Posts Tagged ‘Public Relations Society of America’

Susan G. Komen and the PR Profession’s Post-Mortem Race for a Clue

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

By Mary Beth West, APR 

On some issues of heavy consequence in the public relations profession, it sometimes helps to take a step back and watch the dialogue unfold before formulating an opinion.  I had been doing just that on the Susan G. Komen / Planned Parenthood controversy – until today.  Now, it all seems crystal-clear.

Like everyone else, I saw the maelstrom unfold last week throughout the media.  The manner in which the story broke and how the Komen organization reacted with a policy about-face – followed by tough criticism (“they caved!”) – provides a public relations case study that will live in textbooks throughout the next decade. 

An interesting part about it to me, though, is that different public relations professionals are drawing diverse conclusions about who’s right, who’s wrong, and what the real lessons are relative to brand, reputation and effective organizational decision-making. 

One of my PRSA colleagues, Michael Cherenson, APR, Fellow PRSA, posted an entry on the Public Relations Society of America‘s national blog, “Who Really Owns the Komen Brand?”  In it, Mike makes some spot-on observations about the nature of brand advocacy.  He also poses a critical question in his title.  

I disagree, however, with the direction of his conclusion, in which he seems to indicate that Komen simply made a bad decision to no longer support Planned Parenthood, leaving a majority of former Komen supporters feeling betrayed and turning on the brand.  

To me, the answer of who owns the Komen brand – or at least who seized ownership of it last week – is quite simple:  Planned Parenthood.  

It’s Planned Parenthood’s own brand advocates, in my view, who mounted nothing short of a hostile takeover of the Komen brand in order to railroad their message – and their way – with absolute political genius . . . the notion of tying the breast cancer prevention issue intrinsically with women’s reproductive rights vis-à-vis Komen’s prior financial support of Planned Parenthood, with a deep inference that the two cannot be separated.  

In the face of Komen rescinding its funding, Planned Parenthood made an exceptionally swift, underlying case that Komen was turning its back on women.   And the media ate it up with a spoon, as Planned Parenthood well-knew they would.  The Komen folks didn’t know what hit them, with almost total deer-in-the-headlights confusion as to the messaging subterfuge overtaking their reputation. 

I have to ask the question, was it really Komen donors who were posting all those “Never will I give again!” messages on Facebook, or was it the Planned Parenthood Army?  We’ll see what the coming days of analysis into the Internet record bears out. 

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal posted an editorial late last night that gives a far better reality-based assessment of Komen’s rationale for its original decision:

“Planned Parenthood has been and is under congressional and criminal investigation (by attorneys general, local prosecutors and various regulatory agencies in Arizona, Indiana, Alabama, Kansas and Texas) for allegations including failure to report criminal child sex abuse, misuse of health-care and family-planning funds, and failure to comply with parental-involvement laws regarding abortions. . . . It is easy to see why Komen might not wish to be associated with Planned Parenthood. Fighting breast cancer is something all Americans can and do agree on; promoting and performing abortions is something that divides us bitterly.” 

In short, there are two sides to this issue, and Komen’s side got completely hijacked. 

Another colleague of mine posted an essay yesterday that, to me, spoke with a great deal of clarity about the real issue at hand for Komen: lack of conviction. 

With characteristic aplomb, Susan Hart, APR, wrote, “Last week’s nightmare of ‘they fund us, they fund us not’ isn’t about funding at all. It’s about who the Susan G. Komen Foundation is. It’s about the organization’s values, priorities and purpose. It’s the up close and personal part of branding that decidedly determines who you are and what you stand for regardless of public sentiment.  And therein lies the multi-level problem for this pink-until-you-puke group.”

Love it. 

And she’s absolutely right. 

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We All May Be Created Equally, But We Are Not the Same

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

By Amy Schwinge, MAOM

From my experience, many people have preconceived notions about public relations (PR) and PR professionals; some may be correct, but some may be way off…

According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” This definition describes PR in a nutshell, but there are many, many elements that go into supporting a true understanding of PR.

