Mamdani impact on Silicon Alley & NYC

 

• In the short-term (next 12–24 months), I’d expect a modest slowdown or flattening of large VC growth-rounds in NYC simply due to uncertainty and re-adjustment.
• In the medium-term (2–5 yrs), if Mamdani’s admin articulates and delivers a clear, startup-friendly framework (affordability + infrastructure + regulation support), NYC could regain momentum — especially in sectors aligned with his agenda (social tech, climate, inclusive economy).
• Many VCs will still commit to NYC — the deep ecosystem, talent pool, corporate headquarters, global finance still matter — but there may be a shift in composition: more early stage, more “impact” and fewer ultra-high valuations until clarity is achieved.

AI & PR

 How AI is Revolutionizing Public Relations (PR)**  

## **Introduction**  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries across the board, and **Public Relations (PR)** is no exception. From automating media monitoring to enhancing audience engagement, AI is reshaping how PR professionals strategize, execute, and measure their campaigns.  

In this blog post, we’ll explore:  

✔ How AI is being used in PR today  

✔ Key benefits of AI-powered PR tools  

✔ Potential challenges and ethical considerations  

✔ The future of AI in PR  

---  

## **1. How AI is Being Used in PR**  

### **A. Media Monitoring & Sentiment Analysis**  

AI-powered tools like **Meltwater, Cision, and Brandwatch** scan millions of news articles, social media posts, and blogs in real time to track brand mentions. Using **Natural Language Processing (NLP)**, these tools analyze sentiment—helping PR teams gauge public perception and respond proactively.  

### **B. Personalized Pitches & Targeted Outreach**  

AI can analyze journalist preferences, past articles, and engagement patterns to help PR professionals craft **hyper-personalized pitches**. Tools like **Prophet** and **Roxhill Media** use AI to recommend the best journalists for a story, increasing the chances of coverage.  

### **C. Chatbots & Automated Customer Service**  

Brands are using AI-driven chatbots (like **ChatGPT-powered assistants**) to handle media inquiries, crisis communications, and customer interactions—freeing up PR teams to focus on strategic tasks.  

### **D. Predictive Analytics for Crisis Management**  

AI can predict potential PR crises by analyzing trends and detecting early warning signs. For example, if negative sentiment spikes around a brand, AI tools can alert teams before the issue escalates.  

### **E. Content Creation & Optimization**  

AI writing assistants (like **Jasper, Copy.ai, and ChatGPT**) help PR teams draft press releases, social media posts, and blog content quickly. AI can also optimize headlines and messaging for better engagement.  

---  

## **2. Key Benefits of AI in PR**  

✅ **Faster Data Processing** – AI analyzes vast amounts of data in seconds, providing real-time insights.  

✅ **Improved Targeting** – AI identifies the right journalists, influencers, and audiences for campaigns.  

✅ **Cost & Time Efficiency** – Automating repetitive tasks (like media monitoring) saves resources.  

✅ **Enhanced Measurement** – AI provides deeper analytics on campaign performance and ROI.  

---  

## **3. Challenges & Ethical Considerations**  

While AI offers immense potential, PR professionals must navigate:  

🔸 **Bias in AI** – If training data is biased, AI tools may produce skewed results.  

🔸 **Loss of Human Touch** – Over-reliance on AI could make PR interactions feel impersonal.  

🔸 **Data Privacy Concerns** – AI tools must comply with regulations like **GDPR**.  

🔸 **Misinformation Risks** – AI-generated content could spread false narratives if unchecked.  

NY Tech Week & Robotics

 Last week’s NY Tech week featured a lot of parties & panels but the best gathering I attended was the NY Tech Meetup, which Bruni PR first attended in 2006.  It’s the “Ellis Island” for techies coming to NYC.

The event at Civic Hall focused on the hottest new industry in NYC - Robotics.   

• The New York–New Jersey region recorded approximately $21 billion in robotics-related industry revenue in 2022 (including industrial robots, AGVs, and AMRs), with projections ranging up to $190 billion by 2040—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13–23 %  

Trump 100 Days

The first 100 days of Trump have been the worst start for any President in American history.  The WSJ editorial board summed it up perfectly today :

“Presidential second terms are rarely successful, and on the evidence of his first 100 days Donald Trump’s won’t be different. The President needs a major reset if he wants to rescue his final years from the economic and foreign-policy shocks he has unleashed.”

