Kevin Kutz

Former Microsoft, Accenture, Burson-Marsteller, Tegria, politics, now helping clients develop & tell their stories. Rocking chairs are the best office chairs.

[Andrew Conru @andrewconru]

A month from now, we're launching something new in Seattle. It’s called the ArtLoveSalon.

I rented this 16,000 sq ft venue because I believe art's true purpose isn't to shock or confuse, but to heal and reconnect us.

Here’s the story of why. 🧵

[Rosemary Jones @rosemaryjones]

Let's share some good news. For representational #artists, there's a new fellowship of $50,000 annually + housing in Seattle available from the Conru Artist Foundation. Go through the details at the website. Apply if you think it's you (there's no fee). https://t.co/fli0pdXZnO

[Dwight McKissic @pastordmack]

The Springfield legal Haitian immigrants controversy is pulling the covers off of evangelical and Republican racism. You ask, why is it racist? Glad you asked.

Melania Trump was born in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia, now part of present-day Slovenia. If 25, 000 Slovenians, Romanians, or Italians were granted citizenship to work in Springfield, there would be no protest, ridicule, nor rejection,. Why no protest? Because they would be European immigrants.

At the root of the Haitian immigrants rejection and ridicule is race. Painful watching Bible believing evangelicals & Republicans disregard biblical commands to treat immigrants on your land with hospitality and kindness. When the immigrants are the wrong color, is when we find out that it is selective border control they seek.

There are people who eat snakes, possum, raccoons, squirrels, & a host of other unsavory animals. I was shocked to discover a few years ago that squirrels and rats are in the same family. My point is, the false allegations of the Haitians diet of cats and dogs has been debunked. But, let’s not ignore the fact that eating coons, snakes, squirrels, & possums are also bizarre to many people too.

The evangelical and Republican reaction has been eye-opening.

[Adam Singer @AdamSinger]

New South Park nails it. Health insurance is complete racket: when I was sick (paid into insurance entire life, never used it) at age 33 they tried to deny coverage. MDs at Stanford Oncology had to plead case. Took us weeks. While at my worst. Burn it down

[Mark Lewis, MD, FASCO @marklewismd]

As I stand here with a fax in hand that denies one of my patients on chemo an antinausea drug which could get them through the American holiday weekend more tolerably & humanely, I realize that South Park is now a documentary:

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@Carnage4Life this looks great. from the outside, as a comms person, I've always marveled at product managers' ability to distinguish signal from noise in all the data and customer conversations they sift through. examples of some of the judgment calls you've made would be really compelling.

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@tpemurphy @geekwire nice!

[Matthew D. Taylor @TaylorMatthewD]

Please, please, please pay attn to what is happening here:

Lance Wallnau is one of the most effective Christian Trump propagandists. He was central to mobilizing Christians for #January6th through this exact style of rhetoric -- literally demonizing their political enemies. 1/

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@rachelmetz A boxed set of "Get Smart: The Complete Series" DVDs. Feels appropriate, and is sometimes inspirational.

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

Emphatically agree

[Lulu Cheng Meservey @lulumeservey]

Startups should take more risks with comms.

Fortune favors the bold. Corporate comms, traditionally, does not. Being careful, measured, and safe can be good things - but they stand in the way of great things.

There’s a common belief that less risk equals less error. That’s wrong.

When you avoid risks, you don’t make fewer mistakes — you just make different ones, mistakes of omission. And for startups in particular, those are the worst kind, because your enemy is the status quo.

When you only play it safe, you forfeit opportunities to define a new category, change minds, stoke a debate, and maybe even alter the whole trajectory of your company.

Of course risks come with mistakes. But mistakes of commission come with useful data and lessons, which will help you hone your craft. Your Ls will be constructive (even if they still feel crummy, as all failures do).

In any case, you don’t have a choice. How your comms strategy will react with human psychology is too complex to predict in the abstract, so the only way to improve and calibrate is to get contact with reality. Learn by doing.

Sometimes you just have to put things into the wild and see what happens. Cross the river by feeling the stones.

It’s easy to find an excuse to avoid risk. You're already so busy, you probably won't be able to pull off a big play, you should just pitch the go-to reporters and do a bunch of interviews with low-quality media outlets that you secretly know are a waste of time.

This kind of FUD creeps in easily; I feel it often myself. Sheltering in the safety of “tried and true” tactics is like keeping your assets in cash. You should definitely do some of that, and it can be good for a short period or during a crisis.

But if cash is all you ever hold, you’ll never build your portfolio — and as the rest of the economy grows, you'll fall further and further behind.

When you’re creating something original, you don’t get the luxury of following someone else’s dog-eared playbook.

Great companies don’t get built on minimizing downside, but on maximizing upside. And the same goes for those companies' comms strategies.

Playing it safe is the riskiest thing you could do.

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

Great read. For the many fans of energy drinks out there, who maybe no longer want the sugar, the calories, the "potentially hazardous cocktail" of weird ingredients...consider @DrinkYerbae

[Tom Ward @TomWardWrites]

For @wired, I took a deep dive into the state of high caffeine energy drinks following two deaths allegedly tied to Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade…

https://t.co/p5kaYaqQzf

[Pro-Democracy RTs @ProDemocracyRTs]

German Christians in 1933: "Christ has come to us through Adolf Hitler. ... Through Hitler's energy, his honesty, his faith and his idealism the Savior found his way to us."
Are today's white evangelicals who support Trump any different from this?

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

To my friends, family members, esteemed former colleagues who are adorable and slightly unhinged citizens of #WeAre nation - @DrinkYerbae is making you your very own Blue Razz flavor. Preorder now for a delicious energy drink later. HT @MarkWogenrich @isqiisi - onward

[Mark Wogenrich @MarkWogenrich]

Happy Valley United, Penn State's official NIL collective, has partnered with @DrinkYerbae to produce a branded, plant-based energy drink. Happy Valley Blue Razz will be available in early 2024. More here:
https://t.co/8hKeRurMFH

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@BenThePCGuy Lincoln Highway. News of the World. Peace Like a River. Three Body Problem. Enjoy the trip

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@reckel Right? And what was the first outreach? A text? Like - "hey babe, can we talk? miss you (sad face)"??? Is it a Hallmark movie, but for tech?

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

@smithkl42 maintaining poker face: so essential, but sometimes just too much to pull off

[Kevin Kutz @kkutz]

Great read about a fast-growing young company that makes delicious energy drinks - zero sugar, zero calories, zero weird ingredients. @DrinkYerbae

[Phoenix Business Journal @phxbizjournal]

The #Scottsdale retail brand has made its mark in a marketplace dominated by two major players. #phoenix https://t.co/tfhuvpBwHW