(PDF) Effective media-monitoring reports: Framing, measurement and evaluation

Competing identities:

The state of play of PR

in the 2010s

Edited by Ferran Lalueza, David McKie, and Jordi Xifra

Competing identities:

The state of play of PR

in the 2010s

Editors:

Ferran Lalueza

Open University of Catalonia

David McKie

University of Waikato

Jordi Xifra

Pompeu Fabra University

Editorial UOC

ISBN: 978-84-9788-538-6

Proceedings of the Barcelona Meeting COM #1: International PR 2011 Conference

Barcelona, 28 and 29 June 2011

http://www.uoc.edu/symposia/meetingcom2011/index_eng.html

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Contents

Presentation .................................................................................................................... 7

Agency, reflective CSR management, and stakeholder participation: The

Stockholm Accords and the communicative organization

Robert L. Heath, Finn Frandsen, and Winni Johansen .................................................... 9

Communicating with national stakeholders: Lessons for public relations from

advertising in two different nations

Fabrice Desmarais, and David McKie ........................................................................... 29

Working woman/PR professional: The multi-faceted identities of women working

in public relations

Christine Daymon, and Anne Surma ............................................................................. 39

Effective media-monitoring reports: Framing, measurement and evaluation

Mariam Gersamia .......................................................................................................... 51

Instruments of public diplomacy in the promotion of Poland

Marta Ryniejska-Kiełdanowicz ..................................................................................... 59

Communication and Web 2.0: New skills, new professionals / Comunicación y web

2.0: Nuevas competencias, nuevos profesionales (paper in Spanish)

Carmen Silva, and Gloria Jiménez ................................................................................ 79

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ 93

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7

Presentation

The end of the first decade of the 21st century has been marked by significant shifts in

the power, practice, and theory of public relations. Alongside the continuing global

expansion of connectivity, ecological degradation, and social media, more recent events

– such as the global economic downturn and changing public attitudes to business – are

creating different operating conditions. Academically, the rise of different voices in

journals, books, and research has been paralleled by the declining power of the ruling

paradigm of late 20th century public relations. The old centre has not held and a

diversity of opinion that is less insular, and more socially concerned, continues to

emerge. These newer voices differ on perceptions of present, past, and future – not only

are there disagreements on what public relations is now, but on what public relations

has been, and on what public relations might be. In examining public relations and

identity construction in these more visibly competitive and uncertain times, Barcelona

Meeting COM #1: International PR 2011 Conference looked beyond business

competition to competition between nations and cities, between practitioners in different

professions, and between different academic disciplines.

The conference invited a wide range of contributions: that reflect, and that reflect on,

the spectrum of possibilities of these conditions; that address current issues and trends;

and that speculate on future pathways. This book includes a selected group of papers

that were presented at the International PR 2011 Conference.

David McKie, Jordi Xifra, and Ferran Lalueza

Conference co-chairs

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9

Agency, reflective CSR management, and stakeholder participation:

The Stockholm Accords and the communicative organization

Robert L. Heath (University of Houston, rheath@uh.edu), Finn Frandsen (Aarhus

University, ff@asb.dk), and Winni Johansen (Aarhus University, wj@asb.dk)

Abstract

At the World Public Relations Forum (2010) in Sweden, authors of the Stockholm

Accords drew upon public relations and communication management (PR/CM) theory

and best practices to define, recommend, and promulgate performance standards to

foster the “communicative organization” (CO) as vital to achieving sustainability. That

project is challenging for several reasons. (1) All too frequently, academics and

practitioners do not collaborate to solve daunting professional problems, let alone one

that has societal implications this vast. (2) The Accords, as a companion to Vision 2050

(World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2010), framed the challenge as

one confronting management policies along with requirements of the CO. PR/CM can

help achieve sustainability by making organizations more communicative as a

precondition toward sustainability. To do so, the current emphasis on processes of

communication needs to shift to feature discourse, shared (co-created) meaning, and the

agency of society as a force for collaborative decision making. The challenge before us

as academics and professionals is to assure that the communication effort to achieve

sustainability is sufficiently grounded to achieve that mission and vision.

Introduction

All too often applied projects and even academic work only analyze means for making

organizations effective without addressing how communication and management

combine to make society more fully functioning (Heath, 2006). Sustainability demands

a macro-level approach; it can only be achieved if sound science, management, politics,

economics, and communication combine to make society fully functional. Success,

therefore, is not an organizational management challenge per se, but that of many voices

collaborating for a sustainable world. To that end, we ask whether paradigm shifts and

innovative approaches to PR/CM are needed beyond what is reflected in the Accords if

PR/CM is to perform optimally to help define and collaboratively achieve sustainability.

May it be that the focus of the Accords should shift to address the communicative

society (a more sociological view) made so through the communicative organization?

Discussion of the nature and role of PR/CM in achieving the vision of sustainability

aspires to add understanding of and learning applications resulting from tensions

between effective stakeholder participation and managerial standards of CSR (de Bussy,

2005, 2008, 2010; Heath, 2010). As such, this discussion needs to focus on multiple

voices, competing interest dialogue as a societal challenge. It presumes collaborative

engagement that leads to aligned interests, as opposed to unfair, unequal, and unsafe

risk and resource allocation.

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Thus, this paper reasons that the Accords are a work in progress; they need to be refined

and extended through careful consideration of cutting edge research and theory that

require various paradigm shifts. In the crafting of its central theme, the paper starts with

a brief review of Vision 2050 to set the managerial, technical, socioeconomic, and

political challenges that motivate the project. It continues with a review of the current

status of the Accords’ reasoning on the communicative organization and progresses to

consider a situational analysis of the conditions that confront the effort, including

premises relevant to a fully functioning society. Finally, brief attention is given to major

theories to determine how and what they contribute to meeting the challenge of

transforming business, quality of life, and sustainable resource use.

The paper argues that theory and best practices should focus on how to make society

resilient in the transformation to a new shared reality needed to achieve sustainability.

In such an endeavor, PR/CM processes are important, but discourse quality is the

ultimate challenge. To achieve sustainability, discourse needs to envision and achieve a

new, shared reality regarding resources and their use. As such, no organization can be

more agentic than its ability to work with other voices toward a new socially

constructed reality. Until the global society can collectively imagine the requirements

and means for change, the processes of change will lack coherence and likely fail.

Vision 2050

Taking the lead to develop a global sustainability plan, the World Business Council for

Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2010) crafted Vision 2050. It is intended to be a

comprehensive plan, a pathway that will require fundamental changes in governance

structures, economic frameworks, business and human behavior. It emerged that these

changes are necessary, feasible and offer tremendous business opportunities for

companies that turn sustainability into strategy” (p. v). It seeks to establish a “platform

for dialogue—not a blueprint” (p. v). The key word is dialogue, the essential challenge

facing the CO; the context is societal agency.

In its Vision, the WBCSD invites “all stakeholders—business, government and civil

society—to join the exploration and effort” (p. v). Those challenges start with

population growth and resource availability, needs and distribution. It centers on current

patterns and policies of resource development, distribution and use. Changes will be

required in how business and government operates, as well as how individuals act

collectively. The effort will require partnerships between businesses, government, and

NGO’s as well as daunting changes in society’s expectations and resource use: framed

as a shared vision. As a call to managements, the Vision not only identifies problems

but also focuses attention on business opportunities that arise from private sector

solutions to this problem, in conjunction and collaboration with the other forces of

society.

The accords: understanding and championing the communicative organization

Meeting the challenge of sustainability requires knowing what discourse and

infrastructural constraints work against and what leverage points facilitate overcoming

the most serious challenge of the risk society (Douglas, 1992; Beck, 1992, 1999). As

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such, it is necessary to frame the project imagined in the Accords as relevant to resource

dependency and neo-institutional organizational theories. However, the issue is not

merely the resources needed for one organization to exist, survive, and thrive, but rather

those required for collective management of risk central to societal and global

sustainability: the conditions of a resilient society.

To that end, the Accords focus on sustainability as consisting of two challenges. The

first “depends on balancing today’s demands with the ability to meet future needs based

on economic, social and environmental dimensions” (p. 2). Thus, the first step toward

sustainability is to collectively understand and consider (among organizations and

across populations and nations) resource availability, dependence, and sharing. The CO

requires a rationale based on reflective management theory, neo-institutional theory, and

resource dependency theory; the adequacy of the theory basis for change is assessed by

the degree to which innovation and shared visions of change can be co-created. To that

end, it is likely insufficient to merely focus on the availability of information, however

essential that is, to also work to create a shared sense of the premises by which data are

analyzed and resilient change imagined.

That analysis supports the definition offered in the Accords. “The communicative

organization assumes leadership interpreting sustainability as a transformational

opportunity to improve its competitive positioning by pursuing and constantly reporting

on the achievement of its sustainability policies across the economic, social and

environmental ‘triple bottom line’” (p. 2). This description of the communicative

organization focuses primarily on the agentic nature of the organization, and does not

include well-defined challenges that require collaboration with other organizations,

populations, and nations to increase the full functioning of society, the agency of

community. It also presumes that each PR/CM officer is likely to “monitor” no more

than “10% of its communicative behaviour” (p. 12). In that effort, such individuals play

a political role that supports and provides “the organization’s leadership with the

necessary, timely and relevant information which allows it to effectively govern the

value networks as well as an intelligent, constant and conscious effort to understand the

relevant dynamics of society at large” (p. 12). These individuals are also expected to

perform a contextual role, “the constant delivery of communicative skills, competencies

and tools to the components of its value networks so that they may improve their

relationships amongst each other and with the other value networks” (p. 12).

As explained in its Glossary, the Accords reject or refine Michael Porter’s value chain

model. The Accords call for a value chain model that “stems today from fuzzy (not

linear) and immaterial networks that normally disrupt the distinction between internal

and external publics.” “The value in itself is based on the quality of the relationships

existing between the various components of each network and on the quality of the

relationships which exist between the various networks” (p. 12). It is not even more the

quality of discourse that arises from high quality relationships? Sustainability cannot be

achieved without high quality relationships, but relationships alone will not suffice.

The accords: challenge and solution

The Stockholm Accords are the product of collaboration between 985 PR/CM industry

leaders from 32 different countries. They were endorsed by the World Public Relations

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Forum in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 15, 2010 (www.globalalliancepr.org). The

Accords builds a rationale for the communicative organization (CO) by featuring key

supporting sections: Sustainability, Governance, Management, Internal and External

Communication, Coordination of these contexts, followed by a “Stockholm Accords

Glossary.”

The Accords were created and promulgated to “enhance and affirm the central role of

Public Relations and Communication Management in organizational success.” As such,

they form part of a “professional project” (Larson, 1977). The document was intended

to help associations, managers, consultants, students, educators, and researchers “to

administer its principles on a sustained basis and to affirm them through the profession,

as well as to management and other relevant stakeholder groups” (p. 1).

The structure of the document features key parts, starting with Sustainability. To make

organizations communicative the effort must be broad, rather than narrow. PR/CM

professionals are expected to:

 Involve and engage key stakeholders in the organization’s sustainability policies

and programs.

 Interpret societal expectations for sound economic, social and environmental

commitments that yield a return to the organization and society.

 Ensure stakeholder participation to identify information that should be regularly,

transparently and authentically reported.

 Promote and support efforts to reach an ongoing integrated reporting of

financial, social, economic and environmental. (p. 2)

This list does not include several essential themes and challenges, perhaps the most

important is to change attitudes and expectations. The document assumes an essential

role for information generation and sharing, but it fails to acknowledge the need for

shared meaning and premises (the stuff of attitudes and values) which allow for

collective, collaborative decision making. This challenge can be framed as collective

decisions to establish relevant and appropriate CSR standards. The sorts of changes in

attitudes and values needed are those imagined in Vision 2050: “Fundamental changes

in governance structures, economic frameworks, business and human behavior” (p. v).

CSR standards, one of the pillars of strategic issues management (SIM), explicitly relate

to businesses’ (and other organizations’) license to operate. The challenge of achieving

sustainability is and will likely become an even more important element of each license

to operate as the years go on and the effort continues.

Following discussion of Sustainability as a foundation for setting PR/CM’s value , The

Accords featureseveral functional headings: Governance, Management, Internal

Communication, External Communication, and Coordination of Internal and External

Communications. Section Four of the document discusses means for implementing the

Accords; it highlights key topics: Objective, evaluation and measurement and a

challenge to participants to consider how to implement the plan. Section Five offers a

glossary. All of this is a call to action. What follows is a brief recap of the sections and

their conclusions/recommendations.

PR/CM personnel are to be part of the governance teams needed to decide and

implement stakeholder relationship policies. This challenge combines, in very board

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scope, the need for effective relationship management, knowledge of how to foster

stakeholder participation, and ability to monitor relevant to relationship quality,

stakeholder participation, and CSR standards. If done well, governance can help each

organization “to promptly identify and deal with the opportunities and risks that can

impact the organization’s direction, action and communication” (p. 3). Such SWOT

analysis presumes the need for nimble and vigilant management.

The Accords requires businesses to operate under “the stakeholder governance model.”

PR/CM practitioners are expected to help organizations’ governance to be reflective by

understanding the challenge of stakeholder relationships, as well as “defining

organizational values, principles, strategies, policies and processes” (p. 3). Planning

must be sensitive to “stakeholders’ and society’s expectations as a basis for decisions”

(p. 3). Practitioners are expected to foster high quality relationships “by enhancing

transparency, trustworthy behaviour, authentic and verifiable representation, thus

sustaining the organization’s ‘license to operate’” (p. 3).

Thus, the Accords prescribes the standard SIM requirement that organizations need the

matrixed ability to monitor issues and scout the terrain where they operate (see Heath

and Palenchar, 2009). The objective of surveillance is “to promptly identify and deal

with the opportunities and risks that can impact the organization’s direction, action and

communication” (p. 3). Each organization’s governance is to have solid issue

monitoring functions and structures to be able to read and adapt to changing

sociopolitical conditions that define its operating environment. Each organization is

expected to listen, adapt, and adjust.

This governance principle captures the essence of reflective management theory, but

does so with a bias toward a view of management as cybernetic change management.

Thus, this theoretical foundation supports the challenge to create and manage

infrastructural systems needed for monitoring, assimilating, and adapting to external

pressures that define the resource allocations on which each organization depends. The

outcome of stakeholder empowerment is each organization’s ability to hold and use

resources in exchange for progress toward sustainability.

Management: These guidelines are essential for fostering sound management.

Management’s efforts and obligations are best met with having and using timely

information, and in operating in a communicative manner. To do so, it “acts on the

principle that it is in the organization’s interest to be sensitive to the legitimate concerns

of stakeholders, as well as balanced with wider societal expectations” (p. 4).

What does this challenge ask of PR/CM professionals? A partial answer is the now

stock, but highly simplistic, call for two-way communication. In addition, the CO is

expected to “communicate the value of the organization’s products/services and

relationships with stakeholders thereby creating, consolidating and developing its

financial, legal, relational and operational capital” (p. 4). PR/CM is called on to help

solve organizational issues, especially those specific to stakeholder relationships.

Part of that challenge calls for integrated or marketing communication, in support of

products and services. One of the problematic themes in public relations theory is

whether public relations includes marketing communication and, if so, in what manner.

It also seems that the Accords’ management requirement calls for efforts to make the

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organization more effective as an organization as a precondition to its being able to

focus on stakeholder relationships.