Bruni PR anticipates a sharp decline in VC funding for startups, including the hot new AI space. Silicon Alley has faced meltdowns in 1999 and 2005 .  But this one will be deeper for sure . 

AI Summit

 Last week’s AI Summit at Javits Center was an amazing gathering of both large and small players in AI.  Google, Dell, IBM , Microsoft and other big guys were on the panels and had the key speakers on the main stage . But, the real action was in the labyrinth of conference rooms that featured panel discussions.  MongoDB, Encido, Ikigai, UIPath , ABBY, Boston Dynamics and many others were in the house . My fav was Furhat Robotics, which featured a humanoid robot that was almost lifelike. 

Omnicom Merger

 The recent merger between Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group (IPG) is poised to significantly impact the public relations (PR) industry. This all-stock deal, valued between $13 billion and $14 billion, will create the world’s largest advertising company, surpassing current leader WPP, with combined net revenues exceeding $20 billion based on 2023 figures.

Implications for the PR Industry:

1. Consolidation of PR Agencies: Both Omnicom and IPG own prominent PR firms. Omnicom’s portfolio includes FleishmanHillard and Ketchum, while IPG owns Weber Shandwick and Golin. The merger will bring these agencies under one corporate umbrella, potentially leading to operational consolidations and streamlined services.

2. Enhanced Service Offerings: The combined resources and expertise are expected to provide clients with more comprehensive and integrated PR solutions, leveraging advanced technologies, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to enhance campaign effectiveness.

3. Market Influence and Competition: The merger will create a PR powerhouse with significant market influence, potentially reshaping competitive dynamics. Rival firms may need to adapt strategies to compete with the enhanced capabilities and reach of the new entity.

4. Client Relationships and Conflicts: The consolidation may lead to client conflicts, especially if competing brands are represented within the merged entity. This could result in client realignments or the establishment of independent operating units to manage conflicts.

5. Regulatory Scrutiny: Given the substantial market share of the combined company, the merger is expected to face regulatory scrutiny to ensure fair competition within the industry.

In summary, the Omnicom-IPG merger is set to create a dominant force in the PR industry, offering expanded capabilities and services. However, it also presents challenges related to client management and regulatory compliance, which will need to be navigated carefully to realize the merger’s full potential.

Harris For President

 Bruni PR endorses Kamala Harris for President.  

New York & AI Industry / WSJ report

New York City-based generative AI companies raised $2.7 billion since the start of 2021, according to PitchBook Data. So far this year, investors have put $200 million through 27 deals into generative AI startups in New York City, compared with $400 million through 35 deals in the category in San Francisco, the data provider said.

Cybersecurity

2023 has seen its fair share of cyber attacks, however there's one attack vector that proves to be more prominent than others - non-human access. With 11 high-profile attacks in 13 months and an ever-growing ungoverned attack surface, non-human identities are the new perimeter, and 2023 is only the beginning.

People always look for the easiest way to get what they want, and this goes for cybercrime as well. Threat actors look for the path of least resistance, and it seems that in 2023 this path was non-user access credentials (API keys, tokens, service accounts and secrets).

CyberArk’s acquisition run got the media attention this week . CEO Matt Cohen told CNBC that machine identity is the new frontier in cybersecurity.  

It’s not the only Israeli player in this field. Oasis Security has developed a veritable Iron Dome of Non Human Identity Management. It has raised $75 m in funding and is poised for major growth.

President Biden

 President Biden is too old to be President? You don’t have to look any further than the Public Relations industry to see many examples of famous PR pros who worked into their 80s.  Harold Burson, David Finn, Herb Rowland and a few other men who taught me the PR business are them . I’m 68 and will continue to “do PR”until I’m no longer able to type. ( or dictate to ChatGPT !

As for Biden - he’ll beat that wannabe dictator and serve a second term . The economy is booming, the market is rising and inflation is abating. American 🇺🇸 voters are starting to feel confident about the economy.  And, this matters more than far right ideologies. 

Unicorns 🦄 RIP 🪦

 Unicorns are dropping dead like flies.  Approximately 3,200 privately backed companies have disappeared in 2023.  The NYT takes a close look 👀 at the collapse of these once high flyers - no pun intended!

