Titanic centenary – memorial or marketing?

The disaster of the Titanic’s sinking a centenary ago has been reported in crisis management texts such as Fearn-Banks to illustrate the need for planning and other advice the authors wish to highlight. However, reading Coombs it is clear that the key issues were operational, so the Titanic appears appropriated by public relations as a reason for criticism, even before there was an established occupation to critique.

Titanic has become more than simply a case study, with some reporting it has been mythologised and used to support various political and socio-cultural arguments. Jaques notes how such cases have been “re-interpreted to provide lessons for modern organizations”. In 1999, Ziaukas sought to situation the Titanic within the history of public relations. He provides a fascinating study of the promotional materials produced by White Star Line as well as media coverage following the sinking. Linking this historical context to the current centenary activities provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of marketing/PR and also ask questions concerning the development of the Titanic narrative over the past 100 years, including the emergence of ‘memorial marketing’.

The positioning of Titanic as “unsinkable’ and the “world’s largest liner” aimed to counter the publicity of rival Cunard ships which had broken speed records crossing the Atlantic. “Scale and sumptuousness would capture the public’s imagination” according to Ziaukas. The names of the White Star Line fleet symbolised the reputation being sought: Olympic, Titanic and Gigantic. In mythology the Titans ruled during the legendary Golden Age.

Ziaukas reports White Star Line had a publicity department in Liverpool, with a press representative, David Lindsey, employed at its New York office to provide press agentry services. But despite the modern emphasis on the ship being promoted as ‘unsinkable’, it appears the company did not have a culture of being aggressive in its marketing approach. Nevertheless, media interest in the construction of the ships was considerable and high profile launch activities were planned. Marketing material identified by Ziaukas includes posters, postcards and brochures – far from modern hype and spend, although the language used was “overheated”. Third party endorsement beyond the media coverage included a special souvenir edition of the British trade journal, The Shipbuilder. Other promotional tools included the reputation of the Titanic band which has become immortalised in the past century as continuing to play as the liner sank. The ship’s commander was likewise a high profile personality, as were the first class passengers travelling on the inaugural journey. Nevertheless, Ziaukas notes the ship was less than half full owing to various issue, and the launch was less elaborate than that for the Olympic which had preceded Titanic.

Commenting on the post-sinking media coverage, Ziaukas notes how “the alchemy of publicity was performing its metamorphosis” as various narratives competed for attention. In particular, he highlights the “epic theatre” evident in the management of the arrival of survivors in New York on 18 April (five days after the sinking). However, he observes that the attempt by the company to use apologia to take control of the media message was countered by a committee of passengers who issued their own public statement. Indeed, he notes how survivors faced considerable media attention with heroes and villains established as stories became told worldwide.

Over the years, interest in Titanic diminished, with its makers, Harlands, and Belfast in particular (where the ship was made) very quiet about the tragedy. Discovery of the wreckage in 1985 brought renewed interest, followed by the Cameron movie in 1997. It is no surprise that every location with a link to Titanic has been involved in commemorating the centenary.

Indeed, it is hard not to view much of the memorial activity as marketing – particularly the promotion of new museums in Belfast and Southampton (the departure city). The promotion of involvement in marketing Titanic Belfast by Stakeholder PR on its website seems to lack any decorum. Similarly the Council of Public Relations Firms carries a case study reporting Ackermann PR’s promotion of the Titanic Attractions in the US, which seem particularly insensitive in their marketing activities (at least to my British eyes). Indeed, I am not even sure of the links to the two locations where memorabilia has been collected for the tourist attractions.

I’ve been thinking about why I find the overt marketing of the Titanic tragedy to be questionable. I’m not sure if it is just the high profile campaigns to draw visitors to gawp as tourists in museums that are more infotainment than education. I do understand the argument that the marketing of history is not just good business, but does ensure continuity of narratives – even if those sometimes tell us more about the time in which they are told than the original period. The Holocaust museums work on that basis, particularly in educating groups of schoolchildren for whom the reality of modern disasters seems unreal. It is shocking, for example, that apparently many people didn’t realise that Titanic was a real story and not just a movie script.

