How do you define PR?
With the public relations landscape constantly evolving, PR has often struggled to define itself. Mumbrella’s Abigail Dawson speaks to some industry heavyweights on how they explain the work they do.
The public relations and communications industry has been battling to come up with a single definition of the practice, with questions growing around what exactly PR can offer and what it actually is.
According to the Australian dictionary, PR “is the professional maintenance of a favourable public image by a company or other organisation or a famous person,” but as the industry evolves and PR professionals add more skills to their remit, is this definition still relevant?
Below, some of PR’s most senior professionals give their own definition.
Vuki Vujasinovic, founder and CEO of Sling & Stone, says:
All blather. Years ago one Federal pollie said PR was the “art of putting the facts in the best possible light.” That’s crap.
In the real world there is only one way to go: Tell it like it is. Don’t beat around the bush.
Ask Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer how her credibility now stands up after the shellacking she took from Barry Cassidy on a recent Insiders program on ABC TV.
But Pollies never learn.
Where is the spiel by Edina Monsoon of PR company “Monsoon PR?” Now that is *real* traditional PR, the way PR is supposed to be. Cut out all the unnecessary stuff and just deliver the spin as it is always spun. Didn’t Skyhooks sing that “PR is not a dirty word”…. or is my memory spinning me a PR yarn?