A respected media figure had convinced me over the space of Senior League hockey match on which we were both reporting that ‘a young lad like you should be in PR’.

As I celebrate 20 years to the day in the PR business – with a five year sabbatical in the early Noughties – it’s fascinating to see how the profession, its people and its tools have evolved, but the fundamentals have remained.

In 1990 much of what we did was much, much simpler. PR was synonymous with publicity and that about summed it up.  Success or otherwise was based on the clippings’ book you could generate at month end and it was the ‘in thing’ to have a PR agency.

Those early days learning the ropes were days when PR very much played second fiddle to advertising. All the effort (and most of the budget)  went into finding the ‘big idea’ for the ad and PR was something from which you got  extra ‘free’ coverage. That made PR difficult to monetise and often relegated it to ‘a nice thing to do’ status.

I suppose one of the most significant changes in the communications’ world over the past two decades has been the elevation of PR as a major brand-building and brand protection  tool – to the point where it is given serious attention within boardrooms across the world.  Yes, PR has grown up.

The ways in which campaigns are developed, delivered and accounted for have all moved on too.  Detailed stakeholder mapping, research, useage of online and offline communications’ channels, scientific evaluation techniques have all served to increase the credibility and attractiveness of PR as a key marketing discipline.  And rightly so.

The speed with which reputations can be tarnished thanks to the plethora of modern day communication channels from twitter to blogs and 24 hr news means PR professionals have got to be on their toes 24/7.  Furthermore, it is all the more important that organisations work hard on building reservoirs of goodwill so if and when things go wrong they will have something on which to fall back.

While the way in which we ‘do it’ has changed there are, however, (at least) three abiding principles that I suspect will still be here in another 20 years when (hopefully) I’m retired!

1. PR is still about markets, messages and media – just like it was on my first day in summer 1990. There are just more markets and media nowadays!

2. Good communication is still vital for organisations seeking to grow their businesses.

3. Organisations who don’t take communication seriously will suffer or never reach their full potential.

I’ve been interested to observe how one of the world’s leading brands, Apple, have handled their recent Iphone 4 antennae crisis.  20 years ago a similar scenario would, no doubt, have been handled by issuing customer letters over a number of weeks and maybe taking an ad or two in the daily papers to explain the problem and proposed solution. They might even have used the odd fax (remember those?). Today they do an online press conference, supported by powerpoint, put up links on their website and then produce an app which you download to order your new ‘free’ protective case.  Within seconds the info is flashed all over the world.  Both good solutions for their time and, in my view, reflective of good customer service and communication strategies.

What intrigues me is how they would handle it 20 years from now?  Wow! Time to dream a little …

Here’s to the next 20!

DMcC

World Touring Cars, as we have learned over the past few months, is the equivalent of F1 in saloon cars. Supported by F2 these guys from literally all over the world are hitting speeds of up to 165mph which makes for a fantastic spectator watch.

Almost 700,000 people attend the various WTCC meetings throughout the season and the races are watched by around 400 MILLION television viewers thanks to the strong support of Eurosport.  WTCC attracts a significant following in the print world too, with newspapers like the The Sun, The Mirror and a host of mags dedicating hoards of single column inches to the championship – all of which provide a major marketing opportunity for sponsors.

World Touring Cars is a massive opportunity for sponsors to have their brands exposed to potential buyers whether they be consumers or businesses.

Our man, Colin Turkington, the current British Touring Car Champion who came home from last weekend’s WTCC event with four trophies plans to compete in at least two further World events in the Far East.  He currently enjoys support from a variety of top brands including e-Bay Motors and Lafarge Cement, but we are currently on the look out for a small number of organisations to get behind him and help provide additional cash to enable him to compete once again against the best in the world in Japan and China.

If you would like your organisation to be involved contact us at growingreputations@seriouspr.com before 31 August.

To find out more about WTCC why not visit their website www.fiawtcc.com?

Colin Turkington at Brands Hatch. Click on the image and look out for the Serious PR logo left of the front wheel!

According to the column the high cost of imperialism continues to be felt at Stormont – at least in the gift shop where a small box if mint imperials will set you back £1.94.  For this you get 13 sweets which as the columnist points out is ‘one for each day the union jack is permitted to fly from the building.’

Now that’s a tasty wee yarn. Boom, boom.

The very clever Belfast-based architectural practice, which was established during The Troubles has left its finger prints all over the best parts of the new Belfast. And last week its efforts were rewarded when it won the Legacy to Belfast Award as part of the annual Belfast Business Awards.

TODD employs 40 staff at its Hill Street HQ and offers services in architecture, town planning, urban design and master planning.  The firm also provides workplace and interior design consultancy.

In the past decade the practice has design key strategic projects including the redevelopment of the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus, Invest NI’s HQ and the new Titanic Quarter development where it has been involved in a number of buildings including the Gateway Offices, The Public Record Office, the new campus at Belfast Metropolitan College and the iconic Titanic Signature project.

Well done Paul, Peter and co.