Integrating Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: a workshop in Rome for 25 diplomats by FERPI, the Italian professional association

In agreement with the Diplomatic Institute of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FERPI -the Italian Federation of Public Relations- is holding in the English language, on March 3,4,5,and 6 in Rome a four session workshop on Public Diplomacy for 25 mid career Italian diplomats according to this program. Tutors of the course will be Toni Muzi Falconi and Fabio Ventoruzzo, both representing Ferpi. Four guest lecturers have agreed to participate: Dejan Vercic, Mindi Kasiga,...

Report from Lugano (IABC) and Frascati (Cittadinanzattiva): the underwear and the genericity of public relations…

Rem Koolhaas, the reputed Dutch architect and professor at Harvard has recently launched a new ‘buzz word’: that of generic architecture. Just as generic pharma simply deliver the functionality of the base-molecule, generic architecture rediscovers its basic function and common sense, overwhelmed in recent years by the many extravaganzas and by the pressures of competition. Two association of ideas here: a) you will possibly remember the many posts in this blog dedicated to the ‘generic...

Who are you to criticise? What is the point of PR in social media?

Who has the right to criticise in public relations?  This seems a pertinent question in the light of the development of PR in social media where many lessons can be learned, and success or failure is often the subject of comment and debate, normally in the immediate public forum of social media itself. Is it only the originators of a social media PR campaign who have the right to judge its success? After all, they...

Luxottica, world leader in premium and luxury prescription frames and sunglasses, stuns all with daring stakeholder relationship program

Quanno ce vò, ce vò (pronounced: cannocievò, cievò). So goes an old roman expression indicating that when something is so, it is so… no matter what, no buts or ifs… In a particular period in which my Country (Italy) and its private, public and social elites are undergoing a sustained (and increasingly intolerable) intellectual deterioration with dire consequences on the well being of its citizens, if and when something positive does come up, it is...

Reputation lost, reputation won: Lessons from Aristotle and Barack Obama. Ronel Rensburg on Rhetoric and Public Relations. A South African Perspective.

by Ronel Rensburg While watching the acceptance speech (“This is your victory”) by Barack Obama upon winning the presidential race in Chicago, I experienced a long-forgotten feeling of excitement towards political rhetoric as well as a stirring of new-found hope for the USA and the rest of the world. In the presence of hundreds of thousands of people in awe, history was made and lessons were learnt of how communication and public speaking ought to...

Retaining Professionals Who Thrive on Challenge

This post appeared original on the Institute for Public Relations blog, written by Pamela Blum and Vanessa Tremaro. In any service based industry, client retention and employee retention are inextricably linked. In public relations consultancies, a firm’s success hinges on its employees and the level of service they provide. Their creativity, diligence and intelligence are firms’ most valuable resources. We conducted a study that evaluated and analyzed the factors that contribute to employee disengagement and...

Starving for Context and Translation: Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis

The first half of 2008 was a blur for me. When the global food crisis hit, the fertilizer industry went from obscurity to centre stage in the blink of an eye. There was little or no time to build up resources, so all of the communicators I know in the sector went into overdrive. While I think we collectively handled the situation pretty competently, I also learned a lot from the situation. Here are some...

The Business of Business is… Responsible Business: where public relations becomes relevant, in the form of stakeholder relationship management

1. The perspective of this new-year note on ‘the business of business is responsible business’ is that the current economic crisis is only one of the consequences of a historic discontinuity (see here) in which we all find ourselves immersed since the end of the twentieth century. A discontinuity originated by the radical subversion of the way we think of space and time induced by communication technologies and their impact on the acceleration of the...

2009 – a year for PR career planning

What does the year ahead hold for PR practitioners?  Is the emerging global recession an opportunity or threat to our industry?  Here are my predictions for 2009, a year when, I believe, proactive PR career planning will prove vital in helping the strongest to survive and indeed flourish.