One of the most important decisions a PR pro has to make early on in his/her career is what type of professional s/he wants to be.
I received a request to do a blog post about this, which was inspired by this article in PR Week, about how Naomi Campbell’s PR advisors handled her appearance at the Hague. Although PR Week is indeed a publication that discusses strategy, reports news, and explores the PR process, this article is a classic example of how professionals can become… well… boastful.
While I was asked about my opinion, I really am not in the position to comment on how a PR person should or should not be, as long as they are professional in their demeanor. I think it is more important to decide on how a professional chooses to practice within the profession. However, it is very unfortunate that on the whole, the ball takes those modest PR pros who choose not to broadcast their every success so widely… feeding the vacuum of misconceptions that the PR profession is a “spin doctor’s” profession.
Sigh.
I read somewhere recently that “what other people think of you is not your business.” While this statement may sound momentarily freeing and comforting, in PR at least, that is very untrue.
Tags: boasting and pr, ethics and pr, imc, pr pros and conduct, pr week, public relations professionals, spin doctors
Can anyone tell me what the ultimate goal of boasting is? Is it for glory? To create a buzz? Or a strategic PR decision planned carefully in the coverage of a story?
I am just trying to build my career on values such as integrity, humility, dedication and passion. I can’t help to wonder why these guys feel the need to shout out loud how brilliant their startegy was. It just depletes completely the whole story in my eyes. No more feasability.
Ok, I must admit I am loosing completely my neutrality by making this comment but the truth is, I felt very uncomfortable reading the article. But maybe I misinterpreted?
I must say, I felt quite uncomfortable while reading PR week’s article on the event…it seemed to me nothing more than pure advertising to the PR agency dealing with those celebrities, and most of all, it sounded not sincere at all.
I agree with the comments on that website, stating that the article seemed to be addressed to a stupid audience. Which is embarrassing.
Personally, I believe in understatement, which is oxymoric in the PR field. But I think that honesty and consistency pay more than boasting, on a long term. I believe in straightforward relationships between professionals and their clients, I believe in reliability and in truthful news.
But I guess that this attitude strongly depends on the kind on target a professional decides to work for….once you choose your field, everything comes along. And celebrities require professionals that believe in smoke, instead of meat (this is mutuated from the Italian way of saying “tanto fumo, niente arrosto”. I personally disapprove this..