Teaching PR

PRDepiction

Just in case you don't have enough to do, allow me to suggest the addictive new blog, PRDepiction, a group blog with citations from research on pop culture representations of public relations, as well as cites and/or links to the primary sources. (Disclosure: I'm one of the bloggers. Further disclosure: I haven't posted on the site yet. But I will.)

It's addictive because, c'mon, you can call it research!

JPRR call for submissions: special issue on nonprofit PR

Exciting news from the Journal of Public Relations Research -- we've got another special issue coming up for publication in 2013. (I skipped 2012 in order to help clear up the Journal's backlog of accepted papers.) Here's the call for submissions from guest editor Denise Bortree.

Call for Submissions: Public Relations and Nonprofit Organizations

The Journal of Public Relations Research seeks scholarly articles for a special issue on nonprofit public relations.

Nonprofit and advocacy organizations make an important contribution to the social, political, and economic landscapes around the world.  However, public relations professionals in nonprofit sectors often face unique challenges related to resources and stakeholder relationships, among other things. Building knowledge about best practices for nonprofit practitioners is critical for the public relations field. This call seeks scholarly articles that explore the role of public relations in nonprofit organizations as well as the contribution of nonprofit communication to society. Of particular interest are articles that explore relationship cultivation with stakeholders, distinctive aspects of social media use among nonprofits, variance in communication strategies among types of nonprofit organizations, and public relations activities of national and international NGOs.

As with all issues of the Journal, contributions should provide scholarship that creates, tests, or expands public relations theory, and the guest editor encourages submissions that use a wide range of empirical methodologies.

The manuscripts for the special issue are due to the JPRR Manuscript Central site by July 15, 2012. Please note at the top of the abstract and in the appropriate space on the online submission form that the submission is a “candidate for the special issue on nonprofit organizations.” Submissions should conform to the instructions for authors on the Journal’s website.

Guest editor: Dr. Denise Bortree, Penn State University, U.S.A.

 

Faculty fellowship opportunity

Karla Gower of the University of Alabama's Plank Center shares the following information about 2012 Faculty Fellowships for Educators, a program that came up in Teaching PR conversation not long ago (and that I thoroughly hope to participate in when my child gets a little older!).

The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama invites faculty to apply for its 2012 Fellowship for Educators, a two-week summer program for professors teaching public relations.  This year, we will be able to place up to fifteen (15) selected educators for two full weeks in the offices of the sponsoring organizations, which have been drawn from public relations agencies, corporations, not-for-profits and the government sector.

The sponsoring organization will pay housing and per diem expenses for the chosen educator; the educator will pay for travel to/from the sponsoring organization, and any out-of-pocket expenses.

Applications with all supporting materials (a personalstatement, CV/resume, and letter of recommendation) must be e-mailed to Dr.Karla Gower, gower at apr dot ua dot edu, by February 10, 2012.

Background

• This two-week fellowship program for public relations educators is designed with the dual purpose of exposing professors to current day-to-day operations of the public relations function and in creating an exchange of information and ideas that will enhance the professional development of both the educators and the practitioner-sponsors.
• Key beneficiaries are public relations students, who can be ensured their professors are knowledgeable in the current practices and issues facing practitioners and that practitioners have a greater appreciation for the value of theory and research of their classrooms in today’s public relations work.
• The Plank Center is the convener of this opportunity, using its own visibility to draw attention to the program; marketing the program to both educators and organization leaders; and coordinating the application process and “match.”
• Sponsoring organizations will be drawn from public relations agencies, corporations, not-for-profits and the government sector. Placement with a particular organization depends on the educator’s area(s) of expertise.
• The number of placements depends on the number of organizations willing to host an educator. Since the program’s inception in 2010, Home Depot, Insidedge—GolinHarris, Ketchum Public Relations Agencies in Chicago and New York, the American Red Cross, and Southern Company have hosted educators.

Expectations

• Educators selected as Fellows will spend two full weeks in the offices of the sponsoring organization with which they have been matched. The period of the Fellowship is expected to occur in June or July, as agreed by both parties.
• Educators will be given a full orientation to the sponsoring organization, the particular department, staff duties and responsibilities, clients and/or projects.
• Sponsoring organizations will designate a key professional as the official host and mentor for the visiting professors during their time in residency.
• In return, educators will use their own expertise to conduct at least one workshop or seminar for the staff of the sponsoring organization.  In addition, the educators may conduct a research project of value to the sponsoring organization; produce a report or white paper highlighting their impressions, key takeaways and recommendations for how the sponsors can develop new proficiencies in a key discipline; develop proprietary knowledge in existing or new areas of strategic focus; or interact with greater effectiveness on the college campus.
• To participate in the Fellowship for Educators, the sponsoring organizations will pay housing and per diem expenses up to a maximum of $3,000 for the chosen educator; the educators will pay for travel to/from the sponsoring organization, and any out-of-pocket expenses. 

Application Process

• To apply, candidates must send an email to Dr. Karla Gower (gower@apr.ua.edu), director of the Plank Center and Behringer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alabama, that includes the following:
  • Personal statement addressing:
    • Areas of special interest or need that you, as a candidate, will hope to develop;
    • Expectations on what you will accomplish with respect to your teaching and research as a Plank Center Fellow;
    • Thoughts on how you would bring key learnings gained during the Fellowship back to your academic institution for the growth of your department, your students and the larger university; and
    • Possible topics for your workshop or seminar to the host organization.
    • CV/Resume
    • Letter of recommendation from a department chair, director or dean indicating how the Fellowship will enhance your teaching and/or research and how the key learnings gained during the Fellowship will be shared with others at your academic institution.
• A committee of public relations professionals and educators will review the applications and make recommendations to the sponsoring organizations, which will make the final acceptance decision.  Acceptance will be based on the candidate’s personal statement, research and teaching interests, need for exposure to the industry and potential contribution to the growth of the sponsoring organization. 

Please direct specific questions regarding the application process or interest that your organization may have in serving as a sponsor for a Plank Center Fellow to Dr. Karla Gower at gower@apr.ua.edu. 

 

 

 

Community relations: Creating a climate of success

In addition to the lunch discussion on the future of our fields, another ADPR Connection panel that I attended was "Community Relations: Creating a Climate of Success." It featured Bonnie Jones of Jackson EMC, Jen Reid from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Lakeshia Poole from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Elaine Armstrong of Goodwill Industries.

