Richard Edelman, Edelman Worldwide
‘The Internet has multiple uses, including as an archiving facility and
for the exchange of information between offices and countries. But of
more urgency to people in PR is the role of the Internet as a marketing
and crisis management tool. Greenpeace spent dollars 2m sending images
through the Internet from its base on the Brent Spar oil rig. Meanwhile,
Shell was mailing out the occasional press release. If you want a level
playing field, you’ve got to play where your opponent’s playing.’
Mike Beard, Lucas Industries
‘The Internet is a new and remarkable weapon in our armoury of
communication techniques. But we should remember that it’s no more than
that: it doesn’t take away from communicators the job of identifying and
targeting audiences or of articulating messages and selecting the most
cost-effective routes to reach those audiences. A computer can inform
but it cannot persuade.’
Katie Kemp, Text 100
‘Just as people today couldn’t imagine being without a telephone, soon
people will think exactly the same way about the Internet. It’s not just
a new medium, it’s a way of having a genuine dialogue with mass
audiences. It’s one-to-many but without being traditional mass-
marketing. The Internet is what PR people have always dreamed of. I was
surprised by how reticent and dismissive people were about the Internet
at the IPR conference. That is a very foolish attitude that can only
harm them.’
Rosie Featherstone, Audax Communications
‘The Internet is either the biggest happening in international
communications or the biggest red herring. But, we cannot afford to
ignore it. The opportunity to communicate directly and personally with
individuals offers enormous potential. As a consultancy, quality
control, audiences, results monitoring and evaluation are the areas that
we are debating.’
Jill Coomber, Grant Butler Coomber
‘At this instance, yes, some PR people can ignore the Internet, but in
two years’ time the answer will definitely be ‘no’. As the number of
people adopting it increases, it will become all the more necessary to
use the Internet. It makes communications with clients or co-ordination
of PR campaigns with European offices so much easier. I’m afraid that
advertising agencies are using the Internet more aggressively to market
their clients and themselves and are ahead of what the PR agencies are
doing.’
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