Some people base their opinion of PR and PR professionals on past encounters or relationships with other PR people. So, depending on what type of experience you had will dictate what you think about PR.

According to marketing.about.com, one PR myth states “Public Relations is Spin, Slogans and Propaganda.”

In a past life at a former employer, I actually would have employees ask me, “What propaganda are you communicating today?” While I’m sure this cynicism was driven by other factors, the idea of being a propaganda-pusher really offended me as I was communicating pertinent information about the company, which was important for employees to know. More importantly, I was communicating feedback from employees back to management, helping make two-way employee communications a crucial part of the company’s success.

Whether you are communicating with employees or the media, I think ethical behavior plays a key role in how you are viewed. Unfortunately, I know there are some “bad apples” out there practicing PR, and their behaviors tend to hurt the reputation of the larger profession to a very disproportionate degree.

Some journalists have had a bad experience with a PR person, then refuse to work with other PR people. I would venture to say that every PR person knows at least one or two members of the media like this. I really think that this is too bad since the PR and media relationship can be a win-win for all involved.

While unprofessional practices may earn some public relations practitioners their own well-deserved reputations, it’s important to remember that we are all individuals and should be judged on our own merits.

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From Burson to Boutique-Level, Public Relations Firms Should Set Better Ethics Examples

Monday, May 16th, 2011

By Mary Beth West, APR


It happens about once or twice a year, it seems:  one of the most prominent multinational public relations firms is exposed for unethical practices, and the whole profession is faced with yet another perceptual mess to clean up about how public relations should be conducted without resorting to sleight-of-hand.

This past week, it was Burson-Marsteller’s work for Facebook, where according to The Wall Street Journal’s initial report, “Facebook hired (Burson-Marsteller) to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices. The efforts backfired when the firm approached a blogger who not only declined the assignment, but also went public with the exchange.”

The ethics breach hinges on Burson-Marsteller’s alleged failure to disclose the client’s identity behind their efforts, which runs opposed to the Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics “disclosure of information” provision.

The provision states as its intent to “build trust with the public by revealing all information needed for responsible decision-making,” and that “revealing the sponsors for causes and interests represented” is a requirement.

From the reports I’ve seen, it appears Burson-Marsteller’s management is passing the buck, indicating that the strategy employed for its client came as a result of “Facebook (requesting) that its identity remain secret,” and that Burson-Marsteller “admits that violates its own policies” – inferring that perhaps some rogue element within the firm went off the reservation to do a client’s nefarious bidding.  As of late this past week, Burson-Marsteller and Facebook have parted ways, not surprisingly.

I myself am a Harold Burson Summer Internship alumnus through the firm’s New York office in the early 1990s, and while I remain grateful to Burson-Marsteller for the learning opportunities I received, this incident just irks me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one with previous or current company ties who feels that way.

For well more than half a century, Harold Burson himself – now in his 90s and a fellow native of Tennessee – has been a stalwart proponent of what I consider to be the profession’s most noble aims and ethics-based best practices.  His fierce intellect and thought leadership continue to provide some of the greatest sources of direction to the entire profession.  I can only imagine that it frustrates him a great deal to witness this incident.  Members of the internal team involved in the Facebook account might be reminded to have some respect for the man whose name is on the door.

So on to my point:

Public relations firms of all types, from the locally based or boutique level (like mine) to the multinationals, should be setting the examples of best ethical practices, because the media spotlight scrutinizes these companies the most, driven by their volume of work.  And of course, the larger the firm, the more intense the spotlight.

When any single firm makes a clear-cut ethical misstep – particularly one resulting in the level of media attention driven by a behemoth like Facebook – it reflects poorly on the profession as well as the entire agency sector.  Further, it sets back efforts to achieve long-term public and business-community understanding about the critical role of ethics in communications strategy.

This reality should factor into every agency’s own ethics policy, and agency employees at all levels should understand the implications for themselves, their firms and the profession itself if they veer away from the basic standards put forth by the PRSA Code of Ethics.