Jones described five areas where Jackson EMC contributes to the community: youth programs aimed at developing leadership (such as a science and engineering fair, which matches the company's tech profile), community sponsorships (including the Taste of Home cooking school, which uses electric appliances), worthy causes (Relay for Life, March of Dimes), economic development projects that serve the communities where the company operates, and the Jackson EMC Foundation, which gets its funding from people "rounding up" when they pay their bills and which has put $6 million into 10 counties in 10 years.

Reid explained that Children's Healthcare has 3 hospitals but also 17 neighborhood locations, and that she works on a 6-member team which places a big emphasis on external media relations. She explained that they try to show media the face of the hospital, such as showing a cardiac patient in order to illustrate their cardiac services, in order to demonstrate to people that the hospitals are there for everyone -- no one is turned away for financial reasons. They also bring in celebrities and sports teams who can cheer up the kids for a while and at the same time attract media attention for a good cause. Finally, she described their interaction with bloggers, which includes sharing information about the hospitals, providing health tips, discussing children's health issues, etc. She said they establish relations with the social media community in order to get people, locally and regionally, involved.

Poole works at the Boys and Girls Clubs national headquarters in Atlanta, but the organization is community-based with 4,000 locations nationally. Her job is to support local clubs particularly by capturing national corporate partnerships. She said she has to find ways to add value to both the corporation (or celebrity-- Denzel Washington and Jennifer Lopez are their national spokespersons) and the Boys and Girls Clubs. For example, partnerships with Comcast and Microsoft focus on developing technical skills: corporations and communities will need these employees in the future. She said they try to consider how sponsorships will position the sponsors as good corporate citizens in their communities, and that she honestly believes that Boys and Girls Clubs can change the world.

Finally, Armstrong said that Goodwill's mission is simple: put people to work. Her office works with 45 counties in North Georgia, and she is the primary media contact for that area. Essentially, everything Goodwill does is community relations: they work with other nonprofits, referring people who need other services; they work with employers by holding job fairs and interviews at the 7 North Georgia career centers; and they tap into corporate partnerships, because companies want to be good players in the community and their money and visibility are helpful to nonprofits like Goodwill. Armstrong recommended that people should sit on the boards of nonprofits in order to make connections while helping nonprofit organizations.

I enjoyed the fact that the panel included both community organizations and a sponsor of community events, which provided insight on how relationships, and partnerships, are built. Thanks to the organizers and panelists for their time and expertise.

Disclosure: Jen Reid and Lakeshia Poole are former students of mine.

New Grady College-Omnicom fellowship addresses the convergence problem

Last week I posted on a panel discussion that talked about public relations-advertising-marketing convergence. It's an exciting time to be in our fields, but it's also a challenge to educators -- how in the world are we supposed to teach all of this?

Omnicom Group has one solution. Several Atlanta Omnicom agencies, including BBDO Atlanta, Porter Novelli, Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard, are joining with the Grady College to offer a six-month Future Leaders Fellowship program for Grady students and alums. In January, the first group of 3-5 fellows will start their internships (and we hope it'll expand from there), with each person working part of that time at a PR agency and an ad agency, as well as being mentored by someone from a third marketing-related firm. 

In a press release, the president and CEO of BBDO Atlanta, Chris Hall, said, "The dynamics in the field are changing -- rapidly -- and require a broader perspective and facility with advertising, public relations, social media and beyond. The Fellowship with Grady College allows for our organization to participate in the development of top talent through this innovative program."

Hall also said that the fellowship program is an example of Omnicom's commitment to and innovation in talent recruitment and development -- and I agree. They're investing time, money and expertise into our students' education. And although the program will touch a relatively small number of students directly, but I have to think it'll touch many more indirectly. I've seen, for instance, how students who participate in the Coca-Cola internship program come back and influence their peers -- and sometimes their faculty, too.

I hope our strong relationship with Porter Novelli and BBDO Atlanta in particular will continue to benefit both industry and education. And I hope that other PR and advertising programs can use this fellowship as a model for developing programs with industry in their local areas.

ADPR Connection: The Future for Our Fields

This year Grady College's longtime PRofessional Connection event morphed into "ADPR Connection," organized by both PRSSA and the Ad Club and sponsored by Porter Novelli and BBDO. The day kicked off with a luncheon and panel discussion, which focused on figuring out where are fields are headed in the next 10-20 years. The panelists were Jana Thomas of Porter Novelli, Eleanor Dake of BBDO, and Karen Mawhinney of Erwin Penland.

Thomas focused on her specialty, the future of social marketing, which she defines as using the principles of marketing for social good. She commented that social marketing has always kept our fields together through integrated marketing. She said she uses music and counterculture as predictors of the future, and based on music today she says that we're heading toward a time of an "I'm okay, you're okay" mentality, which would suggest that social marketing will focus more on social justice. It will be less about the individual and more about society as a whole -- issues like the environment or sex trafficking.

Dake pointed out that the massive changes of the last 5 years will continue to shape the next 10 years. We will continue to focus on staying connected, we will expect (as a right) to have access to information, skepticism is building and brands will have to face doubt, and advertising and public relations will continue to integrate. She also said she expects to see big changes in how we shop, such as the wireless wallet, and that as always the fields will need passionate and creative people to deal with these changes.

Mawhinney pointed out that there is tremendous angst in the industry now, that people don't know what's going to happen next; yet, she said, that's not anything new -- pointing to the introduction of radio, then TV, then cable, and so forth. She urged the students to remember that we're in the content business. Because agency of record relationships are breaking up, firms are having to learn to collaborate with each other (partnering with other firms, even from the proposal stage) and crowdsourcing (example: Genius Rocket). We have to learn to think holistically, not just PR or digital or advertising, but with a focus on developing content.

During the Q&A section, the speakers suggested that there will be less in-house and more agency work; said that there is skepticism by clients to believe that one agency can do it all; pointed out that some clients are pushing into digital whereas others have to be pushed; and reported that keeping it on strategy is the biggest problem, whether they are pushing or being pushed.

Great panel and great way to start off the day-- kudos to the student organizers. I'll do a post on the community relations session soon.

