Public Relations Gilded and Gelded. Hard- Won

Public Relations Gilded and Gelded. Hard- Won lessons from PR Wars company's image is something all PR Officers are concerned with. Image makes everything, from the stock market reaction to your own workers to the general public on the street. How is image made and how it affects the company's well being is dealt with in this excellent article by one of the veterans of PR, Dick Martin, former executive vice president pf public relations at AT&T. The first and most important concern: the CEO.

Indeed, CEOs can sometimes make the image of a company. A charismatic CEO will tend to have a more positive reaction from the general public and will influence the way the company is regarded. This was the example with Mike Armstrong: young and charismatic, he became CEO of AT&T and impressed the media with several public appearances. However, this was not enough to cover up for some of his leading mistakes that drove AT&T towards several years of losses. Symbolism may be everything.

At least, this is what the author has experienced. The most eloquent example regards Bob Allen's, former CEO, as he decided upon firing 40,000 workers. Economically speaking, this was a profitable decision: the company was encountering losses and it was a sensible decision to try and reduce costs. The effect showed itself at the stock exchange, as AT&T's shares boosted several points.

However, in the long run, Bob Allen appeared as the corporate money maker that instead of giving up on some figures of his salary prefers to lay off workers.

As the author underlines, making an excellent point, "public relations is not about polishing an image or creating buzz; it's about building long-term relationships between its institution and its stakeholders." This is exactly what Allen did: he created a buzz, profited from the rise in stock, but ignored the future relationship with the stakeholders and created a negative future image for the institution he led.

Quite contrary to this philosophy came Armstrong's strategic actions upon his becoming CEO: no more chauffeur-driven transportation for executives! Economically, this had no immediate consequence, but the moral impact was immense, because it showed that the top guys were able to step down to worker level in order to recover from recession. Strategically, another great move meant that the executive salaries froze the moment the company announced further firings. Again, a symbolical message was sent out: we are all in this together.

Martin's long career as a PR officer made him witness several PR blunders that certainly did no good. The small cartoon published in 1993 is the best example. The drawing appeared in Focus and depicted several stereotypical characters from around the world, including a monkey for Africa. It is obvious that the impression created by this was terrible in the African- American community. Funnily enough, AT&T had greatly contributed to several funds for the black community with the intent of creating a long-term relationship with the respective community.

All this work and spending went down the drain with one single drawing. Again, imagery and symbolism is most important to a company: something does not necessarily represent a company's credo, but the impact on the public can be disastrous. Finally, the media and the relationship with the media. What a company has to remember and keep in mind is that media sells stories and stories are what make its profit. The best stories are those of "conflicts, drama and setbacks" as Dennis Kneale from Forbes put it.

Obviously, because this sells the article, the paper or the TV show and it.