On a final note, agencies must demonstrate some backbone when dealing with any client that suggests (or mandates) a strategy or tactic that doesn’t pass the smell test.  Claiming “My client made me do it!” is downright lame and demonstrates no serious commitment on an agency’s part to keep their ethics m.o. in check. 

If an agency is in business long enough, and certainly if it employs scores, hundreds or thousands of people, mistakes in judgment will happen.  I’ve made a fair share of mistakes in my own career, particularly in the very early years.  Recovery from mistakes is possible if one takes a serious approach, such as we would advise a client in any crisis.

I hope that internally within Burson-Marsteller, this situation will result in a silver lining with renewed management-to-front-line awareness-building and practical focus that is in keeping with The Harold Burson Way.

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Cookie-Cutter Approach Costly and Ineffective in Social Media

Monday, February 7th, 2011

Interactive Springboard and Bryant Research to Share Development Do’s and Don’ts at Feb. 9 Memphis Meeting of PRSA

Knoxville, Tenn. — Websites, social media and other interactive communications can involve many similar processes to develop, but companies should beware of being sold a “cookie-cutter” approach when creating these tools for their own brands, according to Knoxville-based joint venture Interactive Springboard.

Tori Rose of interactive firm Blue Media Boutique, LLC, and Mary Beth West of public relations firm Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, will partner with independent market researcher Rebecca Bryant of Bryant Research to present do’s and don’ts of interactive tool development at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Memphis Chapter’s 11:30 lunch meeting at Fogelman Executive Conference Center on the University of Memphis campus, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011.  

The message: template-driven approaches can be profitable for interactive agencies and firms that sell website and social media development, but they rarely produce good results for the client.  

“It’s like many industries steeped in manufacturing or process-driven business models,” West said.  “The way many interactive firms want to make the most money fast is to develop a “cookie-cutter” approach that can be packaged and sold to produce websites, mobile applications and other social media programs.  But if those tools aren’t driven by a well-researched understanding of the client’s brand, its audiences and what the user experience needs to be, then it can be a major disservice to clients – namely, a waste of money.”

“Customization is the hallmark for any interactive tool to be effective,” Rose said.  “Every company is unique, with its own set of products, services, audiences and competitive marketplaces.  The tools of social media must reflect the brand’s uniqueness in order to provide a meaningful customer experience online.  There’s just no way to easy-bake that outcome.”

Rose and West will share reasons and strategies for avoiding generic online marketing communications at the February 9 PRSA event. They will also present with Bryant Memphis-focused results of Interactive Springboard’s 2010 statewide study, focusing on how communications professionals view social media’s importance and challenges.

About Interactive Springboard
Interactive Springboard is a joint venture between women-owned firms Blue Media Boutique, LLC and Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, providing an integrated, research-based approach to social media, supporting client communications and business objectives.

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It’s All about Doing the Right Thing

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

By Amy Schwinge

What is ethics anyway? According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/, ethics is “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.  a : a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values <the present-day materialistic ethic> <an old-fashioned work ethic> <an elaborate ethics> <Christian ethics> b the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group <professional ethics> c : a guiding philosophy d : a consciousness of moral importance <forge a conservation ethic>.”

As part of promoting the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA’s) September Ethics Month, several of my colleagues have blogged about the details of the PRSA Code of Ethics and Member Statement of Professional Values, which does an outstanding job of outlining professional ethics.   

Very early in my career, I worked with a manager who always focused on “doing the right thing” in running the business and in the way he treated people.  During strategic planning meetings and when talking with him, he always said, “We need to do the right thing.”  He seemed to do the right thing as the company flourished while he was the executive in charge.

Honestly, I didn’t realize the impact that this manager had on me until I started writing this blog entry.

When I find myself in a position of questioning what I should do either in a professional or personal setting, I always ask myself, “What is the right thing to do?”  Then, I try to make the right choice (and generally, I get it right most of the time).  My hubby may not agree with that statement, but I won’t get into that.

