Corporate and marketing

communication - lessons from history

Keynote speech by Prof Tom WatsonBournemouth University

November 19, 2013

Well I told you once and I told you twiceYou never listen to my adviceYou don't try very hard to please meWith what you know it should be easyWell this could be the last timeThis could be the last timeMaybe the last timeI don't know, oh no, oh no[The Last Time: Jagger & Richards, 1965]

Advice from Mick Jagger

Repetitive issues

Ethics Evaluation and measurement Education

Industry statements and declarations

Concern over roles – Executive or manager? Creative or account handler? C-suite or marzipan layer?

Going around in circles

Ethics

Communication measurement and evaluation

Education

Crowd sourcing a new research agenda

Today’s itinerary

“We cannot fully understand the features of the present unless we see them in motion, positioned in trajectories which link our world with that of our forebears. “Without historical perspective, we may fail to notice continuities which persist, even in our world of headlong change” (Tosh 2008, p.141)

Why history?

Data from IPRA archives: Most frequent

topics in newsletters from 1977 to 2002

1. Education2. Ethics3. IT (OMG, it’s coming this way …)4. Crisis communication and management5. Evaluation & Planning of communication

Lessons from history

International Delphi study (Watson, 2008) Top five research priorities1. PR’s role in contributing to strategic decision-

making, strategy development and efficient operation of organisations

2. The value that PR creates for organisations through building social capital and managing key relationships

3. The measurement and evaluation of PR4. PR as a fundamental management function5. Professional skills in PR; analysis of the industry’s

need for education

Research benchmark

Cutlip writing in 1994 about The Publicity Bureau of

Boston’s The Barometer of 1905

Informal media monitoring by US presidents from George Washington onwards (Lamme & Russell 2010); also by railroads, temperance societies and evangelists

Cuttings agencies start – to monitor advertising placement

“Public Relations Research is not as Not as New as Some Think”

Public opinion research used for benchmarking and

planning, (Arthur Page at AT&T)

AVE begins in 1920-30s: Still used now!

Roosevelt Administration gave “close attention to technique of publicity dissemination (and) to the manner of its reception” which when accumulated led to a “barometer of national opinion that possesses great value” (Batchelor 1938)

80-90 years ago

60 years ago: PII model

Early scholarly references to evaluation were in first edition of Cutlip & Center’s Effective Public Relations in 1952

Their PII (Preparation, Implementation, Impact) model became the initial model taught around the world

1977: Jim Grunig holds first academic conferences

on PR measurement

1980s: Much academic and practitioner writing on measurement and evaluation

1990: Broom & Dozier’s Research Methods in Public Relations (1990) published

Methodology is well established by end of C20th; many industry education campaigns

20-30 years ago

Research keeps finding publicity measurement is

norm; AVE the most popular measure (2009)

Barcelona Principles (2010) – benchmarked basic evaluation methods; AVE “banned”

More focus on understanding how communication creates value

But PR industry asks: What is AVE’s replacement; A: There isn’t one

Last 5 years

Constant refrain across all

communication disciplines

Honesty, transparency, accuracy, fair dealing

Mostly personal values expressed in work and interpersonal situations

Ethics

First international code of ethics for PR and corporate

communications

Written by Lucien Matrat: “by such a Code we were proposing to enter into the dialogue of civilisation. That dialogue requires the respect of the moral rights of man as an individual” (IPRA Athens Minutes, 1965, p.3)

The Code “is the closest to a formulation of moral philosophy upon which the profession of public relations is based” (Traverse-Healy, 2007, p. 14)

The Code of Athens (1965)

Link to UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 13 elements in three clusters (IPRA, 2001):

1) Practitioners to aid fellow humans to achieve their full stature and rights; foster free flow of information; conduct themselves in a manner that gives confidence to others; consider their public-professional and private behaviour as having an effect on the profession’s reputation;

What it said - 1

2) Observe the Declaration of Human Rights; have regard to the dignity of others; establish moral conditions for true dialogue for all parties; act in the best interests of all parties – organisation and publics; act personally to avoid misunderstanding and with integrity to all parties;

3) Be truthful, circulate information based on ascertainable fact; not take part in any activity affecting human dignity and integrity; and not use any manipulative methods.

What it said - 2

What happened

Promoted but never implemented

US and UK members said it was “inoperable”

Not one IPRA member infringed it in 36 years!

Adopted by many PR professional bodies, but mainly symbolic

Melbourne Mandate said it would “instill responsible

behaviours by individuals and organisations”.

Practitioners to show personal responsibility

Set of (familiar) ethical statements

Developed by Global Alliance

Follows GA’s Ethical PR statement (2003) and Stockholm Accords (2010); also discussed ethics

And in 2012

1. Ensuring personal communication is always truthful, and

actions reflect the imperatives of doing good and creating mutual benefit

2. Recognise and appreciate differences between personal values and those of organisational stakeholders and communities, in line with societal expectations

3. Take personal ownership of the professional standards by which day-to-day decisions and actions are governed

4. Be willing to make tough decisions – and understand the consequences - when circumstances, society or the organisation create conditions that prevent or contradict one’s professional standards

5. Be accountable for one’s decisions and actions

Deontological “codes” are for lawyers, administrators and

governments

Focus on individual’s “everyday ethical decision-making” (Parsons, 2004, p. xvi), rather than bolstering quasi-professional industry bodies’ unimplementable codes

Little evidence they have shaped professional communication practice in past 50-60 years

Ethical behaviours need to be built from the stakeholder view; not “top down”

Will Mandate make a difference?

PR education started in the US Edward Bernays claimed to have taught the

first PR class at NYU in 1920s Widespread in US by late 1940s but not in

Europe and other parts of the world till 1970s IPRA Review shows that there was much

discussion – Three Gold Papers (1976, 1982, 1990), 36 articles over 20 years; Hong Kong statement (1980)

Now well-established in universities and colleges

Education

Education has kept moving forward

PR, advertising, corporate and marketing communications are established academic disciplines

Also taught in secondary schools, vocational colleges and endorsed by communication professional and industry bodies

Adapted over time to new technology, social media, changes in society and politics (e.g. post 1989 Eastern Europe)

A success

If there is so much education, why do comms

practitioners have doubts on ethics?

And still use AVE and other short-cuts on measuring communication effectiveness?

Can’t blame lazy clients/employers all the time

Big questions

What should we be

researching, from an Asian perspective

Avoiding circular thinking; Looking ahead, rather than behind …

Crowd sourcing time

Would you take part

in a Delphi study on communication research priorities?

If yes, give me your contact details or email twatson@bournemouth.ac.uk

Final thought