I do wonder why today we cannot seemingly acknowledge a historical event without turning it into a promotional extravaganza. And, although I do believe society increasingly reflects promotional culture, this is not a new phenomenon as ‘memorial marketing’ has been around for decades, if not centuries, as people collected artefacts and memorabilia.

Perhaps it is the commercialisation of disasters with industries (including public relations) capitalising on what were essentially others’ real life tragedies. Ironically, hearing the human stories behind the Titanic (which is more educative in my view) makes a disaster seem more real and hence makes publicity more discordant for me. The Mary Rose, the famous warship of Henry XIII, which sank off Portsmouth in 1545, has become a major tourist attraction. It doesn’t feel as insensitive to use the Mary Rose as a marketing device for the city – but hearing that a new museum will focus more on the stories of the sailors who died, moves closer to ‘memory marketing’ for me.

A close cousin of ‘memory marketing’ is ‘tragedy tourism‘ where people deliberately visit the scenes of recent or ongoing conflicts or disasters. Again, I understand the importance of tourism returning to areas that have been devastated, such as New Orleans, Japan or Haiti. But does this include sight-seeing of places where people lose their lives. Isn’t that we do all round the world when we travel to age old battle grounds and so on? Is it any worse to visit in person than seek out information about tragedies online?

I’m just uncomfortable with the role of public relations here, particularly when it is so evidently focused on marketing rather than any sense of remembering. I wonder whether promotional activities do contribute towards historical knowledge or corrupt it. At the same time, I am not sure this is a really new phenomenon rather than being part of the human condition to tell narrative about major events and for businesses to look at opportunities around them. Maybe it’s just the scale of modern promotion and the superficial attention that feels paid by professional communicators.

Can’t get no PR satisfaction?

In PR one of our guiding principles ought to be:

You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

That would appear to be the case with the Susan G Koman vs Planned Parenthood crisis this past week.  Or the issue of bankers’ bonuses in the UK.  In fact we increasingly live in a world – fuelled by the ease of expression offered by social media – in which publics can be outraged about everything and anything at the click of a Tweet.

Not only are PR practitioners faced with an increasing number of digital grumpies, but they demand instant gratification.  If it has taken them just a few minutes to set up a Facebook group, organise an online poll or start a Twitterstorm, then the clicktivists expect a positive PR reaction in nanoseconds. 

Indeed, organizations such as 38 Degrees are established on the basis of getting online publics to take action and effect change.  It’s the power of the crowd noted by Le Bon in 1895 – which remains relevant for PR practitioners.

The psychological crowd, which experiences a “complete transformation of the sentiments”, seems as recognisable in social media as in early 20th century black & white newsreels of hysterical mobs.

The online crowd has other significance for PR practitioners with recent research from Carnegie-Mellon University supporting crowd sourcing.  There would appear some interesting potential here to engage – such as with the Dickens project that involved thousands of volunteers helping digitize his journals.

The immediacy, feedback and collaborative potential of social media can present either an opportunity or a challenge.  Either way, its noisy persistence can get in the way of more considered and rationale responses or actions.

Reputations can be made or destroyed with a few clicks – so not surprisingly, strategies are developed to keep ahead, even game the crowd.  Take the National Student Survey for example.  This has an increasingly high profile with top scoring results used by Universities for promotional purposes and poor performance generating negative headlines.

But the significance of student satisfaction goes beyond publicity as the UK government is determined to address perceptions of the increased cost of going to University by putting students at the heart of the system.

The message is: if you’re happy and we know it… Already Universities have reacted by focusing attention on keeping students satisfied, and trying to increase participation in the survey to avoid the tendency for those with extreme opinions to influence results.

Going further, the TES reports greatest dissatisfaction (with the assessment and feedback process) occurs because students’ expectations are not being met.  This reflects the increasing ‘teaching to pass’ approach at schools whereby students are coached to get the best grades.  That’s what they want from their University education experience.

