defences. His strategies and creative comebacks in any given situation are truly impressive.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Capturing the meaning of 'Attack Culture' for our age, September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nail 'Em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities & Businesses (Hardcover)

With insight, professional frameworks, and wit, Dezenhall has succeeded in painting an important and terrifying portrait of the new 'Attack Culture' and how it is shaping media and our lives. At the same time, his work defines and brings credibility to the profession of 'Crisis Management' -- a profession entirely distinct in philosophy and approach from its oft-compared cousin, 'PR'. Bravo!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important, insightful,and badly needed., July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nail 'Em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities & Businesses (Hardcover)

Dezenhall's analysis of the "attack bias" in the media is must reading. Because humans pay more attenton to negative news, editors and reporters go after any likely target (AND shy away from criticisms that would require scientific evaluation where their errors might be caught). The result is a breathless, eager, and ultimately disastrous ignorance of the facts. If you are fed up with mmass media superficiality, this book will help explain why -- and hopefully convince some editors to go back to more traditional standards of their craft.