July 2000 NMPRSA Bulletin Online
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Campaigning for the Big I Fix
 |
The public relations engine behind the most
talked about highway construction
project in New Mexico history will be the topic of the New Mexico Public
Relations Society of America July meeting. The presentation by Patty
Watson, of Cooney Watson and Associates, will be included as a part of the
July 27th meeting starting at 11:45am, Thursday, July 27th, in the
Sheraton Uptown Hotel (2600 Louisiana Blvd N E).
Cost for the luncheon is $15 for members, $12 for PRSSA students and $18 for everyone else. RSVP to the luncheon by contacting Sam Giammo at (505) 272-3682 or before noon on Monday, July 24, 2000. Patti leads the team that is developing the communications campaign for the Big I Reconstruction. A native of New Mexico, she has nearly 20 years of experience in all facets of marketing, advertising and public relations with an emphasis on comprehensive communications campaigns. Patti joined Cooney, Watson & and Associates, Inc. in 1991 as a vice president when she returned to Albuquerque from Phoenix. In Phoenix, she served as Vice President/Account Supervisor at vanSant & Co., Inc., where her clients included one of the largest HMOs in the country as well as RCA Canada, a network of more than 700 independent dealers who sold home electronics in all seven provinces of that company. Patti helped establish the Dupont Foundation, a nonprofit foundation sponsoring an annual 20-seminar series addressing medical and quality of life issues for Seniors ranging from sexuality and aging to arthritis and AIDS. She also helped Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico plan and launch the first two "Health Safaris" at the Rio Grande Zoo. The annual events are designed to promote wellness among children and feature exhibitors from public and private sector health care organizations offering free immunizations and screenings. While at Cooney and Associates, Patti has been responsible for designing and implementing award-winning multicultural research and communications campaigns for the New Mexico Department of Health, the Children, Youth & Families Department of New Mexico and the American Cancer Society. Patti has a B.A. in journalism with Highest Honors from the University of New Mexico and has completed graduate courses in marketing. She is currently on the board of directors of Friends for the Public Library, the executive committee of Keep Albuquerque Beautiful, and is a former volunteer publicity chair for the New Mexico Chapter of the American Cancer Society. |
What are we doing to get public relations at
the "executive table"?
By Tom Garrity
NMPRSA President
What are we doing to get public relations at the "executive table"?
Too many times all of us have opened the paper or turned on the evening news only to see an organization being cast in a negative light. I am confident that those organizations that rely upon ethical public relation practitioners often fare better than those that feel they can "wing it" or "spin it" on their own.
One of the ripest areas for public relations to grow is at the executive level. Below are three suggestions on how you can help grow public relation awareness in your organization:
• Show value. What gets the attention of your CEO and/or board of directors? Chances are most executives are interested in sales, service and reputation. How does your competition use public relations? What can your organization learn from companies in other industries? How will you be able to measure the results of a successful public relations campaign? Those are just a few of the questions your executives will be considering, make sure you have answers or options when you address your executive staff.
• Provide sound counsel. Sound counsel isn’t about providing one solution, it is about providing options. The best way to present options is with knowledge of your target market and strategies of how to best reach those audiences. Attending public relation workshops, reading trade publications and being mentored by someone in the public relations field are just a few ways to build up your value in this arena.
• Teach don’t respond. While this is a proven media relation strategy, it also holds water at the executive level. In addition to wanting a firm answer, most executives also want to know the reasons behind a suggested course of action. This is our opportunity to provide insight to the public relations process. We have all heard the saying "give a man a fish and feed him for a day…" Well the same is true with our profession. The more we empower our organizational leadership with the power of PR we will see more practitioners at the executive table.
Those are just three ways to build the value of public relations in your organization. There are other ways to grow the profession in your workplace. For more ideas please feel free to contact any of your NMPRSA board members.
PR Pointers: Talking Shop, Talking
Trends
Contributed by David Geary
Had to return any bad hot dogs lately?
Recalls of consumer products are big business. How big? About 7 recalls are announced every day. A campaign to recall a product and a public relations campaign are very much alike, writes Dr. Dirk Gibson, New Mexico PRSA member and associate professor of communication and journalism at The University of New Mexico. Dr. Gibson found product recalls have been computerized, from investigating the cause, to identifying purchasers, to planning the recall and communicating with affected publics (Gibson, D., "The cyber-revolution in product recall public relations," Public Relations Quarterly, Summer 2000, 24-26).
Want to know what journalists dream of?
More than anything else, journalists want news releases that integrate photos or graphics, and they also want them linked to a web page. Other wish list items include downloadable photos/graphics in JPEG format, information sent by E-mail, and quick response to queries. Journalists also say a "sharp, creative, and credible PR executive beats a canned pitch any day." Nearly 70 percent of journalists report being online both at the office and at home. Results are from the 11th annual media survey of Bennett & Co. More at www.bennettandco.com.
"Will the last one to watch us please turn off the TV?"
U.S. television networks continue to lose viewers for their news programs, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 30 percent watch TV newscasts regularly now, compared to 38 percent two years ago. Fifteen percent now get their news on the Internet, up from six percent only two years ago. Who are these Internet news viewers? They are under age 30, better educated, and consumers. But not everyone moves to the Internet to watch the news. Fewer people say they enjoy following the news, now 45 percent, down from 50 percent two years ago ("US TV networks lose news viewers to Internet, survey finds," Bloomberg News, June 11, 2000).
Report: British Prime Minister spends to spin and spin and spin and ...
British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave 1 billion pounds (US $1.5 billion) of taxpayer cash to outside consultants to put his government in "a good light," reports a London newspaper. One firm reported how to make hospitals more friendly, while another provided for 3 million pounds a list of what it takes to be a good teacher. The newspaper reported consulting contracts went to firms with close ties to Mr. Blair, his ministers, or his political party. The paper opined the half million government employees instead could have done the work, and the 1 billion pounds spent could have built 14 hospitals or 1,000 new schools or pay for 65,000 nurses. ("Blair's pounds 1 billion on spin doctors," London Sunday Mirror, www.sundaymirror.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P2S1.shtml, accessed July 2, 2000).
August 7th APR Deadline is Fast Approaching!
You Must Register with PRSA-National
by That Date
The application registration deadline for the Fall Accredited in Public Relations (APR) exam is August 7, 2000. The test will be administered Saturday, Sept. 16th, in Albuquerque.
You can visit the PRSA web site at www.prsa.org for information about the APR process and how to register, but applications must be in by the close of business on August 7th, east coast time!
The NMPRSA will be sponsoring a weekly preparation course for the exam during August. For more information, contact Chad Perry, APR. His email address is .