Consequently, when encouraged to explore knowledge for themselves and develop their critical faculties, many students feel let down.  Rather than arguing for greater educational independence at a younger age, the TES article presents the views of academics that greater learning support is required.

This indicates a Sense of Entitlement generation, which Twenge has indicated as a Narcissism Epidemic where external solutions are expected to any situation not to their liking.

Dissatisfaction can be a useful driver to change, but not if it is used to avoid discussion, debate or self-responsibility around key issues.  If PR practitioners simply pander to satisfy irate masses they’ll find they end up pleasing no-one. 

There are times particularly when being unhappy is necessary for publics to participate more fully.  In the case of University students, figuring things out for yourself is much more helpful in most cases than having a tutor hold your hand across the tightrope of complex thinking.  If the knowledge you are gaining is worth having, then it ought to involve a little mental pain in assimilating and reflecting on new ideas.

In our finger-clicking world, it is easy to complain and provide a kneejerk reaction.  But ultimately taking a more constructive approach to improve a situation is far more satisfying. 

Technorati Tags: public relations,pr,satisfaction,students,sense of entitlement generation,narcissism epidemic,clicktivism,crowdsoucing,Le Bon

From the valley of despair to the slope of hope

Did you start 2012 with one or more resolutions?  Did you get up this morning with the intention to achieve particular tasks?  Have you leapt into February with new goals?  Or have you resolved to change your attitude or behaviour?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines resolution as a firmness of purpose, with intention reflecting the determination required to achieve this end goal.

The reasoned action model, known as the theory of planned behaviour, proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen, identifies intention as a key determinant of  behaviour, predicated on three considerations:

1. Salient (accessible) beliefs about the consequences of the action.  Anticipating a good outcome is important.
2. Perceived social pressure regarding the behaviour.  Expecting the positive support of relevant referent groups or individuals is motivating.
3. Degree of control over the behaviour.  We need to be able to achieve a desired outcome.

So, do you believe you can achieve your goals?  Do you think others support you in doing so?  And, is it possible to get the result you seek?

The above image is a slide I’ve developed for Starting to Study sessions.  Students set out with a high level of motivation.  But at some point, they get a wobble.  Maybe they get stuck on a particular topic, or find some reading difficult to understand.  They start to lose their belief.

Or perhaps family, friends or work colleagues seem less supportive.  I often find that despite an employer paying for someone to study the CIPR qualifications, for example, there may be little overt support over time.  Or maybe other barriers get in the way and students feel that time pressures, personal issues or work expectations affect their ability to achieve the end goal

They are on the edge of the valley of despair.  They begin to slide and find their motivation drops.  But, as Martin Luther King said in his famous ’I have a dream’ speech: Let us not wallow in the valley of despair…

My cheesy advice is less poetic than King’s belief that ‘we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope’.  But I say much the same thing – if you ask for help, the other side of the valley is the slope of hope.

Within a chapter on digital PR for the forthcoming Public Relations Strategic Toolkit, I have written:

Self-efficacy (‘the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcome’, Bandura 1977: 79) is particularly relevant for older practitioners who may not believe they are capable of understanding, utilising or managing digital technologies. Gangadharbatla (2008) identifies internet self-efficacy as a key factor in influencing adoption of social networking, alongside a need to belong and collective self-esteem. Communities of practice (Wenger and Snyder 2000) within social networking sites (particularly LinkedIn) enable practitioners to share experiences and engage in debate about technologies. However, without the initial confidence or skill to join such communities, practitioners may not be in a position to benefit from this peer-group learning.

To use a phrase from my PR Conversations colleague, Judy Gombita’s recent Social Capital Byte post, we need to ‘mine online gold in the hills of existing relationships’.  Judy was looking at how organizations can benefit from PR strategies to augment relationships online.  But the same principles apply in achieving learning or other goals.

