Sometimes life is just a bit too heavy. Long story short, I have Multiple Sclerosis, hence why https://gregory-ms.com/ is such a dear project to me.

And it’s also about how PR can create luck. The other day I came across the idea of four types of luck, as found in the book “Chase, Chance, and Creativity”, by James H. Austin. He describes 4 types of luck.

  1. Blind Luck “The good luck that occurs is completely accidental. It is pure blind luck that comes with no effort on our part.”
  2. Luck from Motion “Something else has been added—motion…A certain [basic] level of action ‘stirs up the pot’, brings in random ideas that will collide and stick together in fresh combinations, lets chance operate.”
  3. Luck from Awareness "[Luck] presents only a faint clue, the potential opportunity exists, but it will be overlooked except by that one person uniquely equipped to observe it, visualize it conceptually, and fully grasp its significance. [Type III Luck] involves involves a special receptivity, discernment, and intuitive grasp of significance unique to one particular recipient."
  4. Luck from Uniqueness “comes to you, unsought, because of who you are and how you behave…the links of [Type] IV can be drawn together and fused only by one quixotic rider cantering in on his own homemade hobby horse to intercept the problem at an odd angle…[This type] favors those with distinctive, if not eccentric hobbies, personal lifestyles, and motor behaviors.”

Working in communication and PR is exactly this. We create motion by pulling and pushing key messages and interacting with publics. This in turn creates awareness within the agora of publics.

And uniqueness is useless if not publicised.

That’s why Gregory exists. He’s my way to get things into motion, to shake the system.

Why does this matter now? It was thanks to that work that I managed to press forward and find a route to a new treatment for my kind of MS. An Autologous Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (aHSCT). We’re unsure what will come of it, but trying something different gives me hope.

It also means that this newsletter may be a little more erratic than usual during the coming months.

AI tools for image generation

https://beta.dreamstudio.ai/, DreamStudio is an easy-to-use interface for creating images using the Stable Diffusion image generation model.

https://www.ponzu.ai/, Ponzu is your free AI logo generator. Build your brand with creatively designed logos in seconds, using only your imagination.

https://www.photoroom.com/, Create product and portrait pictures using only your phone. Remove background, change background and showcase products.


Bruno Amaral

I am a Digital Strategist, divided between tech and creativity, working for the Lisbon Collective and teaching in the Masters Course of …

Select one of the pages in this story Weekly Journal

Some things are just too big to toot about.

When to pull a MacGyver
Week 36

The regular topic on my mind these last two weeks is how some details ammount for nothing towards a certain goal. And it’s not about the size of …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 12 September, 2023
Not the rule
Week 34

The right value in the right place People, content, and publics are like chess pieces, their value changes when they move. And spotify found out about this …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 25 August, 2023
How to make your own luck
Week 33

Sometimes life is just a bit too heavy. Long story short, I have Multiple Sclerosis, hence why https://gregory-ms.com/ is such a dear project to me. And …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 16 August, 2023
Knowledge management and robber barons
Week 32

Information is ammunition, data is the new gold. This is true since the time of Sun Tzu, and we still haven’t figured it out. A lot of time and money …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 15 August, 2023
PR isn't just about relationships and gurus aren't cool
Week 31

On my mind lately, Public Relations exists as a profession because organisations can’t be trusted to be ethical and responsible on their own. Psychology …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 2 August, 2023
Week 30

The people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers don't play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they like, then people would come. …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 30 July, 2023
Tarot readings on TikTok and the tech Wizard of Oz
Week 29

I don’t know why, but lately I have been seeing Tarot readings using TikTok’s Live Video. While I tend to respect other’s beliefs, this one is something I …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 24 July, 2023
Everything is a network
Week 28

A graph, a process, a mind map or a collection of notes, everything can be seen as a network of sorts. I have been coming across the concept of network in …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 12 July, 2023
Week 27

AI is generating some interesting work but still isn’t able to understand the complex context required for effective communication. It may never do so in …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 2 July, 2023
Tools for branding and tools for the mind
Week 26

The unbiased and dispassionate approach can be the best thing an agency brings to a business or brand, as long as their method is solid and the results …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 28 June, 2023
New tools and same thoughts
Week 25

“Think Different” used to be Apple’s motto. Lately I wonder where that motto is in the way they run their business, and how much we are …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 27 June, 2023
Week 24

Been trying to catch up with, well, life. Work wise, at the Lisbon Collective we have built an extensive in depth audit for websites of any size. Given a …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 13 June, 2023
Week 23

This is going to be a shorter newsletter than usual. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans” was a very true statement last week. I had the …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 5 June, 2023
Week 22

There is something on my mind lately, have you noticed LinkedIn is filled with answers to questions nobody asked? Other social media channels are filled …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 4 June, 2023
Week 21

Some quick news, about GregoryAI) and what me an António Lopes have been up to. Last week we registered a Non Profit after an epic battle against …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 29 May, 2023
Week 20

This Friday 26 I will be participating in a live radio show to talk about what we are doing with GregoryAI to push Multiple Sclerosis Research further. …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 21 May, 2023
Week 19

Where’s my Web? After this week’s major win, I have been searching for that feeling of community we had online. I found only a box of …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 9 May, 2023
Week 18

Ok this one is a bit different, come here. The GregoryMS project received a fantastic spotlight by the Público newspaper, “Bruno e os amigos criaram …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 1 May, 2023
Week 17

My latest endeavour, writing a paper on the impact of AI for PR. It will include a Case Study for Gregory, the Multiple Sclerosis research assistant and …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 24 April, 2023
Week 16

Writing these weekly notes is an exercise in memory. What did I do this last week? Am I on track for what I want to achieve? After the tribulations, this …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 23 April, 2023
Week 15

You’d think coming back to my routine would be easy, no? I did too, but it wasn’t. Between clients, school and life as we know it, I barely …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 10 April, 2023
Week 14

Still here, still standing. Last two weeks, I’ve been in the hospital (nothing serious) and only returned to my routine Friday 7^th. This meant …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 8 April, 2023
Week 13

Week 13 comes with little in terms of thrills. I’ve been out of commission, sort of. Which is not to say that I haven’t been scheming and …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 26 March, 2023
Week 12

Oh what a week! I had the opportunity to chat with third year PR students about what AI means to them and the Future of their discipline. If you are …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 20 March, 2023
Week 11

Not much this week, work as been demanding. On a personal note, I’ve been looking into finding a path to get the autologous hematopoietic stem cell …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 13 March, 2023
Week 10

Lately my friends hear me say this a lot, “I know it’s not meant to be easy, but why does it always have to be a struggle?”. …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 10 March, 2023
week 9

Things haven’t been easy lately. I’ve been working in growing the Lisbon Collective agency, and focusing on my health. Also, Gregory AI was …

Bruno Amaral
Bruno Amaral
Posted on 3 March, 2023
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