 

Transmedia storytelling is not just multi-platform public relations

I sat in the audience not long ago listening to a speaker -- a highly-placed professional at a well-known firm -- who talked about "transmedia storytelling" as though it were the same thing as using multiple platforms for public relations.

Transmedia storytelling is NOT just multi-platform public relations.

By multiplatform I mean using a number of communication platforms (both mainstream and digital, collaborative or otherwise) in ways appropriate to the platform. So, on TV you run an ad, on Facebook you have a contest, and on your website you have a game. They all use the same slogan or have similar content, but modified to make it appropriate to the platform. It's pretty much the same thing ad/PR people would've done in days gone by, but with additional platforms available thanks to digital communication.

Transmedia storytelling goes far beyond this. I first read about the concept in Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture. To quote my own post on principles of social media from a couple of years ago,

I like Jenkins's discussion of transmedia storytelling because it suggests telling different parts of the story in different places (movie, game, Web site, etc. -- he uses "The Matrix" as an example) tailored to the medium. ...Applying this concept to PR would mean NOT taking a press release and making a podcast of the press release being read out loud. Instead, a press release might link to a video that has a human interest story related to, or maybe just briefly mentioned in, the press release -- either could stand alone, but together they tell a bigger story.

In other words, the platforms tell different parts of the story but together form one narrative, and the content should not be the same or even very similar across platforms. An example that Jenkins provides from "The Matrix" involves a very minor character who's only seen for a few seconds in the film, but if you play the game you learn that person's whole backstory and thus when you see them for those few seconds, you have an entirely different perspective on what's happening than if you hadn't played the game. (But if you haven't, you'll still enjoy the movie -- in fact, you won't know you missed anything.)

Multi-platform public relations may be hard, but transmedia storytelling takes it to a whole other level. And I can't really think of a PR program that's put it to effective use yet. Anyone else?

Historical research on public relations

Tom Watson's wonderful International History of Public Relations Conference is fast becoming a high point in my academic calendar.

Unfortunately, I can't travel to Bournemouth every year. Fortunately, Tom has released the 2011 IHPRC proceedings, so that those of us who could be there only via social media can now read the papers. It's a great resource for faculty and professionals interested in PR history, and a great starting point for some student term papers!

Journal of Public Relations Research updates

Because the Public Relations division of AEJMC sponsors the Journal of Public Relations Research, I provided updates at the business and editorial board meetings. In the interest of transparency, here are the highlights:

• The introduction of new reviewing guidelines held up the reviewing process earlier this year, so the average time from submission to decision is up to 79 days. However, we're caught up now, so I expect to see that time head back down toward 60 days next year. And, the new reviewing guidelines are excellent!
• The number of submissions is down to a little over 100 in the past 12 months (31 pending), but it appears to me that virtually all of the submissions are now appropriate to the Journal and very few are being rejected without to review. However, this also means that the acceptance rate is creeping up toward 30%, so I will be asking reviewers to be more demanding, with an emphasis on significance to public relations theory development, in order to get it back down to the 20-25% range.
• Routledge's representative, Patrick Fallon, informed the editorial board that the Journal is moving to a new publication schedule. We will now have 5 issues per year under the publish-less-frequently model, meaning that issues 1-2 will come out electronically on schedule and then be bound together, issue 3 will be a standalone, and issues 4-5 will be bound together. Thus, there will be 5 issues published electronically, but they will be distributed in print only three times per year. This, along with a tougher editorial stance, will address the current backlog of accepted but unpublished articles.
• The article "Media Catching and the Journalist-Public Relations Practitioner Relationship: How Social Media Are Changing the Practice of Media Relations," by Richard Waters, Natalie Tindall, and Timothy Morton has been especially popular, and it's now free from Taylor and Francis.
• The Journal received its first impact factor, which is 0.512 with a ranking of 48 among 67 communications journals. This is lower than we'd like, but Fallon informs us that it's not bad for a first-ever rating; moreover, the Journal's Eigenfactor score puts it at 40 out of 67, meaning that it has more influence than the impact factor might suggest. Hopefully, some of the changes we're making will help improve our scores over time.

What to do about pop culture representations of PR

Last week I mentioned an AEJMC panel on pop culture images of public relations; it took place today and it was just as interesting as I'd hoped. I don't have notes from the first half of the session because I was on the panel, but wanted to share what the speakers in the second half discussed. Having established that books, movies and television often portray public relations inaccurately and PR pros badly, the panelists discussed what to do about it.

First, Rosanna Fiske (Florida International and chair of PRSA this year) described efforts by the Public Relations Society of America to overcome these problems. She described the "Business Case" campaign (more information on prsa.org), the purpose of which is to "drive recognition for the strategic value that PR brings to the table for any organization." She said that PRSA focuses especially on measurement as a key component in making PR count. Fiske also said that as a member of the committee creating the strategic plan for 2011-2013, she led focus groups (there were a number of groups held in 5 different cities) and that the results showed that everyone thinks the number one thing PRSA should be doing is advocating for public relations, because the image is poor and/or misunderstood. Therefore the campaign focuses on how PR can help with financial, reputation, employee/internal, and public policy; but PRSA has also taken a more active role in advocacy, emphasizing the value of PR, ethics, and diversity in the profession. Another program, "PR Serving America," showcases positive community service PRSA offers at the local level.

Next, Meg Lamme (University of Alabama) talked about the teaching moments pop culture can offer. She suggests that we need to own pop culture images and use them to our benefit. She provided two examples, an episode of "West Wing," which portrayed a day in the life of the press secretary, C.J. Craig, and "Absolutely Fabulous." Each provides examples that teachers can use to talk about important issues -- for instance, "West Wing" demonstrates the wide range of expertise a press secretary must have and the influence of the 24/7 news cycle on the character's work. Finally, she described how students have brought up pop culture images in class (Maxim's spread on MTV's "Power Girls," or "Kell on Earth) which spurred good discussions on ethics, diversity, and other important issues. She warned us to be ready for "Scandal," a new show on ABC this fall.

