(This week, PR News editors Phil Hall and Courtney Barnes discuss dubious activity reports where media coverage is "pending" but actual results are nowhere to be
seen.)
PHIL: More often than I care to recall, I've been asked by entrepreneurial friends to review activity reports generated by their PR reps. My friends were
always confused because these reports were thick with claims of "coverage pending" or "we're in contact with," but the actual ROI was scant or nonexistent. My answer was always
the same: The activity reports were a pile of bovine excrement (that's not my exact language, but you get my drift). Let's shine our lights on a dark and dirty secret of the PR
world: Activity reports which fudge the facts and hype up a ton of "pending" coverage which the PR person knows is not coming. This is a vain attempt to hide the lack of PR
activity might work for a while, but unless you are producing results this nonsense will eventually become apparent. Few things are more damaging to our profession than that type
of chicanery.
COURTNEY: This practice certainly doesn't bode well for a profession already plagued by credibility issues, and in this case, PR executives have no one to blame but
themselves. It draws to light the importance of one theme we're constantly reiterating - transparency - as well as that of C-suite relations. For example, falsifying information
on an activity report makes a PR executive's relationship with the CEO or CFO all the more tenuous; heightened activity may put you in favor with them momentarily, but the instant
the embellishments are discovered, the PR department will be starting from below ground zero to come back into favor.
PHIL: Clearly if a PR push is not generating results, there is a problem that needs solving - not hiding. When I was running my own PR agency and a campaign was
fizzling when it should've been soaring, the first thing I did was acknowledge the problem to my client with an explanation of what was going wrong. We would then brainstorm an
alternative route to follow and proceed accordingly. People appreciate being told a problem exists, but no one enjoys discovering a problem after endless assurances that all is
copacetic.
COURTNEY: Not to mention the domino effect set into motion by misrepresenting activity reports: Doing so also impacts the superiors to the PR executive, be they
clients, CMOs or SVPs, by making them lose credibility as well if they report to their own bosses that all is well. It's a sure-fire way to sink the entire ship. After all, with
the difficulties PR pros already have with measuring their ROI, calling everyone's bluff only inflames the trouble down the road.
PHIL: Here is a message to all senior level PR people: Never encourage junior level staff to fudge an activity report in order to give the impression that
nonexistent coverage is just around the corner. And while you're at it, don't do it yourself. I can run a laundry list of companies I know that fired their PR counsel when the
sham reports were exposed for being a lot of nonsense. It's okay to tell lies about your golf game and your love life, but when you start telling lies about PR activity you'll
only wind up getting burned...and our profession, as a whole, will also get charred in the process.