The Accords challenges the communicative organization (CO) to engage in strategic

Internal and External Communication. Effective internal communication is needed to

enhance “recruitment, retention, development of common interests, and commitment to

organizational goals by an increasingly diverse, extended and segmented set of

‘internal’ publics” (p. 5). Without explicitly using the term, this requirement calls for

PR/CM to be central in the efforts to make each organization effective through its

culture. The CO exhibits a constructive culture. It depends on shared knowledge and

policy. It needs processes and structures that are constantly refined and refocused. It

assumes a collaborative, participative management style. Not only does this make the

organization smarter and more nibble, but also enhances its reputation.

Under the external communication challenge, PR/CM is expected to understand the

relevant network, infrastructural, opportunities and threats. This requires the ability to

“review and adjust” “policies, actions and communicative behavior to improve their

relationships with increasingly influential stakeholders, as well as with society at large”

(p. 6). Externally, the challenge is to nurture relationships with all stakeholders. Thus,

PR/CM professionals are called on to:

 Bring the organization’s “voice” into stakeholder deliberations and decisions.

 Assist all organizational functions in crafting and delivering effective

communication.

 Contribute to the development and promotion of products, services or processes

that strengthen brand loyalty and equity.

 Such prescriptions seem to mix various theoretical approaches and strategic

options. These prescriptions include marketing communication that could be

more fully integrated theoretically into the communicative challenges discussed.

The balance is to engage—listen, appreciate, and incorporate others ideas into

each organization’s mission/vision and strategic planning. Although more

implied than explicitly stated, engaged stakeholder participation opens the door

for CO’s to employ a full range of communication tools and strategies that lead

to collaboration, joint decision making, co-created meaning, shared visions,

informed decisions, and enlightened conclusions based on appropriate attitudes,

shared decision premises and evaluations.

Thus, coordinating internal and external communication sets as a major requirement of

the CO’s ability to be a “multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder, inter-relational enterprise,

concurrently engaging several value networks concurrently and often involving diverse

legal frameworks” (p. 7).

Managements, through communication practitioners, are advised to coordinate internal

and external communications, to achieve value networks, and to do so within diverse

legal frameworks. In this regard, the CO is expected to use a narrativist perspective to

ensure full consistency of its storytelling by balancing global transparency, finite

resources, and time sensitive demands dealing with fast moving inside/outside changes

and new conflicts of interests that emerge from multiple stakeholder participation.

Communication with internal, boundary, and external stakeholders is coherent and

coordinated with the organization’s mission, vision, values as well as its actions and

behavior.

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Four actions were called on in this regard:

 Oversee the development and implementation of internal and external

communications to assure consistency of content and accurate presentation of

the organization’s identity.

 Research, develop, monitor and adjust the organization’s communicative

behavior.

 Create and nurture a knowledge base that includes social and psychological

sciences.

 Manage and apply research to implement evaluation and measurement programs

for continued improvement.

Section Five of the Accords provides a glossary of key terms. How these terms are

defined sheds light onto the philosophy and theory of PR/CM expressed elsewhere in

the document. Much of what is a gloss in other parts of the Accords becomes clearer

and more available for assessment in the glossary. As such, the document takes an

agentic view of the CO. To wit, it defines stakeholder governance as pressing

executives, “in the case of conflicts between contrasting stakeholder group

expectancies,” to decide “which of them needs to be taken more into account, on the

basis of a thorough listening of their diverse expectations” (p. 12). As a companion to

this, the glossary defines stakeholders as “those active publics that are aware and

interested in dialogue with the organization because its activities bear consequences on

them and/or whose activities bear consequences on the organization” (p. 13). Critical of

such advice is the reasoning by Leitch and Neilson (2001) that publics need to speak for

themselves. The organization is likely to fail if it presumes a commanding approach to

determining discourse conditions.

It is significant to note the requirements of the CO, the PR/CM personnel in that regard,

under the definition and explanation of boundary spanning and/or issue management.

This function entails identifying and defining “direct and indirect relationships with

active or potential stakeholder groups.” This requirement acknowledges the need for the

organization “to identify and analyse those economic, political, social, technological

issues whose dynamics impact on the achievement of its strategic and tactical

objectives.” Central to this analysis is the task of “prioritizing those issues through a

careful importance/possibility-to-influence analysis.” The challenge is to “identify those

subjects who either directly or indirectly impact on those dynamics and dialogue with

them to convince them to either reduce their hostility or increase their support for the

organization’s objectives” (p. 13). As such, the requirement is to use traditional SIM

tools and techniques to make the organization agentic, but it does not suggest, let alone,

specify how this is not reactive, how it is proactive, and how support and opposition is

community-oriented (fully functioning society) rather than merely an agentic CO

response. Reflective management presumes that organizations have a lot to learn from

external publics and therefore should avoid a philosopher king approach to adjustment

and change management.

Measurement of the role and value of communication in the value chain features

“source credibility, content familiarity and content credibility.” It also entails “the

satisfaction, commitment, trust and power balance of each relationship” (p. 13). Beyond

these quite ordinary conditions of communication, other definitions focus on leadership

requirements, knowledge sharing, decision-making processes, processes and structures

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as well as a relationship approach to stakeholder groups. Processes and structures need

to respond to the requirement for change management. This “mostly relies on sound and

realistic objectives and effective relationships, which in turn are driven by good

communication involving both internal and external partners of the organization” (p.

14).

The value networks become the nexus for stakeholder engagement. The glossary

discussion of stakeholders focuses more on their process nature than on the dialogic,

collaborative means for engagement with them to a mutual end. The CO is responsive if

it seeks, but does not depend on favorable relationships. It acknowledges the agentic

nature of stakeholders. This line, however, suggests that stakeholder relationship

building, as approached by the Accords CO, is more of an end than means to

sustainability. The glossary observes, “It is clearly up to the organization to decide on

acknowledging them and to responsibly involve and/or engage with them” (p. 14). The

ambiguity of this requirement arises from the ambiguity of the phrase, “clearly up to.”

Does that offer more of an agentic status to the CO and less of an agentic status to the

community than is probably required to achieve sustainability? It is also important to

note that brand loyalty and brand equity are important measures and outcomes of the

CO. These are agentic to the voice of companies and other organizations, but primarily

private sector matters.

Earlier sections of the Accords suggest the importance of dialogue, participation. The

glossary reasons that a CO’s “stakeholder relationships may be differently segmented

according to their acknowledgement, involvement, engagement, separation, and divorce

programs.” Each relationship, the glossary reasons, “begins with the two subjects

acknowledging each other; them proceeds when the organization stimulates its

stakeholder groups to access the information they believe stakeholder groups require to

keep abreast on their relationship and are enabled to provide feedback (involvement)”

(p. 13). This observation treats feedback and involvement in ways quite typical of

situational theory. The analysis also suggests the selective and strategic need for “direct

communication” including conversation with some stakeholders, but not all. And it

suggests that a period of “divorce” may strategically give both sides the opportunity for

cooling off. It is revealing to note how the logic of the engagement seems to focus on

one organization, the CO, engaging one at a time with each stakeholder group, to the

extent that the stakeholder group seems agreeable to the overtures of the CO. This

paradigm is extraordinarily limiting to efforts to achieve a fully functioning society. It

can be seen as manipulative whereby strong organizations negotiate individually and

privately with ostensibly weaker organizations or poorly organized stakeholder publics.

That posture seems at odds with a later statement that features how issues become

multifaceted (offering different perspectives and angles) according to the mix and

nature of an array of stakeholders. This section suggests that in a multi-voice

community that conflicting interests and relationships become a daunting undertaking.

But the glossary and the rest of the document does not offer much insight into this

complexity.

How the CO operates and engages is likely to be driven by its mission, vision, values,

and strategies. “The strategy is the path the organization decides to pursue in its

migration from mission to vision; while the business plan defines the operative steps the

organization plans to implement to pursue that strategy” (p. 16).

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In these ways, the Accords brings PR/CM best practices, literature, theory and research

to bear on the daunting problem of working with organizations of all kinds, as well as

identifiable populations, to achieve sustainability. The document seems biased to a

systems approach to PR/CM, one that is also driven by relationship development and

responding to stakeholder information needs. It does little to focus on the processes of

collective problem recognition and collaborative decision making.

Thus, the CO is agentic insofar as it can build relationships, share information, advance

brand loyalty and equity as well as be credible, trustworthy, engage in two-way

communication, and be strategic in its selection and engagement with stakeholders. It

engages in dialogue to keep abreast of the thinking by key stakeholders and to seek

mutually beneficial outcomes. Assuming the accuracy of this synthesis, reason exists, as

noted in this section, that a larger sense of PR/CM is needed to help CO’s achieve

sustainability.

The challenge: situational analysis

To achieve the goal set by Vision 2050, the Accords need to help organizations make

society more fully functioning. This requires appreciation of how multiple stakeholders

voice views on key issues, the resolution of which by joined engagement can achieve

sustainability that is only possible through societal change. Rather than yielding to a

bias toward systems theory, communication processes, and relationship quality, PR/CM

leadership must be discourse centered, fostering the infrastructural processes and shared

meaning outcomes of deliberative democracy as co-created meaning.

PR/CM must offer advice needed by strategic management and sound science that

fosters voices (internally and externally) to examine ideas, contest positions, vet

information, change evaluative principles and premises, foster the wisest policies which

may require private sector adjustments to community preferences and vice versa, and

achieve an identification that brings voices together even though they engage

contentiously. This rhetorical and critical scope of activities goes well beyond

relationship development and information sharing to center on debate, contentious

discourse in the public arena, whereby voices of support and opposition contest and

challenge one another, a dialogic paradigm.

Meaning which achieves a new sense society and resource use is inseparable from

innovation and change management. In this way, sustainability is not a private sector

challenge, but a sociological revolution. In that pursuit, the strategic adjustment

paradigm can be insufficient to understand the dynamics of social change and

innovation, a macro-level analysis, which moves beyond the status quo that often can be

defended rather than changed through accommodation and behavioral adjustment.

An approach that elevates relationships to decision-making infrastructures posits the

communicative requirements of the public arena where voice depends on merit not

position or power. As meaning, we posit the communicative requirements needed to

achieve through dialogue a common vision, identification with that vision, and

commitment to its success (Heath et al., 2004). In sum, PR/CM needs insights drawn

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from principles of stakeholder participation, risk management and communication, and

from an approach to CSR-based management whereby organizations earn their license

to operate by serving society rather than assuming that society serves them.

As such, the CO must be committed to and capable of achieving process and content

legitimacy, as well as being willing and able to reduce the legitimacy gap: Its, the

private sector’s, the public sector’s and that of key stakeholders. The legitimacy

challenge has to shift away from the agentic organization, to the organization made

agentic through an agentic society. It must be willing and able to engage in

collaborative decision making for, with, and by multiple voices in a coherent public

arena. To achieve sustainability, the community must co-create a definition of what it is

and what it requires. Only then can they achieve it.

With these summary ideas in mind, we challenge current and the developing public

relations literature and practice to aspire toward a new normal by adopting, researching,

and employing the following principles.

 PR/CM must be prepared to engage in socially constructive discourse in a

manner that joins and aligns the views of clients/employers and other voices.

Discourse is a means by which voices pit ideas against one another, as statement

and counter statement. Through discourse, ideas are publicly advanced and

weighed leading optimally to enlightened choice. This ideal of the rhetorical

heritage seeks to understand how discourse achieves positive and socially

responsible advances, as well as a kind of narrative (mythos) of continual and

collaborative change. This discourse centers on issues. PR/CM must be able to

work with a variety of voices to help to the following:

o frame issues,

o generate supporting facts,

o bring appropriate evaluations to bear on the facts,

o advocate public and private sector policies that lead to transformational

change,

o foster identifications that support and advance sustainability by aligning

interests and identities.

 PR/CM must understand that its discipline is meaning centric, especially on

matters of dramatic change management, as is the case for sustainability.

Shared meaning is required to co-create a socially constructed sense of reality

that knows what sustainability is, what attitudinal and behavioral changes it

requires of individuals and organizations, and how it advances standards of

living through the deployment of physical resources. However much shared

information is important, even more essential is the development and use of

shared premises and principles which can be used collectively and constructively

to make sense of facts needed to achieve sustainability.

 Following the rhetorical heritage, PR/CM will be challenged to respond to a

variety of rhetorical problems as society moves to define and innovate on behalf

of sustainability. Sustainability is a rhetorical problem, fraught with related

rhetorical problems. As such, it is both a problem created by the conditions of

the voices pitted against one another, and by the confines and constraints of the

fixed limits of physical resources vis-a-vis population needs.

 Credibility and trust, as manifestation of legitimacy and a condition of discourse

influence, rests on demonstrations of reflective management and demonstrated

19

commitment to CSR standards that are elevated above license to operate to

responsibility to change and innovate, as well as to adapt, follow, and lead. As

the essence of the rhetorical condition, individual and organizational credibility

as well as identity, as the authors of the Accords reasoned, is a crucial variable.

As such, trust and legitimacy depend on the values to which each voice aspires,

the interests that it champions, and the quality of ideas it puts into play.

 Innovation to achieve sustainability is multidisciplinary, which requires PR/CM

to partner with and augment the voices of other disciplines. Thus, PR/CM must

be prepared to work for sustainable platforms of fact, evaluation, policy position,

and identification. Such efforts necessarily presume the willingness and ability

to engage in advocacy as well as accommodation based on the merit of ideas and

relationships in play.

 PR/CM must be as committed to the need for multiple interests to simultaneously

enact power engagement and resource distribution as reasoned by resource

dependency theory. As critical theorists reason, the public arena can be distorted

by power plays with companion strategies and outcomes of empowerment and

marginalization. The ethos of sustainable PR/CM champions power resources

that result from and continue to foster collective empowerment. Organizations

and individuals acquire social capital by the means and meaning they contribute

to the dialogue for sustainability. Preconditions for power resource management

presume infrastructures of power engagement as well as discourse and social

construction (Tsetsura, 2010; Gordon and Pellegrin, 2008) of power through co-

created meaning. To that end, power resources result from discourse relevant to

reality (what minds understand and conceive), self/identity, and

society/relationships.

 PR/CM plays an important discourse-based role through its ability to engage in

situational analysis, including issue monitoring and the identification and

understanding of rhetorical problems. Situational analysis suggests that how

organizations and individuals make resource dependent decisions to solve

problems has to be predicated on a change and innovation paradigm. That

paradigm presumes that previous approaches to problem solving, the use of the

cognitive tools needed to solve problems properly, is dysfunctional in key ways.

What those key ways are is likely to be societal as well as individual. That

conclusion is derived from the logic that not achieving sustainability is the status

quo, therefore the current approach to problem solving must be indicted as a first

step to change management. So, all of the voices are needed to achieve a new

future and develop new perspectives which depend on and advance individual

self-efficacy, technical/expert efficacy, and societal/community efficacy. A

precursor to change management is the conceptualization of change and the

sense of efficacy needed to achieve that end.

 PR/CM must adopt the scope and purpose of risk management and

communication. To achieve sustainability, new understandings and approaches

to risk management must be innovated and brought into organizations’ and

individuals’ lifespaces. Central to that objective, science will need to be

balanced against cultural interpretations of risk, brought to fruition through

infrastructures of dynamic change through collective problem solving.

