Institute for Public Relations

Prof Tom Watson of Bournemouth University in England, talks about the International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC), which was held recently. I’m now breathing a little more easily, as we have just published the Proceedings of IHPRC 2011. They are online at http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/historyofpr/proceedings/ where you can read 28 papers from researchers in 15 countries covering topics such as PR history and events, professional and practice matters, national histories, and historiography. The papers range from the sad tale of Mary the Elephant who was killed on a publicist’s advice, to histories of PR in eight nations, and “proto-PR” with papers on Roman ...

Is that an easy question or a provocative one?  Most public relations professionals would automatically say that the PR function should report directly to the CEO.  It would be akin blasphemy to suggest otherwise would it not? However, with PR rising in such importance in organizations, a debate has emerged over where it should sit.  CMOs and the senior-most marketing leaders are fairly unanimous that at least part of the PR function should reside within marketing departments, and in many cases, CMOs already have laid claim to PR within their own organization, supported by their CEOs. What has prompted the question and ...

As I was planning my summer reading, I decided to read through the classic white papers issued by the Institute for Public Relations Commission on Measurement and Evaluation. Yes, it is true, just ask my wife. The Commission was created to advocate for PR research, promote best practices and standards, and educate PR researchers and practitioners. The creation and distribution of white papers was a tactic to meet this goal. I was pleased, though in retrospect not surprised, to see that our corpus of white papers constitutes a reading list or core curriculum in PR research, measurement, and evaluation. Indeed, several ...

This is David Geddes, chair of the Institute for Public Relations Commission on Measurement and Evaluation. Today I am talking with David Michaelson, Ph.D., founder of David Michaelson & Company, a provider of research, planning & strategy services for marketing communications. David is also a member of the Institute for Public Relations Commission on Measurement and Evaluation, and a Research Fellow of the Institute for Public Relations. David, you just published an article on standards in public relations measurement and evaluation, along with Prof. Don Stacks of the University of Miami. Why are standards essential to our industry today? With a standardized system ...

My previous post spoke about the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) redoubling its focus on research that matters to the practice.  The IPR Board of Trustees, after debating dozens of research topics relevant to the practice of public relations, has identified its five highest priority topics. What drives choice and changes behavior? What can we draw from behavioral sciences, sociology, psychology and neuropsychology to apply to public relations practice?  What are the emotional and rational drivers of belief, commitment and behavior?  How do different stakeholders – and different generations – process differently in this regard? Organizational communication. Our new Commission on ...