Public Relations

Paul Baines, John Egan, Frank Jefkins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781136370779
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Negocios en general

Public Relations: contemporary issues and techniques offers a definitive guide to public relations management. It provides comprehensive analysis and explanation of a full range of modern PR techniques, spanning both inhouse and agency practice.The text has involved fundamental restructuring and updating of existing material and the incorporation of the new techniques and strategies, for instance: * The use of multimedia techniques in PR
* Overseas media and the globalization of media communications
* The latest case examples - notably New Labour's rebranding and media management since 1997, government PR during the 2001 war against Afghanistan, and the 2002 football World CupThe book presents the core strategies for successful PR combining this with indepth advice on implementation and the everyday techniques that every PR person needs to grasp. With a range of new user-friendly textual features, the book's practical, how-to focus, wedded to firm theoretical analysis, makes it the ideal text for those studying for professionally accredited examinations such as the IPR, CAM and LCCI awards. It is also a useful aide-memoire for all practising PR professionals.

Part 1 Defining Public Relations

DOI: 10.4324/9780080480510-1

Chapter 1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9780080480510-2

Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter you will be able to:

• define public relations;
• explain how public relations techniques reduce hostility, prejudice, apathy and ignorance;
• contrast PR with public affairs, advertising and marketing;
• recognize the main factors involved in a PR campaign.

The professionalization of the PR industry

Public relations is often referred to as a new, young profession or business, but this is not really so. PR techniques have been used in different forms for centuries. Edward Bernays, considered to be the father of modern public relations and a nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, argues that the rulers of ancient Egypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria and Persia all used personal and political publicity (1952, p. 13). Bird and animal symbols on the sails of Phoenician and Viking ships could be regarded as early examples of corporate identity schemes. Over the centuries, the funnels of steamships, stagecoaches, trains, taxis and buses have been painted in identifying colours. Emblems on shields and the uniforms of armed and other uniformed services were similar forms of corporate identity. This kind of identification and distinction has grown up into systems of logotypes, typography, uniforms, dress and badges, colours and the liveries of transportation, of which the modern airline is a prime example. For instance, British Airways courted controversy during the Thatcher administration when it incorporated ethnic designs in place of its British Ribbons on its planes’ tailfins to denote its ‘glocal’ approach (i.e. both global and local).

Government and public services have been among the leading users of public relations techniques in the last century. Lloyd George, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, used public relations to explain the new old age pension scheme in 1912, and the first president of the IPR, Sir Stephen Tallents, used public relations to promote the Empire Marketing Board between 1926 and 1933. At the end of the century, the British Labour Party, under the direction of Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell, reorganized the campaigning department to align it with the concerns of voters, and to improve its press relations. Mandelson had argued during his tenure as director of campaigns in the 1980s that ‘press and broadcasting contacts must be dramatically extended beyond the parliamentary press lobby’ (Mandelson, 1988). Voter concerns were identified partly through the endeavours of Philip Gould, who conducted focus groups to assess the mood of voter groups in swing voting regions of the country (Gould, 1998). The results were fed into policy development and news management programmes. In the USA, political PR was already well established. To some extent, the British Labour Party's campaign approach was based on that of Clinton's US Democratic Party, where several Labour officials (including Gould and the party's general secretary, Margaret McDonough) had temporarily worked.

Globalization, the fall of communism as a competing ideology and business context, the increased competition that has accompanied deregulation in major markets, a greater understanding of the importance of consumers, particularly by consumer themselves, and the dual fragmentation/globalization of mass media have all affected public relations activity. The result is that it has become increasingly systematized and research-led over the last century, as has its business counterparts marketing, advertising and human resource management.

Public relations has developed very rapidly in recent years, partly because management of various commercial and non-commercial organizations have discovered a need for public relations activities. There has also been a considerable increase in the means by which public relations messages can be conveyed – for example, through satellite, cable and Internet media – as the mass media generally has paradoxically fragmented and globalized simultaneously. It may also be true that the terms ‘public relations’ and ‘public affairs’ themselves imply something unduly special, but organizations of all kinds have been communicating for centuries. Modern public relations has, however, refined the techniques, integrated the action and given it a name, so that it is now a distinct discipline. Public relations has been organized professionally by the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) in Britain and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in the USA. By 2002, the IPR had around 7000 members and the PRSA had around 20 000 members.

The British public relations industry has seen an increase in demand for consultancy services over the last 20 years, although there has been a downturn in business at the turn of the new millennium. Total billings declined in 2001, with some estimates indicating a drop in industry income of around 15 per cent (Anon., 2002a), probably as a result of the downturn in the telecommunication, media and technology sectors generally. PR has been used to promote new industries (e.g. the computer industry, medical imaging equipment), new services (e.g. Internet banking), new technologies (e.g. Sony's PlayStation), and new kinds of media (e.g. Internet and cable television). This upsurge in demand over this period created a need for more able and versatile staff. But professional training for PR professionals is still relatively underdeveloped. Realization that on-the-job training is insufficient for the healthy growth of the profession, and its ability to provide efficient, cost-effective services, has ensured the urgent attention of the professional bodies. Degree courses in PR continue to run at Bournemouth University Media School, Leeds Metropolitan University, Manchester Metropolitan University and Stirling University, for instance, among many others. The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) continues to develop interest in its public relations courses.