 PR/CM must balance the agentic nature of organizations with the decision-

making agency of society to create a community where sustainability can thrive

as a concept and obtainable goal. Sustainability presumes advances in

organizational planning, operations, and policies through reflective management

20

that shifts focus from the agentic organization to the agentic community. The

Accords presume and applaud a commitment to reflective management as means

by which executives and managers think from the outside in considering not

narrowly what is in the best interest of the organization but how societal

interests can be advanced through innovative and change oriented

(entrepreneurial management). The agentic nature of organizations must

contribute to the agency of society as the means and rationale for collective

change through civil society.

 PR/CM needs an approach to engagement that empowers publics and other

stakeholders rather than one that instrumentalizes them to the narrow interest of

one or more organization, especially businesses, governments, and NGO’s. The

concepts of civil society and social capital presume that voices are encouraged

rather than co-opted.

As the next section will indicate, these principles and guidelines agree with and draw on

research and best practices. The goal of such research, applied in the context of

achieving sustainability, is to help define and support the CO to go beyond the status

quo to be part of dynamic change collectively and collaboratively conceived and

implemented. The challenge to theory is to explain the conditions and offer guidelines

for organic change which is managed through the leadership of innovative companies,

change oriented governments, and NGO’s who add value to such change. In that effort,

however, one cannot discount the likelihood that advocacy will occur more often than

accommodation. Accommodation and compromise may follow long and sustained

efforts to justify and motivate changes in individual and collective behavior and policy.

Public relations theories: meeting the challenges of sustainability

No current theory may be entirely sufficient to the task posed by the goal of

sustainability; some may lead in the wrong direction. As such, any discussion of public

relations theory necessarily embraces theory relevant to and growing from public

relations, issues management, public affairs, marketing/integrated communication, risk

and crisis management and communication, identity management, corporate social

responsibility, stakeholder participation and relationship quality.

These lines of inquiry are challenged and complemented by chaos theory, social

construction of reality, and other approaches to science, society, and co-created

enactable meaning. An undercurrent to theory must examine how we know (and how

well) reality, how we conceptualize ourselves (identification), and how we organize into

society (between) as aligned and competing interests and identities. These themes can

never be separated from challenges of sound science and reflective management—as

keys to a genuine public interest embraced by the goal of sustainability.

This paper addresses the competing identities of organizations, public relations

professionals, and stakeholding publics as they weigh the definitions, challenges, and

expectations of sustainability as the new standard of corporate social responsibility as a

management challenge in collaboration with other voices. To readers familiar with the

development and growth/refinement of strategic issues management (SIM), the Accords

hits many traditional themes and echoes principles and strategies that have been under

refinement since the 1970s. Whereas SIM started as a means for businesses to counter

21

an activist critique of the private sector and its place in society, it matured into a

comprehensive, responsive and collaborative management approach to public and

private policy formulation and implementation. Also, as Lawnicazak (2005) reasoned,

change is not accomplished by shifting from one public relations style to another, for

instance from asymmetry to symmetry, but “as the necessary adjustments of

institutional forms and ways of thinking” (p. xxi).

The analysis provided below reasons that for new age public relations theory, a shift

should reorient us from working to understand how to make organizations effective to

featuring efforts to help organizations become effective by making society more fully

functioning (Heath, 2006), through deliberative democracy (Palazzo and Scherer, 2006;

Scherer and Palazzo, 2007) and stakeholder participation (De Bussey, 2005, 2008,

2010). Such change is likely to depend more on discourse and co-created meaning than

of the advantages of relationship development, information sharing, and cybernetic

adaptation. This challenge centers on the question of what makes any organization and

idea legitimate in the pursuit of sustainability; that burden requires specific attention to

the role of power in society, as power resource management.

Tracking the evolution of corporate legitimacy as a work in progress not some fixed

(and even platitudinous) theme, Palazzo and Scherer (2006) worked to move corporate

legitimacy with its roots in corporate social responsibility from the stage of cognitive

and pragmatic legitimacy beyond moral legitimacy to a new order. As they contended,

what is needed is “a step towards the politicization of the corporation and attempt to re-

embed the debate on corporate legitimacy into its broader context of political theory,

while reflecting the recent turn from a liberal to a deliberative concept of democracy”

(p. 71).

Fully Functioning Society Theory (FFST)

In 2006, Heath reasoned that organizations need to be reflective to accomplish their

ends by serving society. In this way, FFST reasons that society is a complex of many

collectivities, each of which has its own, but interdependent and variously aligned

interests. The role of public relations is to help create and advance the infrastructures

and co-create meanings that bring these interests into alignment. This rationale matures

into one of the key premises of the theory:

To help society to become more fully functioning, managements of organizations (for

profit, nonprofit, and governmental) must demonstrate the characteristics that foster

legitimacy, such as being reflective; being willing to consider and instrumentally

advance others’ interests; being collaborative in decision making; being proactive and

responsive to others’ communication and opinion needs; and working to meet or exceed

the requirements of relationship management, including being a good corporate citizen.

(p. 100).

Legitimacy is needed in resource distribution because only through functional

infrastructures and socially constructed meaning can resources be generated and used

for social responsibility. These premises meld into a commitment to the agency of

community. Here interests are advanced, assessed collectively, and allocated

systemically. In this effort, relationships are fostered through the ability of

organizations, especially businesses, to advance community interests to achieve and

maximize company interests.

22

Especially relevant to the pursuit of sustainability, we note another premise of FFST:

“Society is a complex of collectivities engaged in variously constructive dialogue and

power resource distribution through meeting socially constructed and shared norm-

based expectations whereby individuals seek to make enlightened choices in the face of

risk, uncertainty, and reward/cost ambiguity” (Heath, 2006: p. 107). Organizations,

especially those which wish to lead in innovative change needed to achieve

sustainability, must be willing and able to engage in responsible advocacy. This dialogic

approach requires the collective vetting of facts/information, evaluations,

identifications, and policy choice so they each idea has full potential for responsible and

reflective review.

Such discourse occurs in what can be understood as socially constructed and enacted

narratives that facilitate enlightened choice. This premise is featured in FFST: in

addition to advocacy, other forms of discourse can account for how people in society

co-create meaning that guides their activities leading to coordination. Enactment theory

reasons that people create a sense of culture that defines what actions are allowable and

expected for civil society. Such analysis acknowledges that even the behavior that

violates these expectations does so knowing that it is non normative (Heath, 2006: p.

109).

As such, this theory features SIM principles of reflective strategic management,

willingness and ability to know and meet CSR standards, engage in issue monitoring to

keep abreast of discourse in the life spaces of advocates whose various interests and

engagement in issue communication leads to enlightened choices.

Excellence Theory, coupled to Situational Theory of Publics and Problem Solving

Grunig (1992) scoped the purpose of his research project to investigate “how public

relations makes organizations more effective, how it is organized and managed when it

contributes most to organizational effectiveness (i.e., when it is excellent), the

conditions in organizations and their environments that make organizations more

effective, and how the monetary {value} of excellent public relations can be

determined” (p. 27; see also Kim and Ni, 2010, Kim and Grunig, 2011). To that end,

excellence theory and its companion situational theory of publics feature information

sharing as a key paradigm, the logics of compatible problem solving, and the

advantages of relationship management. The argument is that individual relationships

lead to community effectiveness by understanding and responding to key publics

information needs and decision-making cognitions.

Contingent accommodation and advocacy

The paradigm of contingency arose from studies of leadership, management, and

resource dependency. This approach to management, similar to that advanced by

rhetorical theory, reasons that in contingent matters of organizational leadership there is

no single best way to perform a function; external or situational factors affect strategic

actions and outcomes. As part of management, communication professionals, therefore,

must be part of management assessment of the relevant contingencies and the most

constructive response options in light of those contingencies, in a range from pure

advocacy to pure accommodation. Such adjustment is required for resilience and

adaptation which can lead to growth, change, and transformation. To reach a state of

coordination that is amenable to each party requires clear and effective communications,

which is often facilitated by a public relations professional who understands

23

situationally relevant contingencies (Cancel, Cameron, Sallot, and Mitrook, 1997;

Cameron, Wilcox, Reber, and Shin, 2007; Pang, Jin, and Cameron, 2008, 2009).

Rhetorical theory

As do excellence theory and contingency theory, the rhetorical approach to public

relations presumes an important role for functions and structures and contingent

responses. However, it stresses the essential role socially constructed meaning plays in

the lives of sentient beings. The contingent context results from discourse positions

advanced by interested parties more than factors relevant to the nature of organizations

per se or some fixed preference for symmetry. Especially important for the sorts of

change management essential to sustainability, the rhetorical approach is intimately

associated with strategic issues management, crisis management and communication, as

well as risk management and communication. Infrastructures are essential for the

locations and structures needed to bring voices together for collaborative decision

making. All voices have to be present in the public sphere.

Discourse presumes that societal engagement is necessary to solve society’s problem—

the agency of the community in common and aligned interest. Since the origins of the

rhetorical heritage in ancient Greece, the nature of the forum has been essential to

understanding discourse quality and its ability to achieve enlightened choice not as an

individual matter but a collective one. This is the spirit and functioning of democratic

deliberation founded on principles of stakeholder participatory engagement.

In discourse, each voice is agent; the collective dialogue is an agency through which

decisions can be collectively made for and in each community of public interest. For

that reason, professional practice relies on theories of civil society and

community/communitarianism (Taylor, 2009, 2010).

If rhetoric is the process of pitting statement against statement, with the intent (but not

always the outcome), of reaching decisions collaboratively, advocacy is a constructive

aspect of suasory discourse. One consideration is whether the positions advocated,

however firmly, follow the paradigm of the good organization communicating well—a

parallel to source credibility. Such a stance requires that the organization be reflective,

carefully considering the alignment of interests, rather than merely advocating a

position supporting its own interests. Hallahan (2004) concluded, “Indeed, healthy

conflict is possible only within the context of a supportive community” (p. 263).

A society—people and organizations—learns from mistakes. As a profession, public

relations can serve society by solving these mistakes, understanding problems, and

offering solutions that invite thoughtfulness and willingness to overcome restraints to

corrective actions. Public relations can serve organizations by helping them be good as a

prerequisite for their being articulate. Thus, public relations can assist organizations’

narrative enactments.

Critical theory

Motion and Weaver (2005) reasoned that a critical approach to discourse “involves

posing questions, including awkward and unpopular ones. It means not merely taking

information for granted, at face value, but asking how and why these things come to be,

why they have the shape and organization they do, how they work and for whose

benefit” (p. xx). Noting the narrowness of analysis on such matters, McKie (2001) was

24

especially concerned that “the so-called discursive, or linguistic, turn in knowledge

remains underexplored in public relations” (p. 76). Critical theorists have championed

the role of meaning in society, in part by emphasizing that language is never neutral and

always political. It also examines the nature of management, organizations, and the

public arena.

Drawing on a critical perspective, Cheney and Christensen (2001) reasoned that

effective organizational behavior and communication begins by acknowledging that

“most traditional and contemporary formulations of public relations” are “parochial,

utilitarian, and insufficiently self-reflective” (p. 179). Such critique focuses on several

challenges, including “to become even more intellectually expansive, more critically

reflective, and more cognizant of the diverse forms of organizational activity in today’s

world” (pp. 179–180). This search requires having less “imperialistic pretensions” by

avoiding three biases: “the illusion of symmetrical dialogue, explicit and implicit

corporatism, and Western managerial rationalism” (p. 180).

Reflecting on the power disparity in society, critical theorists “argue that PR

practitioners perpetuate the ability of both corporations and government to maintain a

privileged position in society, usually by dominating the news agenda and excluding

minority voices from public debate” (Tench and Yeomans, 2006: p. 168). “Wherever it

is practiced, the profession of public relations emerges from a specific social hierarchy

or field of power,” Edwards (2010) argued. She reasoned that this set of circumstances

“profoundly marks the nature and identity of public relations through the interests the

profession supports and the share of voice it generates for those on whose behalf it is

employed” (p. 205).

In keeping with these lines of analysis, critical theory features (1) the place, public

sphere, where discourse occurs and (2) the nature and quality of that discourse as

dialogue. Weighing such logics, Roper (2005) observed, “Hegemony can be defined as

domination without physical coercion through the widespread acceptance of particular

ideologies and consent to the practices associated with those ideologies” (p. 69). The

roots of power and its disparity reside in the assumptions made salient through

language, the idioms relevant to the interdependence between organizations and

between them and stakeholder publics. The key to advancing the dialogue toward

productive societal advantages is to achieve legitimacy (Roper, 2005). In such contexts,

the quality of discourse is important; the outcome should be shared or co-created

meaning that reflects multiple interests in varying degree of alignment.

Championing the role of discourse analysis, Fairclough (1989) articulated two means

for examining society through a communication lens. The first is more theoretical: to

help correct a widespread underestimation of the significance of language in the

production, maintenance, and change of social relations of power. The second is more

practical: to help increase consciousness of how language contributes to the domination

of some people by others, because consciousness is the first step towards emancipation

(p. 1). Even the nature of, the dynamics of structures and functions no matter how

seemingly neutral, are not merely “natural” but are the result of meanings created and

brought to bear to define and empower structures and functions.

“Lifeworld organizations grow out of the debates that take place within the sphere”

(Leitch and Neilson, 2001: p. 132; Leitch and Motion, 2010). As such publics exist in

25

and as they voice, construct, and share belief/evaluation/knowledge systems, zones of

meaning.

Conclusion

Practitioners and academics should be thrilled that projects such as Vision 205 and the

Stockholm Accords offer them the opportunity bring their best practices as well as

research and theory to help achieve global sustainability. As such it seems important to

consider, develop, and promulgate the concept of the communicative organization as a

prerequisite to that daunting task. And so, we should work to bring to bear the best of

our analysis to assure that the rationale for the communicative organization is agentic,

fostering the agency of community, and committed to infrastructures for discourse

where meaning of sustainability is co-created. In all of this, we are likely to realize that

the precondition of the communicative organization is the communicative society.

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29

Communicating with national stakeholders: Lessons for public

relations from advertising in two different nations

Fabrice Desmarais (University of Waikato, fabrice@mail.waikato.ac.nz), and David

McKie (University of Waikato, dmckie@waikato.ac.nz)

Abstract

This paper argues that, in approaching specific stakeholder differences in nations, public

relations might learn useful lessons from interdisciplinary studies of advertising. Such

studies also confirm how communication plays a constitutive role in shaping

perceptions and so support arguments that strategic communicators, such as public

relations practitioners, are too important to be unrepresented in the dominant coalition.

The paper illustrates these points through research into gender roles and behaviour in

New Zealand and French television advertising. The representation of advertising

characters acts as a useful “barometer” of current cultural values and is therefore

important to grasp for practitioners in fields other than advertising. This is because such

representations propose – if not partially impose – potent models of connection between

people and products, services or brands.

The paper further argues that public relations practitioners can and should learn from

advertising character representations in order to make better strategic communication

choices. Methodologically, the research codes the portrayal of advertising characters in

the two nations and interprets the differences using both content and semiotic analysis.

The findings reveal cultural differences that have strategic implications, illustrated

through gender, for framing and addressing messages to different national

constituencies. The paper concludes that the possibilities for strategic communication

with key stakeholders in different countries are restricted and can be extended by

learning from representation research in advertising.