Getting back to the subject of ethics, I think what most people learned in Kindergarten could be applied to ethical behavior in adulthood as well.  Not to oversimplify ethics, because “doing the right thing” can be complicated, but whenever you have a question about what is wrong or right, think back to the basics that you learned as a child.

I believe that my five-year-old daughter in Kindergarten gets the concept of ethical behavior. Even though she may not always do what she is supposed to do, I believe she knows right from wrong. She actually keeps me grounded sometimes, especially with her honest, blunt questions that children can ask. My daughter said “that wasn’t right; he shouldn’t have done that” when she was telling me about an incident when one of her fellow classmates “got in trouble.”

Here is the bottom line:  whether it’s treating people the same way you would want to be treated or conducting business, just try to do the right thing—you usually won’t go wrong.

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Let’s Get Ethical

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

By Tyra Haag

I wonder how many professions have a Code of Ethics Pledge or a Member Statement of Professional Values. 

In recent weeks, the topic of ethics has made headlines in East Tennessee. From University of Tennessee Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl’s interactions with the NCAA to a local East Tennessee businessman being sentenced to 27-plus years in prison after being convicted of a Ponzi scheme, the news media has provided us with high-profile examples of the importance of professional ethics and the consequences that can come when they are violated.  

Mark Twain once said, “It is curious – curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.”

So then, how do we maintain our integrity while representing our clients?

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Statement of Professional Values presents the core values of PRSA members and, more broadly, of the public relations profession. These values provide the foundation for the Member Code of Ethics and set the industry standard for the professional practice of public relations. These values are the fundamental beliefs that guide our behaviors and decision-making process. 

         ADVOCACY
We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and viewpoints to aid informed public debate.

         HONESTY
We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.

         EXPERTISE
We acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research, and education. We build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

         INDEPENDENCE
We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.

         LOYALTY
We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.

         FAIRNESS
We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression.

When I joined the Public Relations Society of America, I took a pledge to conduct myself professionally, with truth, accuracy, fairness and responsibility to the public; to improve my individual competence and advance the knowledge and proficiency of the profession through continuing research and education; and to adhere to the articles of the Member Code of Ethics 2000 for the practice of public relations as adopted by the governing Assembly of the Public Relations Society of America.

Either ethics guide our behaviors and decision-making processes or they don’t. 

Of course, if you need a catchy tune to help you keep ethics on your mind, you could always take a page from Michael Scott’s Ethics Seminar at Dunder-Mifflin (from Season 5 of The Office).

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Get Your Ethics On

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

By Mary Beth West, APR

With 20 years in public relations both as a student and professional, I’ve become a big believer that ethics in any organization begins with its culture.

The same holds true for the culture of a profession.  And in the public relations sphere – where pockets of bad examples still persist – the Public Relations Society of America seeks to foster a culture driven by the best of what this profession has to offer.

Part of promoting this potential is PRSA’s September Ethics Month, when the 21,000-member organization’s 110 chapters nationwide turn their sights toward spotlighting ethical issues for focused discussion, with its Code of Ethics as a resource for solutions.

Ethics is tough stuff.  In fact, it seems to get tougher the more a company or organization wants to do the right thing.  What factors can make the right choices hard? 

To name a few:

  • The desire to avoid admitting a mistake
  • The dread of initial public backlash
  • The risk of poor sales
  • The profitable ease of short-term gains when “no one is really watching” the means to an end

As countless case studies show, each of these above outcomes plays out in mammoth proportion when the wrong decision is made – ironically, with the intent of avoiding these very outcomes at what might have been a negligible fraction of the impact had the right decision been made. 

The voice of strong public relations expertise in an organization’s management often pays its biggest returns by preventing poor decisions from the get-go – particularly those decisions that we know run counter to ultimate public expectations.