Not only can others enhance your determination to succeed (improving your motivation), they can help share positive outcomes (acting as role models) and make suggestions of how to overcome problems. 

Social networking is useful in finding supportive others and building mutually-beneficial relationships.  Students often connect via Facebook groups; practitioners tend to prefer LinkedIn, and Twitter is a way of reaching out to new contacts.  With Google+, we can create circles and start hangouts.

Judy’s advice to capitalise on existing offline relationships by adding social media connections, is a helpful reminder.  Most of us already know people who could help us achieve our goals.  But we forget to maintain our relationship online.  Taking the time to review and add contacts is something I intend to get better at doing, along with Judy’s recommendations for improving the social capital of my online relationships.

What I really like is the idea of maximising online reciprocity.  It is hard to maintain motivation and stop ourselves from slipping into valleys of despair in the modern world where even taking time for a quick coffee with a friend is often difficult.  Thinking of our online presence as reinforcing relationships in a reciprocal manner (leaving a comment, retweeting or liking for example) offers an easy “small act of kindness” (or pay it forward) approach.

Bruni argues the value to be found in ‘the territory of relational genuineness’ includes life-satisfaction and holistic (win-win), rather than individual consequences.  This suggests a virtuous circle whereby positive actions are reinforcing – providing the power to get us back up the slope of hope.

So, how may I help you?

Technorati Tags: valley of despair,slope of hope,digital,public relations,PR,relationships,social capital,relational genuiness,virtuous circle,study techniques

Are you too smart to work in PR?

“For decades a stream of bright young men and women, most of them with college degrees ranging from B.S. to Ph.D., have been coming to my office to ask me and my wife how to enter the profession of public relations.”

These words were written by Edward Bernays in his 1961 publication: Your Future in Public Relations.

In 1943, a chapter in Averill Broughton’s book: The New Profession, asked ‘Do you belong in the public relations field?  Broughton noted:

Let us grant that any really intelligent man or woman of imagination and sensitivity, who also possesses good business judgment and a wide experience with people and the practical world we live in, can become a successful public relations executive.

It seems there was real encouragement for those with intellectual capability to work in public relations.  Indeed, Bernays saw public relations practitioners as a bridge between thinkers and doers.  But I’m beginning to believe the majority of modern practitioners view PR as a non-intellectual trade, where craft skills count most, along with a friendly personality and a preference to spend time churning out releases and Tweets rather than thinking about anything more important they should be doing.

Stephen Covey has a useful time matrix comprising four quadrants.  My view is that public relations adds most value in the important and not urgent quadrant.  This is the place of pro-active, results-oriented matters; where it is necessary to “act to seize opportunity, to make things happen”.

Instead, many practitioners seems to spend their time oscillating from the stressful situation of fire-fighting the important which is urgent and the pointless position of trivial, busy work.  Just check out the typical ‘day in the life’ features about PR you can find online.

Which leads me to the question about being too smart to work in PR.

According to a report of the CIPR Profession Typology Report at PRMoment, two-thirds of UK PR practitioners (sorry I refuse to call them professionals) say their career development has mostly come from magazines.  Yes, really!

Let’s be charitable and assume they don’t mean reading Heat magazine, and are referring to articles in trade publications such as PR Week (rather than scanning job adverts).  The validity of the survey as summarised in this piece seems questionable as ‘mostly’ implies selecting a single response, where I suspect a ‘which of the following’ question was actually asked.  Nevertheless, the answers do not appear to reflect a highly pro-active approach to robust career development strategies.

This is both surprising and disappointing in the current economic climate where it is essential to demonstrate genuine continuous professional development regardless of whether or not you are looking for new opportunities.  If you are not moving ahead, then you are automatically slipping backwards as the world is moving at a fast pace.

Relying on articles in PR Week reflects a typical ‘learning on the job’ mentality which values Other People’s Experiences even when reported in a superficial, primarily positive way.  This is easier than constructing reflexive practice on a basis of intellectual frameworks that have been considered and critiqued by academics, and senior practitioners, who recognise the importance of knowing why, not simply, how to operate successfully in public relations.