Surveying the field: Advertising and gender

Little work has been done on connecting gender issues to national issues in public

relations. This is despite the existence of restrictively stereotypical portrayals of gender

in advertising by many empirical studies in countries such as the U.S. (Bretl and Cantor,

1988; McArthur and Resko, 1975), Portugal (Neto and Pinto, 1998), the United

Kingdom (Furnham and Bitar 1993; Furnham and Skae, 1997), Italy (Furnham and

Voli, 1989), and Australia (Mazzella et al., 1992). Studies of gender in advertising are

obviously not restricted to the study of a single country. Some studies have dealt with

more than one country; for instance Gilly (1988) compared the role of women in

television advertising in Australia, Mexico, and the U.S. Also dealing with several

countries, but with more geographical relevance to the present study, Whitelock and

Jackson (1997) compared the role of women in television advertising in the UK and

France. Furnham, Babitzkow, and Uguccioni (2000) also conducted an investigation of

gender stereotyping in television commercials from France and Denmark, while

Furnham and Farragher (2000) compared television commercials from New Zealand

and France.

30

One recurrent finding that does overlap with empirical public relations research on

gender is that women are numerically underrepresented (Furnham and Voli, 1989;

Mazella, Durkin, Cerini and Buralli, 1992; McArthur and Resko, 1975; Neto and Pinto,

1998). Other recurrent findings have been compiled by Furnham and Mak (1999) whose

study compares the findings from different time periods and countries. Across all

nations, studies relentlessly report that men are more likely than women to act as

authoritative central figures in commercials and then conclude that men act as the

authority of a product more than women who are usually typecast as product users

(McArthur and Resko, 1975; Bretl and Cantor, 1988; Neto and Pinto, 1998; Furnham

and Voli, 1989; Mazzella et al., 1992; Furnham, Babitzkow, and Uguccioni, 2000).

Studies also show that, in commercials, men are often associated with practical or

pleasurable rewards while females are associated more often with social approval or

self-enhancement (Furnham, Babitzkow, and Uguccioni, 2000; Furnham, Mak, and

Tanidjojo, 2000; Neto and Pinto, 1998). Another recurrent observation is that women in

commercials are consistently portrayed as younger than men. Most studies show that

young women and middle-aged men are the main age categories of central characters of

commercials (Furnham, Babitzkow, and Uguccioni, 2000; Furnham and Skae, 1997;

Neto and Pinto, 1998; Whitelock and Jackson, 1997).

Although some studies in the U.S. and Europe have illustrated that women no longer

have the exclusivity of featuring in commercials for domestic products (and are more

present in commercials for non-domestic products), most studies agree that these

features have not clearly evolved since the 1970s (Bartsch, Burnett, Diller, and Rankin-

Williams, 2000; Wolin, 2003). Nevertheless, Weigel and Loomis (1981) and Knill,

Pesch, Pursey, Gilpin, and Perloff (1981) indicated changes toward a broader

representation of female roles with more women given more authoritative roles as

consumers and product representatives. Furnham and Skae (1997), in Britain, and

Whitelock and Jackson (1997), in Britain and France, detected small changes in finding

that women were less dependent on, and less tied to, domestic settings and products

than previously. This paper argues that such findings should help shape gender research

in public relations. To support this we present our findings on gender in advertising

messages in two under-researched nations.

Gender in advertising in France and New Zealand

Few studies on gender role stereotyping in French advertising have been undertaken and

have generated different, and sometimes contradictory, results. Furnham, Babitzkow,

and Uguccioni’s (2000) findings are in line with previous results from the U.S. or the

UK. Furnham et al. (2000) noted that, in French commercials, most female central

figures were product users and men were more likely to be depicted as authorities (see

Whitelock & Jackson, 1997). Also, the percentages of women and men portrayed as

professionals in French commercials were similar but women were more likely than

men to be portrayed as dependent (Furnham et al., 2000). Whitelock and Jackson (1997)

also found that females in France and in the UK were less likely to be portrayed in a

work situation than males.

31

New Zealand has only been the subject of one content analysis study of gender roles in

television commercials. Furnham and Farragher (2000) found that 57% of visually

represented central figures and 81% of voice-overs were male. In terms of age, the

majority of female characters were young (55%) and the majority of males were

middle-aged (57%). Men were significantly more likely than women to be depicted as

autonomous, in an occupational setting, or at leisure than women. Women were

significantly more likely to be depicted in a domestic setting and portrayed in familial

roles than men.

Clearly the research shows that advertising messages formulate and disseminate certain

knowledge about the nature of men and women’s roles. They have culturally embedded

assumptions with material consequences for gender roles. The fact that females are

more likely to be portrayed in a domestic situation than males would reinforce the idea,

for example, that women have a life based at home and dominated by family, and that

marriage and parenthood are more important to a woman than to a man. Similarly, the

fact that women are portrayed as younger than men perpetuates the idea that women

must remain youthful in appearance whereas men are allowed to show signs of aging.

As social attitudes change communicators who do not change with them run the risk of

failing to engage positively with key stakeholders, such as women. Similarly discourse

technicians need to be aware of these constructions and their national variations and this

study offers a method of exploring them and detailed evidence of discursive

constructions.

Method

A total of 338 commercials containing characters in the New Zealand corpus and 302 in

the French corpus were used in this study. Following other studies (Mazella, Durkin,

Cerini, and Buralli, 1992; Neto and Pinto, 1998), all commercials containing cartoon,

fantasy characters, animals, and other central figures that were not human were omitted.

Commercials which used crowds were taken into account provided that a prominent

male and female character could be easily identified. Following Gilly (1988) no more

than three central characters were coded in each commercial. If more than three

characters were present in one commercial, the three most prominent figures were

selected for coding. In the final sample of commercials, 451 central characters from the

French corpus and 494 from the New Zealand corpus were coded.

Coding procedure

The coding of commercials was carried out following a specifically designed list of

variables based on previous studies (Furnham and Bitar, 1993; Gilly, 1988; Harris and

Stobbart, 1986; Mazella, Durkin, Cerini, and Buralli, 1992; Neto and Pinto, 1998;

Schneider and Schneider, 1979; Whitelock and Jackson, 1997). All these studies built

on the comprehensive content categories developed by McArthur and Resko’s (1975)

ground breaking study (see Furnham and Mak, 1999). The variables selected for the

present study were simplified and adapted to provide a relevant, and also a workable,

framework for the size of the corpus.

32

Two coders, one male and one female, included to provide gender balance, both fluent

in English and French were involved in the coding process of this part of the study.

Reliability of coding was ensured by each coding 30 commercials independently and

subsequently discussing their findings. The rest of the commercials were coded by both

coders simultaneously. As in studies by Schneider and Schneider (1979), and Gilly

(1988), disagreement between the coders was resolved via discussion and consensus.

A complementary second step in the analysis of gender roles and behaviours involved

conducting a semiotic analysis of the characters’ behaviours and interactions. This

process, carried out by one of the authors, considered how commercials marked out

character roles through denoted and connoted signs, and how advertising characters

interacted with each other through visual and aural signs such as gestures and language.

It also studied how characters were used as signs directed to subject viewers with a view

to make them consume brands or products. Of course the previous content analysis

coding by both coders helped considerably in the process of identifying recurring

patterns of interaction or behaviours of male and female characters.

Results (1): Gender and frequency

The frequency of use of male and female characters in commercials was calculated to

see if there was a pattern in the use of gender in each particular advertising environment

(see table 1). Firstly, following Al-Olayan and Karande (2000), a calculation was made

of commercials in which only males appeared, secondly, one of commercials in which

only females appeared, and thirdly, one of commercials in which both males and

females appeared.

The majority of the French commercials used situations involving both males and

females (58.95% or n=178), the next largest group was that in which only females were

represented, (22.85% or n=69), and the smallest one (18.21% or n=55) involved only

males. Quantitatively, in line with the findings of similar research (Whitelock and

Jackson, 1997; Furnham, Babitzkow, and Ugguccioni, 1999), the results indicate that

French advertising discourse represents both genders quite evenly.

New Zealand commercials revealed a different pattern. New Zealand television

advertising used a lot of commercials in which only male characters were featured

(41.12% or n=139). Commercials which used situations involving both genders were

the next important group with 133 commercials (39.34%) using both males and females.

Commercials in which only females were used amounted to a total of 66 (19.52%), less

than half the number of commercials solely using males.

The striking difference between the two advertising discourses resided in the fact that,

in New Zealand television advertising, there were twice as many commercials featuring

only males than in French television advertising. This finding can be paralleled with

findings that revealed that voice-overs in New Zealand were mostly male whereas in

France the vocal environment was more balanced (Desmarais, 2001). This study also

revealed that French television advertising tended to use more commercials in which

characters of both genders were used.

33

Results (2): Central characters

The distribution of central characters according to gender and product type also

produced contrasting findings (see table 2’s distribution of central characters according

to product types). In French television advertising, men and women central characters

were used equally for most product categories (9 out of 13 product categories). In other

words, as many men as women were found to be central characters in commercials for

food and drinks, entertainment, clothing, electronic/household appliances, do-it

yourself, services, and even automobiles and accessories. The product categories that

revealed a difference were “personal and beauty care products”, and “household and

cleaning products”: French women were more frequently shown with personal and

beauty care products (n=39, 16.4%) than their male counterparts (n=20, 9.3%); French

women were also more often associated with household and cleaning products (n=20,

8.4%) compared to French males (n=11, 5.2%); and were slightly more likely to be used

as central figures in commercials for drugs and medicine (n=16, 6.7%) than males

(n=13, 6.1%).

New Zealand revealed more dramatic differences between the genders. For certain

products the distribution of genders was equitable: as many men as women were found

to be central characters in commercials for clothing; for services; and food and drinks

(29.7% men vs. 29.4% women). Many other product categories were very gender

specific. Men appeared much more than women in commercials for entertainment

(7.9% vs. 2%), for automobiles and accessories (11% vs. 4.4%), for do-it-yourself

products (11.7% vs. 3.4%), for farming products (1.4% vs. 0%), for sporting products

(2.8% vs. 0.5%), and for public services (8.6% vs. 6.8%). On the other hand, women

were more frequently portrayed with: electronic/household appliances (8.3% vs. 3.8%);

personal and beauty care products (7.4% vs. 1%); household and cleaning products

(9.8% vs. 3.1%); and with drugs and medicines (6.9% vs. 3.4%).

Results (3): Product categories and male characters

A comparison of male central characters in French and New Zealand television

advertising revealed striking similarities as well as differences. About the same

proportions of New Zealand males (29.7%) as French males (25.8%) were found to be

central characters in commercials for food/drinks. French male characters were used

much more in personal and beauty care commercials (9.3% vs. 1%). French men were

also more likely to be used as central characters in commercials for automobiles and

accessories (13.7% vs. 11%), household and cleaning products (5.2% vs. 3.4%), drugs

and medicine (6.1% vs. 3.1%), clothing (5.2% vs. 2.4%), electronic/household

appliances (9.3% vs. 3.8%), and services (18.8% vs. 13.1%). Overall, French male

characters were used more in commercials for domestic products.

New Zealand males were more often used in commercials for entertainment products or

services (7.9% vs. 4.7%) and, significantly more, as central characters in the do-it-

yourself category (11.7% vs. 0.9%), farming products (1.4% vs. 0%), sporting products

(2.8% vs. 0.5%), and public services (8.6% vs. 0.5%).

Results (4): Common threads

34

The product type-gender connections illustrate how advertising creates a natural match

between certain gender segments of the population and specific product categories. The

association of male characters in both discourses with entertainment products, with

automobiles and accessories, and in New Zealand especially, with do-it-yourself and

sporting products, reinforce ideas of the male as guardian of the practical, entertaining,

athletic, and physical, world. The association of female characters with beauty products,

or household and cleaning products, similarly reinforces certain associations in both

discourses. The association of female characters with cleaning products clearly suggests

that a woman’s place and responsibility are firmly located within both the French and

New Zealand home environments. This phenomenon was already noted 30 years ago by

Dominick and Rauch (1971) and also validated by subsequent studies (Courtney and

Whipple, 1983; Leigh, Rethans, and Reichenbach, 1987; Lovdal, 1989; McArthur and

Resko, 1975; Schneider and Schneider, 1979).

Similarly, the stereotypical use of women as comforting and caring has been denounced

by feminists as stemming out of a western discursive formation that creates a strong

knowledge on the natural role and qualities of women (Autain, 2001; De Beauvoir,

1976; Friedan, 1965; Lips and Colwill, 1978). What emerged from the research was that

advertising communicators, across two different western cultures, were caught in this

powerful discursive formation. In order to communicate efficiently and quickly to

audiences, they created messages that fitted with the widely accepted regime of truth

that articulates womanhood with caring. Caring and womanhood were mechanically

articulated in both cultural environments. Nevertheless the study found that the

phenomenon of matching product categories with genders was more or less accentuated

depending on the cultural context. French female characters were, for example, much

more frequently portrayed with personal and beauty care products or clothing products

than their New Zealand counterparts.

There were also divergences. French male characters tended to be included in

commercials for traditionally female product categories such as beauty products, or

household and cleaning products. Conversely, in New Zealand television advertising,

female characters were included in traditionally male product categories. The

comparative approach therefore showed that New Zealand female characters, in

participating in traditional male activities such as building and playing sports, were

represented as being drawn into traditionally masculine territory more than their French

counterparts.

Conclusion

This paper reported findings on the use of gender in two national advertising discourses.

Its uncovering of imagery patterns that influence advertising discursive practices has

other practical implications. Not only does it enable a better grasp of another culture’s

cultural understandings of gender, but, more importantly, it enables strategic positioning

in relation to the understandings that are present in that culture. Knowledge of the main

gendered discursive formations influencing messages provides a framework within

which practitioners and others, can make informed strategic decisions. One of the

largest is to decide whether to design their communication to fit inside dominant gender

discourse, or to challenge established conventions through risk taking. Greater

35

knowledge can stimulate innovation, since things can be done differently elsewhere and

therefore the status quo has options, and security, since other nations already do it in

other ways without abandoning advertising success.

The marked absence of image concerns and gender aspects in public relations in

general, and in public relations’ considerations of nations in particular, suggests this

area needs research. We concur and hope to have shown that studies in advertising

research have much to offer the public relations field.

Table 1: Frequency of gender specific commercials in New Zealand and French

television.

Commercials

with only

men.

Commercials

with only

women.

Commercials

with both

men and

women.

Total of

commercials

with

characters

n

%

n

%

n

%

N

New

Zealand

139

41.12

66

19.52

133

39.34

338

France

55

18.21

69

22.85

178

58.95

302

Table 2. Distribution of central characters according to gender and product type.

Services: Banks, insurances, real estate agents, travel agents,

telecommunication/telephone companies.

Public services: Drink driving campaigns, ACC campaigns, army commercials, and

retirement planning.

