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September 1, 2006
A Jarvis Moment
What do you know? I went to Citibank this morning to take out some money for the upcoming Labor Day weekend. In fact I took out enough money to have to file a Cash Transaction Report, a US Government innovation post 9/11.
I innocently presented my check, my driver's license and my Citibank card. I was asked for my Social Security # and my occupation. I complied with alacrity.
Then I was informed by the clerk that PR or Public Relations was not specific enough. In fact, neither he nor his supervisor had ever heard of PR. I tried corporate and marketing communications. That was too long to fit into the government form. I provided names of our clients. I discussed some of our recent work for Dove, for Wal-Mart, for GE. Finally, out of desperation, I reverted to describing my profession as advertising. That was a winner. I got the money but walked away shaking my head. This is what used to happen when I was just a "newbie" in the business in the late 70s and early 80s. It could not still be happening to me.
Fellow PR people, we have still have a lot of work to do on the image of the industry. Beyond the executive suite, we are either unknown or pigeon holed into the "masters of spin" camp. In fact we are central to business transformation, whether it is for Wal-Mart, P&G or other major global corporations. Let's persuade our clients to allow us to talk about the work we do so that we can educate the broader publics about the benefits of what we do. In that way we can avoid this type of humiliation for future generations of PR people.
Posted by Edelman at September 1, 2006 12:38 PM
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Nach gut 20 Jahren mehr oder weniger intensiver Tätigkeit in der PR-Branche ist mir folgendes Spiel bestens bekannt und geläufig: Nach meinem Beruf gefragt, antworte ich wahrheitsgetreu, ich sei PR-Berater (also, fast wahrheitsgetreu, denn ic... [Read More]
Tracked on September 5, 2006 10:27 AM
Comments
How about we get rid of these arbitrary classifications? Who cares whether you consider yourself PR or Advertising, or whatever. We all work in communications, and if we just silo ourselves into neatly separated departments, we may lose out on some opportunities that would have made us better conversationalists.
Posted by: Paul McEnany at September 1, 2006 2:49 PM
This post is right on target. Hat's off.
PR is the most misunderstood profession in the world. I hate calling PR = advertising. The recent Harris survey shows that the public doesn't understand what PR is all about. We can agree to disagree on other issues, but this one has a consensus in the PR industry.
Posted by: James Bruni at September 2, 2006 3:31 PM
Dear Mr. Edelman:
I think what perpetrates the notion of "masters of spin" as the universal definition of PR in the eyes of the general public, is due in part by industries that feed the rumor mills in the news, such as entertainment, consumer and politics. To make that clean break for the more dynamic definition of pure public relations, I think of it as a bridge between marketing and management consulting. Just as those disciplines rely on facts and figures, so do we need them to be successful in our trade. However, the public doesn't think of PR as having such a concrete foundation. Corporate positioning is based on truisms, which I think people have to hear more of when we are talking about the field of public relations. We need consistency on our side. Let's start now!
Phil
Philip J. Nourie
President
Nourie Public Relations, Inc.
Posted by: Phil Nourie at September 2, 2006 7:18 PM
I think you are right. I was just being responsive to teller’s question.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at September 7, 2006 4:06 PM
Richard,
Your intellectualism and maintenance of a worldly perspective is an inspiration to other entrepreneurs… especially young CEOs looking to older ones for role models.
Keep up the good work.
Scott
Posted by: Scott Smigler at September 25, 2006 8:58 AM
I have often heard people refer to PR professionals as 'professional liars,' 'spin doctors, etc. I answer this perception most likely comes from the Crisis Communications side of PR and that I specialize in creating a positive brand recognition. I don't mean to say all Crisis Communications is negative, but most of its reasons may be.
As for the difference between PR and Advertising, I typically refer to the 'Two Guys in a Bar' joke that describes advertising, PR and brand awareness in three short, somewhat entertaining examples (Guy walks over to a girl and says, "See my buddy over there, he's great in bed." Etc. You get the idea.
I like working in a field where everyday people still can't explain it after 100 years. It's part of its allure. No day is the same, and where else can you learn about so many diffent disciplines, technologies, companies, etc. in one career?
Keep on keep'n on.
Alex
Posted by: Alex Forbes at September 27, 2006 3:44 PM