Tim Penning (Grand Valley State) provided a number of reasons that pop culture may not matter at all. Pop culture may not influence public opinion on PR; a lot of other professions have worse portrayals than PR; people understand it's just entertainment; maybe we're too sensitive and focused on the normative; there are other factors besides pop culture that influence the image; attitudes aren't static but change frequently and rapidly; personal experience is stronger than media cultivated images; and pop culture images of "PR" are often really about lawyers, marketers, etc. On the other hand, he said, pop culture may be one important contributing variable; the use of the word "spin" is prevalent; a dominant coalition's worldview of PR may influence its decisions about how to use PR; and new students do seem influenced by pop culture images in their decision to study PR. Since it both is and isn't important, then, PRSA, AEJMC, the Page Society and other should continue to take steps to present PR people appropriately, and we should present more examples of positive public relations.

Finally, Andi Stein (Cal State-Fullerton) described some steps we should take as public relations educators. She asks students to list 5 positive and 5 negative terms associated with PR, and then asks where they got those terms -- which is often pop culture but also other journalism professors. She asks why media people have these images and describes historical events that contribute to the antagonism between PR and journalism. She often uses guest speakers to describe what journalists want and expect from PR people, and also invited 2 reporters and 2 PR pros who'd all been involved in some way with a school shooting to show how they can work together to inform the public. She briefly touched on the idea that new media allow PR people to tell the organization's stories without going through the media, and suggested that ethics must be an ongoing part of the conversation, including the conflict between personal and professional ethics. She also suggested guest lecturing in journalism classes to talk about PR; for example, students could look at a few pages of newspaper and try to identify where the information came from in order to begin to understand the importance of public relations in the news-gathering process.

 

Pop culture images of PR

I'm heading to the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, in St. Louis, next week and thought I'd share this fun multiple-disc DVD series on "The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and Television, 1901-2011." It's produced and written by Joe Saltzman, the director of the Image of Journalist in Popular Culture at USC, and will be featured in a pre-conference workshop on Tuesday.

I've had a long interest in how PR pros are portrayed in entertainment media, so Joe invited me to join in the session at which he's unveiling the DVDs. 

The workshop is called "The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Popular Culture: What Is the Predominant Image and How Do We Repair It?" In the first half we'll see parts of the series and then Emily Kinsky, Carol Ames and I will do short presentations; mine is on "Mysterious Public Relations," based on my analysis of portrayals of PR people in mystery novels (as drawn from the IJPC database) -- a work in progress that I'm having fun with this summer. In the second half a group of distinguished panelists will talk about improving PR's image. 

I really can't wait to see the TV and movie clips. There's more to PR on the big and small screens than Samantha.

Teaching global public relations on a local budget

Another belated post from the Center for Global Public Relations research conference at UNC-Charlotte on April 15: this one from a presentation by Dr. Keith L. Cannon and Dr. Kara Presnell of Wingate University, which has about 1800 undergraduate students, on "Internationalizing a Public Relations Curriculum at a Small University," or as Keith termed it, "Teaching global public relations on a local budget."

Although I don't teach at a small university, I still identified with the obstacles they mentioned: faculty time and money. Keith and Kara said that they were drawing on personal experiences and student interviews to make these suggestions for internationalizing a PR program:

1. start by incorporating faculty experiences into classes (i.e., mentioning in a PR class, "when I was in Italy we did news releases this way")
2. offer to teach PR courses in existing university study abroad programs
3. provide students with international internship opportunities and include international opportunities and experiences in student clubs and programs
4. put international examples in case study classes; apply communication practices to an international situation -- for example, Kara said that females students often want to know how women are treated in other countries
5. try to offer a course in international PR

They concluded by reminding us that firsthand experience in globalization is vital because it's a fact of life that's not going to change.

Jay DeFrank: Results driven communication

I had the great pleasure of attending the first-ever Center for Global Public Relations research conference in Charlotte on April 15 and wanted to share my notes from the keynote speaker, Jay DeFrank, vice president of communications for Pratt & Whitney.

DeFrank started by noting that advertising and PR people who are recognized by their peers are often not the same ones recognized internally -- for example, an ad agency that wins a Clio but gets sacked by their client. What matters most is the impact on the bottom line. He then shared two cases from his own career in which he argues that communication had a significant role on the bottom line.

The first case comes from DeFrank's career in the U.S. Air Force, when he was in charge of communication relating to the Afghan Humanitarian Air Drop. His job was to communicate that the United States was battling the Taliban, not the Afghan people or Muslims, and he argued for and received permission to place journalists on the airplanes doing the drops -- this had been against policy, but he believed it was required in order to convince a skeptical audience that the United States had good intentions in conducting the air drops.

DeFrank also helped with planning for the invasion of Iraq. Leaders were concerned about Iraqi disinformation because of experiences such as the baby milk factory bombing story during the first Gulf War. In addition, they thought it was important to maintain U.S. support for the invasion. With these two main goals in mind, DeFrank's team wrote objectives such as encouraging Iraqi dissent, boosting morale of U.S. troops, and countering Iraqi disinformation. He realized that credibility was key to achieving all of these objectives, and that objective observers were therefore necessary. This was the foundation for the "embed" program, where accredited journalists were embedded with American military units with no prior restraint (although there were rules about the release of information in order to protect the safety of the troops). For comparison purposes, DeFrank described the embed program in Iraq -- from March to May more than 700 journalists were embedded with troops with no prior restraint -- in contrast to the press coverage of the invasion of Normandy -- where there were 42 journalists with complete censorship. He noted that all sorts of press organizations had credentials, even in some instances when the "journalist" was probably a spy for another country; he believed if someone wanted information about the invasion they could have it as long as it didn't endanger the troops.

DeFrank argued that the U.S. military reached its objectives. They were successful in countering Iraqi disinformation, with "Baghdad Bob" being completely discredited; they were successful in gaining the support of U.S. public opinion, and they were successful with international public opinion. He argued that the troops liked having an embedded reporter, even when the story was ugly, because they were able to portray the terrible complexities and to reinforce the credibility of the whole program. Journalists who were not embedded, however, were angry at being left out.

Next DeFrank turned to Pratt and Whitney communications, explaining that the company is #37 on the Fortune 500, producing commercial engines, space power systems, small engines and military engines. He stated that the company's communication goals include building a favorable environment, including the regulatory and policy environment, nurturing talent, and building a positive reputation.