France

New Zealand

Men

Women

Men

Women

Types of goods and services

n

%

n

%

n

%

n

%

Food/drinks

55

25.8

55

23.1

86

29.7

60

29.4

Entertainment

10

4.7

9

3.8

23

7.9

4

2

Personal and beauty care

20

9.3

39

16.4

3

1

16

7.4

Automobiles/accessories/oil

companies

29

13.7

27

11.3

32

11

9

4.4

Household/cleaning products

11

5.2

20

8.4

9

3.1

20

9.8

Clothing

11

5.2

10

4.3

7

2.4

6

2.9

Do-it-yourself

2

0.9

2

0.8

34

11.7

7

3.4

Drugs and medicine

13

6.1

16

6.7

10

3.4

14

6.9

Electronic/household appliances

20

9.3

18

7.6

11

3.8

17

8.3

Farming products

0

4

1.4

0

Sporting products

1

0.5

2

0.8

8

2.8

1

0.5

Services

40

18.8

39

16.4

38

13.1

36

17.6

Public services

1

0.5

1

0.4

25

8.6

14

6.8

Total

213

100

238

100

290

100

204

100

36

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39

Working woman/PR professional: The multi-faceted identities of

women working in public relations

Christine Daymon (Murdoch University, c.daymon@murdoch.edu.au), and Anne Surma

Murdoch University, a.surma@murdoch.edu.au)

Abstract

One symptom of the knowledge economy characterising contemporary, developed

society is the blurring of the once-clear demarcations between work and home, labour

and leisure, and economic and cultural value. Individuals increasingly cross borders that

are not only physical and technological but also emotional, psychological, relational and

temporal. We are interested in understanding the ways in which public relations

practitioners, as knowledge workers, are positioned as individual, gendered subjects

responding to the pressures induced by this shifting, complex relational landscape.

Therefore, in this study we explore the ways in which public relations practitioners

improvise, communicate and negotiate their personal–professional identities and the

tensions inherent in the encounter between self and other, private and public, economic

and cultural.

We interviewed women of different ages, in various stages of family life, and at

different levels in their professional careers: unmarried, married, with and without

children, in junior and senior roles, working in consultancy and in-house. The rich

descriptions we gained of the ways in which the women invest their professional and

personal experiences with meaning reveal how they constitute the work–life

interrelationship discursively; how they navigate these tensions and make sense of them

reflexively; and their impact on the practice of public relations. We posit that public

relations is a profession whose resources and focus resemble those with which the

notion of identity and the negotiation of work–life balance are themselves preoccupied:

the relationships between people, time, space and communication technologies. Thus,

recognising the importance of personal–professional identities coupled with the notion

of who does public relations work, what it involves, and how it is accomplished

becomes central to any understanding of knowledge production and individual

wellbeing in the contemporary knowledge economy.

Introduction

Over thirty years ago, Rosabeth Moss Kanter refuted the notion that the public and

private are separate spheres, arguing that it is untenable to ignore the intrinsic

connection between individuals‘ work lives and their home or family lives because each

has an influence upon the other with consequences for how work is carried out (Kanter,

1977). Since then, researchers have noted that the linkage between work and home has

been accentuated by the increasing dependence of western economies on knowledge as

the key factor of production and wealth generation, and technology as the key resource

for production (Castells, 2010). This has motivated changes to work patterns, modes of

employment and occupational structures. Wireless connections and mobile devices, for

example, have led to the emergence of the boundaryless organisation, the virtual office

40

and the flexible workforce with its non-standard forms of employment (e.g. flexible

hours, part-time, self-employment). New communication technologies enable constant

communication between work and home, encouraging disciplines from the work realm

such as planning and control to invade non-work lives. At the same time, the once clear

demarcations between work and home, labour and leisure, and economic and cultural

value have become blurred. Individuals increasingly cross and coexist simultaneously

across borders that are not only physical and technological but also emotional,

psychological, relational, spatial and temporal.

We are interested in exploring the implications of these interconnected spheres for the

construction of identity in public relations. We posit that in the present knowledge

economy, the negotiation of professional and non-work identities is a complex process

which, as Nyström (2009) has argued, is shaped by both personal and social

imperatives, including, we suggest, the professional. Wenger has drawn attention to the

notion of identity ―as a pivot between the social and the individual (1998, p. 145).

He rejects the notion that the two are dichotomous; rather, he draws attention to the

centrality of lived experience within particular social milieux. The term

―multimembership designates individuals‘ identities as belonging to and realised

through different ―communities of practice which he defines as the specific formal or

informal grouping with which we are involved and the various ―practices, routines,

rituals, artifacts, symbols, conventions, stories and histories that characterise them

(Wenger, 1998, p.6). In turn, multimembership also constitutes the ―living experience

of boundaries― (Wenger, 1998, p. 161).

Hence, taking Wenger‘s cue, it appears that individuals weave their way within and

across the various spheres of their lives which those boundaries (however tenuously or

porously) demarcate. Identities and the ―landscape of practice― (the different

communities in which people participate) both reflect and shape one another, as part of

an ongoing process of identity (as becoming). For Wenger, none of this is to suggest the

view that individuals have ―multiple identities―, since this would elide the ways in

which participation in different communities of practice (from individuals‘ perspective,

as workers, mothers, partners, etc.) ―interact, influence each other, and require

coordination― (1998, p.159).

Our study aligns with the views of Wenger in defining identity not as a static,

monolithic whole or something ―we turn on and off― (Wenger, 1998, p. 159), but as

the nexus of multiple identifications with a range of different spheres which individuals

may perceive and articulate as relatively discrete, blurred or flexible. The negotiation

among the spheres of social and personally derived imperatives shape professional and

personal identities which may be multi-faceted rather than separable.

We posit that this is accentuated in so-called knowledge work, such as public relations.

Public relations is a profession whose resources and focus share a resemblance to those

with which the notion of identity and the negotiation of work–life balance are

themselves preoccupied: the relationships between people, time, space and

communication technologies. We are interested in understanding the ways in which

public relations practitioners, as knowledge workers, are positioned as individual,

gendered subjects, and how they are called to respond to the pressures induced by this

shifting, complex relational landscape, in both their home and work lives. Therefore, in

this study we explore the ways in which public relations practitioners improvise,

41

communicate and negotiate their personal–professional identities and the tensions

inherent in encounters between self and other, private and public, economic and

cultural. The importance of personal–professional identities coupled with the notion of

who does public relations work, the approaches that people take to their work, and the

implications for how public relations work is accomplished is central to any

understanding of knowledge production and individual wellbeing in a knowledge

economy.

Methodology

We explore these questions through consideration of female public relations

practitioners’ various articulations of how they perceive and experience the relationship

between the professional and private spheres of their lives. To do this, we focus on how

and why women describe how they put together (whether self-consciously or apparently

intuitively) certain aspects of their lives into one or more spaces and the extent to which

they perceive boundaries around or borders between these spaces.

We chose to focus solely on women in this study on the basis that, firstly, public

relations is a feminized industry where women as practitioners outnumber men, for

example in Australia: (de Bussey and Wolf, 2009), and in the USA(Cline et al, 1986),

and secondly because, despite assuming a greater role in the labour force, women

continue to maintain their primary caregiving and domestic work roles in the home

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009; Crompton & Lyonette, 2006).

We employed an interpretive approach to the investigation, collecting and analysing

data iteratively through five stages based on a purposive sample of 35 public relations

practitioners based in Western Australia, all women of different ages, in various stages

of family life, and at different levels in their professional careers: unmarried, married,

with and without children, in junior and senior roles, working in consultancy and in-

house. Although not all participants were mothers, almost all defined themselves, at

least in part, in relation to the choices they had made or hoped to make about having

children as well as a professional life. We began collecting the data by conducting two

interviews with senior women, both working in-house, to help us identify some of the

key issues related to the interaction of their working life and other aspects of their lives,

and to focus our research questions. We then carried out two focus groups with women

in their twenties and early thirties. These findings suggested that the issues might differ

according to women‘s age, seniority and family life-stage. Consequently, we conducted

a further focus group with women in their forties and then, because we considered that

our discussions with senior women (mostly in their fifties) might reveal some

potentially sensitive information as they reflected on their experiences with both young

and now grown-up children, we opted for one-to-one interviews rather than group

interviews. We completed data collection by presenting our findings and nascent

interpretations to participants in an informal, social setting, encouraging women to

discuss freely their further opinions. This forum acted not only as a member check but

also allowed further ideas and explanations to emerge. Some of our hunches and

emergent propositions were confirmed through this process.

We analysed the data thematically according to notions of how identities emerge in the

navigation of borders, boundaries and perceptions of life ―balance as revealed in the

42

literature, and from the emergent themes in the primary data, such as generational

differences, and family or professional aspirations.

Challenges in the relationship between professional and home life spheres

The public relations industry in Western Australia could be described as thriving, with

multiple consultancies, freelance operators, and large in-house departments servicing a

range of sectors. Most lucrative is the booming resources sector which feeds a global

market increasingly dominated by the demands of a fast-growing Chinese economy.

Unlike most other countries, Australia has been affected only relatively lightly by the

global economic crisis. Therefore, in Western Australia, the employment opportunities

for public relations practitioners are plentiful and secure.

However, there are multiple challenges affecting the professional and home spheres of

those employed in public relations. The multi-national companies involved in mining

for minerals and natural gas, for example, require practitioners to work in both local and

global time zones. Even at a regional level, there are time differences, with up to three

hours between the zones in the west and those in the more populated eastern states. This

can result in work concerns intruding into the hours allocated by practitioners for non-

work such as home or leisure activities. Such intrusions are accentuated by the type of

role in which practitioners engage such as media relations or corporate spokesperson,

when the deadlines and agenda of the media may determine the proportion of time

available for work or personal life. Further, it is easier now for work to permeate home

life because of the uptake of communication technologies. While challenges such as

these affect men as well as women, the repercussions are arguably greater for women

because of their role in the private sphere as primary homemaker, caregiver and in many

cases that of mother.

Negotiating time

Many women in public relations described the demands on their lives as

―overwhelming because of a lack of time in which to do the various tasks properly or

in-depth. The unpredictable nature and flow of work, including bursts of activity

coupled with tight deadlines, meant that daily routines comprised a range of competing

and often irreconcilable demands which necessitated a constant juggling by practitioners

of the relationship between work and home: When the press calls, I drop everything and

this is affecting me, like all the other stuff that I have that is deliverable stops and I deal

with the press and all that entails.

In order to cope, some ―manoeuvred bits of time― by choreographing various public

and private tasks. For example, if a tight deadline for submission of a report required

extended, after-hours work, a mother might create ―a chunk of time with [the]

children by going home early in order to have an early meal with them, and then

continuing to write from home when the children had gone to bed. Alternatively,

strategic or creative thinking might be done during leisure activities, such as on the

treadmill in the gym or in the shower. In reflecting on work in her own consultancy, a

practitioner noted that ―I‘d work like a trooper for ten months of the year [then would

43

take two months off to go and help look after grandchildren] ... I‘ve had to try and

manoeuvre bits of time in and around my other work.

Such time shifting involves not only the moving and acceptance of work-related

activities into the private sphere (or vice versa), but also the incursion of the

professional into the psychological or personal realm. In order to more effectively

negotiate and manage the different life spheres, others traded time by exchanging

extended periods of hard work and long hours for leisure. A participant responsible for

the annual report noted that during its production ―life was manic― but ―when the

work gets a little bit lighter ... then you‘re able to spend more time at home―. Others

stated that they might work until very late—sometimes 10 or 11 pm—in order to enable

them to take time off. One participant stated: I was just very conscious of working hard

so that I could earn the time off when I needed it ... you just want to earn the respect [of

your colleagues] so if you say I really need to go down to the childcare or I really need

to do this and be in a bit late today, there’s no formality about it, they just let you do it.

Those who traded time, therefore, did so on the basis that this gave them licence to

achieve some form of flexibility in their professional life. One senior practitioner

working long hours in-house described that she coped by:

Mak[ing] sure you never start a job by sitting there at the desk between eight and five

consistently, because then the minute you don‘t do it, someone will notice. ... Always

make sure you are out and about [saying to your colleagues] Oh yes, I‘ve got to be

going here, going there‘. It‘s amazing what [personal things] you can get done.

Such impression management enabled this practitioner to introduce the home into the

workplace by undertaking personal chores such as family shopping during work time.

A third strategy for managing time was to ―draw a line― around certain activities, in

other words, to create boundaries that either defined the public and private spheres, or

which separated the psychological from the material. For example, major forthcoming

professional activities would be entered into the diary in order to highlight spaces

available for holidays, thus using work to determine the extent and timing of leisure

periods. One participant used her iPod to prevent distractions while thinking and

writing, and others chose not to use their telephones or look at emails while on holiday

or at home, although the nature of public relations work, global time zones and the

strong identification of many practitioners with notions of professionalism, meant that

this was often difficult to do:

Eastern states’ times mean you have to keep checking the Blackberry even at home. But

sometimes you don‘t have to do it, but you still are in the habit of doing it … so it‘s just

a matter of trying to be disciplined and going. You know what? These other tasks can

wait. I don‘t have to do this right now. How practitioners’ relationship with time is

negotiated, however, is dependent not only on personal imperatives such as career or

family ambitions and commitments, but also the role, type of organisation and sector in

which practitioners are employed. Most women make active choices about the type of

work that will best enable them to manage their time. It is not uncommon for those with

young children or dependent parents, for example, to reject the roles of media relations

or events management. Some women with families elect to leave the private sector,

especially consultancy, for the public sector in the belief that employing organisations

44

will offer better work–life balance. Others set up their own businesses or opt for

freelance or short term contract work in the belief that this will give them more control

and flexibility, although not all agree that this does occur. For example, a solo operator

who chose to work from home to enable her to spend more time with her children

highlighted the tensions involved in balancing the demands of family and profession

when she related the story of how she took her daughter to swimming lessons during a

working day. While she was in the pool, the regional newspaper called twice for

comment by her client. By the time she picked up the message and called back, the

newspaper had found another source, thus depriving her client of valuable media

coverage.

Practitioners therefore negotiate different temporalities as they cross the psychological,

relational and physical borders between the different, socially constructed spheres of

their lives. Women perceive the professional sphere as a space that includes their work

and professional practice, and their identifications with this. The private sphere

comprises home life, leisure activities, relationships with friends and family, and their

relationship to this. It also comprises the personal or internal self, including women‘s

reflections on themselves. The interconnectedness between the spheres is driven to

some extent by professional notions of time related to the planning, controlling and

scheduling of public relations work, especially that involving media relations and the

servicing of clients, as well as notions concerning the value of communication

technologies in the public relations role. Woven together with the social or cultural

imperatives associated with the professional community are the personal values and

motivations related to practitioners’ membership of the home or non-work community,

such as family.

Negotiating the boundaries of different life spheres

Three different categories of identity emerge from the data to illustrate the emphasis

that women give as they endeavour to juggle with and cross the borders of the inter-

related spheres: segmented, overlapping and merged. The categories themselves do not

pre-exist women‘s practices, and neither do they reify their experiences. Instead, they

describe how women improvise, communicate and negotiate their personal–professional

identities in specific situations and the tensions inherent in their encounters among self

and other, private and public, economic and cultural.

Segmented identity

This identity is characterised by its internal composition by defined boundaries and a

separation between the professional and non-work spheres. This implies that women

make a choice in different situations to prioritise either their professional role or their

home role, depending on the situation, thus making a conscious effort to create a

separation between the two. While a segmented identity is discernible in all age groups

and levels of seniority, it is most pronounced among some young women in the early

stages of their careers, or when mothers have young children and have made choices to

work part-time for minimal hours, or when senior women have reflected on their careers

and opted for a more balanced lifestyle. The segmented identity is (with greater or lesser

ease) able to release its attachment to the professional sphere in order to concentrate on

the private, and vice versa.

45

How women define and use psychological and socio-physical boundaries in order to

distinguish the different spheres of their lives is exemplified in the following quotations:

While you are away [travelling for work], you can completely focus on work.

[Travelling home from work is] a transition ... I try to do like this little mini-meditation

before I pick up my daughter ... so I‘m not all angsted up.

