Ogilvy Blog: Social Media and PR

11 11 2008

John Stauffer interviewed me for Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence blog at the Grunig Lecture a week or so ago. Here’s the interview he posted on the blog:

I enjoyed the conference and the chance to hear from John, who discussed public relations and social media, and offered some interesting insight on measurement and evaluation. Frankly, I think these are the kinds of discussions we need to be having–practitioners and academics need to work together to navigate PR’s relevance in social media, and create innovative ways to use the medium to help organizations build relationships with a public base that is evermore technologically savvy and has more access to interact with organizations on a personal level.


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Categories : New Media, Public Relations

The First Annual Grunig Lecture

4 11 2008

I had the supreme opportunity to attend the Univ. of MD’s first annual Grunig Lecture this past Thursday. This inaugural event in what is to be an ongoing series at UMD was appropriately themed around the timely-issue of public relations and social media.

A few tidbits I found particularly interesting:

  • First, a little shameless self-promotion. Following the introductory hour and half of round-table discussions, a few of my students approached me all agast because what I had been saying for the last few months (that the future of PR is social media, and their success in the field will depend greatly on how well they can manage that space) was right on target. What can I say? It’s nice to be validated in your opinion, even if it takes someone else (or even two or three someone elses) to prove it to your students.
  • I enjoyed an hour long round-table discussion from Ogilvy’s Online Strategy guru John Stauffer.  I found it particularly interesting how focused Ogilvy is on bringing clients into the online space using digital points and metrics as evaluation. I think we’re seeing an unprecedented era in public relations in which practice is led by measurement. And this is most likely because it CAN be.  More interesting than how beneficial social media is for enhancing public relations’ reach and relationship-building with publics is the conversation around just how much easier social media makes it to evaluate public relations.  And I think that web visits, page ranks, and unique views are just the tip of the Iceberg here.
  • On a side note: I was honored to be interviewed by John for the Ogilvy blog, and trusting that my answers to his questions were somewhat intelligible, I’ll be posting a link to the blog once it’s up.
  • Richard Edelman, the CEO of the agency that bears his name, was the keynote speaker. His remarks were engaging, as he sought to show how social media is redefining PR’s role in the organization. He introduced a public engagement model of public relations which I’ll discuss a little more extensively in an upcoming post.  He also made a bold declaration, saying that the future of public relations will be played out on SMS and mobile technology, more than it will be played out on blogs, Facebook, and other social media resources. I have to say that I had never considered that, but it makes perfect sense. If the drive for information is driven by immediacy, I can’t imagine any more immediate tool than an Apple 3G.

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Categories : Public Relations, Social Media

Light at the end of the tunnel

27 10 2008

So, admittedly, it’s been I’ve been a little absent from blogging…but rest assured, it hasn’t been for naught. I have just completed my written and oral comprehensive examinations for my doctoral program, and will be defending my dissertation prospectus on December 19th. This is where the rubber hits the proverbial road for me…and I’ve been planning for my research topic for the last two years, having done several related and even pilot studies.

The topic: Integrated Public Relations

One question that keeps nagging me is how does public relations fit into an integrated environment? And by public relations, I mean much more than just the publicity-type.

Research has focused primarily on the nature of integration and marketing’s role in integration. In fact, case studies I’ve been reviewing show how public relations is used primarily as publicity, aiding marketing’s efforts to sell a product or service or build a firm’s brand or reputation. However, I think that it goes much deeper than that. PR is more than just publicity, and my aim is to build a model for public relations in an integrated communication environment.

I get the impression that there is an underlying need to explore this. As I posted earlier, I was at a conference in Slovenia three months ago that was dedicated to integrated communications. I expected a defining symposium, where, as scholars, we proposed the unified future of the integration of communications. Instead, the conference, though beneficial in its varied topics and research, had no realy unifying theme or definition of integrated communication, which is probably representative of actual practice. Integration may be a topically thrown together initiative, with each communication function vying for a role.

What we need is an understanding of public relations and integration. We need to define public relations’ role beyond publicity or promotion, and clarify what integration can and should look like in the process.

I have my own assumptions going into the project, one of which revolves around PR as relationship-building. It’s one of the few things that truly differentiates PR from Marketing. Public Relations builds relationships with distinct stakeholders or organizational publics. I think there is a real opportunity here to redefine public relations as relationship cultivation and distinguish it from marketing activities like promotion and publicity.


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Categories : Marketing and Branding, Miscellaneous Ramblings, Public Relations

Creating Recognition for Employee Recognition

15 08 2008

Long it has been argued that, in spite of exponentially larger budgets that marketing and advertising maintain, that public relations activities actually have a more profound effect on corporate brand, reputation, and even consumer behavior. I recently put together a case study of one such organization that uses public relations to build a successful brand: O.C. Tanner.

The article was published today in PRSA’s PR Journal, my first article published in a peer-reviewed journal. Have a look:

http://www.prsa.org/prjournal


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Categories : Marketing and Branding, Public Relations, Reputation

Becoming Quirky? PR enters the blogging world

12 08 2008

This last week I was at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Chicago, and presented my research on bloggers and public relations. Kaye Sweetser at Univ. of Georgia surprised me when she said she would be videoing it and posting it on her site. Here’s the video…and THANKS Kaye!