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/technology/tech-startups-collapse.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Happy 30th Anniversary Bruni PR

Bruni PR was founded in November 1993 in a penthouse office at 10 E. 23rd, just a block from the Flatiron Building. Those were heady days as Silicon Alley was just taking form.  We dedicated ourselves to this emerging industry and are still in the game - 3 decades later ! 

We’ve had big clients too -  Mellon Financial , Wayfair , Quadrant Biosciences, Bradford Space and others - but have always focused on the “next big thing” .  Today it’s AI & Fintech. 

Our core business has been Media Relations, a specialized area that has seen many changes.  Back in ‘93 we were still sending press releases via fac.  Email was just getting traction. 

Today we reach reporters via X (Twitter) , Facebook and especially LinkedIn.  Back then press lunches were common, but today it’s the Zoom call !

Avride : look 👀 out Waymo & Cruise

 The international division of the autonomous vehicle and delivery robot developer Yandex Self-Driving Group has rebranded as Avride, according to the company’s new website, unveiled on August 4.

The rebranding comes as part of the company’s corporate restructuring, and the new brand is one of the four international businesses to be spun-off from Yandex. 

Avride positions itself as a pioneer of autonomous transportation. The company’s driverless technology has already covered over 10mn miles (16mn km) on public roads and its delivery robots have made over 200,000 deliveries from shops and restaurants to date, according to the site.

As bne IntelliNews reported, Yandex’s Dutch parent company is in the process of divesting a number of its core assets, including all Russia-based assets, with the plan being to retain the international divisions of self-driving cars, cloud computing, data labelling and education technology, enabling these to develop "independently from Russia." 

Apple Vision Pro

 Back in the early’90s I met Jaron Lanier, who funded VPL the first Virtual Reality startup.  His dream of a VR world 🌎 is now reality .  Make no mistake, the new Apple headset is like the car, computer or even the wheel 🛞 in terms of innovation. 

PR & AI

Research from OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania argued that 80 percent of the US workforce could have at least 10 percent of their tasks affected by the introduction of GPTs, the series of popular large language models made by OpenAI. They also found that around 19 percent of workers will see at least 50 percent of their tasks impacted. GPT exposure is greater for higher-income jobs, they wrote in the study, but spans across almost all industries.

PR was among the industries that will be most affected or “influenced”.

I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT in writing media pitch letters.  It’s a game changer.  In a few seconds, it composes a pitch letter that normally takes hours to write ✍🏻, edit and redraft.

What surprised me was how ChatGPT focuses on the strengths of the company “story” .  The end results were pitch letters that mirrored my own pitches but actually improved upon them !  

ChatGPT & God

 I asked ChatGPT the following question:

“Is Artificial Intelligence a God?”

Here’s how it answered:

“No, AI (artificial intelligence) is not a god. AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence to complete. While AI has advanced significantly in recent years and can perform many tasks more efficiently than humans, it is still a tool created by humans and is not capable of possessing supernatural abilities or transcending the limits of its programming. Therefore, it does not have the qualities or characteristics that are typically attributed to a god.”

FTX

The FTX debacle was a setback for Fintech but it doesn’t mean the end of blockchain.  Just this week , Goldman Sachs completed a $300m bond offering using blockchain technology. A process that normally takes several days was executed in minutes, saving tons of time & money.

Here’s a fine oped by the Goldman Sachs CEO from the WSJ that elaborates on how important blockchain is for the future of our economy:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/blockchain-is-much-more-than-crypto-david-solomon-goldman-sachs-smart-contracts-11670345993

Old Media Still a Priority

Mainstream Media vs Social Media ? Old media wins !

Check out this new study from O’Dwyer’s newsletter:

 https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/18775/2022-11-09/old-media-tops-new-for-professional-services-firms.html

The Fintech Bubble

CB just released their stats for Fintech finding and it’s not pretty . 2021 was the peak of VC funding and we are now in the valley.  

One graph that stood out was this funding chart, included below:

Crypto Meltdown & Terra

The Terra stablecoin meltdown today shows how risky crypto can be in these challenging times. Bitcoin, Eth and other crypto currencies are under pressure as well. Personally, I am more optimistic about Ether. The upcoming Merge and Layer 2 will help generate more usage of Eth as “gas” for Blockchain transactions.  Bitcoin doesn’t have these advantages.