PR personnel have also raised their importance within their organizations as PR roles, and particularly that of the press officer, have gained increasing acceptance. Management is now much more likely to recognize the need to be involved in communications and PR directors are now much more likely to have a seat on the board. Modern public relations calls for people with a holistic view of business, who can act as advisers to management on a great variety of issues. Recruits to the industry are frequently second- or third-time career people, although there is now an increasing number of younger entrants, with university, CAM, LCCI or IPR qualifications or their counterparts in other countries.

Broadly, the public relations practitioner needs to possess the following personality traits and attributes:

• Ability to communicate.
• Ability to organize.
• Ability to get on with people.
• Personal integrity.
• Imagination.
• Willingness to learn.

Integrity is particularly important, since PROs are ‘rated... below policitians and journalists in terms of public trust’ (Haywood, 2002), mainly due to the bad name given to the function by ‘spin doctors’. The latter are government and political communication specialists seasoned in defining media-friendly perspectives on events or programmes, which tie in with their own organizational objectives.

Public relations practitioners need to have some knowledge of many ancillary subjects. For example, these can include:

• Media, both existing mass and created private.
• Printing.
• Photography, video, CD-ROM, DVD and other audio-visual, and visual, aids.
• Exhibitions.
• Marketing research.
• Sponsorships.

In addition, the ability to plan, budget and direct programmes is also fundamental (see Chapters 5–11). So, public relations practitioners need more than the ability to prepare press releases and entertain journalists, especially when many journalists and editors argue that very few practitioners are capable of writing a publishable news release! An adversarial situation between the media and public relations practitioners has developed as a result. PROs don't always help this situation by sending unsolicited press releases by fax and e-mail of little possible editorial value in the hopes of gaining column inches or news air time. Editors usually welcome the faxing of urgent material that they have invited, but the general distribution of releases by e-mail and fax has become an abuse of the privilege. The solution is to carefully cultivate a network of journalists and editors, to develop strong mutually trustworthy relationships with them, and to discuss possible press releases with one or two trusted sources before general release. If an event or communication is regarded by them to be a story, it can then be sent out to everyone else in the network, the next day. This kind of strategy, however, can sometimes alienate those journalists who are provided with the information later. After all, journalists are interested in getting a story first because it establishes their reputations and sells papers or stimulates advertising. Writing press and feature articles is covered in further detail in Chapters 14 and 15.

Public relations defined

The purpose of professional public relations is to create understanding. It is unlike advertising, whose main aim is to generate awareness and sales, or propaganda, whose aim is to suggest (in the true meaning of the word) what individuals should believe. Some commentators confuse public relations with these two very different forms of communication. In many parts of the developing world, public relations techniques have been adopted because of the urgent need to educate people about new public services, and in order to introduce new lifestyles. It is important at this stage to establish a clear understanding of what public relations is all about. The IPR define public relations as: ‘the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics’ (cited in Jefkins, 1994).

PR's importance lies in emphasizing the need for planning, sustained effort and mutual understanding. A lot of public relations is ineffective, and not cost-effective, precisely because it is haphazard and unplanned. Thus, management skills become fundamental. Sometimes, PR is criticized as being intangible and a waste of money. Of course, it can be if it is not planned and conducted properly, with clear objectives and assessable outcomes. Unlike advertising, which may have short-term campaigns, public relations activity should be sustained to be effective. Finally, there should be mutual understanding.

Most PR commentators would agree that public relations should aim to achieve consensus between an organization and its publics, but Holtzhausen (2000) argues that a PRO should strive to identify the tensions between the organization and internal and external publics. Through the identification of tensions, practitioners will promote and create situations in which new meaning is produced through difference and opposition. One could argue that Benetton used just such an approach in its advertising campaigns during the 1990s.

In public relations, organizations receive as well as transmit information. They must listen as well as speak.

In this regard, one definition of public relations emphasizes the role of research in the design of PR programmes. This is known as the Mexican Statement because it resulted from an international conference of public relations organizations held in Mexico City in 1978. It is a more comprehensive definition than those discussed previously:

Public relations practice is the art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organization leaders, and implementing planned programmes of action that will serve both the organization's and the public interest.

(cited in Jefkins, 1994)

The statement spells out the full role, nature and responsibilities of the public relations function. The statement outlines five important considerations in the PR process. These include:

• Analysis of trends. Before we can begin the planning emphasized in the IPR definition, it is necessary to investigate the current situation that the company finds itself in and its relations with its publics. Questions that need to be considered include: what opinions or attitudes exist? What is the extent and accuracy of awareness? Is there understanding or misunderstanding? Does a good, bad or false image exist? Those publics concerned may consist of the community, employees, suppliers, distributors, consumers, financial institutions, politicians, civil servants, academics and a whole host of influential opinion leaders. A PR campaign needs to be planned with a full understanding of the trends that will influence the organ-ization's future. Once communication problems and needs have been ascertained, the PRO can plan appropriate communication solutions. Much public relations work is about effecting change (see chapter 25, on internal PR). PR department managers or consultants cannot recommend a programme and expect money to be funded for its execution unless a clear need for it, based...