There’s has been loads of fantastic PR content posted while I was away, here I present a selection as much for my own reference as anything else!
Constantin Basturea has a very interesting interview with Billy McCormac of JKL blog on corporate blogging. JKL are a Nordic strategic marketing firm with a multi-lingual blog.
“PR professionals should help clients build a solid foundation for the blogging effort. First and foremost they should help craft the weblog policy. Second, they should educate potential bloggers in the dos and don’ts of blogging, and introduce them to blog-style writing.”
Greg Brooks writes about Google’s “restrictive” PR activities whic walk the tightrope between promoting the company and protecting competitive information.
Jim Horton has uncovered an interesting speech from David Weinberger on how the Internet takes the control of information away from marketers. I personally think this is one of the immediate impacts the Internet has had on Public Relations, where historically we liked to think we “controlled” the flow and release of information. Not anymore I’m afraid. It’s the reason the Internet has created such a productive environment for crises.
Trevor Cook covers the recent Yanelovich study which found that 60% of consumers have a more negative opinion of marketing than they did a couple of years ago and 64% are worried about the motives of marketers and advertisers. I don’t think those findings are a shock, though I’m amazed people are concerned about the motives of marketers and advertisers. I think the motives are crystal clear… shifting product.
Colin McKay ponders the Google IPO and has a great link to a Hill & Knowlton presentation (PPT required) on how PR works in the IPO process from 2001
Elizabeth Albrycht has had an article on blogging (PDF) published in PR Tactics.
“The purpose of a corporate blog is to spark informal conversations about the organization and its products and/or services among current and potential customers, partners, resellers, media, industry influencers etc.”
Robb Hecht points to a story from Advertising Week on the slump in PR billings in the US – down 5.5% in 2003 (as against a rise in Ad billings of 6.1%). Interestingly the survey found clients were hiring firms more for “arms and legs” than strategic counselling. This sounds like the typical corporate response to a downturn where marketing investment must be tied to specific metrics or results. Other surveys contradict the findings in this survey, but what is clear is that we’re not out of the woods yet.
Jeremy Pepper links to a story in the Washington Post (free registration required) on using the Internet for Guerilla Marketing.
“All this is a reaction to the fact that traditional media marketing is crumbling, just crumbling,” says Jeff Hicks, president of the Miami-based advertising firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky.
Interestingly Ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky (Flash Warning) are getting a lot of airtime at the moment, there’s a big profile of them in the current issue of Business 2.0.
Stuart Bruce highlights two recent UK stories on PR. The Guardian on the (ahem) acceptable face of PR and the Observer covers the changing face of financial PR.
Meanwhile Phil Gomes shares his desktop!
Murphy's Law 