Women in this category tend to prioritise home over work, emphasising their quality of

life. One woman who had been employed at the most senior level, internationally,

stated: I‘ve done the big corporate jobs, I‘ve done the big consultancy jobs, I‘ve worked

the fifteen-hour days and I‘ve come to the conclusion that I don‘t need to do that

anymore ... My health was more important than the hours and the contribution that I was

putting in at work, over the balance of health and life at home.

She chose instead to write a book and undertake a variety of freelance projects, some in

public relations, others within the arts and entertainment fields. Wellbeing and work-life

balance, then, were major influences on the decision to segment lives, including not

only reducing the hours of work, or the energy put into building careers, but also in

planning extended periods of time out of the profession in order to concentrate on home

responsibilities.

The instrumental compartmentalising of professional and home spheres by public

relations practitioners with segmented identities results in their experiencing less

conflict between the demands and different temporalities of the public and private

spheres. Identification with one sphere or another was determined by the situation as

well as women‘s self-conscious attempts to retain distinct facets of their identity.

Overlapping identity

Overlapping identity is characterised by boundaries that are blurred, with spheres that

are separate in some situations while overlapping in others. As with the previous

category, women‘s strong identification with both the professional and non-work

spheres indicates their attachment to the expectations, motivations and values of the

public relations community, as well as the home or non-work realm and its related roles,

for example, mother, wife, partner, and friend. Although the majority of women who

participated in this study are described as having overlapping identities, certain groups

were more active in the process of communicating different aspects of their identity

simultaneously. These included women who chose freelance work or who set up

businesses from home, working as sole operators, in order to spend more time with

family.

At work, I am very organised. But ... I‘m more spontaneous outside of work and free-

flowing and I actually prefer that... I‘m just two different people... [But] I am always

thinking about work... The reality is that work and home have an impact on each other.

You make it work, you just juggle – I don‘t get stressed about it. If you let people

[clients] know you‘ve got a sick child or whatever, they are understanding. It‘s all about

communication.

This public relations consultant and small business owner constructed a border between

the professional and the home through the mechanism of discipline at work and

relaxation or spontaneity at home. However, she recognised the impossibility of

46

disentangling the spheres. At the same time as her identity was segmented, it also

overlapped to some extent. A woman working in-house illustrated the constant

oscillation that occurred when the boundaries between work-home spheres became

blurred, allowing learning from the home sphere to contribute to learning in the

professional, and vice versa.

I always say to people “You have to be like an elastic band, and you have to be able to

stretch, and then you have to be able to come back in. But don‘t snap. But you have to

be flexible and you have to be mutable. Because if you come in with black and white

and go. This is what I‘m going to get done today, you just set yourself up for failure…

Just like you have in your household. Things will come out, kids will get sick or

something will come out of the blue. You just go with it... I just find if you are flexible,

it‘s a lot easier”.

The flexibility associated with an overlapping identity extends to choices about when

and how to work, in a similar way to the segmented identity. In their 30s and early 40s,

many women choose to work from home to facilitate their mothering role, but this does

require certain pre-determined tactics to ensure that the home sphere does not intrude

into the hours set aside for work. One woman employed a child minder for her young

child in order that she could work undisturbed in the next room.

This separation of spheres and the situational overlapping of aspects of both the

professional and non-work spheres is not always by choice, however. Therefore, while

there are positive aspects to negotiating an overlapping identity, in many cases this is

not always the case, as one senior practitioner working in the public sector reported: PR

isn‘t a nine-to-five job. For most of the time that I have worked, I have been on call

24/7, so I have taken phone calls at 11 o‘clock at night, and gone out and picked up

newspapers to find out what the news headlines is at 11 o‘clock at night when the first

edition comes out. I‘ve taken calls —mostly around the crisis in media stuff, media calls

on weekends— while I‘ve been painting the kitchen, and all those kinds of things. So

it‘s been fairly intrusive on my family life.

The overlapping identity, then, is continually redefined and reproduced as different

imperatives are emphasised according to factors such as location, life stage, and strength

of identification with one or other sphere. While flexibility is ingrained in the

overlapping identity, this characteristic may be less benign than it at first appears.

Merged identity

In this category of identity, the professional and non-work spheres are integrated

because the boundaries between them have been, either willingly or reluctantly,

dissolved. Women may identify with either sphere equally and simultaneously blending

the two, or, in contrast, they may privilege or foreground one, so that the other gives

way. This orientation towards non-differentiation of the spheres is necessary in order to

handle their responsibilities with the rest of their lives. This is discernible in young

women intent on establishing their professional credentials before having a family, also

in many senior women at the peak of their careers, and also single women without

family obligations or women without children.

The data indicated that young women who chose not to segment their lives did so

because of personal career ambitions. Many worked very long hours at the expense of

47

having a social life, or in some case partners, so that when they chose to start a family,

their financial position and professional reputation in the industry would allow them to

step down for a few years. In five years I‘d like to have had a baby and work part-time

in PR. I‘d like to set myself up financially before then so I can have a few years off with

my child.

Older practitioners in the industry laughed at what they considered the naivety of such

aspirations but nevertheless were admiring of such determination, recognising

themselves at that life-stage when they too had had integrated identities.

[When I was younger] I wanted to be in a position where I could call the shots and work

my own hours, so to speak. But when you do that, because you want to be successful

and you‘re driven, you end up working incredibly long hours.

Where a merged identity was seen positively, women appeared confident about

themselves as both professionals and as mothers.

I‘m the same person I am at work as I am at [home]. We always talk [in the office]

about what we‘re doing, if one of the children is sick, or you‘ve got to go [home]

because … a parent has to go because a child is sick … sometimes the kids will come in

[to the office].

It appears that the boundary dissolution that leads to a merged identity is the outcome of

a subtle interplay of both the personal and social/professional. Certain expectations

about the role of public relations and the perception of how it should be conducted

influence the manner in which women integrate the professional and home spheres.

However, while the term ‗integration‘ implies some ease of reconciling or merging

different aspects of identity, in fact the women whose identities could be thus described

were acutely aware of the way in which they feel disempowered or overwhelmed by this

orientation when the professional is foregrounded.

You can‘t set boundaries in PR. That doesn‘t work in our profession. It just doesn‘t

work. But I wonder to what extent that is my capacity not to be able to let go and see if

that actually might work.

There is an awful lot of responsibility as you get further along so that the time that

you‘re thinking about your work away from work is more stressful than creative. It‘s

more the sense of anxiety about keeping all the balls in the air constantly. The physical,

emotional and psychological impact that may be an outcome of a merged identity can

drive some to make conscious efforts to segment their lives or even, in the case of one

participant, of retiring from public relations altogether:

When I was younger ... I was who I was because of my work not because of me. .. now I

don‘t particularly need to be good at anything, except being happy each day.

In summary, all women working in public relations face the challenge of juggling roles

as worker, mother, partner, parent or grandparent. The manner in which they construct,

communicate and negotiate their identities depends on their life- and career-stage,

situation including organisation culture, and the personal and socially-derived

imperatives associated with their multi-membership of different communities (in this

48

case, the professional and home or non-work). Their identification with different

spheres determines the nature of their identity: segmented, overlapping or merged which

is continually renegotiated and redefined.

Discussion and conclusion

Thus, as our research has found, some women do make a concerted effort to keep their

work and home lives separate. This suggests that they attempt to live the different

aspects of their identities in sequence rather than concurrently (Wenger 1998: 159). For

Wenger, however, because individuals’ identities are not separable, not processes that

can be turned on and off, such an effort to enact identities in sequence can, on the one

hand, result in women privileging one sphere over another or, on the other, lead to their

sense of the disconnectedness between the different aspects of their lives.

By contrast, and in relation to those women for whom the boundaries of home and work

life are blurred or overlapping, it would appear that the different aspects of their

identities are active simultaneously (albeit by favouring one or the other in different

contexts). Nonetheless, as we found, this flexibility’ of identity does require women‘s

ongoing juggling and negotiating of their different roles and responsibilities in the

various spheres of their lives.

Finally, for those PR women whose lives and identities are characterised by dissolved or

non-differentiated boundaries (whether because these are solo women, women without

dependent children or women who choose to privilege work over home lives), the

pervasiveness of the 24/7 knowledge economy, produced and sustained by various

communication technologies makes it much harder to resist work as an all-

encompassing activity and as the marker of a meaningful identity.

The communicative, relational, temporal- and context-sensitive demands of the

professional environment in which women are involved as part of the knowledge

economy reinforce (or extend) precisely those pressures they may feel when negotiating

their identities and activities across different the (variously permeable) boundaries of

work and home life. It seems that PR women‘s personal investment in the industry is

significant if they are to regard themselves and be regarded by others as competent and

valuable workers. However, because such investment is impossible to quantify, it is

often not articulated in the public domain and therefore remains invisible or

unrecognised by either employers, clients, or, indeed, prospective PR women

professionals.

We suggest that further research might consider the negotiation of relationships and

identity as those are pertinent to public relations education, and might re-imagine the

approaches and practices of the public relations industry itself.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009). Australian Social Trends, March. Retrieved from

www.abs.gov.au [Accessed 13 August 2009].

49

Castells, M. (2010). The Rise of the Network Society in the Information Age: Economy,

Society and Culture Vol 1. 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Cline, C., Toth, E., Turk, J., Walters, L., Johnson, N., and Smith, H. (1986). The velvet

ghetto: The impact of the increasing percentage of women in public relations and

business communication. USA: IABC Foundation.

Crompton, R., and Lyonette, C. (2006). Work-life balance in Europe. Acta Sociologica,

49(4), 379-393.

De Bussy, N., and Wolf, K. (2009). The state of Australian public relations:

professionalization and paradox. Public Relations Review, 35(4), 376-381.

Kanter, R.M. (1977). Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.

Nyström, S. (2009). The dynamics of professional identity formation: Graduates‘

transitions from higher education to working life. Vocations and Learning, 2, 1-18

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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51

Effective media-monitoring reports: Framing, measurement and

evaluation

Mariam Gersamia (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University,

Mariam.gersamia@tsu.ge)

Abstract

Producing proper media-monitoring reports are essential for PR specialists as well as

for media-researchers. As for Journalists and associates, they can apply this research-

based knowledge to become more result-oriented.

Research Question: what are the elements that exist in the story or event and cause

positive or negative media reflection, framing of the news?

Hypothesis 1: The elements that influence on media tone are in correlation with each

other and the more elements/symbols exist in the story, the more influence they have on

media-coverage. Hypothesis 2: These elements might be used during event-planning,

agenda-setting for adjusting the media stance of the relevant organization and framing

the positive or negative media-positioning. Hypothesis 3: There could be some

correlation between the relevant organization’s pro activeness, which shapes the

organization’s niche in the media, and the negative news niche about the organization.

The goal of the research: identify the indicators/elements, that cause the positive or

negative make up of the media content. Also, provide the recommendations for media-

researchers, as well as for PR specialists and journalists.

Methods: using quantitative and content-based analysis, more than 10,000 news stories

covering the fields of Education and Science, in broadcast media have been analyzed.

Findings: based on the research the main elements that cause positive and/or negative

coverage in the media have been identified. According to the findings of the survey 12

positive and 12 indicators/element had been detected. These elements in the study have

the unique name: “Magic 12”.

Research limitations: the research observes the only branch – education and science,

and shows the particles of event-planning, which might be suitable or not for any other

context, branch and environment.

Future research context: conduct the survey to determine major and minor elements,

that are more or less significant for the public.

With the additional help of a custom-made pattern and coding system it becomes easier

to analyze the relevant organization’s stance in particular news network and efficiency

of media-relations, as well as assessing the media-product itself (accuracy of coverage)

and the company’s result vector (in setting the agenda). Efficiency of the above

mentioned media-monitoring reports were tested and applied in Georgia’s Ministry of

Education and Science in 2007-09.

52

Research

Producing proper media-monitoring reports are essential for the PR specialists as well

as for the media-researchers. As for Journalists and associates, they can apply this

research based knowledge to become more result-oriented.

During the ambitious reform (2005-07) of the Education and Science system in Georgia,

which was designed by the Minister Alexander Lomaia and his team after the Rose

Revolution, the vital goal was to raise people’s awareness about the ongoing reform,

evaluate the outcome and correct the PR approach if needed. Preliminary goals and

objectives of the research have been conducted on a commission from the minister in

May, 2007, when I was an adviser on public relations. Media-monitoring reports

appeared to become the additional effective measurement instruments in agenda-setting.

Preliminary hypothesis was that analytical-research organizations and consulting

agencies in Georgia, while producing media-monitoring accounts and data-bases, used

inaccurate and/or insufficient indicators for determining if the news stories were

positive, negative or neutral. On the first stage, more than 1, 000 news stories have been

analyzed and preliminary findings of the survey proved that hypothesis. It also became

clear that during PR-planning, practitioners were not familiar with specific positive

elements and were planning the event without considering the input. Further analysis

made it clearer that several elements have shown the object’s full make-up, and it was

preferable to consider them in future PR-planning.

The study shows that special elements do exist within the story and they have their point

of destination in the media-coverage: positive, negative or neutral. Being aware of the

abovementioned indicators can assist media researchers in looking deeper into the

media-text and its make-up, as well as enabling them to be more productive.

First of all, were determined the RQ (Research Question) and Hs (Hypothesis).

RQ: what are the elements that exist in the story/event and cause positive or negative

media reflection, framing of the news?

H1: The elements that influence on media tone are in correlation with each other and

the more elements exist in the story, the more influence they have on media-coverage.

H2: These elements might be used during event-planning, agenda-setting for adjusting

the media-stance of the relevant organization and framing the positive or negative

media-stance.

Hypothesis 3: There could be some correlation/interaction between the relevant

organization’s pro activeness, which shapes the organization’s niche in the media, and

the negative news niche about the organization.

Using quantitative and content-based analysis, more than 10,000 news stories covering

the fields of Education and Science, in broadcast media have been analyzed during

2007-09.

53

As for the goal of weekly basis reports, it was essential to: 1. Report in a timely manner

about organization’s current media-stance; 2. Analyze the media-coverage; 3.

Determine the levels of the PR and media-relation’s efficiency;

What the frame of the report should look like? The media-information, which had been

analyzed, was put together in this particular way (see the table 1, p. 6). The template

consisted of: 1. Targeted media-sources (airtime-code, frequency of coverage); 2.

Events initiated by the organization; 3. Assessment indicators: elements that are used to

evaluate the news story, etc.

The template the report was updated on a daily basis. Mandatory items for the report

were: 1. Main findings; 2. Content and data-analysis of the media-coverage; 3.The

recommendations.

Using quantitative and content-based analysis, more than 10,000 news stories covering

the fields of Education and Science, in broadcast media have been analyzed.

Using statistic and content-based analysis, more than 10,000 broadcasted news stories1

(period: 2007-09) in the following 7 Television stations about the field of Education and

Science had been analyzed: 1th Channel (GPB) - Georgian Public Broadcaster2

(government funded); Broadcasting Company “Rustavi 2”3 (commercial),

Broadcasting Company “Imedi”4 (commercial), TV Mze5 (commercial), Broadcasting

Company “Alania”6 (commercial), which is called from 2009 The Regional TV,

Maestro TV7 (commercial), TV company “Kavkasia”8 (commercial).

