Edelman PR is the world's largest independent PR agency, but I'm not really one to be impressed by the largeness of an organization. PR Week has voted Edelman the best large PR agency in the world, three out of the last four years, but I hold trade rags commending industry luminaries suspiciously.
What impresses me the most about Edelman PR is that it seems to be an agency of innovation and big ideas, more than other large agencies I have known. It was the first PR firm to conduct media tours. It set up the first-ever online crisis management service. It was the first Western PR firm in China, and perhaps most impressive to me, is it established trust as the key measurement for PR strategy.
What also has impressed me is Richard Edelman and the thought leadership he has demonstrated in the complex and nuanced area of social media and its impact on the PR industry. He was early to the blogosphere, and he led his own staff to become among the most social media active of all agencies. He also has been an undoubted influence on the heads of large companies, NGOs and even small countries in understanding and embracing social media.
I asked Richard his thoughts on social media and particularly the impact it is having on PR agencies and their images.
1. You recently posted a blog that disagreed with a NY Times piece about Silicon Valley PR practices in the social media era, saying that it used old, false stereotypes. Please summarize your bones of contention.
The NY Times article had an important lesson for communicators, who must recognize that the winnowing of mainstream media will require a different approach to PR. But the idea that PR folks can circumvent both MSM reporters and key bloggers by whispering in the ears of influencers is patently false. So was the characterization of PR executives (especially females in PR) as reliant on relationships to achieve results for clients. Classic stereotypes of PR executives can be summarized as evil spin room denizens as in the movie “Wag the Dog” or superficial party people with megaphones. Both of these canards must be refuted and resisted.
2. It does bode a couple of interesting questions. Here’s PR, which can be defined in many ways, but usually image has something to do with it. Why do you think PR has so many problems with its own image?
The PR industry has image issues because it allows itself to be defined by its least common denominators, from celebrity publicists to Silicon Valley relationship masters. In fact, what we do is more important than ever before. The dispersion of authority, lack of trust in institutions, rise of stakeholder society, need to connect to broader group of influencers are tectonic plates moving. We are pushing the concept of Public Engagement, with action tied to communication, to our corporate clients.
3. How do you feel social media has changed the role of the PR practitioner?
Social media has allowed PR people to have more personal and more continuous connection to stakeholders. The mainstream media news hole has allowed only episodic coverage of companies and has been focused most often on the CEO. Now we can bring a more true-to-life picture of companies, with consumer-generated views of products, blog posts from corporate researchers, and discussions around important issues (ethically sourced product etc.)
4. Let’s go back a few years. You were, without dispute, the earliest prominent member of the PR community to whole-heartedly embrace social media. You started blogging in 2004 and you also started advocating that PR practitioners adapt to the changes that had started to occur. What did you see at that time that convinced you it would be wise to jump in?
I must give all of the credit to my cousin, Linda Stone, / formerly of Microsoft, whose pioneering work on “continuous partial attention” best describes my teen-aged kids. She listened over lunch after my middle child’s Bat Mitzvah, where I carried on about the new role of civil society, the rise of empowered employees and consumers.
She walked me over to the PC, sat me down, and pointed to early bloggers such as Dan Gillmor. In short, she pushed me to get into the game. It is my weekly appointment with the community; what will be new and interesting.
5. So you were early in incorporating social media into your personal brand. How did that impact the Edelman brand, and for that matter, the Edelman business practice? How often is social media a factor today in Edelman being selected, vs. 2004?
My blog, and the 40 others that are featured at Edelman.com, have made us the most popular web site of any company in the communications sector (yes, ahead of Ogilvy, McCann and other giants).
My blog is the leveling element in conversations with potential employees or when I visit companies on new business calls. We don’t have to talk about baseball or golf; we can make a connection on topics in my blog. Social media is a key reason why Edelman is selected by prospective clients; we have also persuaded our clients to be much more open in their communications with the world as control and credibility are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
6. What are the constants for the PR practitioner? What professional skills have remained the same since you started in PR? What's changed?
A PR person must be more broadly knowledgeable and technically proficient. The opportunity to offer advice to the C-suite has never been greater, but we have to earn that position every day by being connected to new voices of employees, consumers, civil society and social influencers. There is a tendency to become narrow and deep, to know your industry top to bottom. That is not sufficient; it is not as if health care or technology exist in a vacuum. There will be pressures on privacy, IP, payment modality, fairness of compensation, green policy; we must offer insight on these and more.
7. Is there any sort of business--any size, any sector-- that can afford to ignore social media in its communications practices?
I thought that the financial services industry could ignore social media, as it was so heavily covered by mainstream media.
I was wrong, particularly as government has become enmeshed in the sector through the bailout last fall. Health care companies are overcoming their fear of regulatory intervention in order to participate in the conversation on diseases and drug treatment.
8. Would you advise young people to go into either PR or corporate communications in this day and age? Why or why not?
A career in public relations should hold great appeal to students graduating from college. The secular trend towards PR and away from advertising has enabled the industry to withstand the present recession in much better condition than in 2001-3. The basics of the job, from writing to media relations, remain the same. But the additional responsibilities, from connecting with new influencers to conversing with social media to creating programs that change policy for corporations, are truly exciting and important.
9. Here's an easy one for you: What's the future of media? Does traditional media continue to wane until it hits the vanishing point? Does social media continue to ascend in importance? Do the two media categories eventually merge and become "just media?"
I had breakfast last week with Jim Warren, until a year ago the editor of the Chicago Tribune. He told me that the Hartford Courant had reduced its newsroom from 400 reporters to 150 reporters in the past six years; the Tribune is down by nearly 50%. Local papers are becoming hyper-local but even that is no protection against incursions by ESPN (note launch of their new Chicago and LA sports web product).
The local TV news outlets are under terrific pressure as key advertisers in auto, banking and retail evaporate. It is clear we will have five national newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NY Times, Financial Times, perhaps the Washington Post. Network news will gradually ebb, as the average viewer today is 65 years old.
The consumption of media has not diminished; it is the mix that has changed. The average person sees or reads eight sources of media on a given day, according to the Pew Foundation. So there will be more demand for immediate, short form content, delivered on all three screens (TV, PC, mobile). Social media will fill a hole by offering personal experience, deep knowledge of sector and opinion.
10. Additional comments?
I am happy to be part of an independent, family-owned business that gives me the ability to speak freely about issues in our industry.
