Transcript Public Relations What is PR?

Public Relations
What is PR?
the
practice of managing the
communication between an
organization and its publics
That, of course, is the PR
biz definition
History of PR
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Ancient Greeks had a word for it:
Sematikos: to signify or to mean
It’s how to get people to believe things and do
things
A pretty good definition of public relations
This approach has been used for thousands of
years
Ramses at Kadesh
Julius Caesar
John McCain
Caligula
Claudius
St. Augustine – 394 CE
Propaganda
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An invention of the Catholic Church
17th Century committee called Congregatio de
Propaganda Fide
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The Congregation for Propagating the Faith
Thomas Paine and
The American Crisis
Benjamin Franklin
Franklin in France
Negative effects of PR
 1720
– the South Seas Bubble
 1720 – the Mississippi Company
P.T. Barnum
Jumbo
Tom Thumb
William Seward
Ivy Lee
John D. Rockefeller
Andrew Carnegie
Lee’s PR Principles
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1. Tell the truth
2. Provide accurate facts
3. The public relations director must have access
to top management and must be able to
influence decisions
Lee’s definition of PR
 Public
relations means the
actual relationship of the
company to the people and that
relationship involves more than
talk. The company must act by
performing good deeds.
Edward Bernays
Bernays’
“Crystallizing Public Opinion”
 To
interpret the client to the public,
which means promoting the client
 To interpret the public to the client,
which means operating the
company in such a way as to gain
the approval of the public
Other Bernays concepts
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1. Public relations is a public service
2. Public relations should promote new ideas
and progress
3. Public relations should build a public
conscience
How PR is different from advertising
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Advertising is the nonpersonal
communication of information usually paid
for and usually persuasive in nature about
products, services or ideas by identified
sponsors through the various media.
PR is also the nonpersonal communication
of information
nonpersonal communication of
information
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PR is also the nonpersonal communication
of information
That information is slanted in favor of the
client, just like advertising
 However, unlike advertising the information
doesn’t necessarily have to be substantiated
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…usually paid for…
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Advertising must pay for its placement in the
media
PR does its best not to pay for placement
Writes “news” articles and feature stories called news
releases promoting the client and tries to get them
published
 Puts on staged publicity events in hopes the media
will cover them
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…about products, services or ideas…
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PR can be about products, services or ideas
Can also be about companies or people
Entertainers
 Politicians
 Wanna be’s
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Suleman and Gosselin
…identified sponsors…
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Advertising has to identify the sponsor
PR tries to avoid identifying who’s paying for the
output
Leave it out
 Disguise it
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Crisis Management
Exxon Valdez