Can you believe that PR existed during the 1st world war?

Before I tell you, about the existence of PR during World War 1, let me introduce you to, Carl Byoir. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of PR. He started as a reporter for the Des Moines Register when he was 14. When he was 17 he became the editor of the Waterloo Times-Tribune. Byoir became a member of the Committee on Public Information in 1917. This committee was in charge of publicly organizing the objective of the United States for World War I. 

During Byoir’s stint in the Committee on Public Information he executed many techniques that influenced public opinion. He was also credited with the campaign directed at non-English speaking Americans eligible for the draft. This campaign was effective enough that it added over 70,000 men to the American war effort.
And here we thought that PR is a new topic ! Amazing right?

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Case Study : Pepsi

Pepsi had to deal with a crisis when an elderly couple claimed to discover a syringe floating inside a can of Diet Pepsi ! The pepsi cola company had to work round the clock to initiate a successful PR campaign. Media relation executives used television to launch offense strategies.

One video release illustrated the high-speed can-filling lines, eliminating the public's fear of an unsafe canning process. Another pictured a woman who was caught at a convenience store inserting her own syringe into an open Diet Pepsi can. Pepsi cooperated fully with the FDA and its investigative efforts. On June 21, 1993, Commissioner Kessler held a press conference calling the Pepsi-Cola controversy a hoax.

The most interesting part of the PR campaign was the ads that were placed  by Pepsi.

It read "Pepsi is pleased to announce…nothing." 

For more information, visit the web source : http://www.metapr.com/info/crisis/sa1994_1.htm

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Blurring Boundaries: P2 // The relation between PR and Graphic Design

Traditional graphic designers tend to be trained with the objective solving aesthetics and communication related problems that help organization present themselves to their stakeholders in a more clearer and definitive manner. But the world view has changed and now expectation of a graphic designer is far beyond that graphic designer even though the final output from them are designed communication material.

Although, we can debate now about where all the graphic design as a field has blurring boundaries with other fields but to my opinion, the closest is that of image consulting or PR. In a very simplistic manner, PR is dealing with an individual image while graphic design of an organization.

The cross - over knowledge would enable a graphic designer to look at the problem of a identity design from the perspective of image creation or makeover. The defining purpose has transformed from aethethics to image makeover artist. It would completely change the approach in which graphic design can be approached and thereby expanding the possibilities. 

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How to track PR trends?

Are you interested in reading about the latest publicity stunts in and around? Then here is a perfect website for you to spend your time on.

www.trendhunter.com

Trend Hunter is the world's largest community dedicated to trend spotting and cool hunting. I must say that they have a set of uniquely curious people who are always on their heels, trying to get the best reports we could possibly come across over internet. 

Routinely sourced by the media, Trend Hunter is a source of inspiration for industry professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and the insatiably curious. Each day, Trend Hunter features a daily dose of micro-trends, viral news and pop culture. The most popular micro-trends are later grouped into clusters of inspiration in our Trend Report, a tool for professional innovators and entrepreneurs.

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Case Study - Johnson & Johnson Scandal !

Recently, I came across a fascinating case study. At times of crisis, if not dealt in the right manner, the image that is built over years would crash in no time. The J&J Tylenol scandal will be a perfect example to prove this. Do have a look at the following link !

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/susi/tylenol.htm

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Can PR be traced all through the civilization?

PR was never considered a profession till the 20^th century. It was only in this period, PR blossomed as a professional endeavor. But surprisingly enough it can be traced to the roots, throughout the civilization.

Edward Bernays, the father of PR, used information to manipulate the mass by satisfying their inner selfish needs. He wrote, “The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.

Here let me remind you once again that Public Relations is nothing but highlighting your brand image. So public relations existed at the time of Caesar. Surprising isn't it? Here are few instances from the history that you would have often heard of, but never related to as a form of PR.

1
 Julius Caesar carefully prepared the Romans for his crossing of the Rubicon in 49B.C.E. by sending reports such as “Caesar’s Gallic Wars” (52 B.C.E.) on his epic achievements as governor of Gaul. Caesar, recognizing the power of news to mold public opinion,  published a daily paper called Acta Diurna (“daily acts” or “daily records”) that continued for 400 years.

2

Leaders of ancient civilization such as Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia used poems and other writings to promote their prowess in battle and politics to promote their image as warriors.

3

The art and architecture in Egypt (statues, temples, tombs) was a medium through which priests, nobles, and scribes imposed their superiority among st the general.

4

In ancient Israel, the Bible and other religious texts became a powerful means for molding the public mind. With the growth of the Hellenic world, the word, both written and spoken, exploded as a force for social integration.

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Blurring Boundaries: Part 1

There is a fundamental change in the way people react to the complex world problems. We can say that design thinking is coming of age or that organization have really taken Steve Jobs seriously, wherein organization are no more ready to face a challenge they facing with the very departmentalized manner like we have been following till now.  The practices at Ideo and Apple, have really shown the world what can happen if multi-disciplinary groups of people ideate on a other relatively departmentalized problem. Their practices have resulted in landmark innovation throughout the industry, not to negate the others who I haven’t written on. Like every strong trend, this has had a trickle down effect.

In social circles, more and more people ask each other what they do that makes them interesting. In offices, other than the regular resume HR’s keep a track of those who have interest and hobbies ( like music, editing, photography, cooking) to judge the enthusiasm and potential of the possible employees at the point of recruitment. Most multinationals have offices that actively support to develop the individual personal interest for the same reasons. Institutes have started offering cross learning courses around the globe, while our local design institutes have also picked up the trend. NID offers strategic design management, which is a mix of management and design to as to create a designer who understand and speaks management.

So, designers are pursuing management. MBAs are pursuing photography. Is this going to be random or is there a sense to this madness? Well, honestly there is answer is both a yes and a no to this, but the belief that most corporates, HRs and in general, there is a word in the crowd that people who can play with multiple interest are considered a better bargain for employment.

What is fundamental here is that, when a person can understands a organizational challenge from multiple viewpoints or perspective, they end up delivering more effective, impactful and holistic solutions.

Way forward

Design hence has now evolved to a more complex field than ever. As a designer, one really needs to be familiar with technology, business and marketing more and more. The boundaries between all of them have become so blurring that often clients tend to consult designers for the same. And its not an option, it’s a slowly becoming a requirement.

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