Keeping Britain smiling
13th Sep 2011
In this byline for International Public Relations, Scott Wilson, UK CEO and Managing Director EMEA for Cohn & Wolfe, takes a look at a recent brand-building campaign for Colgate-Palmolive and shows how PR can take a leading role in integrated communications and thereby deliver credible and engaging stories.
“These are the best of times; these are the worst of times.”
Take PR. Everyone’s new favourite marketing discipline. The Faliraki of undergraduate occupational aspirations. That modern-day Exocet of the brand marketer’s integrated toolkit. Call it word of mouth. Call it buzz and talkability. Call it today’s most powerful engagement weapon. Hey, let’s just call it. Viva PR.
These are the worst of times . . . because everyone now wants a piece of the PR pie. Media agencies, advertising agencies, integrated agencies, digital agencies, word of mouth agencies, shopper agencies. And, oh yes, PR agencies. Once stuck out in left field, like the Plaid Cymru of 360 degree marketing, public relations now finds itself occupying the centre ground. In the pursuit of the winning, media neutral campaign, the PR idea has never had it so good. But the PR agency, hidden behind its ‘porcelain walls’ is under pressure. Like never before.
Click below to download a pdf of the full IPRA article.