He focused on a specific case, the F135 engine campaign in spring 2009. Their purpose was to convince Congress not to pay for a second (competitive) backup engine for the F135 but to allow P&W to build all of the engines. The company used a broad range of tactics, including a blog and Twitter for media relations and a Facebook fanpage just for the engine; third-party endorsements from organizations that oppose wasteful spending; harnessing employees by having them write letters to their representatives (with a website that helped them identify the right people and their contact information, in addition to generating a rotating letter template so that not all the letters were the same); and an advertising campaign in which Pratt attacked waste, while competitor GE attacked Pratt. The results included 20,000 letters to Congress, a televised endorsement by President Obama, and a House vote in favor of P&W's position, 233-198. (DeFrank was quick to note that the issue could come up again in 2012, though).

Thus, DeFrank concluded, public relations can contribute to the bottom line when strategies and tactics are based on the larger goals and objectives and when PR has a voice internally -- in both of these instances, other people in the organizations were skeptical or even oppositional to the plans, but because he was able to show how the plans would help achieve the larger goals, he had organizational support to move forward.

Congratulations to the University of North Carolina-Charlotte on a successful first Global Public Relations research conference (pictures here).

"Issues, Insights, Ideas" ebook

I'm a bit late getting around to this, but I do want to mention Craig Pearce's thought-provoking e-book, "Public Relations 2011: Issues, Insights, Ideas" as it may be of interest to other PR educators and students.

Pearce recruited an international cast of PR professionals and educators to write brief essays on various aspects of 21st century public relations. I'll highlight a few points that really caught my eye.

• Jim Macnamara, a longtime pro and now educator in Sydney, argues that we need more, not less, theory in PR education, citing anti-intellectualism as one reason that theory is often denigrated or overlooked. "Theories introduce critical thinking," he argues, pointing out that like all fields, PR needs to improve. "A key requirement of universities is enabling productive citizens and leaders for the future, not simply churning out entry-level practitioners to satisfy specific industry needs over the next few years." Hallelujah!
• Paul Seaman takes issue with the notion of transparency, suggesting it's not always a good thing. "Surely, if every statement and action of a diplomat -- as Wikileaks would like -- was made transparent, politicians would avoid ever revealing the truth, or what they think, even in private among themselves in anything like formal settings. That would make them untrustworthy at virtually any level." Whoa.
• Pearce's essay "PR is Second Rate CSR" asserts that "If PR is truly fulfilling its potential, then it will nearly always be a manifestation of CSR," and that  "CSR really needs to have PR as an embedded part of it." Craig, what would you say about the statement I've often made to my students -- that if PR was actually doing its job, we wouldn't need CSR?
• Catherine Sweet, who teaches in the U.K., boldly states that "PR 'war stories' recounted by someone who actually survived them are the best way to reach students..." and that "...I believe you can't teach what you don't do yourself (which is why I think every academic teaching in the discipline should have a minimum of ten years of real experience....)" 

This is just a sample -- there are another dozen insightful essays on strategy, social media, crisis communication, issue management, and so forth. Information on how to get a copy of the ebook here.

And now, lacking my 10 years minimum experience, I'm off to find another job. Heh.

Edelman's 2011 Trust Barometer

The 2011 Trust Barometer study is out today, and here's Edelman's summary statement: 

In a year marred by corporate crises and financial turmoil for European governments, the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer finds trust in business and government markedly resilient and sees a shifting center of gravity. Trust in NGOs, 'the fifth estate' in global governance, stays strong.

In its coverage of the survey, the Financial Times focuses on the decreasing trust in EVERYTHING by Americans. No wonder we're all depressed. Meanwhile, Fast Company highlights the increasing trust in CEOs (academics are still highest, ahem) and decreasing trust in "a person like yourself," which is more than interesting to a person like myself who teaches word-of-mouth communication and social media. It's a good reminder not to ignore traditional PR strategy and tactics as well.

Another interesting tidbit:

Fifty-seven percent will believe negative information about a company they do not trust after hearing it just once or twice. When a company is trusted, however, only 25 percent will believe negative news about it after hearing the news once or twice. 

Edelman thus advises building a trust foundation as protection against bad news. Like I said last year, "good ethics IS good PR." 

Thanks to Edelman for sharing the results and other information with me.

 

 

Assignment experiment: Let students create their own SM projects

• "I have found that Twitter was much more complex and time-consuming than I had expected!"
• "I began my social media project with high expectations."
• "Blogging is not as easy as I expected it to be."

I've written about my Public Relations Campaigns class many times before; it's our capstone course in which students work with real clients to solve real PR problems. During the past few years the student teams have successfully begun to incorporate social media along with more traditional PR strategies and tactics to help their clients communicate with their target publics.

In addition to the team element, I like to include some additional project so that students have an opportunity to demonstrate their individual skills (and to help me sort out who's actually working hard). Years ago I made them take on an additional client -- internship, organization, etc.; more recently I had them participating on PROpenMic with a set of instructions such as friending so many people and writing so many blog posts. Last semester a number of the students complained (on PROpenMic, interestingly enough) about this assignment, asserting that they didn't like to be forced to use one particular site when there might be others they'd be more interesting in trying. One student, whose opinion I respected, even suggested that I let everyone pick their own platforms.

My initial reaction was "That's insane." I imagined myself trying to write up a list of potential platforms and grading criteria for each one, somehow making a Twitter assignment that takes equal work, knowledge and effort as a blog assignment and a video assignment (and so forth), and then going through all of these platforms attempting to grade all of these different projects fairly. 

Upon further reflection, though, I decided I didn't really have to do that. I just asked the students to create their own assignment. During the first week of class, I explained about the past PROpenMic assignment and told them they could use that platform if they chose, but also said that students had suggested letting everyone choose their own platform. I asked them to write a one-page proposal explaining their project and setting measurable objectives for the semester. 

The social media project accounted for 20% of their final grade in the course, and the students not only took it seriously, but thought big. They proposed things like starting a blog about politics "because I don't know anything about politics but know I should." I reviewed their proposals --most students chose blogging or Twitter; a few chose Facebook for organizations-- and spent a little time cutting back on unrealistic expectations (100 blog followers, for instance, or 500 Twitter followers) and giving suggestions as appropriate.

By the time midterm rolled around, many of the students realized that they weren't even going to be able to make these rolled-back objectives, but I asked them to continue and to try new approaches as appropriate. I also tried to help by linking to good blog posts or retweeting student accounts and so forth.

