Australia is the most valuable country brand. Then the USA and then Italy. On the relationship between brand and branding, and between branding and public relations…

As many professionals operate in the travel and tourism sector, and as the general concept of branding (corporate and product/service) is more and more intertwined with that of stakeholder relationships in practically every conscious public, private or social organization (while marketing and corporate communicators continue to uselessly struggle at many higher levels on who should be in charge…) it is useful to see what the market says.

After 100 years since Lee’s Declaration of Principles…where are we?

If there is one thing which unites all of us, who practice public relations (disregarding age, experience, country, specific practice)… it is that we were brought up eating, digesting and expelling press releases and media relations. As many are aware, this 2006 marks the one hundredth anniversary since Ivy Ledbetter Lee issued his Declaration of Principles, which, for the first time, rationalised the concept of media relations.Let’s read an excerpt:

Is it communication for development or is it public relations? Does it really matter what it is, as long as it is what it is? A fascinating, somewhat irritating, but truly rich chronicle of a passionate exchange on (what I would call..) stakeholder relationship practices.. Peter and Paul have a go..and..Ursula helps shed some light..

Next Friday, October 27, in Rome (Italy) the Global Alliance is holding a ‘special event session’ at the World Congress on Communication for Development (see earlier posts) whose official title is: The role of public relations in the new development paradigm. In preparation for this event -and in view of the final recommendations of the three day debate with some 600 participants from all over the world- a first, rough and explicitly ‘all-encompassing-and-to-be-very-much-slimmed-in-its-final-version’ draft of the final document, was...

Canada to revise pr procurement? Professional associations are beginning to realize that pr is not only private sector…good news

An interesting effort by the Canadian Public Relations Association has just begun. In an early post of this blog I wrote of another action undertaken by the Italian PR Association (FERPI) to ensure that increasing public spending on public relations be carefully monitored. In yet another we commented the media take up and the CIPR’s quick response to a report which indicated a similar increase of spent in the UK….it seems as if professional associations...