The 38% of news coverage only about the Science stories comes on GPB (according to

analysis during period Feb. 2007 to Aug. 2011). The Georgian Public Broadcaster was

overcoming by 7% other TVs news stories while covering the education and science’s

field, according to 6 month period analysis (Jan. 2007 to Jun. 2007). 48% of stories

using positive tone also come on GPB. The further analysis of media policy had been

carried on monthly-based reports.

As the background of the outcomes, it should be mentioned, that the annual media-

monitoring reports showed that the absolute majority of events, which were scheduled

by the Ministry, were covered in the media:

Throughout 2007, only 65% of press-releases have been reflected in the media. After

some analysis of the abovementioned reports, the data had been improved and in 2008

has reached 99%, in 2009 – 97%.

The assessment indicators, that cause positive or negative stance, hereinafter we name

as positive and negative elements. These elements are so much alike to Elementary

1 News archive of Analytical-consulting group “Primetime”, www.primetime.ge. Accessibility has been

provided from Ministry of Education and Science.

2 1th Channel - Georgian Public Broadcaster, www.gpb.ge

3Broadcasting Company “Rustavi 2, www.rustavi2.com

4 Broadcasting Company “Imedi”, www.imedi.ge

5 TV Mze, www.mze.ge

6 Broadcasting Company “Alania”, www.alania.ge

7 Maestro TV, www.maestro.ge

8 TV company “Kavkasia”, www.kavkasiatv.ge

!

54

Particles, which exist in the Universe and are explored with a great interest by

physicists, all around the World. Of course, the Big Bang has nothing to do with this

survey, but a lot of people have no rest with the question “what the Universe consists

of?” myself included. From professional perspective, Journalism and Communications,

as “technology of informing (gaining, processing, transmitting the information) is an

academic field, that observes and researches the Universe as well. While the field in

many cases is applied, as scientific discipline leaves the tracks of basic studies as well.

During my visit In CERN (The European Organization of Nuclear Research) the

Georgian physicists used to give details indefatigably, that the Universe consists of

Elementary Particles, not all of them are discovered yet and the monitors in CERN are

transmitting the valuable information about them all day and night long. Here came the

issue for discussion: what element does the information consists of?”9

Indeed, there are a lot of Particles around us. We can’t see them, but they do influence

our lives and are in correlation with each other. And then, some Elementary Particles do

exist in information, media-text and in Public Relation Agendas.

Based on the research, elements which caused the positive media-tone have been taken

out of the stories and then, activated in the practice. According to the content analysis

there were detected what I’ve named them “MAGIC 12”: 12 positive and 12 negative

elements. They are as follows:

Positive Elements (PE), according to 12 assessment indicators, are:

PE 1: Positive political response;

PE 2: Showing the defending or defender of human rights.

PE 3: Showing the true motive of the story in an attractive way;

PE 4: Properly chosen air-time, message and speakers (celebrities, public figures

included);

PE 5: Positive response to and/or outcome of the event and/or issue - from the

benefiters;

PE 6: Attractive visual environment;

PE 7: Procedure awareness for media conducted via protocols and guidelines;

PE 8: Demonstrate success stories/cases, achieved goals;

PE 9: Self-Initiated issues, that consists of some risk;

PE 10: Context: additional news stories, events that took place the same day/week and

were somehow connected to the story

PE 11: Simultaneous coverage in several media-outlets;

PE 12: Show the satisfied people;

Negative Elements (NE), according to 12 assessment indicators, are:

NE 1: Negative political resonance;

NE 2: Exposing the act of human rights violation and or violator, or ignoring human

rights.

NE 3: Imbalanced or biased information;

NE 4: Incorrectly chosen air-time, message and speakers (celebrities, public figures

included);

NE 5: Negative response to and/or outcome of the event, issue from the benefiters;

NE 6: Poor visual environment;

9 Gersamia, M. (2011). Elementary Particles in Journalism. Tbilisi: Tbilisi State University

55

NE 7: Poorly coordinated media-procedures, lack of media-awareness;

NE 8: Show the environment that demonstrates unachieved goals;

NE 9: Countering/responding to the issues post-factum, after they were released from

other parties;

NE 10: Context: additional news stories, events that took place the same day/week and

were somehow connected to the story;

NE 11: Simultaneous coverage in several media-outlets;

NE 12: Dissatisfied people;

The abovementioned elements were inserted into the template, coding system and was

simply, marked by the researcher in the case if this or that element has been detected

during content-analysis (see table 1, p. 8). Here, the correlation between existed

elements and the frequency of media-coverage the template showed: 1. how

successfully the elements have been activated; 2. how they have been reflected in the

media; 3. how many times they’ve been existed in the media. E.g. if the represented

evaluation depicted data: 2/2 - that meant that only two elements existed in the story and

the news was covered only 2 times. If the represented assessment depicted data: 8/10

that meant that eight elements existed in the story and the news was covered ten times.

There has been also summarized the following figures, such as:

 The amount of press releases and it’s coverage in the media;

 The amount of news stories, top-news/stories, and stories in nightly news

broadcasts that were put forth through the organization’s pro-activity.

 The total amount of beat-stories and targeted news (i.e. around specific field, on

which the organization was focused on). Among targeted news, separately have

been analyzed (case by case): 1. the amount and significance of news stories in

negative niche; 2. the amount and value of news stories in an organization’s

niche.

As the Hypothesis 3 was that there could be some correlation between the relevant

organization’s pro activeness, which shapes the organization’s niche in the media, and

the negative news niche about the organization, the balance between the organization’s

niche and negative niche were properly measured and figured into percentages.

In 2007 Ministry’s Niche was: 15% (out of the whole amount of the field’s media-

coverage), in 2008 it reached 29%, and in 2009: 20%. The average number of stories

about education and science reached 250 stories per month. Among them 30%

(approximately 75 stories per month) were initiated by the Ministry.

Research showed that as soon as an organization’s niche had been reduced, it

simultaneously reflected on the negative niche, which increased, unexpectedly. That is

another reason to recommend that it’s preferable not to drop any organization’s niche

under 20% (out of the whole news-coverage), as well as monitor not to let negative

news niche up to 20%.

The media-monitoring report estimated the amount of negative topics that had been

dominating throughout the year. E.g. in 2007, 13 topics out of 22 (i.e. 60 %) had

dominated throughout the year (correlation data: 22/13). In 2008 this correlation had

been reduced to under 11/2. Negative news stories made up 21% in 2007, only 8% in

2008 and 2009.

56

The findings confirmed that during January-June (2007), in every case, when the

officials hadn’t commented on a topic, news was covered in a negative way. On the

other hand, almost every event, scheduled by the Ministry was covered accurately

(among them 19% - in a positive way, 78% - in a neutral way).

In addition, when positive or negative tone was taken in the news coverage, specific

elements become dominant/major. Some of them were strongly related to each other.

 In 2007, most relative negative elements were: 1. Dissatisfied people (NE 12); 2.

Imbalanced or biased information (NE 3); 3. Show the environment that

demonstrates unachieved goals (NE 8); 4. Negative response to and/or outcome

of the event, issue from the benefiters (NE 5); 5. Exposing the act of human

rights violation and or violator, or ignoring human rights (NE 2).

 In 2008, the most commonly used positive element was: 1. Showing the motive

of the story in attractive way (PE 3), dominated in 20% of stories; negative

element was: 1. Show the environment that demonstrates unachieved goals (NE

8), dominated in 11% of stories).

 In 2009, the most proximate negative elements were: 1. showing the motive of

the story in attractive way (PE 3); 2. Properly chosen air-time, message and

speakers (celebrities, public figures included) (PE 4); 3. Attractive visual

environment (PE 6); negative elements were: 1.Show the environment that

demonstrates unachieved goals (NE 8); 2. Imbalanced or biased information (NE

3); 3. Negative response to and/or outcome of the event, issue from the

benefiters (NE 5).

For countering the negative niche it was essential to break up the story into multiple

pieces and counter every negative element of the story that caused the negative

outcome. With this approach PR managers were aware of every “week point” and tried

to correct them accordingly. The recommendations were drawn up on weekly, monthly

and annual-based reports. They assisted the PR practitioner in drafting the short-term

and long-term strategy. For drawing out the recommendations, positive and negative

symbols were put side by side, to illustrate the contrast and track that should be

followed by the PR practitioners as well as policy-makers.

With the additional help of a custom-made template of the report it becomes easier to

analyze the organization’s stance in particular news network and efficiency of media-

relations, as well as assessing the media-product itself (accuracy of coverage) and the

company’s result vector (in setting the agenda). Analysis illuminates the gaps in media-

coverage, which might be caused by organization’s or even media’s lack of efficiency.

Media-monitoring Reports indicate the outcome of such co-working and co-existing.

There could be some details for discussion or even disagreement, because every

environment sets its unique context for media and PR.

The Research has its limitation: the research observes the only branch – education and

science, and shows the particles of event-planning, which might be suitable or not for

any other context, branch and environment.

57

The Research has the following future context: to analyze other field’s media-coverage

and conduct the surveys to determine which symbols and elements are more or less

significant for the audience.

References

Gersamia, M. (2011). Elementary Particles in Journalism. Tbilisi: Tbilisi State

University.

58

59

Instruments of public diplomacy in the promotion of Poland

Marta Ryniejska-Kiełdanowicz (University of Wrocław, marta.kieldanowicz@uni.wroc.pl)

Abstract

This paper presents the term of Public Diplomacy, which is quite new in the domain of

Polish foreign policy and in the field of international public relations. Although this

term is used increasingly often by political scientists, communications experts as well as

politicians it is still an area, which is relatively little known. The concepts of public and

cultural diplomacy are intertwined with the concept of ‘branding’ or to put it simply

brand management. It may be assumed that the basic principles in building the brand of

a country are the same as in the commercial sphere of identity building. Art and culture

and economy are in the forefront of many countries’ promotional efforts. These

countries recognize that showing their cultural heritage provides them with an

opportunity of showing who they are, creating a positive image, thus helping to achieve

their political aims. This paper analyses also the development of public diplomacy

campaign in Poland, focuses on Polish preparations of EU Council. The main findings

of the analysis suggest that although the need for coherent concept of public diplomacy

in Poland has been acknowledged, the field needs coordination.

Introduction

In embarking on the subject of the instruments of the public instruments of Poland’s

diplomacy it should be noted that Poland has problems in taking up efforts aimed at

promotion abroad. For a number of years now attempts have been made to establish

one strategy of public diplomacy , to coordinate the undertakings of several dozen

different institutions, which function in different sectors. Poland rates badly in global

rankings, when compared with other European countries. The Country Brand Index

2010, which showed how the country is perceived among 3 thousand business and

leisure travellers from 13 countries, placed Poland in 82 place from among the 110 in

the survey. Only Estonia and Romania ranked below Poland from among EU-member

states.

Poland’s efforts to join the European Union became, in a sense, the main goal of the

country’s public diplomacy. It is worth noting that such undertakings were not

embarked on a such a wide scale in the past. In the period leading up to pre-accession

efforts the debate on the subject began. The term ‘public diplomacy’ was not used then,

with promotion of Poland abroad being the preferred label. It is noteworthy that no

promotional activities had been undertaken in the past by states aspiring to EU

accession. According to V.M. Reyes (2000) this was not necessary for two reasons.

First of all, EU extension was viewed as a matter for the political elites thus the citizens

did not see themselves as entitled to take part in this debate. Secondly, the social

distance of the citizens of most EU member states was not as great as in the case of

Poland. The task before us was, therefore, more difficult.

60

Theoretical background

In embarking on the subject of the instruments of public diplomacy it is worth starting

with a definition of this term. B. Ociepka (2011) defines PD as a form of political

international communication aimed at the public abroad. The task of public diplomacy

is to create or reinforce a positive image of the country and its society, and by

influencing public opinion to shape positive attitudes toward the country, and in the

consequence to make the achievement of international policy goals easier. It should be

understood as the long term, symmetrical, dialogical communication of governments

and NGO’s with broad audiences abroad. Public diplomacy may be viewed from the

perspective of international public relations. G. Szondi feels that DP is one of the pillars

of managing the country’s reputation. He understands international PR “is the planned

communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, government or a supra- or

international institution to create a positive and receptive environment through

interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to

achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the host

publics (Szondi, 2006, 115). Two other researchers into public relations B. Signizer and

T. Coombs, traced the similarities between theories of public relations and theories of

public diplomacy. Traditional diplomacy was based on formal relations between

governments or government communication. Diplomacy was a process of talking over

differences, clarifying aims and exploring alternatives to maintain peace with other

states. It entailed highly skilled communication among trained envoys”. The authors

note that, “the field of diplomacy is shifting from traditional diplomacy toward public

diplomacy”. They define public diplomacy as “the way in which both government and

private individuals and groups influence directly or indirectly those public attitude and

opinions which bear directly on another government’s foreign policy decisions”. Today,

they added, governments speak to other governments but they also speak and listen to

the people (Signizer, Coombs, 137-147).

In discussing aspects of public diplomacy and its connections with international public

relations reference must be made to models of public relations put forward by J. Grunig

and T. Hunt. As the authors note, these models were originally developed to explain the

history of public relations in the United States, but they also describes international

public relations”. The first model of press agency describes PR programs aimed solely

at attaining favorable publicity for an organization in the mass media – often in

misleading way. The second model – the public information is similar to press agency

because it too is one –way model that sees public relations only as the dissemination of

information. These two models are one-way models of PR: They describe

communication programs that are not based on research and strategic planning. They

attempt to change the behavior of the public but not of the organization (Gruning 1993,

144). Grunig also describes two more professional models. The first, two-way

asymmetrical uses social sciencies research to identify attitudes and develop messages

that appeal to those attitudes that persuade publics to behave as the organizations wants.

As an example of this model Grunig quotes the campaign by Hill & Knowlton entitled

“Citizens for a Free Kuwait”. Grunig’s last model is the two- way symmetrical, which

describes public relations that it based on research and that uses communication to

manage conflict and improve understanding with strategic publics. It is symmetrical

because it assumes that both organization and practitioner may change their behavior as

result of communication program (Gruning 1993, 144). The author of the models notes

that the campaigns conducted within the realm of international public relations

61

(including those on behalf of countries) primarily used the model of press agentry or the

public information model. Gruning, in confirming his thesis quotes A. Albittron and J.

Manheim, who conducted a content analysis of the coverage of five nations in the New

York Times – Argentina, Indonesia, Korea the Philippines and Turkey – after these

countries contracted public relations firms. They found, that the public relations firms

were successful in reducing the amount of coverage, particularly the negative news,

making the valence of coverage more favorable and suggesting that the interest of the

country were compatible with U.S. interest. Manheim and Albiritton argued that the

media are vulnerable to manipulation because they devote limited resources to

international affairs. They also argued that the improvement coverage produced by

public relations firms affects people’s so-called images, or cognitions, of these countries

because, for most , the media are their only source of information about other countries.

This is viewed differently by Kunczik, who notes that “In all countries the great

majority of people are totally disinterested in international affairs and a small group of

people are well informed. It is these opinion leaders and decision makers one has to

reach” (Kunczik 1990, 76)

In describing the notion of public diplomacy it also necessary to make reference to its

dimensions and, what follows, its instruments. M. Leonard (2002) writes about three

dimensions of public diplomacy, i.e. information management, strategic communication

and relationship-building. While the first dimension is seen as a short-term activity and

is most reminiscent of traditional diplomacy, the two successive dimensions are long-

term in their nature. The communications strategy is based on mass-media instruments,

advertising and public relations. It is an active, long-term activity. The last dimension is

that of relation building. This is based on the organization of scientific exchanges,

conferences and presentations of the given country’s culture. Leonard also indicates

three spheres: political/military, economic, and social/cultural; two types of public

diplomacy: cooperation and competition; and five public diplomacy instruments: NGO

diplomacy, Diaspora diplomacy, political party diplomacy, brand diplomacy, and

business diplomacy. E. Gilboa (2008) in the article entitled. ‘Searching for a Theory of

Public Diplomacy’ in a sense completes the tools of public diplomacy ordering them

according to the time-frame of their impact and the level of the government’s

involvement in public diplomacy.