At the end of the semester, I asked students to turn in a 2-page (or so) summary of their initial objectives, steps they took to try to reach their objectives, and what happened in the end. I told them I was more interested in what they learned than in their actual statistics. The result included some of the quotes you see above. Students reported that participating in social media is difficult and time-consuming, requires commitment, and demands passion and focus far beyond what they expected.

Many of the students said they appreciated the assignment and were happy that I made them try something new in social media, although the fact that their grade hinged upon their summary report undoubtedly had something to do with that. Heh.

Submit your history abstracts now: International History of PR Conference

Just a reminder that abstracts are due shortly if you hope to attend the International History of Public Relations Conference. I was fortunate enough to attend last year and highly recommend it if you're at all interested in PR's history-- great conversations, different perspectives, and a little local flavor. 

Here's the information from conference organizer Tom Watson:

CALL FOR PAPERS

 THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CONFERENCE

 6-7 July 2011

 Organised by the Centre for Public Communication Research (CPCR) at

The Media School, Bournemouth University, Poole, England

Papers welcomed from Asian, African and Latin American scholars

Academics, practitioners and research students are invited to submit competitive abstracts and papers for presentation at The International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) to be held on 6-7 July 2011 at Bournemouth University.

The first IHPRC was held in July this year and attracted more than 80 delegates from 13 countries to hear two keynote speakers and 34 refereed papers over two days. The conference was considered by all to be very successful – and an important development in public relations scholarship. More details, including the keynote presentations, are available at http://historyofpr.com.

Papers for presentation at the 2011 conference will be selected, after peer review, on the basis of abstracts, of no more than two pages total length, including any references. Author details are to be printed on a separate sheet and the author(s) should not be identified in the abstract. Abstracts must be presented in Word format, in 1.5 line spacing and 12 point font size.

Manuscripts of the selected papers are to be submitted with Harvard referencing and according to the Journal of Communication Management editorial style found at: http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=jcom. The manuscript of 3000 to 6000 words, plus references, must be presented in Word format, in 1.5 line spacing and 12 point font size.

Deadlines

•  Submission of abstracts: Monday, December 6, 2010
•  Acceptance notification (by email): Monday, January 24, 2011
•  Submission of selected papers: Monday, June 6, 2011

 All accepted abstracts will be published online prior to the conference programme. Papers selected for the Conference will be published in the IHPRC Proceedings.

Conference Themes

As this is the second international conference on the History of Public Relations, the range of conference themes has remained broad and those listed below are the starting point for consideration, rather than a finite list.

•  Public relations in history before it became a named or defined discipline
• Alternative approaches to the history of public relations, e.g. on the basis of culture (personal networks and influence) or via definitions of public relations
• The evolving naming of the field from propaganda and press agentry to corporate communications
• The history of public relations and its developing or diverging relationships with other disciplines like marketing, HR, legal and corporate governance
• The evolution of public relations in nations or parts of government or industry
• Seminal personalities or events that shaped the formation of public relations as a discipline (This can also include challenges to the “Great Man” or “Great Woman” approach)
• Key books or articles (or series of both) that have influenced public relations
• The history of political public relations and lobbying
• The history of public relations education
• The evolution of public relations theory(ies) over time – from propaganda to dialogue; the history of schools of thinking in public relations
• Formative influences on public relations theory and practice, such as in or by government, industry or consultancy
• The formation of industry and professional bodies and their impact, over time, on public relations practice and education
• The evolution of public relations education, training and continuing professional development
• The impact of technology, over time, upon public relations practice and theory
• Archival sources for the history of public relations
• The theories and processes of researching the history of public relations
• Oral histories of public relations; the role of this methodology

Papers are especially welcomed from scholars in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Please send abstracts to Prof Tom Watson, Conference Chair, The Media School, Bournemouth University, email: prhistory@bournemouth.ac.uk  by Monday, December 6, 2010.

The Conference Venue

As in 2010, the conference will be held at Bournemouth University’s Executive Business Centre. Conference Registration will be arranged through http://historyofpr.com with details of tickets to be announced shortly.

 

Guest post: Brian Jenkins on PR employment opportunities

Brian Jenkins writes about education and careers in the public relations field, among other topics, for BrainTrack.com. He submitted the following guest post on employment opportunities in PR, which I think will interest many Teaching PR readers.

Employment Opportunities for Public Relations Specialists

How's the job outlook these days for public relations specialists? One of the top employment forecasters, The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), forecasts a 24 percent employment growth from 2008 to 2018 for public relations specialists, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.

The increasingly competitive international business environment has upped the demand for public relation specialists, particularly for those individuals who have international experience or who have a specialty. According to the BLS there is a big demand for PR specialists fluent in foreign languages.

In 2008 there were about 275,200 public relations specialist jobs. According to the BLS, the major job providing sectors are advertising and related services, educational services, healthcare and social assistance, government agencies, communication companies, and financial institutions.

Social Media

Social media has become an important tool in the public relations field. Public relations firms, as well as associations, charitable organizations, and corporations, are increasing their use of social media and, therefore, they need people who have expertise in using the different social media platforms. PR specialists with a bachelor's degree in social media and particularly those with a master's degree in the subject will likely have a competitive edge on the competition for some PR positions.

MBA programs, including MBA programs at top business schools, are integrating social media into their curriculum. Harvard Business School offers a program called "Competing with Social Networks." The London Business School has integrated social media into its MBA curriculum.

Yes, many public relations specialists have taught themselves how to use social media; however, most of them can enhance their knowledge and skills and increase their appeal to potential employers by taking a social media degree program. "Very often our perception of social media, and what we can and can't do using social media, is very much tinted by what we think our favorite person is doing - and our favorite person is usually ourselves," says Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. "So it is about getting students to understand that the empirical skills are absolutely necessary, because whatever they think is intuitively correct, is probably about themselves, but nobody else."

The objective of social media education programs is to provide an understanding about the fast-growing, evolving world of social media from a marketing and public relations perspective. A degree (or even just some completed courses) will enhance a PR specialist's resume, especially those with little on-the-job experience.

PR and Nonprofit Organizations

A study conducted in 2008 of the 200 largest charities located in the United States, performed by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, showed that 89 percent of charitable organizations used some form of social media such as podcasts, blogs, social networking, message boards, wikis, and video blogging. The study showed that these large charities were ahead of companies and universities in their familiarity, usage, and monitoring of social media. 45 percent of the nonprofit organizations in the study reported that social media is a very important component of their fundraising strategies. Thus, this sector offers many opportunities for PR specialists with expertise in social media.

