How would you spin that? Don’t spin it, bin it
Mumbrella recently reported on a pilot episode of a new Gruen-style public relations TV show 'How Would You Spin That?' Eleven's Fee Townshend says it should go straight in the bin.
How would I spin this? Umm… I’d take this right off the turntable. This is just a bad idea and my recommendation would be don’t spin it. Bin it.
At a time when the best marketing campaigns in the world are judged by the amount of earned impact they achieve, the last thing the PR industry deserves is a show that centres around a very narrow (and more importantly perhaps, outdated) segment of our profession.
A show that suggests the very nature of what we do is sinister, enabled through backroom dealings and with the goal of tricking the public into allowing big business to do bad things, while we sit back and snigger over a Chardonnay?
I shudder.
The use of the word ‘spin’ – which suggests untruth – sits at the core of my disdain for this program. That is closely followed by the narrow focus around corporate issues management undertaken by ‘heavy hitters’ (too much lunch, maybe?), which is only one part of the PR profession.
It’s a bit like launching a new Gruen but only covering campaigns that include 30-second TV executions and ignoring the vast body of digital work created. Frankly, it’s a bit old school.
Public relations is a broad industry. The key difference to advertising being that we generally earn third-party opinion to communicate messaging versus owned or bought means.
On one end of the spectrum are the crisis managers dealing with the fallout of serious issues. I spent the first four years of my career in an agency of that nature and I respect the work of those tasked with finding the best articulation for an issue playing out, detailing how said issue will be resolved, and how that incident may impact future operations or practices.
And I’d bet my non-existent bottle of Chardonnay the last thing these specialists wish to be associated with is a program such as this.
Bad stuff happens – but while a PR practitioner will care about mitigating that incident’s impact on a brand’s health, it is not automatically about initiating a cover-up.
I remain a fan of Ogilvy’s outstanding work in freeing Peter Greste from a prison in Egypt where he was being held on charges of “news reporting that was damaging to national security”.
Oglivy’s #freeajstaff campaign wasn’t ‘spin’
The significant PR efforts to achieve the deportation of Greste back to Australia were recognised as the international campaign of the year in the 2015 PRIA awards. Lots of relationship management, long nights and lobbying, but I don’t think anyone would think this activity was sinister in nature. Peter and his family are no doubt thanking the heavens for the crisis managers involved. The term ‘spin doctor’ just does not feel right in this situation.
Even on the other side of PR – the one not dedicated to putting out fires – the work PR people do today is not adequately reflected by the word ‘spin’.
Eleven and TBWA have just picked up thee bronze Lions in Cannes (two for PR and one for film) for our trans-Tasman work on ANZ’s #HoldTight campaign. In support of the Australasian sponsorship of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and New Zealand’s PRIDE, #HoldTight tapped into the saddening truth that the majority of people identifying as LGBTQI do not always feel comfortable holding hands in public.
I don’t like to think that the data we collected on this, which uncovered the heartening truth that 96% of the public thought everyone should be able to perform this most basic act of love, was some sort of ‘spin’. It was legitimate research, which demonstrated why the #HoldTight film was so relevant and important within contemporary society.
The negative stereotyping of PR practitioners as corporate spin doctors is book-ended by the dumbing down of publicists whose job it is to leverage the lure of celebrity and luxury.
Frequently mocked by ‘heavy hitters’ for undertaking ‘fluffy’ work from their Surry Hills converted warehouses, the work of these practitioners – which often triggers significant uplifts in retail sales – is considered un-strategic or basic work. It deserves more respect.
If we can laud creative genius over a clever ad that sells an extraordinary amount of soap, we should respect the rich relationships behind collaborations, events and photo essays, which also drive irrefutable sales spikes.
Townshend: The term ‘spin doctor’ is outdated
Because, in reality all PR practitioners use the same tools as advertising agencies and other communicators to glean useful insights and cultural truths to formulate our strategies and executional messaging.
It is true that we leverage our contacts – politicians, journalists, industry stakeholders, influencers and celebrities – but it is wrong to assume that we are engaging in dark, deceptive practices to get a result. It’s also an insult to all the contacts mentioned above – suggesting that they are easily deceived and cannot formulate their own objective opinion.
There’s already enough confusion around what we do – bringing PR narrative back to the 1980s’ spin doctors era is both damaging and not reflective of our industry as a whole.