This more challenging ethos is understood by many of the bright and intelligent young men and women still attracted to working in this field who have made the commitment to studying public relations at University.  This week alone, I came across two impressive examples:

• Tyler Orchard in Canada (via Judy Gombita’s usual high connector standard), a Masters graduate and Director of Communications and PR – who wrote an informed blog post railing against social media groupthink
• Rachel Barkley, studying PR at Leeds Metropolitan University– who has written two recent posts I’d recommend on What is PR? and the threat of PR apprenticeships

If we are to attract and retain the best young professionals, then we need to be smarter as an industry.  We have to:

• stop bashing academic study and intellectual understanding.
• stop arguing that University courses should focus primarily on teaching basic starter-job practical skills.
• stop recognising reading magazines and watching videos as career development.

Instead, I’d like to see us:

• set a baseline expectation for practitioners (especially those migrating from journalism, marketing or without a PR degree) to acquire professional post-graduate qualifications.
• make a commitment to career-long intellectual development based on acquiring Masters or PhD qualifications, engaging with research in our own field and elsewhere (whether that means technological developments, business management or even neuroscience) and mind-expanding communities of practice.
• celebrate what is intelligent and valuable in PR work rather than focusing on the glitzy and glamorous in PR awards, case studies and profile pieces.

I don’t want to see the smartest people avoiding public relations as a career option.  I don’t want to feel too smart to work in PR myself.  Do you?

Technorati Tags: public relations,pr,intellectual,qualifications,academic,smart people,graduates

PR predictions for 2011 reviewed and 2012 foretold

On 11.1.11 (or 1.11.11 depending on your dating preference) I wrote my 11 PR predictions for 2011.  I’ve added some thoughts on the past 12 months, and a new prediction for  what 2012 will bring.

1. The mid-to-late-majority enter social media – we’ve definitely seen continued growth in social media usage, with what I claimed would be "lots of money spent on initiatives that no-one will notice or care about".  Being on Twitter, having a Facebook page, using LinkedIn and so forth have become common practice.  One issue however, is that it is becoming harder to filter out what is interesting owing to the trend towards retweeting, "junk" commenting and general nonsense.  Where once you could search via Twitter for updates on a situation, today you’ll struggle to find the news among the spam and irreverent comments. 

2012 Thoughts: Peak presence is on the horizon with an increasing number of people abandoning or at least reigning back on their engagement in social media.  The challenge for PR campaigns will be to gain attention in an overloaded SM world.

2. Social media demands pay to play – again, I think I was reasonably accurate with my observation that "money will replace ‘conversation’ as the core currency". Although it is still free to engage with much social media, we have definitely seen increased marketisation of social media presence.   

2012 Thoughts: We are likely to see increased acceptance of payment for privileged social media services, which may exclude advertising, offer enhanced access or greater privacy.

3. Journalists find a slower revolving door - okay, the door into PR is still open for hacks, but I’ve noticed fewer such appointments headlining in PR Week.  Mind you, criticism of PR graduates as failing to understand mainstream media needs continues which indicates ongoing focus on the traditional journo skills.

2012 Thoughts: Much of mainstream media will continue to be under pressure, and with the increased number of PR practitioners (particularly ex-public sector) in the marketplace, journalists will not find a move into PR an easy option.

4. Opportunity of too few good PR people – I was spot on with the statement that "demand for intelligent, capable PR practitioners will continue to exceed supply".  The ongoing economic situation hasn’t eased this situation as I know through the MIPAA JobSearch service that demand is outpacing supply.

2012 Thoughts: The demand for intelligent, experienced PR practitioners will escalate despite the influx of job seekers.  I do envisage that many organizations will save money by cutting top PR jobs, as the need to advocate the value of PR at the most senior level has not been won.

