Super Heroes of PR
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I'm a member and past President of the West Michigan Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and I'm currently on the board again. On my wall are some of the direct mail pieces promoting the upcoming annual awards banquent, and the theme is all about "super heroes" which I think is totally appropriate.
Public Relations can be a thankless job, although it has become better understood over the past few years, especially when Al and Laura Ries wrote their book "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR" in 2002. Some still view PR as the "publicity office" with the pure function of getting news coverage. Others view it as the office of spin, where every phrase is turned and crafted until all of it is pretty meaningless. Others view PR as the "feel good" office where the philanthropy budgets are administered. We do that here, sure, but that's just a piece of our story.
In the end, there are elements of all those things in good PR (if you were to use the term "message development" rather than "spin"). In my opinion, PR is the story teller of an organization, with the idea that the story never ends but evolves and grows with the participation of its key audiences. At any given point we can tell the story as it is today, knowing that in a year or two what we say now is totally irrelevant. That's why it's frustrating sometimes when people hold you to a statement made seven years ago. Unless it was a statement made about some foundational pillar of your business, it was a statement that reflected the reality of your business that day.
So, for instance, today we can say we're the #1 online retailer in the Health and Beauty category (based on sales)because that's how Internet Retailer has ranked us (again!). That may not always be the truth, but today it is. Keeping abreast of an ever-evolving business (you have to evolve to survive) and continue to tell the story without taking a breath takes super heroic powers, possessed by our PR staff.
As the PR lead, Anna is like the stretchy woman who has long arms and amazing flexibility. She has a great ability to juggle many things at once, and reach far back into her files to get the info we need to tell the story. Plus, she doesn't freak out. That's always a good thing when dealing with crisis situations.
As the lead for our corporate citizenship efforts, Leyla's superhero power is her huge heart (and the capacity to entertain children the world over). She oversees our One By One Campaign for Children, and you may have seen her in Los Angeles last weekend while running the donation desk at the Spotlight Event. She'll be at five or six of those incredible events this year, while overseeing our other sponsorships and affiliations as well. She's at the national Easter Seals convention this week, where IBOs Jim and Pam Pierce will be recognized for giving more than $1 million to Easter Seals over the past 20 years. WOW! Hopefully IBOs attending upcoming Spotlight Events are inspired by the Pierce's leadership and generosity when considering donations to Easter Seals.
Which leads us to the final PR team staff member -- Katie Pearsall Syckle. Katie has been the Matrix-y person on our team, diving into our social media and web efforts. She's the main moderator and whip behind the Opportunity Zone, the monitor of the web conversation about our brands, the owner of the Quixtar Newsroom. She's also leaving us to rejoin the creative team as editor for the IBO Support team, which produces Achieve, the Welcome Kit, events materials, and more in support of IBOs across the U.S. and Canada.
So, we're now looking for another Super Hero of PR. Knowing the culture within Quixtar, I'm sure we'll find another hard working achiever who will take over where Katie left off and continue to drive us forward in this brave new world.
There are others on the team, including Intern Charlotte and Contractor Lindsay who also are amazing. Elizabeth, meanwhile, is like Optimus Prime, transforming herself between advertising and sponsorships and events and other duties as the Lead for Advertising and Sponsorships. This week she was in Chicago for an ad shoot. While in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby she was nearly constant on the phone working with vendors and internal "clients" for whom she is the lynch pin. We're getting her a Super Hero sidekick soon.
The team is small but powerful. I'm glad they're on my side! (And yours.)