So what the F%*k is a PR anyway and how the bloody hell do you explain it to family members with short-term memory issues. Here’s what you do. Firstly, get in quickly with Aunty Sharon and Uncle John before a larger group gathers around. Ensure to have a well-rehearsed explanation ready before Aunty Sharon strides towards the vol-au-vents and mulled wine. It’s weird that ‘our’ profession, which is about creating favorable impressions of clients, leaves most people outside the industry wondering what is PR and how you fall into it? And let’s not pull any punches. You definitely fell into PR because no kid grows up with ambitions of becoming a PR practitioner. Footballer, yes. Teacher, yes. PR person, no. Which child looks at those two letters PR and thinks that’s the profession for me?

Fortunately, or more likely unfortunately, there are a few go-to jobs every strict black parent still desperately hopes their child will secure. Doctor, lawyer, accountant and even British Conservative MP are all jobs that grant your family members certain bragging rights over uppity neighbors. “Did I tell you about my son…he is a doctor.” These are all eminently respectable careers which need no further elaboration.

Contrast these careers with PR, which most people know nothing about, and you become the proverbial lamb to slaughter whilst trying to explain it. Your best bet is to bleat out what PR actually is. So, throat cleared, you say to Aunty Sharon and John “I work in PR.” This will be met with horrified facial expressions by the additional family members who’ve now gathered. Fortunately, estate agents are disliked far more than us in PR. You explain that PR stands for public relations and our industry prefers to be heard but not seen. You avoid associating the sector to the ‘Dark Arts’ or ‘Spin’. You talk about how you manage a client’s reputation, secure favorable coverage, yada yada and you stop Uncle John telling everyone you’re a hardworking journalist who often has stories printed in the Daily Mail, but for some reason you name isn’t printed alongside the story.

Their interest waning, you begin to lose your small group of listeners. In a last ditch attempt to gain kudos before everyone ravishes the recently produced mince pies, you frantically throw in that PR was what David Cameron did before he went on to become Prime Minster, and that Bill Gates (supposedly) said, “If I was down to my last dollar I would spend it on PR.” And if they’re still confused about what PR is then bollocks to the lot of ‘em. If it’s good enough for Messrs Cameron and Gates, then it ought to good enough your gathering of confused listeners.

The Challenge

Walk Once More operates within a crowded charity sector and jostles to be heard in a space occupied by larger and better resourced charities who occupy the same space. The charity’s flagship event was the annual six-day, 156 mile ultra-marathon – Marathon Des Sables. Up until that point the charity had never managed to garner substantial press coverage. Seroto Communications was asked to deliver a PR campaign which would cut through and pique the interests of journalists.

Walk Once More

Walk Once More is a young charity with a noble cause. It raises money and awareness to help with the research, prevention, treatment, cure and rehabilitation of spinal cord injuries (SCI). Every eight hours someone is told they may never walk again due to spinal cord damage and it t is estimated that there are 40,000 people living with the life-long condition in the UK.

The Challenge

Walk Once More operates within a crowded charity sector and jostles to be heard in a space occupied by larger and better resourced charities who occupy the same space. The charity’s flagship event was the annual six-day, 156 mile ultra-marathon – Marathon Des Sables. Up until that point the charity had never managed to garner substantial press coverage. Seroto Communications was asked to deliver a PR campaign which would cut through and pique the interests of journalists.

The Solution

We started by interviewing several case studies to find out their motivations to run 156 miles through the Sahara desert for a lesser known charity. We came across South Londoner and former publican Julian Mellor. His colourful back story was incredibly captivating and we knew full well and that his story was the perfect vehicle to amplify Walk Once More.
We teamed a clever press release with a high quality photograph of Julian completing his run and successfully issued it to the media.

The Results

Ultimately, Seroto Communications delivered Walk Once More their most successful PR campaign ever. We achieved this by securing 40 pieces of print and online coverage in national and regional publications, as well as TV and radio interviews.

The diversity factor is not simply about creating advertisements or messaging that represent people from a variety of backgrounds. After all, the target audience must be considered, and sometimes that group has very specific characteristics. However, in terms of the people who are developing campaigns, diversity is also necessary. This inclusion helps ensure that promotional activities reflect the society that they are a part of, and avoid offensive references to race, gender, sexual orientation or religion — thereby, increasing the chances that audiences respond to the call to action.

To understand how the lack of diversity is impacting campaigns, let’s take a look at some industry demographics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although women hold 72.8% of public relations (and fundraising) management jobs overall, only 10.7% of roles are held by those who are black, 3.1% by Asians, and 3.1% by Hispanics or Latinos. Marketing and sales managers share similar demographics, with blacks making up 6.7%, Asians 5.4%, and Hispanics and Latinos 9.7%. Women managers, overall, make up 47.6% of the industry.

Ultimately, because of the diversity shortage within these industries, the perspectives of various groups are not heard, resulting in ongoing, image-damaging blunders that hurt the advertiser’s bottom line.

Take the example of Dolce & Gabbana’s video ad series, which came under fire for portraying a Chinese model trying to eat pizza and other Italian dishes with chopsticks. Many were offended by this portrayal of Chinese consumers as being unrefined and inexperienced with regards to Western culture and food. This led to the company’s products being removed from many websites and the cancellation of the company’s Shanghai fashion show because models and stars no longer wanted to be associated with the brand.

PepsiCo also made a serious public relations (PR) gender blunder. In an interview, the company’s CEO Indra Nooyi said that women and men didn’t eat Doritos the same way, and the company was planning “male and female versions of chips.” “Lady Doritos” quickly received a flood of criticism.

Just this week, Football Association Chairman and FIFA vice-president Greg Clarke was forced to step down from his roles following his car-crash appearance at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee. Clarke, originally sought to explain why there are no openly gay male professional footballers in the game, but went full on kamikaze and decided to use outdated language when he chose to refer to black footballers as ‘coloured’.

Clarke was asked by Labour MP Kevin Brennan whether he wished to withdraw the use of the word ‘coloured’, which he did. Perhaps his use of the word was down to a slip of the tongue, a hangover from his years in the USA – where he was required to use the term ‘people of colour.’ No matter. Despite the swift apology the damage was already done.

Not content with one foot in his mouth, Clarke decided once again swayed in a direction at odds with the FA – as the organisation tries to embed inclusivity in the national sport – when he added Blacks and South Asians have different career interests, suggesting the former focus on sports whilst the latter prioritise academic success.

And the PR disaster only got worse when Clarke appeared to suggest that being gay was a lifestyle choice.

Clarke’s anachronistic terminology and unhelpful views are out of sync with those of his employers. Ultimately, Clarke was backed into a position where he had few options other than to resign.

The moral of the story is, of course everyone has bad days but can you afford for a single bad day to ruin years of good work? Reputations are difficult to build but easy to destroy.

If you want to avoid your CEO from making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, then you should get in touch.

Why go Seroto?

Seroto Communications is a fully integrated PR and Communications agency and we specialise in providing expert media training, with plenty of practical media interviews, playback analysis and media interview. Don’t rue the day didn’t take expert PR counsel.

Call us today on: +44(0)7399796934 or if you prefer why not email us at: info@serotocommunications.com