5. PR disasters hit record levels – I think it has been an interesting year for the "PR disaster" market.  My take is that the crisis cycle has shortened to a matter of hours or days, with many disappearing as quickly as they appeared.  We’ve definitely continued to see online commentary on situations, but there avalanche of corporate and celebrity crises has accelerated to such a pace that many are hard to recall.  In the UK for example, the Nurofen tampering crisis lasted barely a weekend.  Others such as News International’s phone hacking scandal are ongoing, but it’s hard to feel the public has as much interest as the mainstream media on that one.

2012 Thoughts: Next year will see this short-crisis cycle continue which could have a mixed-impact.  It could mean that how an organization handles a crisis becomes less important – they simply have to survive the initial attention before the heat moves elsewhere.  Alternatively, crisis management will get smarter and recognise the need for a more flexible and higher value approach that identifies risk and manages issues before the bubble of a high profile crisis occurs.

6. PR goes 24/7 - I feel that life-work integration has been an ongoing trend with the UK PR Census reporting an increasingly longer working week.  But I’m not sure 2011 was the tipping point that I predicted.  In fact, an interesting end of year story is that of VW which has introduced out of hour Blackberry restrictions for its German workers.  I doubt this applies to those in PR, but work-life tensions

2012 Thoughts: Working in PR will get tougher – with redundancies and increased expectations from clients and employers.  We’ve benefited in the past three years as marketing spend was shifted towards PR, but 2012 will see demand for proof that PR is delivering.  Rather than demonstrating value added, I believe we’ll see the industry respond by trying to deliver more for less – which will mean increased expectations on the PR function to respond around the clock.

7. Weather will worsen - my point here was to advocate "a new flexibility in leading their organizations in managing risk, issues, relationships and reputation".  I’m not sure that PR has responded in this way.  My feeling is that the industry has looked for easier money by ramping up the promotional side of PR rather than look for more strategic influence.

2012 Thoughts: Sadly as with point 6, I feel PR will continue to devalue its services.  There will be more of those made redundant working as freelancers and needing to deliver whatever is required to pay the mortgage.  

8. Everyone’s a celebrity – give me 10 out of 10 for this one.  I wrote: "those who have already had their time in the spotlight will act in ever more extreme ways to get attention".  I think that Charlie Sheen and Frankie Cocozza (UK X-Factor reject) make my case.

2012 Thoughts: There will be more attention paid to nonentities in 2012, but I think the pioneering approach of Lady Gaga will see more celebrities try to follow suit in building a profitable fan base, particularly though social media and links to big brands.  The attention and loyalty that celebrities today can achieve offers a new channel which is irresistible to consumer brands.

9. Privy to privacy - my prediction was that "secrets will make a comeback". On the one hand, people have been ever more prepared to say it all online.  We’ve also had social media successfully outplay court injunctions.  But, we have seen the backlash start – not least as a result of the News International exposure of media hacking of mobile phones. 

2012 Thoughts: I still maintain that privacy must be valued and that at some point the public will recognise that they need to protect their data and profile online.   

10. Slow is the new fast - I thought we’d see PR practitioners take more time "to develop relationships, manage a reputation, build good narratives, and respond professionally". The tortoise will win the race, but the hare appears to be ahead at the end of 2011.

2012 Thoughts: PR practitioners are missing out on real results by focusing on the short-term immediate needs of mainstream and online media.  I’m not sure this will be recognised in 2012 however.

11. Bad practices are not dead - my view was that "despite greater recognition of the need to demonstrate value and measure PR by more than advertising value equivalent (AVE), poor practices are not yet ready to lay down and die".  I know this is still the case, but some significant moves away from AVE at least have been made.  I also noted "anyone will be able to call themselves a PR professional despite lacking any evidence that they have either experience or a qualification (or ideally both) to prove their capabilities."  I think that some initiatives by the UK professional bodies have, on the face of it, undermined the arguments for better educated PR practitioners – but I’m open minded on their impact.

2012 Thoughts: Taking part in the CIPR’s 2020 Project I envisaged a schism between those focusing on tactical delivery and more strategic practitioners.  My feeling is that this is closer in 2012 – fed in part by all the above points.

