Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Mediums

Exploring "A Brand New World" radio doc

It’s a brand new world. Brand being the key word. Coke, Starbucks, Nike—they all want to sell you something. They always have. But today, brands are not just products and branding is not limited to marketing. In this feature [CBC Radio] documentary, Ira Basen takes us inside a burgeoning brand culture where people obsess about their personal brands, form “relationships” with brands on social media, look to them as legitimate vehicles of social and political...

Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Mediums

Goodbye brand journalism and content marketing…hello DIY corporate media!

Evolving to corporate media It was almost a year ago that I interviewed Ira Basen on The intersection of public relations and journalism in the digital age on PR Conversations, a post that was quite popular and seemingly influential. For example, it was due to this late July 2012 interview that Ira Basen was invited a year later to be a keynote speaker at the CPRS Conversations2013 conference. In my most-recent Conversations Byte on Maximize...

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Evolve, grow and pitch your social public relations to the right platforms and audiences

One of the advantages of social public relations is how organizational profile can increase beyond self-hosted brand journalism to platforms owned and operated by others as a result of mindful choices by both parties—the information-sharing relationship and opportunity regarding original content is more equal than the gatekeeper role, and independent reporting and financial filtering goals, of traditional media. I don’t mean simply product or service marketing or promotion, i.e., sales copy masquerading as information. Beyond...

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500 PR Conversations

This is post #501 – which seems a useful milestone to reflect on the previous 500 posts at PR Conversations, and invite you to contribute your views on the blog overall. For me, PR Conversations has provided a global platform for debating and considering a wide range of classic and contemporary developments in public relations. I have had the opportunity to present some new thoughts and argue my viewpoint in relation to some traditional concepts....

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The PR impact of rejection and denial

Modern media is making it ever easier for people to reject things that they don’t want to hear. We can scan and filter out sentiments or information that we find objectionable or which doesn’t fit with our existing world view. But rather than actively assess information before accepting or rejecting it (as proposed by Social Judgement Theory) people seem increasingly to avoid, filter or deny something that they reject out of hand. The phenomenon of...

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The final word – why PR books still matter

When was the last time you read a public relations book? I mean a proper book with pages that you turn by hand, not a representation that you flick with a finger. A real book, where the author had to make a final decision of what to include, before the editing and printing processes committed the ideas permanently to paper. Not like a blog post or other online content that can be readily edited and...

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The intersection of public relations and journalism in the digital age

A conversation with CanWest’s newest Fellow appointment, Ira Basen Notice from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) at Western University “On behalf of the FIMS appointments committee, I am very pleased to announce that Ira Basen has been appointed our CanWestl Fellow for 2012-2013. Mr. Basen will take up the fellowship during this coming fall [2012] term…. During his tenure as CanWest Fellow, Mr. Basen will be teaching a graduate elective, “The Future...

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Archiving the future of public relations

The International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) at Bournemouth University again delivered much fascinating and thought-provoking insight into our past, present and future. None of the papers could be presented without extensive research – whether that involved interviews with those whose experiences are now valuable archive material, or investigating existing resources. It is also interesting to think about how we continue to create history and that even material such as PR Conversations itself could...

Posted on Classic PR Conversations PR Mediums

Grunig PR Masterclass: Insight into diversity and excellence

This post offers a video recording of a recent lecture given by Larissa and James Grunig at New York University – courtesy of Toni Muzi Falconi, who kindly introduces the video below. In addition, Heather Yaxley provides a brief overview of the highlights of the lecture. We extend our thanks to James, Larissa and Toni for offering the video to PR Conversations.   Introduction by Toni Muzi Falconi A few years ago, PR Conversations published...

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Transparent Swedish filmmaker Fredrik-David vs. aggressive Dole-Goliath PR

An exclusive interview with Swedish documentary filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten, about his 2009 BANANAS! film and his currently screening (at film festivals around the world) Big Boys Gone Bananas!* documentary. In particular, we talk about Dole’s aggressive corporate public relations and media campaign, which worked to prevent WG Film’s BANANAS! documentary from screening in the USA on multiple fronts (including Swedish media). “In 2009, Fredrik Gertten’s documentary, BANANAS!, chronicling a lawsuit against controversial food giant Dole...