The employment growth forecast for public relations specialists is much higher than average. However, for entry-level jobs, the number of qualified candidates is projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to exceed the number of job openings. Being fluent in a foreign language and acquiring social media knowledge and skills by taking college courses can increase the opportunity of obtaining a position in the public relations field.

 

Charlene Li on open leadership

Earlier this week I had the good fortune to be able to hear Charlene Li, author of Groundswell (which I use in class) and Open Leadership, speak at Newell Rubbermaid in Atlanta (thanks Bert!). After bulldozing my way through Atlanta traffic, it was great to sit back and take in all of Charlene's insights on open leadership.

Charlene began by explaining that she wrote the book because, following the publication of Groundswell (co-authored with Josh Bernoff), she got tons of questions about how to open up a company on social media: "How open should I be?"

She emphasized the social media is not about technology but about relationships. No person is always authentic and transparent in every relationship; why should a company be any different? So you don't have to be all open, all the time. Rather, openness requires confidence, humility, and discipline, and it inspires commitment from others. "The New Normal," she explained, is conversations, not messages; human, not corporate; and continuous, not episodic. Openness therefore consists of 10 elements that fall into the categories of information sharing and decision making (see her Openness Audit).

Charlene also described four open leadership archetypes: Cautious Tester, Worried Skeptic, Realist Optimist, and Transparent Evangelist based on two continua -- independent--collaborative and pessimist--optimist -- stating that the Realist Optimist is most important because they can see the light but also have the skills to overcome obstacles that are sure to arise. She identified Dell's Lionel Menchaca as an example of someone who shares easily and is authentic, transparent, and disciplined.

She provided four important steps to creating a social media program based on open leadership:

1. Align with strategic goals: pick one of your organization's current goals where being open and social can have an impact
2. Prepare your organization: create a response map for how to handle social media comments or problems (i.e.: are there factual errors? If yes, this; if no, that response)
3. Understand the value: don't underestimate open/social just because it's hard to measure
4. Prepare for failure: dialogue increases trust and speeds recovery from problems

Charlene drew many examples from the new book, which I'm definitely adding to my reading list.

Every employee is a PR person

I've done some research on Arthur Page, and one of the most compelling things he talked about is the idea that every employee is a PR person. He said that the customers' perceptions of AT&T were shaped by their experiences with operators and linemen and the guy who came to install the phone, more than any institutional advertising campaign or speech by the CEO.

I experienced this for myself on a recent trip to London. On the way there, our plane was parked on the side of the tarmac for an hour while the crew tried to correct a discrepancy between the passenger head count and the paperwork. The flight attendant spoke over the PA system twice to explain that England is VERY PARTICULAR about getting the paperwork right. So, umm, the United States isn't? We welcome plane loads of people from a foreign country even though there are more (or less) people on board than the paperwork suggests? One of my friends pointed out that she was just trying to redirect the blame, but all it did was make me think the airline didn't care at all about security.

On the way home -- same airline -- we encountered a storm over Atlanta, with lots of turbulence and circling around through clouds, until we were finally too low on fuel and had to land in Birmingham, Alabama. Another hour on the tarmac there for refueling and waiting for the storm to clear (and all of the other circling planes to land first). Because of the turbulence, several people had gotten sick or scared, and after we landed one older woman tripped and fell when she tried to get up. I saw a flight attendant basically leap over all three seats in the center section in order to get to the woman, and then find a doctor to give her a quick check. She brought water and a cold washcloth to another woman who'd gotten sick, and walked around reassuring people that it would be safe to fly and they would get to their destinations eventually. She never stopped smiling (except when the woman fell) and never once lost her cool.

What a difference. Next time we talk about the relationship between advertising and marketing, HR and customer service and how PR fits in with all of them, I've got a great example to share.

Edelman Trust Barometer 2010

The kind folks at Edelman sent me a copy of this year's Trust Barometer, so I thought I'd add a few comments to the discussion (for example, here and here and here).

• The report finds "a modest global rise in trust in business," tempered by the fact that "nearly 70 percent saying business and financial companies will revert to old habits when the financial crisis is over." Funny, that's what I've been thinking about all these people who say their personal spending/saving habits have changed permanently. Really?
• "The only institution to lose trust around the globe is media." The report concludes that the rise of opinion journalism due to the "dispersion of traditional media's authority" is the root cause. So... if you're one of those losing trust, stop paying attention to opinion-based journalism and demand real reporting. (You might actually have to pay for it, too.) The report notes that the credibility of TV news dropped 20+ points in the United States.
• On the topic of business, academics and experts are the most trusted. Guess I'd better watch what I say. A "person like yourself," which scored highly in past years, dropped 3%; it'll be interesting to see the long-term trend.
• To all those students who've listened to me drone on about CSR: this year, for the first time, the report showed that "trust and transparency are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services." Hello, Walmart? Good ethics IS good PR.

The survey looked at "informed publics ages 25 to 64 in 20 countries" (methodology).

#PRStudChat wrap-up

Today I served as one of the guest panelists on #PRstudchat on the topic of social media in PR education. I'm afraid I didn't say much that Teaching PR readers haven't already heard, but it was fun anyway. The conversation was so lively that the search on Tweetdeck had a hard time keeping up.

Some thoughts: I emphasized (as usual) that educators should focus on principles rather than tools, because tools will change but principles are more lasting. By principles I mean transmedia storytelling, collaboration, entrepreneurship, etc. I also said that I think social media should be incorporated into all PR classes rather than segregated into its own course -- after all, it's incorporated into a larger PR program in practice. The trick, I think, is to help students become confident in their abilities to figure new tools out for themselves.

On the question of textbooks, I'm not opposed to using books to teach social media (I've used David Meerman Scott's New Rules and Bernhoff & Li's Groundswell with success), but told the crowd that I subscribe to Josh Hallett's approach: "learn by doing." I think some people were surprised that I wasn't opposed to textbooks out of hand--but maybe my definition of textbook is different from theirs.

