5. Public Relations
• Public relations: the entire range of efforts by an
individual, an agency, or any organization attempting
to reach or persuade audiences
• Social and cultural influence is immense.
• Convinced many American businesses of the value of
nurturing the public
• Most significant impact has been on the political process.
6. Press agents
Advanced client through hype and stunts
8. Early Developments in Public
Relations
• Modern PR Agents - Ivy Lee
• Contained damaging publicity fallout for Rockefellers during Ludlow
Mine Massacre
9. Early Developments in Public
Relations
• Modern PR Agents
• Edward Bernays
• The father of modern PR
• Taught the first class in
• public relations in 1923
10. The Practice of Public Relations
• 2,900 PR firms worldwide, including 1,900 in the U.S.
• Growing academic field since the 1980s
• By 2010, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
had nearly 10,000 members, 284 chapters at
colleges, universities
11. The Practice of Public Relations
• Writing Press Releases
• Managing Various Media Requests
• Staging Special Events
• Dealing with Internal and External Publics
12. Approaches to Organized Public
Relations
• $13.6 billion in PR revenue in 2009 for the WPP Group
• Burson-Marsteller
• 138 offices in 81 countries
• Clients include Sony, Coca-Cola, and IKEA.
• Hill & Knowlton
• 70 offices in 40 countries
• Clients include Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks, and Nestlé.
13. Figure 11.1
The Top 4 Holding Firms, with Public Relations Subsidiaries,
2010
14. Performing Public Relations
• PR involves providing a multitude of services,
including publicity, communication, public affairs,
issues management, and government relations.
20. Performing Public Relations (cont.)
• Media relations
• Promote a client by securing publicity or favorable coverage in
the news media
• Crisis Management
• Recommend advertising to clients when it seems appropriate
21. Performing Public Relations (cont.)
•Special events
• Raise the profile of corporate, organizational, or government
clients
22. Performing Public Relations (cont.)
•Psuedo-event: any circumstance created for the sole purpose of
gaining media coverage
• E.g. 7-Eleven “Kwik-E-Marts” used to promote The Simpsons
Movie, 2007
23. Performing Public Relations
(cont.)
• Community and consumer relations
• Designed to sustain goodwill between its clients and the
public
• Government relations and lobbying
• The process of attempting to influence lawmakers to
support and vote for an organization’s or industry’s best
interests
25. Public Relations Adapts to the
Internet Age
• Web sites are the home base for PR efforts.
• Clients of PR professionals can interact with
audiences via social media (Twitter, Facebook,
blogs).
• PR still needs to control messages.
• Firms have edited company Wikipedia entries, paid bloggers
to promote products.
27. Public Relations during a Crisis
• PR firms must help companies handle a public crisis
or tragedy.
• Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 was benchmark for how
April 2010 BP oil spill was judged.
• BP’s PR mistakes included multiple underestimations
of damage done and the CEO’s lack of empathy.
28. Tensions between Public Relations
and the Press
• Flacks
• PR people who insert themselves between their clients and the
press
• Sources of conflict
• Facts brought to light by journalists are spun by PR people.
• PR people block access to important officials.
• Agents promote advertising as news.
• Bigger agencies are able to secure a disproportionate amount of
coverage for their clients.
29. Shaping the Image of
Public Relations
• PRSA Member Professional Values
• Advocacy
• Honesty
• Expertise
• Independence
• Loyalty
• Fairness
30. Public Relations and Democracy
• Politicians hire PR firms to improve their images.
• Richard Nixon
• PR campaigns that result in free media exposure raise
questions regarding democracy and the expression of
ideas.
• Journalists need to become less willing conduits in the
distribution of publicity.