So, begs the question: what would be my recommendation for a PR show?
It’d be called: Now you decide. And it would focus on the public response to an idea – because culture is the litmus test for all of us.
Sure – have a competitive panel addressing PR briefs – but make it more reflective of the vast range of roles within our industry, and a present-day reality at that.
How should a company manage a crisis in a believable and satisfactory way?
What’s the best way to leverage a new corporate service in news channels?
How can a brand best use its equity to make society a better place?
Which celebrity would be best to endorse a particular product?
I’d dance to that.
Fee Townshend is Eleven Melbourne’s managing director
Let’s not overstate things here. Ogilvy did not free Greste, they created a campaign that helped amplify the issue.
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The lack of self awareness on display in this puffery is staggering. If this isn’t mendacious spin of the highest order, I would be remiss to know what was.
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Can someone please take that pilot back to the edit and cut out every agonizing beat. The intro’s!!!
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I agree, Fee.
I was horrified upon reading the concept for ‘How would you spin this’. Any such show would severely damage the reputation professional PR practitioners have spent years building and the positive work we have done to help corporates engage and listen to their communities, governments to deliver relevant programs for their communities and employees to feel engaged and connected to their company’s strategy. Not to mention the role brands play in making positive social change.
The idea is narrow-minded, ignorant and unfunny. It’s certainly not satirical.
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Agree. It will be binned, because nobody cares. Gruen works as people have daily experiences with television advertising. Gruen is served on the same medium.
Don’t agree that the best marketing campaigns in the world are judged by the amount of earned impact they achieve. The best marketing campaigns achieve what they set out to do.
PRs are sometimes referred to spin doctors, publicists, flacks… Get over it. Lawyers are often referred to as sharks – doesn’t mean every legal degree generates a desire to be a predator.
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Agree fully, and what concerns me is when PR practitioners themselves use the terms spin to describe what they do, even if ironically. You dont see financiers calling themselves Shylocks, or dentists calling themselves fang-merchants, or lawyers calling themselves blood-sucking ambulance-chasers. The idea of spin and spin-doctors is anathema to what most of us do, but we need to stop saying that ourselves and we need to object when we see it in news headlines by lazy/jealous journalists
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The fact is that there is a lot of spin in your sector. MOST of advertising and marketing is spin. Did you miss that somehow? Or is it all hand-holding and health-awareness? Sure it might old-school to think of things this way, but it’s also still the contemporary mode, which means the show is relevant, despite your over-defensive attempt to tear it down. Dry your eyes, princess, I’m sure the nasty ABC wont try to lampoon your gay campaign.
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Your summation of what PR Practitioners actually do is spot on. I think the idea of a public relations TV show is a good idea but agree that we need to convey the positives of the profession and dispel the “dark side” myth.
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One of the largest industries in the world is one of the biggest users of PR. The Music industry is – ironically- formed on ‘spin’ not paid Advertising.
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Two things jump out at me from ‘How would you spin that?’
First, the pilot trades on old assumptions and fictional stereotypes about PR people. While it’s clearly exaggerated satire, it’s almost from another world. PR in 2017 doesn’t look like this at all. Right now PR and Communication (in government, not for profits, and private and corporate practice) is focused on ethical practice and strategic communication, not the sort of nonsense the panel is describing.
Second, the industry knows from its own hypothetical that practitioners are only interested in supporting something if the discussion is based on real world issues — most often ethical and legal — properly and ethically presented, and representing the complexity of the our expertise and contribution. I can’t see anyone signing up for a panel to reinforce the sort of fictional PR scenarios outlined in the pilot. There are very few PR and Communication professionals who would condone or suggest non-ethical practice.
While the industry can’t claim any protection from satire, criticism and comedy (think TV’s Absolute Power, Absolutely Fabulous, Yes Minister and a string of political satires, including Utopia and even Gruen). All these are based closely (but not entirely) on the real world of public relations. The last thing the industry needs is highly coloured representations of what I would described as annoying, overblown and fictional PR.
I agree with others who have suggested it be spun straight into the bin like last week’s leftovers. That’s the majority view of a large number of people in the industry I’ve talked to over the past few days.
It’s a kite – you wanted some reaction. So hand me the scissors – I’ll snip the string. I’d trust the networks and creative producers to come to the same conclusion.
Jenny Muir
National President, PRIA
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