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Have you seen this video yet? In it, top brass from big PR firms weigh in on the industry’s future and what skills the PR pro of the future will possess.
Ogilvy PR Worldwide produced the video for PR Week. Thanks to Shel Holtz for pointing it out.
Ignore the meaningless jargon—like “think outside the box”—and forget the advice from Mark Penn, who showed through the Clinton campaign that he has no idea about the future of PR. Pay close attention to Harold Burson, the video’s highlight, who talks about the importance of good writing.
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Good list, tho a bit US-centric. The world is full of unmitigated PR gaffes; Renault's F1 race fixing; UK PM Gordon Brow...
Comments (13)
I was disappointed that there was nothing really about ethics, honesty, responsibility to ALL the stakeholders instead of just the board and maybe shareholders, and all the things that still need to be said -- and done.
Not to mention some accommodation and encouragement for those who still have an attention span. Five-second soundbites are essentially meaningless, as this video demonstrates.
Posted by MaryanneJ | January 9, 2009 11:38 AM
Posted on January 9, 2009 11:38
Amen to Roger D'Aprix' comments.
Posted by andrea just | January 9, 2009 8:52 AM
Posted on January 9, 2009 08:52
I had a client - a seasoned female communications pro - who described it this way: "The industry is going to skinny girls in black suits, who talk in nasally voices on cell phones nonstop wherever they go."
Posted by Anonymous - another one | January 7, 2009 1:00 PM
Posted on January 7, 2009 13:00
I think the PR professional of the future should at least...have a clue.
A New York-based reporter once told me: I have children calling me all day long who don't know what I write about, don't know what my publication covers, and in fact don't even know what they're pitching.
Posted by Jay | January 7, 2009 11:33 AM
Posted on January 7, 2009 11:33
Much of this could have been said and was said 20 years ago about the future of the business. We had terrible writers then, and even more now. Jargon was out of control then, and it certainly is now if you go by this video.
That's not to say what they said is not true, it's just that little has changed.
Agree with the others about that picture. What are we all supposed to be women in thigh-high boots in the next ten years? Please.
Posted by Anonymous | January 7, 2009 9:55 AM
Posted on January 7, 2009 09:55
I'm starting to think the successful PR professional of the future will have to learn to write badly and do it really well.
dm
Posted by donmorberg | January 6, 2009 11:50 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 11:50
I'm starting to think the successful PR professional of the future will have to learn to write badly and do it really well.
dm
Posted by donmorberg | January 6, 2009 11:49 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 11:49
I thought this video was dreadful, and missed the mark. I agree with everyone who has criticized the cartoon character with thigh-high boots (and love the "I wonder how well she writes" comment).
Writing is important, very much so, so how did so much jargon get into this piece--did no one write down what they were going to say and actually look at it?
I think Pat Williams (above comment) has the most cogent answer to the question presumably answered by this piece. The video: not so much.
Posted by Jen Zingsheim | January 6, 2009 11:39 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 11:39
Yeah;
If they are not already proficient with these tools you can't (by rule) call them the top brass anymore. It's like watching the dinosaurs plod right into the tar pit! Can these pepole be any more behind the curve?
Posted by Christopher Lower | January 6, 2009 10:52 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 10:52
I was tying to pay attention to the stuff about good writing, really I was...
But that female "PR Superhero" was most annoying...what with the thigh-high boots and red garters. A bit too much like Lara Croft Tomb Raider and all that connotes.
She does not look like any PR superhero I know. I wonder how well she writes.
Posted by Christine Elias | January 6, 2009 10:51 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 10:51
I was tying to pay attention to the stuff about good writing, really I was...
But that female "PR Superhero" was most annoying...what with the thigh-high boots and red garters. A bit too much like Lara Croft Tomb Raider and all that connotes.
She does not look like any PR superhero I know. I wonder how well she writes.
Posted by Christine Elias | January 6, 2009 10:50 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 10:50
This reminds me of the scene in Woody Allen's "Love & Death" in which one cliche followed another. You an lead a horse to water...
Posted by Paul | January 5, 2009 5:29 PM
Posted on January 5, 2009 17:29
When I was interviewing Roger D'Aprix in November about his book "The Credible Company," I asked him what a future professional should study in college. This is what he said:
The liberal arts, for writing skills and intellectual acuity, the ability to anticipate and analyze – make sense of – various types of information. Knowledge is becoming more and more specialized, compartmentalized. And there’s more and more information.
So what you need is a way of making sense of it and providing context. And that’s what the liberal arts give you – history, literature, philosophy, the arts.
Posted by pat williams | January 5, 2009 10:44 AM
Posted on January 5, 2009 10:44