12. PR won’t be a lot of fun - I’ve been researching PR in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s and something that emerges is that PR used to be more fun!  I don’t think we will see a return to those days anytime soon and perhaps calling for increased respect, intelligence and strategic thinking is part of the death of fun in PR.  But if fun means focusing on organising events, schmoozing journalists and using social media without any real purpose or benefits, PR doesn’t need to be a barrel of laughs everyday.  What I would like to see is a high level of professional satisfaction from working in a PR field that is increasingly recognised for its capabilities rather than its frivolous reputation.

As ever, I believe que sera sera – but look forward to your thoughts on what 2011 brought and 2012 will bring.

Technorati Tags: public relations,predictions,2011,2012,social media,marketing,twitter,facebook,linkedin,future of PR

Why public relations is great in theory

From my office window, I can see a large ball of mistletoe growing at the top of a very tall tree.  Until a couple of years ago I didn’t know where or how mistletoe grew, but as they say, you learn something new all the time.  As someone who likes to learn, I find it interesting to know more about a subject and an open, curious, investigative mind is something I feel is an asset to anyone working in public relations.

Quite often I find that if you lift the lid on a topic, any topic – there is a wealth of information, expertise, insight and theory that can be discovered.  I find it fascinating that mistletoe is a partial parasite for example, and that there are lots of theories about the mythology associated with the plant arising in different cultures.

Of course I don’t need to know about mistletoe, but you never know when knowing something will come in handy.  Besides, why not learn for its own sake?

That’s how I feel about public relations and the value of opening the lid to discover more about its underpinnings, history, practice and myriad other facets.  To paraphrase Cutlip et al, studying public relations involves taking a searching look backward , a wide look around, a deep look inside, and a long look ahead.

Those who have heard this week that they’ve graduated successfully with the CIPR Advanced Certificate and Diploma qualifications have taken this 360 degree look at their chosen field.  They will have gained practical knowledge, to combine with their existing experience, but also an understanding of theoretical principles and concepts.

This theoretical perspective on public relations is something I believe the occupation needs to value more highly – as argued by Jim Macnamara in a guest post on Craig Pearce’s blog.  My rationale is not just about improving practice, however, as there is huge merit in stretching the little grey cells in a new direction for intellectual purposes alone.

Yes, theoretical understanding helps answer the why as well as the what questions in public relations practice – and also makes you confront other viewpoints and ideas which you may accept or reject, but at the least, reflect upon.

I congratulate those students I’ve been proud to work with in gaining their shiny new qualifications.  They stepped out of their comfort zone and took on a challenge of discovering what is inside the box marked public relations.  I hope they feel they discovered more than knowledge of simplistic definitions, best practice models or new skills.

The Greek verb theoreo translates as:

to be a spectator, look at, behold – to view attentively, take a view of, survey – to view mentally, consider – to see – to perceive with the eyes, to enjoy the presence of one – to discern, descry – to ascertain, find out by seeing

Looking at the theory of public relations is like looking up at mistletoe and wondering about it.  At this time of year, who would be without wonder – the desire or curiosity to know something?  Happy Christmas!

Why I don’t care about defining public relations

The PRSA has just concluded a crowd-sourcing attempt to modernise a definition of public relations.  Unsurprisingly, this initiative has generated discussion through PR blogs regarding the purpose and value of seeking a new definition.  PRSA reports receiving "more than 900 submissions, 70 comments and 16,000-plus page views" – so there’s clearly some interest in the exercise.

Personally, I don’t care about this search to define public relations. 

The outcome of the process – crowd-sourcing, followed by subjective reflection from a Definition of Public Relations Task Force, and a public vote on the resulting top three definitions – will be no more than another definition. 

It is nearly 40 years since Rex Harlow co-ordinated a similar quest by 65 PR leaders to determine a universal definition (commissioned by the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education).  That study found and examined 472 definitions, and came up with a composite drawing out the main ideas. 