As a profession, public relations experts are well-trained – and often have sufficient war wounds from managing previous fallouts – to know what public and media reaction is going to be to an organization’s policies and decisions three steps ahead of when a decision is actually made. 

That’s why public relations professionals who know the formal constructs of ethical decision-making are so vital toward informing strategic decisions . . . and more so today than ever before, given that online communication has taken ethical challenges into a new stratosphere.

So this September – we challenge all organizations to turn up the volume in making ethics a shared value and priority:

  • Take a look at the PRSA Code of Ethics, as well as other ethics codes that may exist through your industry’s professional organizations.
  • Understand what ethics really means to all your stakeholders.  What is “right” to institutional shareholders may not hold water with customers, employees or community members. 
  • Commit to ethical practices in a way that holds everyone – every single person in the organization – accountable.
  • Share standards of conduct as well as best practices and case examples with all employees in management and throughout the front lines.

You can get the process started by reviewing a range of resources available   all of which are useful tools toward getting a conversation going in your organization.

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Life-Long Learning Key to Economic Survival

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

By Mary Beth West, APR

True to the rumor that summers are getting shorter, two of my kids reported for their respective Kindergarten and 2nd grade classes this past Monday, August 2. 

A new school year conjures up a good bit of excitement at my house – mainly because of the “newness” of it.  New school supplies, new teachers, new classroom. 

When the halo of “new” starts to dim, however, it can get a bit more challenging to generate that spring in my kids’ step to anticipate a day of discovery.  At this age, learning for the sake of learning doesn’t necessarily compute as a big motivator.

As adults, we often face similar challenges to our motivation.  We hunker down in our jobs – those of us who are fortunate to have them – and in the daily grind, it’s easy to lose sight of our own need to update, upgrade and fine-tune our skill sets and professional development.

Yep – life is busy, but there’s one pressing inconvenience here:  the pace of global change is dictating a radically different approach to what it means to be “qualified” and work-ready these days.  Yesterday’s degree program is quickly morphing into tomorrow’s GED.

Receipt of a diploma, degree or certificate should never mark the end of a learning experience so much as the beginning of a new one. 

Companies and organizations large and small – mine included – benefit in many ways when we help team members rediscover and access learning opportunities as a path toward high-quality work, career advancement and quality of life. 

For busy people and busy companies, continuing education needn’t always involve time-consuming degree programs or lengthy downtimes (although it’s great when that kind of commitment can be made). 

At my company, we look to such organizations as the Public Relations Society of America, the National Investor Relations Institute, and also our Chambers of Commerce (Blount, Oak Ridge and Maury Alliance) for leadership and professional development resources. 

Apart from conferences, there are many webinars, teleseminars, podcasts, local workshops and a host of online sources that offer valuable nuggets of know-how and can substantially ratchet up a team’s knowledge and capabilities over time. These benefits translate into higher quality work and financial pay-back to a sponsoring company.

So keep sharp!  The school bell is ringing – for all of us.

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There’s Definitely a Business Case to Be Made for Public Relations…

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

By Gary McCormick, APR, Fellow PRSA; Director, Partnership Development, HGTV; 2010 PRSA Chair/CEO

       

I recently had the opportunity to ring the opening bell for the NASDAQ – a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I clearly had never placed on my bucket list. Even more curious, it was done for an organization that is not a listed or public company. I was there representing a professional association of public relations professionals, which represents a multibillion-dollar global industry.

So how did this happen? It was the result of an advocacy program for public relations launched by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) to outline the value and impact that public relations has on an organization’s success – The Business Case for Public RelationsTM.

Many don’t understand the essence of our business. Stylized notions of celebrity publicists and Beltway spokespeople pervade the news and popular culture, and the term “PR” itself has become common shorthand for the impression – good or bad – that organizations create.

