PR 3310 Principles of Public Relations Wednesday, 5/27/09

Class Objectives Lecture Intro. to course What is public relations? Homework assignment Read chapter 1 in book

Class topics Syllabus, schedule, lectures, all up on class webpage Schedule lecture topics and lectures posted to web site will be filled in as the sum. session goes on Assignment dates are fixed Grades will be posted on WebCT/Blackboard starting on June 1st

Class topics Best way to reach me is by I get a TTU on June 1 st In the meantime, Or stop by my office, 225D before class T-R 11am-noon Telephone is x251

Videos I use a lot of them in classes First one, did you know (2008) U&feature=fvst

Issues with PR PR, advertising, design, journalism, marketing are very much intertwined Especially if you work for a smaller agency or company where you wear many “hats” Book tries to differentiate them What is for sure is that PR is a misunderstood term Derogatory terms include flack (a publicist), spin (biased portrayal), and propaganda (originally not political= spreading of information to serve a cause)

Public Relations For the sake of a discussion, let’s define PR as “telling a story about something” How has PR changed (over the last 5 years)? Processes to disseminate message have changed as technology/tools have changed Due to Web 2.0 and 3.0 (interactivity in terms of social networking, forums, replies) there is a tremendous amount of feedback/dialog Sending message directly to the consumer (e.g. web sites) Lack of “editors” and gatekeepers (e.g. blogs) Where is your audience? Remember that you may or may not be a part of your target audience

Terms Trust versus “spin” Issues: Who’s funding the campaign? How transparent should the funding agency be? Mainstream media coverage versus non-mainstream Think of end consumers/masses as mainstream…everyone else (e.g. corporate, industry specific, reporters) as non-mainstream Purchased media versus Free media Purchased = advertisements (in print, radio, tv, on-line) Free = blogs, tweets

PR Videos MESH 2007 conference (Canadian web conference), Future of PR start at minute 3:33 go to 11: &ei=6a8cSq7AA8iE- QaM7_XVCQ&q=public+relations&hl=en &ei=6a8cSq7AA8iE- QaM7_XVCQ&q=public+relations&hl=en Critical Issues, yo&feature=related yo&feature=related

Other issues with PR Is all “bad” coverage bad? PR of celebrities How do we make $$ with new tools? Susan Boyle video has been viewed millions of times with no $$ going to the 3 companies that own “Britain’s Got Talent” What do we do with “dying” industries? Do we pull out of them altogether (print/newspapers) or stick with them in hopes they will adapt and survive?