Another question asked about using a backchannel such as live tweeting. Is it helpful or disruptive in the classroom? Well, I can't multitask well enough to try it. Honestly, for me it would be disruptive. I know that Mihaela Vorvoreanu had students live tweet a guest lecture (with the speaker's permission), which seems to me a good way to practice Twitter without disrupting the class, but a lot of the people in the chat seemed to think it would be helpful, and fun. (Have to say, though, it seemed to be the pros and students who were in favor of it! And Robert French was definitely opposed.)

We also talked about evaluating SM use in the classroom. In my opinion, for beginners, just grading participation (i.e., setting a number of tweets or blog posts, etc.) is enough. Upper-level students, though, need to show they can create and use SM channels for clients. In the capstone campaigns class especially, I expect students to integrate social media into their programs as relevant to the client and its publics. This includes everything from setting up the tools to using analytics.

Last, we discussed how educators can keep up with the rapidly changing digital environment. Frankly, I don't think you can effectively teach SM unless you participate in it. Other people suggested using an aggregator to read blog posts and news, joining PROpenMic, reading current books, and going to professional conferences. 

All in all, it was a great discussion--this post doesn't even cover what I said, much less what everyone else contributed. Thanks again to Deirdre Breakenridge and Valerie Simon for inviting me to participate and Mikinzie Stuart for moderating. The chat, which takes place once a month, has a LinkedIn group for more information. I definitely recommend it to students and educators. [Addition: chat transcript.]

#PRStudChat on public relations education

Ever participated in a Twitter chat? People interested in the same topic get on Twitter at the same time, someone poses questions, and everyone can discuss their answers real-time. The conversation is organized around a hashtag -- here's an example: #journchat -- and/or by a moderator, like this one: @u30pro. 

This week I'm participating in the PR Student Chat, that's #PRStudChat, organized by Valerie Simon and Deirdre Breakenridge, which will focus on PR education. The chat is Wednesday, 13 January at noon (Eastern U.S. time). PR student Mikinzie Stuart will moderate.

Questions or strong opinions about PR education? I hope you will join the conversation (...and here are some tips on participating). 

NCA09: PR Lyceum on co-creational meaning

My favorite session at NCA was the PR Lyceum on co-creational meaning. Evidently it was a conference first, and I'm glad I got to be there, listening to some of the top scholars in our field -- both on the panel and in the audience -- debating the merits of this theoretical approach. 

The panel started with Maureen Taylor's three questions: is a new approach (paradigm, model or theory) needed in public relations? Is the cocreational view the exact theory needed? If not, then what? She reminded us that theory should be generative and parsimonious and should be able to predict and explain, and pointed out that while PR scholars frequently cite theory from related fields like health communication, scholars in those fields never cite PR theory. The current theories, she argued, have limited us. As an alternative she offered a social constructionist approach, viewing publics as co-creators of meaning, advocating that we should stop studying ourselves (meaning organizations and practitioners) and study publics instead.

Next, Carl Botan furthered refined the notion of co-creation but saying it refers to the role of the publics in creating, not just responding to messages. Co-creation is not the same as interpretation, which gives publics a less active role (how do they process the messages we send them), but is an active process of integrating their own knowledge with intentional and unintentional messages. The approach is neither sender- nor message-centered, and we need a nuanced understanding of this process at least as sophisticated as our understanding of the senders. He concludes that the cocreational approach is metatheoretic (a set of criteria used to evaluate other PR theories) but argued that it can also stand as a theory itself, capable to lead us to posing research questions and hypotheses. He then presented data from a study on climate change communication in which that data supported the cocreational approach. Co-creation is not an either/or, he concluded, but operates as a sliding continuum.

Elizabeth Toth then argued that PR theory already offers three different ways to conceptualize publics. First, she identified parallels between this approach and J. Grunig's work, particularly situational theory, which sees publics having an identity of organizing around something, and which has been confirmed by research. Second, scholars have already conceptualized publics as they are constructed through language and discourse, examining the struggle over meaning. And third, critical approaches such as Dozier and Lauzen's article on extending the intellectual domain have shown that public could have irreconcilable differences with organizations and that they self-organize and are not powerless. Thus, while not discounting it, she pointed out that PR scholarship need not be limited to this one approach.

Next, Robert Heath said that as a rhetorical scholar, he would identify Aristotle as the starting point for cocreational theory. Publics are there because of issue position, he argued; they are not separate from the issues that define them. We live together in joined and disjointed discourse, and we still don't know how it all works (noting activism as an example). Meaning trumps process and infrastructure in his view, and if we impose the cocreational model on PR we are fracturing ourselves. Society is not getting better at solving collective problems, he said, and discourse can create meaning that is dysfunctional.

Finally, Tim Coombs started with the notion of grand theory, one that tries to explain everything in the field; the problem here is that PR is hugely amorphous, so how can we capture it all? Adopting one theoretical approach has the unintended consequence of limiting research. Instead he advocated Robert Merton's notion of theories of the middle range, explaining the smaller parts first and then trying to put them all together. As a metatheory, the cocreational approach can act as a touchstone for middle range research when it's relevant to a particular study. He asserted that cocreationalism can make us more reflexive of our research and how it affects our society, intentionally and unintentionally, but argued that it needs to address the problem of power, because co-creators are not in reality equal.

The discussion that followed was so lively I didn't attempt to keep up with it all in my notes, but a few points stood out.

• Vince Hazelton, the session moderator, asked why it had to be either/or? We should focus on both organization and publics because we are all speakers. We should study interaction and symbolic exchange.
• Michael Palenchar suggested that focusing on discourse rather than publics addresses the issue of power.
• Maureen Taylor conceded that cocreationalism is not so much a new approach as a new name that might help PR theory cross disciplinary boundaries.

Based on the discussion, my impression was that most people thought that the co-creation approach is useful and a good addition to the field, but that they were not willing to consider it as the best or even the primary theoretical approach for the field.

PR professors on Twitter

Twitter's latest innovation is the list, which (like Tweetdeck and other applications) allows users to organize people into groups. For my first, I created a list of people who teach public relations.

If you're on Twitter, you can follow the list, which allows you to read the most recent tweets from anyone on the list; or you can just click on the "following" tab to find smart and interesting people to follow.

If you know of someone who's not on the list and should be, just reply to @karenrussell and I'll add them. As of today, I've identified 64 people, but I'm sure there are others!