The Brighter Side of Public Relations

If you read the previous post you may be wondering why I continue to aspire to a career in public relations. That entry was a response to carrying out a work placement with one company and having had further education in PR from some of my second year modules at university, and meeting PR professionals from different companies I am forced to make an amendment.

It is true that PR is not quite as 'fabulous' as popular culture would lead us to believe, however it is still one of the most valuable media, marketing and communication tools we have. These days, there is only so much success a company can have with advertising. We are all too familiar with the formula and all too ready to channel hop, pop-up block and page flick. Don't get me wrong, there is still value in advertising, but public relations takes it further, pushes the boundaries and is constantly evolving innovative ways to reach its publics.

Unfortunately PR does still have a bad name. Before the term public relations was invented it was called propaganda, a word with highly negative connotations. Now it is thought that the PR industry is made up of 'spin-doctors' who are constantly sneaking around behind our backs to get us to buy products we don't need, donate money we don't have and vote for politicians whose policies won't benefit us.

Perhaps this can be said for some PR campaigns but it is not fair to generalise an entire industry in this way. To me, an ethical and successful PR campaign is noticeable but not intrusive, it has to give the public an element of choice; the option to visit a website, the option to read a news article, the option to attend an event and so on. It also needs to offer some sort of reward to their publics, so, if they do decide to visit the website for example, there is an entertaining video to watch, an interesting debate to take part in or an offer for website users, such as a money-off voucher.

Public relations, as the name would suggest, is all about building a relationship between a company and its publics and acts as a means for two-way communication from company to publics and back again. I personally can't wait to join this exciting industry where I will have the chance to work creatively and help to shape the future of public relations.

Fabulous?

Public Relations - swanky club openings, London Fashion Week, free champagne and so on, sounds fabulous right? But there is a down side. When working in public relations you constantly find yourself needing to impress someone more important than you, be it a journalist, a celebrity, a designer or even another PR agent. There's no point in denying it, successfully working in Public Relations is having the ability to suck-up to people shamelessly and relentlessly in order to get whatever your boss or client wants. The glamour is there by all means, but fabulous parties get a bit wearing when you are attending three a week, unable to fully enjoy the free drinks, due to the fact that you didn't have time to eat and have to be at work at 9am the following morning. But we're in PR baby, and that means that you do it all with a smile on your face and a pole up your arse. As I overheard one colleague telling another during my work placement in PR, "when you're at an event you keep your head up, your tummy tucked in and try not to look bored." This experience has got me thinking about the reputation Public Relations and the people who work in it has. 'Spin-doctors', 'sell-outs', 'bitches'. I've never considered these to be fair viewpoints but the more I learn the more I begin to realise that PR is not all it's cracked up to be. Sex and the City's Samantha Jones gave us a taste of the life we wanted but the reality is something quite different. Fabulous? I think not!