Posted on PR Motion

Networks and mentors, workplace similarities and differences, complete a cross-border PR adventure

Final installment of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet Communication contacts and networks In part I and part II, I related communication contacts and groupings I was privy to at Allianz. In this final chapter I’m sharing external networking and mentor relationships that were going on behind the scenes. Prior to my departure, I had Edelman support from Grant Smith, general manager of Edelman...

Posted on PR Motion

Deep dive into corporate communications work and culture in a cross-border PR adventure

Part II of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet Allianz’s corporate communications structure and how and where I fit in I indicated in part I how my acclimatisation included scheduled appointments for meetings and lunch dates with different members of the communications team. I was quickly brought up to speed on how Allianz SE’s Group Communications team was structured into three main units: external...

Posted on PR Motion

Cause and effect of a cross-border public relations adventure

Part I of a three-part global public relations narrative and adventure, from agency Australia to in-house Germany By Katie Sheppet I’ve been invited to share with readers of PR Conversations the narrative about how voluntarily becoming involved with a global PR event (supported by my employer) and, in particular, meeting key senior PR practitioners, provided me with an incredible opportunity only a few years after completing my university degree in media and communications. I was...

Posted on PRoust Questionnaire

PRoust Questionnaire: João Duarte

The PRoust Questionnaire provides a quick insight into a public relations practitioner’s interests and point of view, as well as his or her professional beliefs and values. If you are not familiar with the original 19th-century Proust Questionnaire, please see details at the end of this post. PRoust Questionnaire answers from João Duarte: 1. What are your most striking characteristics as a PR practitioner? My ability to put myself in the “shoes” of the “other”—that...

Posted on PR Axis

Qualifications for Public Relations Management

Pendleton Dudley established a PR agency in New York in 1909, reportedly after a suggestion by Ivy Lee who felt competition would be good for the fledgling industry. By the time of authoring the following chapter in Your Public Relations in 1948, his company was known as Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy (D-A-Y). When sold to Ogilvy Mather in 1983, D-A-Y was the world’s oldest continuously operating PR firm; the name disappearing in 1988. Described by Scott Cutlip (in...

Posted on PR Techster

Look under the hood at how PR Conversations "performed" in 2013

What, not another “year in review” post?! So you may be groaning and thinking, and I’m sympathetic with your reluctance to get dished yet again reheated bits of the recent past…. But please bear with me: This is intended to be more of an introspection than a retrospective. As the resident Techster, I’m inviting you faithful readers, to share a look with me under the hood of PR Conversations. As I’m not a number-crunching geek I...

Posted on PR Axis

Public Relations for Small Business

J.T. Lewis, Jr., president of Lewis Welding & Engineering Corporation was the author of the third chapter in the 1948 US book, edited by Glenn and Denny Griswold, Your Public Relations (being serialised here with monthly posts). It is interesting that the focus on PR for small business has such a prominent place in the book. The argument put forward by Mr Lewis who operated a small plant in Bedford, Ohio, employing 261 workers, was...

Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Vision

Declaring piffle on those "traditional PR" publicity arguments

Recently I visited Black Creek Pioneer Village, a rather unique “recreated” village (it is described as an “outdoor living history museum”) harkening back to the 1860s, which has grown both in density and its rich “relating” of history in the approximately 50 years since its inception. As someone who holds a double-specialist undergraduate degree in English and History—and, more recently, as a proponent of the “organizational narrative“—it should be obvious why I have an affinity...

Posted on PR Vision

Getting serious about PR crisis case studies

Whenever an organisation experiences a ‘crisis’ (or more commonly an incident of lesser magnitude), it is invariably jumped upon as a PR disaster by the online PR pundits who cannot resist the opportunity to criticise how the situation was handled. The view is almost always: “I wouldn’t have done it like that”, accompanied by a list of rules which, in the opinion of the supposed PR expert, should have been followed. Rarely is any research...

Posted on PR Vision

Making sense of the impact of social media on crisis communication

An MA thesis focused on making sense of the impact of social media on crisis communication By Tegan Ford Given the number of crisis situations gaining high-profile attention through social media, I decided to look at how the addition of social media to crisis scenarios has disrupted the field of corporate communications. This research forms the foundation of my Masters of Arts in Communications program at Carleton University. This post looks at my thesis findings to...