Of course, the job wasn’t finished there as it seems every public relations body, book, blogger, academic and practitioner has added their own views since.  We could probably list half a million definitions by copying Harlow’s methodology.

The "What is PR?" question is one we’ve examined or danced around at the PR Conversations blog many times.  It was the topic of my inaugural post there and PRC even produced a collated publication on the topic.

The fact that the job is never done is my first reason for not caring about a new definition of PR.  For me, this is a case of the journey being more important than the destination.  There is much richness in the difference of opinion and debate that gets lost when synthesising down to one statement. 

Why can’t we embrace the qualitative, subjective aspect of our work and accept that public relations is a wide, deep, nuanced, multi-faceted, messy-edged discipline?  It is ubiquitous and not constrained within an organizational perspective – although most definitions only present it from that viewpoint.

As Toni Muzi Falconi comments on a PRC post describing what he calls the "infantile exercise" to seek a new definition : "…we once more exhibit our inferiority complex and compulsive need for clarity in a society that is everything but clear and changes every day…"

My second objection is the lack of clarity about what is meant by a definition of public relations.  Is the point to describe what PR is, what it does, or prescribe what it should be?  Are we looking for a positivist or normative definition?

These are different – and raise a number of issues.  Describing what PR is or does in a single phrase will naturally reduce the complexity and variety of work in the field to a simplistic term such as communications or relationship building.  But doesn’t everyone communicate and build relationships?  Isn’t this part of the job description of most organizational functions?  They certainly don’t present a distinctive jurisdiction for PR.

If the point is to describe what PR is, why do this through opinion research rather than ethnography?  What the people participating in definition-seeking studies think or say may be vastly different from the reality of practice.  Are we missing something by not employing anthropologists to study PR tribe(s)?

Focusing on what PR should be – the ideal or what is considered ‘best practice’ – may set an aspiration, but expose a gap with reality that results in allegations of spin or obfuscation.

The third point I’d like to raise relates to PR’s reputational problem.  Definitions put forward a positive perspective, rather than engaging with the negative.  Indeed, one of the purposes of defining PR seems to be to distinguish it from other terms such as spin, publicity, press agentry or propaganda.  So the good is PR and the bad is something else.  Some, like Bill Sledzik, prefer to go even further and abandon the PR term to avoid the connotations and connections with our embarrassing, questionable or unethical sides.  Not only should we redefine, but let’s rebrand too, they urge. 

Next, I object to the fact that PR is being defined largely by PR people.  Where are the other voices?  If reputation is what others say about you when you’re not around (which is how I see it), then let’s ask our stakeholders and publics what they think. 

We moan a lot that marketing and management doesn’t understand PR – without engaging with why our colleagues and bosses may hold views that conflict with our own.  We also have our love-hate relationship with journalists to examine in the context of what they think about PR.  The classic media criticisms are that PR is a "latrine of public misinformation"  populated by "lying scum" spin doctors or a superficial, media-twisting, churnalistic waste of time undertaken by "PR bunnies".

My own experience of public relations has not involved either of these extremes – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some truth in the perceptions.  Aren’t they worthy of consideration in a definition or are we just interested in the comfortable middle ground?

Or in reality, are we defining the high ground – the strategic PR perspective?  Is the purpose of a definition to influence others perhaps?  Is it a useful thing to dangle in front of those who don’t understand us so we can argue for a place at the top table?  Even if the majority of practitioners are not engaged in strategy or strategic operations, the definition says they should be because that’s what PR is.

I don’t care about defining public relations because my view is through a kaleidoscope rather than a telescope.  I see the colourful pattern created by an illuminating reflection of the many facets of public relations.  The derivation of kaleidoscope from the Ancient Greek is that of "observer of beautiful forms".  Although public relations isn’t always a beautiful form.   Indeed, my favourite definition states: "Public relations is, what public relations does."  It’s a living, breathing, dynamic, complex, real world activity that has the potential to change depending on how you view it.

Let’s be proud of our richness rather than attempting to present a single viewpoint to the world.

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