It seems for some unknown reason my blog software, Radio Userland ate my blog and therefore removed it from the web.
Apologies to anyone who thought I might have disapeared.
I have been opening Windows and clicking boxes in the vain hope of solving the problem and it looks like I have.
Phew.
Robb Hecht has an interesting primer on PR and Weblogs over at SalesVantive. It’s a good overview of the medium and how to pitch it.
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
(via eamil)
Al Ries writes on how PR is to the nail and Advertising is to the Hammer. After reading his book (as a PR person) I still don’t necessarily buy his reasoning….
Interesting story in the Washington Post on how MicroStrategy is turning to substance over style and in the meantime is keeping it’s PR in-house.
You know, reading back over this blog, it’s apparent that much of the posting has been negative. So I am delighted that in time for the weekend I have some good news to report.
After all our struggles defending our profession,
proving our value, demonstrating our contribution to the bottom line, PR has at last received the highest form of testimonial available in modern life. A video game.
EA Sport’s NHL 2004 pays its due respects to the importance of PR 🙂
To quote the producer of the game:
“For example, hiring more marketing and PR specialists will raise your attendance, therefore increasing profits. Buying a new team plane will improve your team�s road game attributes.”
Recognition at last. If in the future you’re ever asked about the value of PR, you can tell them “it’s in the game”.
Thanks to the moose tickling Darren Barefoot for the link!
Jenane Sessum has kindly posted some detailed comments on yesterday’s story on the evolution of large PR firms. Please have a read.
Once again, I agree with many of her points, my only real point of disagreement is the scale of the effect of this new economy on large agencies.
There’s no question that larger agencies have some serious challenges in both economic terms and clearly defining their value proposition. But I don’t think the shake out will be as severe as some think.
There will always be a large number of clients who want a big name firm, just as others will prefer a medium firm, a small firm, a boutique firm or an independent consultant. Indeed many clients will take PR in-house, a-l�racle.
The PR business reflects the diversity of our clients and will continue to do so, in my humble opinion.
Of course the problem with opinions is they can always be wrong 🙂
On the Ketchum blog, I still think she was hard on them!
PS:
My sincere apologies to Jeneane for incorrectly spelling her name. I’ve amended all references!
Evolution has taught us that only the strong survive, but that the surviving strong category is rarely homogenous.
On Earth we have mammals, reptiles, amphibians etc. and within those groups we have thousands of sub-groups. As the saying goes there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I think you get my drift…
Last month I railed against the PR Week survey which more or less came to the conclusion that everyone must use one global PR agency.
It’s never that simple.
I have noticed recently that we are increasingly jumping to one or the other end of the spectrum. Rather than understanding diversity we are rushing to apply a one size fits all solution to a diverse, complicated problem.
Jeneane Sessum has taken up the argument from the opposite end of the “one global PR agency” argument.
In her post “Bye Bye Big PR” she believes that in fact big PR firms are heading for a similar fate as the dinosaurs.
“Even the largest of companies are growing tired of BigPR staffing projects with fresh-out-of-college, inexperienced, lower-level people (that is the only category of PR flacks large agencies can afford to keep only partially billable, you see), yet charging as if they were staffing the project with brain surgeons–or attorneys.”
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Jeneane makes many valid points and I agree with many of them – I just don’t buy this all or nothing argument.
There’s no question that many of the PR pros who’ve been cast out of the agency business in this harsh economic period, will make a lot of money consulting directly with clients. But is this the end of Big PR companies?
No. Not in my opinion.
I can’t see large organizations like Microsoft (who have huge internal PR resources anyway) recruiting 1,200 individual consultants. And while many firms will buy the “independent networks” idea, just as many won’t.
Big PR companies, small PR companies, mid-size PR companies, independent consultants, networked independent consultants, specialist PR firms, regional PR firms, global PR firms, all these entities will co-exist. There will be changes, but no extinction – in my opinion.
Anyhow, I’ve added Jeneane’s blog to the blogroll and you should definitely have a read of it.
PS: Jeneane also has a rant at a site purported to be a internal Ketchum weblog promoting it’s internal Kudos awards. Don’t bother clicking on it, they’ve deleted the content.
A source of mine pointed me at it last week and it looked like a series of harmless inter-office posts to me – I didn’t link it here becuase it would be meaningless to you.
Jeneane calls it the “first official Ketchum blog”, which it clearly wasn’t. There was no branding and no mention of Ketchum on it.
She continues that:
“The fact that the first official Blog Ketchum has launched on blogspot serves as a back-patting interoffice circle jerk (sorry for the mixed metaphor–I thought it might give you all something to ponder as you drift off to sleep)–masquerading as a hip controversial PR Real World episode–is laughable.”
I think she’s being a little harsh with Ketchum (her former employer), after all I didn’t see any marketing around the blog. Maybe it wasn’t for external consumption. Mistakes happen. It certainly wasn’t viral marketing.
PR Week US looks at what tools are available to manage global PR programs and are they ready to support your programs everywhere. The answer is not yet.
PR Week UK has a very good analysis of former UK PR maestro Alastairn Campbell. They also look at the reality of “spin free” government communications.
This weekend, Sweden will vote on whether to join the European Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the Euro currency. According to a story in the UK Telegraph the PR campaign for the “Yes” side has driven support for the “No” side. Indeed Sweden’s own PR trade magazine, Resum�A>, alleges that the Yes sides PR incompetence is seriously threatening the long-term health of the PR industry in Sweden.
Update: Since I posted this story Swedish Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh died from stab wounds inflicted on her during an attack while she was shopping. The thoughtless act of a lunatic on this day again puts things in perspective.
Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture writes in AlwaysOn about how Corporate PR is hijacking Bioethics.
MediaMap‘s ExpertPR newsletter is out with some interesting articles include how PR establishes and maintains credibility, and why the news is the real word.
Murphy's Law 