WPR Inperson 'Blog
The Iceberg Syndrome in Public Relations
JIm Walsh
A conversation last week with my colleague Gillian Darcy and an interview the next morning on RTE's Morning Ireland with JIm O'Hara, Intel's general manager for Ireland, prompted this blog.
The conversation with Gill revolved around the work we do and how so much research, analysis, debate and drafting has to be done before we bring proposals to clients. It is obviously more detailed and intense if you are asked to bring your communication experience and knowledge to bear in a business sector or organisation with which you are not involved with regularly. But nonetheless all proposals and activities in the world of PR have to be based on sound knowledge and information.
It's a myth to think that creative ideas come 'out of the blue'. The best creative concepts come from knowing
and understanding the audience and context for the communication.
When JIm O'Hara was asked on Morning Ireland how he defined the Smart or Knowledge economy description,
so beloved of politicians that it has almost now become a cliche, he talked about economic wealth creation been,
driven, not from physical activity, but from gathering intelligence and using that information creatively.
It was then that the penny dropped. That's what PR people do as a matter of course. It's our Iceberg Syndrome. 90% of our work goes unseen but moves that 10% to a position that it helps our clients avoid becoming
another Titanic.
Ask most journalists or the average 'man in the street' what PR is and that is not what you will hear. You are more likely to get an ear-bashing about spin doctors and manipulators.
PR is a term that even some people working in the business seek to avoid by using terms such as communication. But no matter how it is dressed up Public Relations (PR) is what we are involved in. One of the problems in describing PR is that the term is used as an adjective when in fact it is a noun and if its practice is to be criticised then Bad Public Relations is the way it should be described.
There are two other problems in discussing PR. One is that so many different titles are used by people who are seen as 'PR people' - Publicists, Press officers, Lobbyists, Communication Officers. All legitimate. and perfectly describe what these people do.
In the main they meet the dictionary definition of what Public Relations is: "a) the practise of creating, promoting or maintaining goodwill and a favourable imageamong the public, towards an institution,public body etc b) the methods and techniques employed by the Public Relations industry.
However this fails to take into account what the practice of PR has become in the 21st century. That is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understanding, realize
organizational goals, and serve the public interest. (Flynn, Gregory & Valin, 2008)
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Posted on 12/07/2010 at 12:41:31
Twenty years a-growing
Caroline Heywood
In 1990, you could not have read this blog, nor even understood the word ‘blog’ because it didn’t exist. A mobile phone was the size of a brick and about as useful. You couldn’t call anyone because they didn’t have a mobile phone. And mainly, you called people to tell them you were calling from a mobile phone. How amazing, we all thought, for a few minutes.
In 1990, we sent out releases by post - hard copy pictures with captions attached. And rather sweaty, leather-clad motorcycle couriers trudged in and out of the office collecting packages that now move digitally, albeit with less entertainment.
When I look back, I can see how we got to here. I can see why we chose to adopt this technology or hire that person. I can see why we developed certain policies and procedures. I can clearly see the decisions we made and why Walsh Public Relations is the shape it is today – forged as it has been by those years of expertise.
I’m reminded of the story of a sculptor explaining how he created the sculpture of a horse. “I just cut away all the bits that didn’t look like a horse,” he says. And it’s true too for Walsh Public Relations; its shape is the result of years of refining – and cutting away all the bits that didn’t look like Walsh Public Relations.
But the whole idea is that the sculptor knew what the horse looked like before he started. We didn’t. And no one else did either. We could have ended up with a mule or a zebra. We could have ended up with an ass (We have once or twice!). Or we could have ended up with the classic horse designed by committee – a camel!
But after 20 years with Walsh Public Relations, I’m more inclined to reflect forwards than backwards. I’m more interested in the future and what it holds rather than nostalgically reeling in the years (except perhaps over a few pints with Jim and Martina who were there at the beginning!). But when I reflect forward, I can’t be as certain about the results.
In 1990 I knew nothing of the future. The digital age has totally changed the way and the speed the world operates. And today, I don’t have a crystal ball on how things will unfold in the medium to long term. Neither, by the way, does anyone else. The truth is that I can’t, in many cases, predict the future and the effect it will have on our clients or our company, except to know with certainty that things will change.
But with those refinements of time, I can understand now just why something or someone is better for us in the present and I have the experience of how similar situations have worked in the past. And not just the everyday things like technology, people, contracts and deadlines, but much more intangible things like ethos, professionalism and just being better at what we do.
I think of that line from T.S Eliot “You are the music while the music lasts”. And I think of all the connections over all those years who are part of that musical composition. The person who showed me this bit of software, the colleague who advised me on a crisis, the wise words of a client who helped me to understand a complex situation better – all these people who for two decades have been chipping away at my body and mind in Walsh Public Relations and making it ‘more like a horse’.
I’m grateful to all of them. They are the music that is the basis of my music and I hope to keep playing it – for as long as it lasts.
Posted on 19/04/2010 at 17:14:02
A blot on the media landscape
Jim Walsh
I love the PR business. No matter how long you work in PR it continues to be an amazing learning experience.
However there is one downside and it comes from not being able to avoid the media obsession with ‘personalities’.
One of the key tasks for any public relations practitioner is to keep abreast of media issues. Every day it is necessary to read, listen and watch what is being reported and discussed across the media.
In our office we spread the enjoyment and everyone is allocated a Saturday and Sunday national newspaper so that between us we cover the whole spectrum of the national press. That means that we can alert each other if there is something significant published relevant to a client.
Monitoring the media in this way also keeps
everyone up to speed on the editorial policies of the newspapers and helps us understand the interests, likes and dislikes of particular journalists. Apart from the groans from some people at the start of each
month when the newspapers are allocated: "Oh no I don't have to read that, do I?", it is a pleasant and useful task.
The one drawback for me is that I cannot escape from 'personalities' even at the weekend. ‘Personalities’ are those people provided with acres of newspaper space for the most trivial of reasons.
Personalities appear to live in a parallel universe to most people. They court media assiduously to ensure that their name and photo appear regularly.
It's never clear what they do with their lives between bouts of changing their hair colour, partners, wives, husbands; attending parties, nightclubs and
social events or travelling to some exotic holiday destination. All of these personalities, or their publicists, appear to have their favourite journalists who receive tip-offs about the personality's latest toenail polish, brush with death or some other 'traumatic' experience, which gains in stature with the telling. So turbulence during a flight becomes a near-fatal plane crash or sitting next to Louis Walsh in the Unicorn or Dobbins is a step closer to stardom, while even getting up in the
morning is a reason to Twitter.
But the bubble will burst and when it does, who will be the winners and losers? It will be just like the bursting of the property bubble.
Makers of reality shows will go bankrupt, the emptiness that media advertising managers are experiencing now will be felt in the editorial departments and the personalities who had their fifteen minutes of fame will be turning to Mary Hanafin for help. The only winners will be the managers (the bankers) and people
like Simon Cowell who will have accumulated sufficient
wealth to help them finance some new concept to get us hooked.
But maybe, unlike the property market, we are in for a soft landing. Maybe Irish 'personalities' will take the lead from Olympic Silver medalist Kenny (now Kenneth) Egan. Kenneth told Derek Mooney on RTE last Tuesday that he has renounced the cult of the personality. A common-sense talk with his mother helped him
see the light. The only newspaper pages that he will voluntarily be gracing in the coming years are the sports pages.
Now there is a role model I would dearly love other 'personalities' to follow.
Posted on 12/11/2009 at 11:24:50