That’s why PRSA developed The Business Case for Public RelationsTM. The program showcases the role of public relations and the professional value it delivers to essential business outcomes:

  • Distinct skills provide services like crisis mitigation, reputation and brand building, wealth creation and consumer engagement.
  • More than other communications and marketing disciplines, public relations engages all stakeholders of an organization, identifying and delivering impacts that are strategically aligned with concerns of the boardroom, employees, customers and investors.
  • Public relations skills are critical to restoring waning public confidence in government and financial institutions as well as being essential to define, develop and maintain the transparency that consumers expect from the companies with whom they choose to do business.

Today more than ever before, companies and organizations need the value that public relations can deliver. As consumer engagement grows through social media, companies will need to outline an increased ability to manage the relationship and conversation that impacts their success in the marketplace. But companies need to engage a public relations professional that understands how to research, plan, execute and evaluate based upon the organization’s defined objectives in order to achieve value.

If your public relations activities are focused on business output and media clips instead of business outcomes, then you are coming up short in a return on your investment. On the other hand, your investment in public relations will garner attention when you can show how that investment delivers value in financial performance by generating sales, revenue and profit; improves your brand equity and reputation; allows for stronger and more efficient employee recruitment and retention; and increases the support you seek for policy decisions or achieving market position.

I hope that you will take time to find out more about the value of public relations on an organization’s performance by visiting www.prsa.org/intelligence/businesscase/.  Moreover, I hope that you find and define the value that public relations is currently delivering or can definitely deliver in your organization.

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Putting the “Relations” Back into Media Relations

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

    By Amy Schwinge

We hope you have found our blogs focusing on media relations for the month of May useful and interesting.

Not trying to toot our own horn (well, maybe a little), the team at Mary Beth West Consulting is honored to have received multiple awards from the Public Relations Society of America this spring, including several for media relations and related strategic communications tools.

I thought I would share a little background on what we did to receive some of these recognitions, particularly with respect to managing media relationships effectively.

As a first example, we kicked off our public awareness campaign for the Blount Education Initiative (BEI) with a news conference.  On that front, make sure you have content to support inviting media to a news conference.  In this day and time of limited budgets and resources, the last thing you want to do is ask a journalist to leave the office for a news conference if what you have to share could be sent via an e-mail. 

The BEI news conference was appropriate, because we had newsworthy – and rather detailed, statistics-driven information – to share, along with introductions of the leaders driving BEI’s mission to make education the local community’s top priority.  We released compelling results of a new survey outlining current perceptions as related to education and quality of life for the area.  We also introduced the media to the “faces” of the Blount Education Initiative as they explained the reason and need for BEI’s existence along with a summary of BEI’s strategic plan.  This news conference also allowed us to meet many of the journalists face to face with whom we would be working during the public awareness campaign.

For LeConte Wealth Management, we met with members of the media individually whenever possible to introduce and recommend LeConte as financial experts on a host of topics and advocates for financial literacy.  We also shared numerous consumer finance issues-driven news releases to spread the word.

As a third example, we had a dual strategic plan for national publications and local coverage for Todd Richesin Interiors, and we didn’t have the luxury of meeting the national media face to face.  In order to cut through the clutter of other media pitches received by such publications as Traditional Home and House Beautiful, we launched our relationship building with editorial decision makers by carefully ascertaining what specific types of projects and design personalities they were covering and queried them on both subject matter and information-receipt preferences they found useful.  We then sent photo-intensive information kits about Todd and his work, including written “case study” profiles of his work style and individual approach for each project.  We were able to forge relationships with local media and national publications alike, resulting in Todd receiving a great deal of local and national coverage, such as:

  • An eleven-page spread highlighting one of Todd’s projects in Key West, Fla., in Traditional Home (June/July 2010 issue)
  • Traditional  Home (March 2010 issue): “20 Young Designers to Watch”
  • House Beautiful (December/January 2010 issue): “Next Wave of Top 20 Designers”

Collectively, these examples show that each client is different, so a different media relations approach is warranted for each.  Don’t try cookie-cutter formulas; they don’t work.  Remember, it is called media “relations” for a reason; you must take the time and effort to establish genuine relationships with your media contacts, focused with their own audiences in mind.

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