Neil Hedges
Fishburn Hedges
’Those consultancies which include PR in their name should stick with
it. I’ve always described myself to others as a PR man and enjoy the
different responses it provokes. Increasingly, I seem to be becoming
less vilified for such a frank admission.’
Bill Jones
Lexis PR
’We have the same ’can do’ attitude as Saatchi’s have always had.
But I think it is the advertising agencies that feel boxed, in not the
PR companies. We certainly don’t feel hampered by having public
relations in our title. Public relations is an excellent generic
description of what we do. When journalists and the general public start
to call what we do communications consultancy or perception management,
then maybe we’ll think again. But public relations as a description has
its feet firmly on the ground.’
Adrian Webb
Direct Line Group
’PR is a specialism which consultancies shouldn’t fight shy of, and
no-one should drop it from their name if that’s what they do. If PR’s
reputation has suffered any damage, then PR professionals must fix it,
not drop the name.’
Jonathan Clare
Citigate Communications
’Too many people, most of whom should know better, can’t distinguish
between public relations and publicity. Public relations is as much a
discipline as marketing and is a vital tool to manage reputation. That
means making sure the people important to an organisation, or who have a
legitimate interest in its business, understand its objectives. Public
relations is a perfectly decent description for that activity but I fear
it has become irretrievably corrupted and we as an industry have to find
a better term for what we do.’
Gareth Zundel
Harvard PR
’Descriptive words alongside a principal name are easy to drop, either
to achieve brevity or to prevent problems with repositioning. A much
more dangerous constraint faces those who incorporate an industry sector
name or reference into their principal name. Committing to public
relations is one thing but committing long term to a single sector is
quite another.’
