Tough to define, sometimes difficult to understand, the field, along with the related professions of marketing and advertising, fosters some thoughtful appraisal under a theoretical and practical microscope.
We enjoyed reading these comments on the value of publicity by colorful Jerry Della Femina, then chairman, CEO and creative director of Jerry & Ketchum, Inc. They are taken from an article in Tactics, a Public Relations Society of America publication. “If you want to run an ad, it costs money. People look at ads […]
Read more →Conducted a three-hour professional development session some years back with old friend and respected colleague Roger Williams of Penn State University. The session was titled “Climbing Out of Public Relations Hell,” and the participants were asked to develop a list of important tactics for PR folks to consider in enhancing the role of public relations […]
Read more →For your consideration, here are the thought-provoking “10 Commandments for Public Relations Professionals” offered by Paul Holmes, editor and publisher of Inside PR in a speech to Public Relations Society of America members in Pittsburgh. Thou shalt not be corporate communications. The current vogue of renaming public relations, particularly in-house, as corporate communications, is a […]
Read more →The late Edward Bernays, who some folks call the “father of modern public relations,” once told the story of a phone call he received from a young woman seeking his PR advice. “She said she was in public relations,” Bernays told The New York Times. “I asked her what she did. She said she gave […]
Read more →We highly recommend Professor Kathleen Kelly’s important book on the relationship of public relations to development, “Fund Raising and Public Relations: A Critical Analysis,” published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kelly redefines fundraising as “donor relations,” maintaining that it is “not simply about soliciting financial support. It is the management of relationships between the organization and […]
Read more →Loved this confirmation of what public relations folks already knew. PR is one of the world’s most stressful professions. The list is from the 1989 “Jobs Rated Almanac.” The 15 most stressful jobs: Firefighter Race car driver (Indy class) Astronaut Surgeon NFL football player Police officer Osteopath State police officer Air traffic controller Mayor Jockey […]
Read more →Karl Skutski, now retired founder and president of Skutski & Associates, a public relations firm in Pittsburgh, asked the question “Who Needs Public Relations?” back in 1989 and he provided a pretty good answer in the Allegheny Business News. Skutski defined public relations as “a management process which to be effective must be managed against […]
Read more →An excerpt from a speech given in 1988 by Edward W. Block, then senior consultant to Burson Marsteller Inc., and former senior vice president at AT&T. Block clearly and aptly defined the public relations profession in this presentation to the Public Relations Research and Education annual luncheon meeting. “What is it that makes public relations […]
Read more →