advertising – Cedric Brown

Ten PR Lessons from Confessions of an Advertising Man

Most public relations professionals would tell you that differentiating themselves from their peers in marketing and advertising has become a part of the daily duties. So why then would a PR professional ever be interested in reading a book titled, Confessions of an Advertising Man?

I recently read David Ogilvy’s book for my PR Management course at Newhouse. Believe it or not, Confessions of an Advertising Man draws many interesting parallels for PR professionals to consider in their own line of work. Here are my ten favorite quotes and their relation to PR:

“You don’t have to be a Christian to behave like a gentleman” – One of the more humorous quotes, PR professionals (or all reasonable professionals) should conduct their work ethically and as if the entire organization depends on it. (See Arthur W. Page Society principles)

“Imitation may be the ‘sincerest form of plagiarism,’ but it is also the mark of an inferior person” – Being authentic goes a long way in PR.

“It is easy to be beguiled by acres of desks, departments, and other big agency appaurtenances. What counts is the real motive power of the agency, the creative potency” – Bigger isn’t always better when you’re trying to find the perfect agency to work with or work at. Remember: quality over quantity.

“A habit of graceful surrender on trivial issues will make you difficult to resist on those rare occasions when you must stand and fight on a major issue” – Not every disagreement with a client is worth being right over. PR professionals must often pick and choose their battles.

“When you sit down to write your body copy, pretend that you are talking to the woman on your right at a dinner party. She has asked you, ‘I am thinking of buying a new car. Which would you recommend?’ Write your copy as if you were answering that question” – In other words, most PR writing should be factually-based with limited “fluff.”

“I never tell one client that I cannot attend his sales convention because I have a previous engagement with another client; successful polygamy depends upon pretending to each spouse that she is the only pebble on your beach” – The best leaders in PR are able to deliver personalized solutions for their clients’ needs.

“…I praise my staff as rarely as Pitard praised his chefs, in the hope that they too will appreciate it more than a steady gush of appreciation” – Maybe not everyone will agree with this one, but it’s something to think about when trying to avoid becoming complacent.

“…I see red when anybody at Ogilvy, Benson & Mather tells a client that we cannot produce an advertisement or a television commercial on the day we have promised it. In the best establishments, promises are always kept, whatever it may cost in agony and overtime” – For PR professionals, time management and teamwork are key to avoiding such situations.

“I have never wanted to get an account so big that I could not afford to lose it. The day you do that, you commit yourself to living with fear. Freightened agencies lose their courage to give candid advice; once you lose that you become a lackey” – Whether you’re just starting out your career or an established firm owner, PR professionals should never put all of their eggs into one basket.

“I admire people who work with gusto. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, I beg you to find another job. Remember the Scottish proverb, ‘be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead” – Sounds easy enough, right?

As a fairly quick read, it’s no wonder Confessions of an Advertising Man is considered a classic for business professionals. I highly recommend it for professionals at all levels.

Do You Know What GE Is? How Companies are Using Advertising for PR

Lately there’s an emphasis on public relations professionals to know other communications disciplines such as advertising, marketing and journalism. We talked about the idea, otherwise known as integrated marketing communications, a few weeks ago in my PR Theory course at Newhouse, where the discussion began with this question: What is the difference between PR and IMC?

As I understand it, integrated marketing communications encompasses everything in the mix to help an organization sell itself, while PR largely focuses on building relationships with those who’re involved with the organization. So it’s no surprise that PR is part of the IMC mix as building relationships with stakeholders in turn helps you better sell your products and/or services to them.

As demonstrated in their latest advertising campaign, GE understands the need for communications to be integrated. In their recent string of commercials on TV, GE use advertising as a tool to educate stakeholders on what it is they actually do through the life of a young professional, named “Owen,” who deals with skepticism from family and friends when he tells them about his new job with GE as an industrial internet developer.

Without delving too much into the nature of the commercials, here’s why I think it works:

It personifies an era – The genius behind GE’s campaign is that the character Owen is a millennial entering a new profession in traditional corporate establishment. For GE to build interest in the next generation’s workforce to be excited about their opportunities, it makes sense to cast a character who speaks to their culture. Overall, GE ties a new and exciting field (technology development) with their staple offering (sustainability) in a way that merges generations.

It educates – With most campaigns in PR, the goal is to raise awareness for a cause or an issue. In GE’s case, they use commercials to indirectly enlighten their audience that they’re not just an industrial company anymore, and that the scope of what they do is much broader. Putting this message into their commercials not only allows GE to reach the millennials they’re trying to target to work for them, but also older generations who’ve known GE to be something else.

It’s funny – Humor can be a slippery slope when your message is meant to communicate something of value. Everyone’s sense of humor is different and what may be funny to one person may be offensive to another. GE makes the wise choice to go with subtle humor in each of its commercials for its campaign. Whether it’s the competition between Owen and his friend who’s also a developer, or his father who assumes he can’t pick up the hammer, it’s hard not to chuckle a bit when you’re forced to empathize with Owen’s struggles to get his point across.

As IMC becomes the new trend for companies to get their message across, you’re going to see more companies like GE utilize various mediums to get their PR campaigns across to their audience. Gone will be the days where advertising is strictly used to sell products and services, but rather used a starting point for an even greater brand conversation. After all, why else would a brand like Twitter, who doesn’t sell anything tangible other than advertising, take out a commercial like this?

Creating Motivation from Mourning: A Nonprofit’s 9/11 Story

What if you were born on September 11, 2001? Would you feel ashamed to be forever associated with such a tragic day? Or would you embrace it and see your birth as a day that brought Americans together?

That’s the question MyGoodDeed is asking as it kicks off this year’s campaign for 9/11 National Day of Service of Remembrance. For the seventh straight year, MyGoodDeed, a nonprofit organization founded by David Paine and Jay Winuk, has turned the idea of 9/11 from a day of tragedy into a day of hope and optimism. This year the organization enlisted the help of Grey New York to deliver an advertisement that tells the story of 9/11 through the eyes of children who were born on the day of the terrorists attacks.

From a public relations perspective, 9/11 Day has three elements that make it a newsworthy an powerful campaign:

Timeliness – Whether or not you lost loved ones in the attacks on 9/11, you’ll always remember the day like it was yesterday. Such a pivotal day in this nation’s history often brings up negative memories rather than positive ones. However, the concept 9/11 Day capitalizes on the negative emotions and instead turns it into positive actions as it joins Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as the only nationally recognized day under federal law.
Emotion – 9/11 invokes different emotions for each of us. Understandably, those who lost loved ones to the 9/11 terrorists attacks may struggling with this day of mourning. On the other hand, others will remember it as a time when people came together to stand strong in the face of terrorism. These are the people who 9/11 Day’s story most resonates with. In spite of the lives that ended that day, thousands of others began and the children of 9/11 serve as a powerful reminder of that.
Change – 9/11 Day is refreshing because it gives Americans an opportunity to change the conversation about the day’s symbolic meaning into something positive. Not only does the campaign encourage people to commit to an act of kindness, but it also provides an opportunity to donate $9.11 or more to help support MyGoodDeed’s education programs and volunteer events. Through the donations it receives, the organization uses a powerful story in hopes of promoting charitable service in honor of lost lives.

Campaigns like these that utilize storytelling through the lens of youth represent the power nonprofits have to inspire the world. This is the kind of work I hope to be involved with one day as it’s a great example of using PR for good.