Earlier this week I reviewed Talespin, a book on pr disasters by Gerry McCusker (a scot who lives in Melbourne)
Q1. What brought you to Australia?
Fate. Came here on holiday and was offered a job/sponsorship to emigrate on just my second day here, and set about helping an integrated agency to offer PR as part of its communications mix.
Q2. How did you get into PR?
Originally wanted to be a sports journo, but did a Comms Diploma instead and choose a sports PR company for my first work placement. There, I was writing a lot and meeting many famous Scottish football stars, so thought 'this PR gig will do me just fine", and they employed me.
Q3. How do you think the quality of the Australian PR industry compares to major markets like the UK or the USA?
Here's a neat sideswerve, Trevor; I'm more coming round to the idea that the quality of consultant is often determined by the quality of the client (internal or external). From my personal exposure to PR in the UK and Oz, though, I do think that UK clients tend to be, generally, more ballsy and prepared to back and resource imaginative strategies and tactics a bit more readily. This encourages more boldness in both PR creativity and executions. In PR, our current collective challenge is to really demonstrate how the work we do permeates all contemporary biz decisions - as it increasingly does - and have our strategic input valued, along with our tactical executions.
Q4. Why did you write talespin and what are you hoping it will achieve?
Talespin came to me after a non-PR pal got enmeshed in a PR disaster and when he relayed his plight, I wondered how many other people had had similar brushes with PR gaffes. Research showed there were numerous cases. And as someone who's proud of my PR career, I wanted to show the complexity and perils of the PR arena so that people realised the skillset involved in executing good PR and the pitfalls we face. And if the book strikes people as an informative and enjoyable read, then that's great, too.
Q5. Gerry, your book covers 79 PR disasters, all of them pretty recent. Why do you think there are so many?
See above; the work of the PR practitioner is inherently fraught with danger; there's tremendous scope for things to go awry in the communication process, so practitioners need to be very aware and very savvy. Also, our colleagues in the media seem to love to talk up 'incidents' that they conveniently dub 'PR disasters', so they're on the lookout for gaffes and stuff-ups, reporting them (and inaccurately labelling many) with greater frequency.
Q6. The Ketchum-Williams affair seems to be another example of a PR company trying to be less than transparent and getting caught out?
Why do they keep doing it? The Ketchum-Williams case casts the PR profession in a pretty poor light. But it's interesting to consider that in almost every sphere of modern life, 'winning at all cost' is absolutely everything. Athletes use drugs, sports stars and officials take bribes, execs scam shareholders, people transgress then try to stonewall or excuse their actions. But whenever any 'market leader' is involved in malpractice, it's a truly ominous time for the industry they're in.
Q7. Do you think episodes like Ketchum damage the PR industry?
Absolutely (see above); I keep jumping the gun on these questions! But I think that a real PR disaster like this is a portent of a much bigger question about ethics throughout business and society; I mean, did the US Dept of Ed (if that was the Ketchum client) know about or sanction the 'investment' in Williams. And as with the Karen Ryan Medicare VNR scandal last year, there are many more stakeholders in PR who should be brought to task as well.
Q8. Do you think there is a case for tougher laws and sanctions to regulate the PR industry?
Yes. The existing memberships seems committed to doing the right thing, but because sign-up is voluntary, our industry will struggle. And do you penalise individuals or the companies that they represent? Also, doour clients share the commitment to making PR practice a 'zero tolerance' zone? Because many of them just want to 'win at any cost', even PR outfits who've done wrong can continue to practice and grow even after they've been exposed. Something's rotten in the state of Denmark, to loosely quote a talented writer of old. Curiously, though, media coverage is probably one of the best deterrents against PR malpractice.
Q9. What impact do you think blogging will have on PR, if any?
Blogging's powerful for a number of reasons, most notably sharing, transparency and unity. Blogs help individual consultants in disparate agencies to stay connected which could be very useful in sharing knowledge and experience. And blogs can quickly spotlight shady practices among those who have the real power to change this; practitioners themselves. Also, those with the energy to keep up blogs may, in fact, be those who're best placed to actively drive best practice PR. The more that we stand united behind attempts to keep the industry's professional standards up, the more we'll be helping future generations of PR people. OK, that's me off the soapbox for now!!
Q10. Finally, what's next for you? Another book?
Well, I've already been involved in helping edit a new book called 'GUTS' telling how businesses can emotionally re-connect with consumers and stakeholders. I've recently finished reworking my comedy adventure novel called 'Encore'; so fingers crossed on that front, too.
tag: public relations
I mean, did the US Dept of Ed (if that was the Ketchum client) know about or sanction the 'investment' in Williams.
Yes. It was specifically written into their contract that they would use Williams and that he would hype the No Child Left Behind initiative on his TV program. If Williams' name had not been written into the contract, if it had all been done with a wink and a nod, it might never have come to light.
Since that time another commentator had been caught taking taxpayer financed payola. Representative Louise Slaughter has issued a series of Freedom of Information Requests, so it is possible that more payola will be exposed.
At this point the question in political circles is whether this is payola as much as a government-make-work program for third rate conservative commentators.
But there are signs that Ketchum is learning, they sent several of their people to the recent New Communications Forum.
Posted by: Alice Marshall | 05 February 2005 at 10:43 AM
Check out the latest in American mis-information follies-
http://technoflak.blogspot.com/2005/02/department-of-dumb.html
Posted by: Alice Marshall | 05 February 2005 at 01:29 PM