Public Relations Comes of Age

PR seems to have reached a milestone this week with its recognition as a subject with a history.

Bournemouth University is planning to hold its first conference on the History of Public Relations and is welcoming academics from 14 nations to speak at the event.

According to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations there are 48,000 people currently employed in PR in the UK, generating a turnover of £6.5bn. This year students can choose from 262 PR degree courses across the country.

All very exciting stuff but surely there is a saturation point somewhere?

PR needs two essential ingredients: a story to tell and an audience and despite my tapping away here, stories about PR told by people in PR to other people in PR would probably be very dull indeed!

Dangerous Pets!

Last week it seems a new communication barrier was identified with the suspension of post office deliveries to the home of the owner of a dangerous cat, which has attacked and injured three postal workers.

This is one of those stories that works on a number of levels combining the best of cute animal, twist on a story you think you know and health and safety gone mad. That Tiger, a 19 year old cat, has injured three posties is not under discussion, just whether this is cause to stop delivering and how the situation can be remedied.

A quick internet search reveals other similar tales involving not only cats but birds as well and one reports that a solution was reached when the home owner put up an American style post box at their garden gate.

I for one embrace the return of such ‘news’ items to our media and wish all the postal workers a speedy recovery.

A thought about Malcolm McLaren

The news this week has included lots of thoughts and comment about Malcolm McLaren who recently passed away. Everyone seems to have an opinion about how his achievements affected modern media, music and fashion, some complimentary and some not so.

Whatever your perspective it cannot be denied that McLaren had a true talent for PR in its most visceral form. It is not often that someone in entertainment manages to polarise the opinions of three generations. Many of the (shock) tactics that McLaren employed in the promotion of himself and his b(r)ands would not have the same impact today and most have no place in mainstream PR but there are elements which survive.

In the late 1970s he was instrumental in bringing punk to the attention of mainstream media, it does not matter if you were not part of the scene, we all know what punk was all about and recognise its lasting impact on modern fashion and music. This is the sort of dissemination of information that modern marketeers can only dream of.