Does International PR Exist?
A debate which has been a hot topic throughout the PR world is the long fight between PR academics and practitioners, on whether international PR (or Global PR) exists.
Some say that PR only exists in countries where democracy, free market economy, freedom of press and civil liberty are present. If so, how can international PR exist when significant regions of the world fail to reach these conditions? Just because an organisation has many offices worldwide, it does not necessarily mean that their PR communications are effective within them.
All the above are plausible, however, having studied PR and worked within the industry, my opinion is YES! It does exist. Think of an international brand and type it into Google and you will see how ´far spread´ their communications efforts have been in raising brand awareness.
Not only that, but Globalisation and the 21st Century have shaken up the PR world allowing better international communications to form. The internet has not only changed traditional methods of communication but also the power which organisations hold. Two-way communication and transparency of social media means organisations now have more stakeholders to consider and engage with.
It is therefore extremely important that global PR agencies understand the challenges and trends international PR faces when executing business plans. In order to be truly international, you need to grasp a few things:
Different variations of PR – understanding how the media within different countries operate is crucial.
Cultural and sociological differences – It is important that International communicators have knowledge about the world at large, ideally being able to speak and write several languages.
Understand the importance of Social media PR – The digital world has allowed different cultures to interact, therefore creating a wider audience for you to engage with.
Ethical considerations – In order to have ethical PR within the new global economy, an organisation must take into consideration what its ethical obligations are to different cultures, social groups and identities that they are trying to interact with.
In a nutshell, sociological norms and the political power of different countries have great effects on the results and success of international PR campaigns. So therefore, to be effective, global PR must be localised to different cultures. Globalisation, has bought cultural boundaries closer and social media has made communications more accessible, the combination of the two has increased the viability of global PR and its potential success.
Re-branding to fit in with the digital age
Last month, Waterstones announced they would be dropping the apostrophe from their trading name in order for their brand to fit in with the digital age. The outcome? Public outrage!
Soon after the re-branding announcement was made, angry customers along with journalists took to the blogosphere and social networks to announce their disapproval and anger that the organisation could make such a grammatical error.
Why you ask, would they do such a thing? Well, it turns out the apostrophe was hindering their acceptance into the digital age – URLs and email addresses don’t allow apostrophes. And to be fair who really cares?
Well, as you can imagine, the public backlash was no skin off their nose. For a start they secured heaps of coverage and got people talking about the brand. Secondly, instead of just drumming out the typical ‘CEO statement’ (which they did), they decided to add humour to the equation by turning a crisis into a positive. They turned their Oxford Street twitter page into a fictional story about the lost apostrophe’s last day at work.
Some may say that the new re-branding has made Waterstones lose character or that their reputation is now damaged. And all this hype has got me thinking about the importance of a brand’s image and identity and how a minor change can cause drastic outcomes. To most companies re-branding is a bit like a flip of a coin; it could resurrect or damage a company because the effect and power of a brand’s visual identity is so strong when communicating key values to consumers. It is therefore important that organisations handle re-branding with care, in order to continue having trustful and loyal relationships with their key stakeholders.
This is even more important when re-branding to fit in with Web 2.0. It is essential that organisations think about their consumers in everything they do when deciding on re-branding. It is far easier to understand their audience these days, with free monitoring tools available to help track and listen to their consumers. In the digital age the winners will be those brands that are open to two-way communication with their audience.
