SAN FRANCISCO: Because brand reflects an audience's emotions toward a company or product, it's a concept PR has a tremendous role in influencing, said Porter Novelli chairman Bob Druckenmiller at his PRSA session on branding.
Schwartz Communications EVP Gary Thompson also hosted a similar workshop.
PR's role is to get all audiences - such as employees and investors - to embody that brand's promise, said Thompson. While Disney wants to be the happiest place on Earth, he explained, its employees might tell a different story, making it harder to impart that happy brand to the public. But Ben and Jerry's, for example, has the brand of a socially responsible company because PR has done a good job communicating that to employees, investors, and other audiences, who in turn embody the company's brand.
PR must get a seat at the corporate table so companies make the right decisions about the brand and communicating it, added Druckenmiller.
