Weber Shandwick ‘bitesize’
The public relations industry has had always faced a tough time being taken seriously in the boardroom. For many we retain a reputation for fluff, stunts, long lunches and spin.
Shaking that off requires much more than a commitment to professionalism: it requires PRs to demonstrate the contribution effective communication and reputation management makes to delivering business goals. Public relations needs to demonstrate it can impact upon the bottom line and help a business meet its obligations to corporate social responsibility.
So it was disappointing to read Jo Leah, managing director of one of the North’s leading consultancies, extolling the virtues of ‘bitesize pr’.
Jo Leah’s piece in last Thursday’s Manchester Evening News (not online, but see below) puffs Weber Shandwick’s new Bitesize service launched, claims Jo, in response to requests from small businesses, franchises and entrepreneurs.
Bitesize exists because for Weber Shandwick North, ‘the rules of business have changed’. Hard times mean that Weber Shandwick can no longer afford to turn down little jobs it would previously have thought beneath it; like drafting one-off press releases. This smacks not so much of a change in the rules of business, but of desperation.
Whatever short term challenges the profession faces, it needs to hold its nerve and continue to act in its clients, and its own, best interest. Sometimes that means saying no when you can see a small or inexperienced client risks expending limited budget without planning for results.
The reason drafting a one off press release should be beneath a consultancy of Weber Shandwick’s stature is that this approach devalues the public relations profession. A one-off press release that is not part of a programme of activity informed by identifying with whom a business needs to speak and how that conversation needs to go, if a goal is to be achieved, is without value.
A client may get a little press coverage that way, they could even land on the front page of the Sun, but they could get the same warm feeling by peeing down their leg.
Comments (2 comments)
This is nothing new, but we need to be careful as PR pros not to appear overly protective about this and other ‘budget PR’ offerings. The commercial reality is that PR agencies are twitchy and will seek to generate work wherever possible.
Big agencies have big overheads and it’s clear that they’ll take a hit on usual day rates in order to maintain volume and subsidise their wage bills and office leases. But it’s going to be loss leading and therefore not sustainable longer term.
My take on this is that it is a flash in the pan. Anyone taking up bitesize PR clearly isn’t serious about proper PR. They probably aren’t the sort of organisation that would normally engage a PR company, though perhaps freelancers and single handed PRs should be wary of this new development in their market place at this time.
As for the damage to our profession, I suspect it will be minimal. If anything, it will serve to help us to explain to non PR people ‘how it shouldn’t be done’.
Stephen Bray / July 1st, 2009, 9:46 pm / #
We’ve now stopped talking to companies of a certain size, they really do take up too much time and you can tell when they have little or no budget. And one-off release do little to boost sales so you thne find that the one-off client then badmouths PR.
A would-be client even came back to us the other day, nine months after we originally saw them and said they liked what we offered but could we work for them for £150-£200 a month.
PR does give a great insight into how not to launch a business. It’s remarkable how many people come to us without having factored marketing etc into their business plan, or if they have they have spent it – usually on a Blackeberry or laptop so they look the part.
Richard Hamer / January 19th, 2010, 2:07 pm / #
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