As a passionate advocate of reflective practice and lifelong learning, it’s always useful to look back at my previous writing/thinking. Thanks go to João Duarte for providing this ‘reflexive moment’ by noting the 15-year anniversary since publication of a PRC article ‘grilling’ James Grunig. We are forever appreciative of Jim’s willingness to engage, and grateful to Toni Muzi Falconi for his facilitation. Publication of that collective interview was prompted by my piece called A radical view of PR, which generated 48 comments including, notably, a response from Jim Grunig – one of several in ..read more

NOTE: Originally published on October 15, 2008. Toni Muzi Falconi writes:  Regular readers of this blog are aware of my long-term, personal relationship with the Grunigs, yet I confess surprise when I read Jim Grunig’s first comment on this earlier blog post. As one might expect, the whole PR Conversations’ co-bloggers group—from Canada to New Zealand, South Africa to Portugal, Italy to England and Austria—agreed that it would be very interesting for all the readers of this blog if Jim continued as part of the discussion…which he certainly has done in that specific post! Up until now it a ..read more

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and systems in recent years has led to consideration of the role of the human in public relations. It is asserted that machine learning will enable more and more routine tasks to be automated, whilst practitioners will concentrate on strategic matters, such as building relationships. Yet, this distinction between tactical and strategic, technician and management reflects a traditional 20th century, mechanistic way of thinking. The organisation is conceptualised in hierarchical, interconnected terms. Public relations is viewed as bound ..read more

There are some acronyms that we become so familiar with that we no longer know who originated them. Indeed, students aren’t even expected to credit the source in their work. Think about the following: PEST or SWOT. Then there are models and concepts that become disassociated from their originators over time. How about the Diffusion of Innovation, Nudge or SMART objectives? Even if we don’t know whose idea it first was, or even the name of the model or concept, we’ll recognise a diagram or figure. Sometimes an idea is ‘in the air’. Then it may develop with the input of several different people ..read more

Effectiveness in PR/communications practice usually involves thinking about evaluation and measurement metrics. But what about the human aspects of how we as individuals – and collectively – can improve our professional practice? This PRConversations conversational post examines the importance of happiness as a performance improvement trigger. I’ve discussed this interesting proposition by email with David Sawyer, a successful UK PR consultant, who starts with the story behind his new book, RESET: an unconventional early retirement plan for midlife (salaried) careeris ..read more

It is nearly fifty years since Broom and Smith first published their studies into professional role development in public relations. This established career ambitions of advancement through a hierarchy of aspiration from delivering technical services to attaining an expert manager position. This simple structure has been critiqued for reflecting a traditional favouring of a linear male mobility. Early research found that women in public relations tended to remain in technical positions, while men dominated management roles. This criticism continues to be levelled at the occupation today. Hier ..read more

There is no shortage of opinion on the future of work. One thing that most people agree is that “the way individuals look for work and companies identify and recruit talent” is changing. This largely means matching services using digital platforms. Another trend is towards flexible working within a ‘gig economy’. In this PR Conversation post, I discuss how these developments affect the PR industry, with Nigel Sarbutts, founder of The PR Cavalry, a service designed to connect public relations freelancers with clients and PR agencies based on data and logic.  Nigel Sarbutts The ..read more

There probably couldn’t be two more contrasting campaigns being talked about in one week than the 30th anniversary Nike’s Dream Crazy commercial fronted by Colin Kaepernick and the single Listerine sponsored post by Instagram ‘influencer’ Scarlett Dixon. What they have in common is controversy. This is not uncommon as a marketing strategy – for instance, it has been used deliberately by the likes of Ryanair and Protein World in recent years. Controversy as a marketing strategy usually includes a planned PR response to prompt and challenge any criticism quite aggressively and so generate ..read more

This PR Conversations post looks at the challenges in attracting smart people to build sustainable careers in public relations, by sharing a conversation that I’ve had with Ann Pilkington, founder of PR Academy, the largest provider of professional PR qualifications in the UK.   Dr. Heather Yaxley It seems to me that there’s a perennial debate in public relations about the merits of experience versus qualifications. Indeed, research I’ve undertaken looking at the evolution of professional PR qualifications in the UK, found an historical emphasis on evaluating a candidate’s per ..read more

Over the past decade or so, public relations has been in a rollercoaster relationship with social media. Nervous initially to jump onboard, since then we’ve been up the hype cycle with several peaks of inflated expectations followed by swoops down into the trough of disillusionment. Are we currently in a valley of despair following all the shenanigans of ‘fake news’ and ‘data scandals’? Or on an upwards slope of hope driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics? Not being a binary sort of person, it seems to me that a more mindful approach is required to using social media as professi ..read more