global discussion. local perspectives.
John Wiley Hill, president of Hill & Knowlton, Inc. wrote chapter six in the 1948 US book, edited by Glenn and Denny Griswold, Your Public Relations (being serialised here with monthly posts) – to read other chapters in our series of posts, use this link to the book’s contents list. By 1948 Hill had over two decades’ experience in PR (following 18 years as a journalist and financial editor), which he entered as a consultant setting...
This topic remains as relevant today as when the following insight into the public relations department of 1948 was written by Conger Reynolds, public relations director at the Standard Oil Company (Indiana), in the book, Your Public Relations. This is chapter five – to read other chapters in our series of posts, use this link to the book’s contents list. In 1948, according to the University of Iowa, Conger Reynolds received the Award of the...
Pendleton Dudley established a PR agency in New York in 1909, reportedly after a suggestion by Ivy Lee who felt competition would be good for the fledgling industry. By the time of authoring the following chapter in Your Public Relations in 1948, his company was known as Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy (D-A-Y). When sold to Ogilvy Mather in 1983, D-A-Y was the world’s oldest continuously operating PR firm; the name disappearing in 1988. Described by Scott Cutlip (in...
J.T. Lewis, Jr., president of Lewis Welding & Engineering Corporation was the author of the third chapter in the 1948 US book, edited by Glenn and Denny Griswold, Your Public Relations (being serialised here with monthly posts). It is interesting that the focus on PR for small business has such a prominent place in the book. The argument put forward by Mr Lewis who operated a small plant in Bedford, Ohio, employing 261 workers, was...
Harry A. Bullis, chairman of the board of General Mills Inc, was a champion of “the importance of public relations as a basic policy-making function’ according to Glenn and Denny Griswold, editors of the 1948 US book, Your Public Relations, which I’m reproducing as a series of monthly blog posts. Bullis is stated as believing “public relations is good business and that it deserves a position in management thinking alongside production, distribution and finance.” The...
In 1948, Glenn and Denny Griswold, PR consultants and publisher/co-editors of Public Relations News, drew together thirty-four “outstanding experts” in the book Your Public Relations. These contributors shared their wide variety of experience and authority as “a working manual for management executives, public relations directors and counsel, career aspirants, teachers and students, and all those interested in fitting themselves into the modern pattern of human relationships”. Looking back over 65 years, these contributions continue to...
As an employee relations (or internal communication) professional, how do you specifically identify your stakeholders? What approach and methods do you adopt and how do you implement them appropriately in order to communicate clearly? A guest interview and conversation between Toni Muzi Falconi and Rachel Miller Recently Toni Muzi Falconi approached PR Conversations about some of his current examinations regarding alternative approaches to communicating with stakeholders. It was determined the most effective method to understand...
Perhaps atypical of my cohort, but continuing to find a place for PR theory in my agency’s practice Guest post by Katie Sheppet PR practitioners of Generation Y, including myself, often are pigeonholed as the “I want it right now” generation (The PR Practitioner). We’re criticised for thinking we know everything or for wanting “it all” too fast. Whilst this can ring true for some, it’s unfair to say we’re all the same. That was...
Public relations for public relations is effective! Why should we be surprised? Guest OpEd by Toni Muzi Falconi “I have nothing against regulation that verifies and controls, in the public interest, the consequences of our actions, because we need to be fully responsible for what we do. As journalists need to be free to write what they wish, we also need to be free to act as we wish. But over certain limits both of...
By Mojca Drevenšek What is the role and importance of public relations professionals in fostering integrated reporting (IR) practices in corporations and other organizations? This was the theme of my 2012 Bledcom paper, highly influenced by an earlier conference paper by Benita Steyn and Estelle de Beer, “The Strategic Role of Public Relations in the Process of Integrated Reporting” (republished on PR Conversations). In this guest post I outline my paper’s most important concepts. Defining...