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Categories : New Media, Public Relations, Relationship Management

A Boy, His Tiger, and Qualitative Research

1 08 2008

You want the story WITHOUT animals? This question, asked by the young Pi Patel in Yann Martel’s triumph Life of Pi of two inquisitors researching into the ship-wrecked boys’ survival story featuring seven months at Sea with a Bengal Tiger is the essence of qualitative research, in my mind.

(A bit of background: I have just finished listening to Life of Pi on CD while I have concurrently been burying my head in qualitative research books taking copious notes–is there any other way to take notes?–in preparation for my comprehensive exams in September)

I have come to the conclusion that, for good or bad, a researcher will get what he or she wants in research, and Pi Patel’s loaded question of his two inquisitors at the end of Life of Pi is a perfect representation of the pitfalls of bias in research. Incredulous of Pi’s story about surviving 7 months at sea in a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger, the inquisitors press Pi for a different story–one without animals.

I wonder how often we enter a research project–theories in hand, and solution-stamp ready to be applied, but unwilling accept an answer we have not prepared for. We talk of validity, reliability, generalizability, and any other word you can tack -ability onto, to evaluate the usefulness of a research project. But in the end, I think the accuracy–the truth–of a research project comes down to evaluating what you’re looking for, and how willing you are to be surprised. In Life of Pi, Pi rails against the inquisitors who have a problem with “hard to believe” elements of his story–explaining that it isn’t that they have a problem believing, it’s that they don’t like being surprised. You set out on a research quest(ion) and you get an answer. The answer that surprises you is the one that you hoped you wouldn’t get. The “Validity” of your research then, lies in your ability to believe. AND, how you rationalize the answer. Did ask the right questions? Could this have led to the “wrong” answer? Did you ask the right person? Could there be another explanation?

In the end, if you want the story without animals–that’s the one you’re going to get.

Note: If you have not read Life of Pi, you should. If for anything, the last 3 or so chapters are the quintessential treatise on research methodology.


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Categories : Instant Academic, Miscellaneous Ramblings

First Peer-Reviewed Article to be Published

25 07 2008

Great news. The PRSA journal appropriately entitled, Public Relations Journal, will be publishing my study on public relations, branding, and marketing at O.C. Tanner, entitled “Creating Recognition for Employee Recognition” (the paper that won the Plank Top Student Paper award at the International Communication Association). The article will be available at the link below, shortly:

http://www.prsa.org/prjournal/

Here’s a fun shot of me at the Bledcom Conference (taken by a professional photographer no less!…that’s why I look so professional).


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What’s the difference between Fish and Chips and Violence?

24 07 2008

Apparently, one can’t be a name in New Zealand, and the other can.

Frankly, I think it’s about time we start cracking down on poor name choices. I have heard of too many people wanting to name their kid “Braxton Hicks” or some other unfortunate name…


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Categories : Miscellaneous Ramblings

PR as Education

21 07 2008

In May, I won the Plank Award for Graduate Student Research at the International Communication Association conference in Montreal for a paper I did on PR as education. O.C. Tanner, a global employee recognition firm, focuses its communication efforts on educating organizations about the merits of employee recognition.

That was my first research paper I produced as a doctoral student, and I’ve always been intrigued by other examples of organizations/individuals emphasizing education in public relations efforts. Why? Because teaching is an important interactive experience, where one individual edifies the other. It represents one of the noblest efforts. I think that’s why it is so effective. I can think of no better way to build a relationship than when someone reveals the tricks of the trade, the secrets of success…which is why I like this video, below, of Barenaked Ladies’ front man Ed Roberts teaching viewers how to play one of the band’s popular songs. I think there’s also an evident level of Grunig-ian Two-Way Symmetrical communication here too…

One other thing I like about this is bands seem so loathe to share their music. Anyone who has gone to a music store to purchase a book on playing a song on guitar, piano, etc., knows the frustration I have felt so often…the notes usually reflect what the singer sings, not what he or she plays.

Anyway, good public relations, kudos to BNL.


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Categories : New Media, Public Opinion and Influence, Public Relations, Relationship Management

PR from the Bathroom

15 07 2008

Not quite sure what it is about toilets and PR, but for some reason, some of the more interesting examples of PR seem to come from the lavatory (here too).

Maybe it’s the intimacy of the situation. I’ve said it before, online technology provides the intimacy organizations/groups/etc. seek in creating relationships with strategic publics. What better intimacy than sharing the personal confines of the organizational “throne”…as the Rock Group, Barenaked Ladies, have demonstrated quite well in a new PR campaign on YouTube:

Here, Ed Roberts of the Barenaked Ladies fame, records and distributes through YouTube, low-budget, seemingly webcam quality, songs produced in the bathroom.

Simply Brilliant.

The value of intimacy, sacrificing perfectly honed, crafted, and designed productions in favor of imperfect and seemingly unrehearsed productions in order to relate to publics, is so underappreciated in PR discussions. The producers of The Blair Witch project discovered this value over a decade ago, when they produced a low-budget film that attained cult classic status because of the raw artform it used.

Videos like the one above by BNL represent PR as art, rather than science, and a real understanding of an organization’s public (in this case, the fans, who crave an insider, up-close-and-personal access to the band). This raw viral video form also depicts an organization as human, an organization that makes mistakes…and thus, an organization that is more real (which might entail posting bloopers, which BNL also does on YouTube).


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Categories : Miscellaneous Ramblings, New Media, Public Relations

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