New PR Director
The Public Relations Society of America's new director of PR, Richard George, attended his first major PRSA event and surfaced last week as one of the on-site troubleshooters making sure the PRSA Counselors Academy ran smoothly. George replaces former PR director Steve Erickson, who left several days before the annual conference in November 1996. PRSA spent months interviewing candidates for the job.
But George, who was PR manager at The Weightman Group, Philadelphia, told PR NEWS during an interview at Counselors Academy that he won't be serving as the spokesperson for PRSA. He said PRSA President Debra Miller will continue in that role.
George, instead, will be responsible for managing the exchange of information. George did say, however, that among his future goals are resurrecting the society's "PR for PR Campaign" and putting together a long-term PRSA PR plan to "show the value and power of PR."
Among George's first assignments will be circulating, to trade publications and members, the results of a recent membership telephone survey (more than 600 members were questioned) about members' needs.
Results of the survey are expected to be released within a month. PRSA COO Ray Gaulke said the last membership survey was conducted about five years ago.
According to Gaulke, PRSA is made up of about 33 percent counselors; 33 percent corporate communicators; and 33 percent of PR practitioners from non-profits.
On the Horizon: Cyber Not Just St. Pete Heat
The PR industry may have been late jumping on the Internet and technology bandwagon, but rest assured: the words cyberspace, online and the World Wide Web were on the lips of most counselors.
In fact, conversations included references to Shandwick International's recent formation of its interactive division, whose most notable client is Microsoft, the monolith that traditionally used Waggener Edstrom to handle its PR.
In that same vein, there was mention of a similar new venture: Porter Novelli, which is slated to be merged by holding company Omnicom with soon-to-be-acquired Fleishman-Hillard, has also started an interactive branch.
And if that isn't proof enough that PR professionals are becoming more technologically savvy, consider that the crowd of PR counselors who attended the "Afternoon Cybersession" presentation on May 5 couldn't fit into the room where the presentation was held.
Members stood outside in the hall to try to hear what was happening.
PR Professionals: Are they Generational Interpreters?
Harold E. Quinley, a partner at market research firm Yankelovich Partners, told PRSA counselors during his keynote address on May 6 that among the challenges they face are knowing that customer relations programs may vary drastically depending on what generation they're dealing with: Matures, Boomers or Xers.
In a presentation laced with humor and an introspective look at how generations differ in their consumer approaches, PR practitioners were reminded that although the public is "open to new approaches" today, PR professionals will be among those who must shoulder understanding the consumer differences among the generations.
During his address, Quinley also gave PR experts these statistics about the population's trust in institutions today and how they have shifted through the years: for instance, Yankelovich studies show that trust in major corporations plummeted from 29 percent in 1987 to 14 percent in 1996. Quinley concluded that what has evolved is a more intelligent, take-charge consumer trying to manage the "technology paradox." And it's PR people who will be among the leaders in breaking through that clutter to reach consumers.