Range

Immediate

Intermediate

Long

Time

Hours/days

Weeks/months

Years

Purpose

Reactive

Proactive

Relationship

Media/public

opinion

News management

Strategic

communication

Building favorable

conditions

Government

Closely linked

Partially linked

Remotely linked

Public diplomacy

instruments

advocacy,

international

broadcasting, cyber

PD

international PR,

corporate diplomacy,

diaspora diplomacy

cultural

diplomacy,

exchanges,

branding.

62

The table indicates that the tools of public diplomacy differ depending on the aims

before them and their time-frame. Every level presents a different stance towards the

media and public opinion, different connections with the government and the

instruments of public policy adjusted to it. At the first level is an immediate reaction to

events, with the aim of minimising the negative impact of the news. Such undertakings

are usually conducted by government officials. The intermediate level allows much

more time for proactive planning and implementation of policies. It is based on

techniques of strategic communication and conducted by a combination of

governmental and nongovernmental agencies during periods lasting between a few

weeks and a few months. The long-term range is the closest to traditional public

diplomacy. It is designed to produce supportive attitudes among publics around the

world. Such initiatives require years of efforts to build mutual trust and favorable

conditions for friendly relations with states and non-state actors (Gilboa 1998, 72-73).

Instruments of public diplomacy: Polish speciality

G. Szondi (2005) in discussing the situation of East and Central European countries

rightly notes that, o „after the fall of the Berlin Wall the CEE countries faced the

challenge of the transforming their poor images into young dynamic and promising

ones”. The process of public diplomacy in Central Europe has become institutionalized

it means that special governmental organizations were set up to develop and

communicate international public relations activities with varying degrees of success.

The process itself has often been more significant than the outcome (Szondi 205-206).

The situation was similar in the case of Poland. The first promotional programme was

adopted by the Council of Ministers in June 2000 and was called ‘The Framework

Programme for the Promotion of RP to the EU abroad (2000, 2001, 2002). This

document outlined a strategy of promotional undertakings in the contaxt of EU

accession and the instruments to facilitate this. In terms of the programme a series of

measures aimed at researching what the image of Poland and Poles is like in EU

countries. The strategy utilized the model of a two-level flow of information and

measures aimed directly at those who shape public opinion. After coordinate the above-

mentioned programme ended in 2002 the Council of Ministers adopted the ‘Programme

for the Promotion of Poland during period of ratification of the Accession Treaty.’ The

aims were similar with the pre-ordinate aim being the reinforcement of Poland and

Poles as future EU members, and stressing the fact of Poland’s presence in the political,

cultural and economic life of Europe over manty centuries with the proces of EU

integration portrayed as a logical step in this process. In implementing the two

programmes the following promotional instruments were used:

• study visits for politicians (in particular parliamentarians), journalists, civil

servants and other decision-shapers;

• conferences, seminars, lectures and other meetings on the subject of European

integration (with the participation of parliamentarians and other representatives

of institutions which played a key role in the Accession Treaty);

• publications and promotional materials for offices (preparation and distribution

of promotional leaflets devoted to Poland);

• cultural events used for political and general promotion;

• promotion of an economic type

• other events in the sphere of publicity and public relations.

63

Both programmes were rather general in their nature and contained no ready solutions

or even methods of reaching their target groups. What is more, they did not contain the

aims of the promotion only defined the instruments which should be used.

The two above-mentioned programmes were not the only ones in the domain of

promoting Poland in the EU. Among the most important ‘The Polish Tourism

Organisation framework programme for 2001-2004’ is noteworthy as well as ‘Poland’s

Cultural Policy Abroad and its priorities between 2001-2003’ which set out the

priorities for Poland’s cultural policy and its aims. As far as culture is concerned the

events under the auspices of ‘Poland Year’ organised in Spain, Austria, Sweden and

France were highly significant. Among the undertakings connected with economic

diplomacy the ‘Programme for the Economic Promotion of Poland until 2005’, which

had set as its aim a programme of promoting the Polish brand, was adopted in

September 2003. One of the more important image-building programmes for Poland

was the National Marketing Programme created by the Poland Promotion Foundation –

Institute of Polish Brand in August 2002. The assumptions of the programme, were set

out by the Stratosfera public relations agency, which specializes in brand building

strategies. These assumed increasing the competitiveness of Polish companies and

products be engendering positive associations and and by building knowledge about

Poland and products „made in Poland”. The aim of the national marketing exercise was

to build a strong, competetive, clear and modern Polish brand, which would facilitate

the improvement of the image, reputation and authority of the country, boost the

competetiveness of Polish companies and products and therefore the economy as a

whole, so that the country could advance in terms of civilization to the position close to

its demographic potential (Ryniejska, 2007).

The promotional activities outlined above were characterised by a lack of coordination

as they were dispersed around a number of different institutions between 2000-2003.

What was ignored was the fact that these campaigns can be conducted on the basis of

inter-ministerial cooperation. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was supposedly

the coordinator, this was not the case in practice. In 2004 an attempt was made to

establish an institution which would coordinate the promotional activities. The Council

for the Promotion of Poland was set up which was presented with the task of

coordinating the activities in the sphere of promotion of the country, charged with

formalizing the cooperation between different institutions. The Council was chaired by

the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the Under-Secretary of State at the Economy

ministry deputising and representatives of the following ministries making up the

numbers: Culture and Heritage, Public Finance, Higher Education, Education, Tourism,

Regional Development, Defence, Agriculture, Rural Development and European

Integration. The establishment of the Council was meant to ensure continuity and

coherence in measures to promote Poland. Unfortunately, this is not the case as the body

does not possess formalised prerogatives in terms of planning projects. What is

symptomatic is the Council only met 3 times between 2004-2006 and passed three

motions, two on organisational matters and one on the ‘Brand for Poland’ project. The

weakness of the Council is its politicization as evidenced by who sits non it and further

by its members lack of experience in the fields of national branding, public diplomacy

and public relations. The majority of the decisions in terms of promotional policy is

taken at the level of particular ministries and agencies subordinate to them. What was

meant to be its main attribute, ie the planning of communication strategies at the inter-

64

ministerial level, coordination of activities and rational planning of expenditure on

promotion is not being implemented at the moment.

In 2004 yet another idea emerged for a strategy to promote Poland. It was to be outlined

by Wally Olins, founder and director of the British marketing consultants Saffron Brand

Consultants. The strategy was that the first part of the Programme was to be based on

meetings that W. Olins was to hold with persons interested in building a good reputation

and attractive image of Poland in the world. These were to include marketing

specialists, entrepreneurs, politicians, representatives of art and culture, intellectuals,

Polish diplomats and the media. The task before the participants of these meetings was

how to promote the country and transform it from an anonymous former Eastern Bloc

country. Conclusions drawn from these meetings served W. Olins and his team to

formulate a programme of action needed to show Poland as a modern, economically

strong country, attractive both for investors and tourists. The strategy was to be based

on a number of assumptions. Firstly, Poland is a bridge between the East and West. The

second is that an important feature of Poland is individualism. The third pillar is that as

a result of the changes and the culmination of energy Poland is in a state of flux, which

may be described as working progress. Another concept that appeared is that of

„polarity”, which spoke of the contradictions in Poland. These signals gave W. Olins the

idea of „creative tension”. Below is a condensed version of a core idea for Poland

proposed by W. Olins:

“Poland draws its personality, power and perpetual motion from a wealth of apparently

opposing characteristics. For example: Poland is part of the West and also understands

the East; Polish people are passionate and idealistic and also practical and resourceful;

the Polish character is ambitious and also down to earth.

These tensions create restlessness unsatisfied with the status quo, and a boisterousness

that is always stimulating and often astonishing. This creative tension is why Poland

produces so many entrepreneurs, artists and sportspeople. It’s why Poland is constantly

changing and evolving, sometimes tumultuously. And it’s why Poles have always tried

to achieve the seemingly impossible – and often succeeded” (Olins 2006).

Unfortunately, although a general idea for the promotion of Poland appeared the details

of its implementation were not taken care of. A lot of debates took place but no final

decisions were taken. In 2007 W. Olins decided to suspend his cooperation with Poland

giving the political situation and J. Kaczyński’s Prawo i Sprawiedliwość coming to

power as well as difficulties in cooperation with Poles. As he said in an interview for

Daily Teleghaph, “Poles find authority offensive and are very good at destroying it, but

not so good at constructing something else in its place. Solidarity is a good example.

They find it difficult to work together to build things”. Olins, despite the announcement

did not end his cooperation with Poland completely. Among other undertakings he took

an active part in the organization of “Polska Year!” in Great Britain in 2009. Among its

assumptions it was to help Britons discover the word “Polska”, hitherto unknown to

them with the idea making reference to earlier ideas centered on the concept of “creative

tension”.

In 2008 a re-organisation of the system of promotion in Poland took place. The above-

mentioned Council for the Promotion of Poland was re-activated. Furthermore the

department of promotion that had hitherto functioned at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

65

was replaced with The Departament of Public and Cultural Diplomacy, which was to

oversee the whole range of image-building activities. The Department defines the

directions of public and cultural diplomacy, oversees the efforts undertaken in that

respect by Polish diplomatic missions abroad, negotiates cultural cooperation

agreements in the area of education, science and information as well as youth

exchanges, cooperates with foreign and domestic institutions and foreign media,

manages MFA’s Internet portal and coordinates operation of Internet sites of Polish

diplomatic missions abroad (www.msz.gov.pl).

Also in 2008, in September a 12-week campaign to promote the Polish economy and

tourism was launched on CNN International. It was an important event in the context of

promoting Poland’s image as it was the first such large undertaking to promote Poland.

Moreover, it is worth noting that it was created thanks to cooperation with the Ministry

of Foreign Affairs, Polish Information and Foreign Investments Agency, Polish

Tourism Organisation and LOT Polish Airlines. Its aim was to present Poland as a

modern, dynamic country which is an attractive tourism destination, a credible business

partner and a good place to invest. It should be added that the campaign was

supplemented by a series of programmes prepared by CNN entitled, “Eye of Poland”,

which were broadcast between 6 and 12 October 2008. Their desired effect was to

ensure that when the viewers attention was focused on Poland, the advertising spots

were to reinforce this interest. The campaign cost around 250 thousand euro. According

to research carried out by CNN the aim of the campaign was achieved as 43% of

viewers who watch CNN twice a week and 51% who watch it daily expressed an

interest in coming to visit Poland. About 70% of viewers were convinced that the

promotional campaign improved the position of our country as the potential destination

for tourists and as a country with a significant economic and business potential. It is

worth adding that this cycle of programmes had broadcast programmes on countries

such as Russia, China, India, South Korea, Brazil and the Republic of South Africa.

Often within the context of the term public diplomacy, the concept of historical

diplomacy appears. It can be understood as a series of undertakings aimed at shaping

opinion about the country with the aid of information about its history or promoting it

with the help of history. It is often a sensitive matter, especially when it comes to

promoting the image of Poland in Germany and Russia. As experience shows, however,

a good idea and well chosen promotional tools may help to promote the image of

Poland. In 2009 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs started the “es begann in Danzig”

campaign, which was to be a part of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berli Wall.

The campaign was aimed at informing that the overthrow of communism was achieved

jointly by efforts of both countries. Promotional banners were used to communicate this

information, with the first showing the round-table talks and the second with Gary

Cooper as a cowboy. The latter was familiar to Poles as part of the campaign for

Solidarity-backed candidates in the first free elections in 1989. An identical poster was

displayed at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof station. The concept of this campaign was to

intrigue its recipients and give them food for thought in wondering how the process of

overthrowing communism began. The German media acted as a conduit for

information, not only noticing the Polish campaign but also explaining to the German

public the message behind the campaign. This campaign undertaken by Polish

diplomats was supported by the Polish Institute in Berlin. The cultural institution

organized a series of concerts, artistic events and film shows during the

commemorations. On 9 October 2009, 20 years after the events which lead to the re-

66

unification of Germany had taken place Lech Wałęsa pushed the first domino which

toppled 19 others. This event symbolised the fall of communism and the toppling of the

first domino by the Polish president was a symbol of the fact that the breakthrough had

started in Gdańsk. Moreover, many German politicians stressed the fact that the fall of

the Berlin Wall would not have been possible had it not been for the earlier events in

Poland. These statements can be seen as tangible effects of the campaign. The German

jubilee was celebrated jointly, which can be further evidenced by the banner on a

building on Unter den Linden with the slogan “Es gelang zusammen" (“We did it

together") with colourful kites representing the flags of countries freed from under

communist rule, to remind passer-bys about the events of the transformations of 1989

(Galuba, 2010). As far as using historical diplomacy, although in a sense, managing a

crisis, one of the tools in building an image i salso to counter-act negative stereotypes.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the foreign media when the term ‘Polish Death

Camps’ is used.

A Framework Strategy for the Promotion of Poland

In 2009 for the first time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared a strategy for the

promotion of Poland in the shape of a document entitled ‘Directions in the Promotion of

Poland until 2015’. The document was accepted by the Council for the Promotion of

Poland. It is a framework document where different sectors should be filled in according

to their heading, i.e. tourism, the economy, culture or regions. The document has been

criticized by experts for a lack of cohesion and consistency and for the lack of modern

marketing tools. Similarly to previous documents on the shaping of the image of Poland

it is not based on sociological research concerning the current perception of Poland. The

Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses data based on certain assumptions instead of scientific

research which would provide an objective assessment of the image of Poland. What is

also worthy of note is that the effects of certain future undertakings are mentioned

without a mention being made of the tools and means of implementing them.

The document has been divided into six sections:

1. The aim and assumptions of the framework strategy for Poland until 2015.

2. A diagnosis of the situation, including an indication of the promotional attributes

of Poland, a description of the image of Poland abroad and description of the

system of promotion employed so far.

3. The priorities for the promotion of Poland until 2015, including public

diplomacy, promotion of Polish culture, the economy (BIZ?), tourism and

foreign or military aid.

4. Priorities for the promotion of Poland in the geographic context.

5. Proposed changes in the system of promoting Poland.

6. Suggested time-frame for the promotion of Poland until 2015.

It is worth noting that the document yet again draws attention to the necessity of

articulating a basic promotional message, which should succintly sum up the Polish

experience, encapsulating what Poland is and what it wants to be in the future. This

message should be taken into account by the authors and those who implement all the

specialized campaigns, taking into account their own specific character. This is not a

new idea as attempts at formulating this were taken up by the above-mentioned W.

Olins. What is also worth noting is that once again mention is made of the need to

67

coordinate the undertakings in the domain of promotion by beefing up and giving a

wider scope for the Council for the Promotion of Poland as a government tool in

planning the promotion of the country. It is clear then, that the strategy does not

introduce anything new to the system of promotion. Attention is also drawn to the

financial resources earmarked for government promotion. Their structure is outlined in

the table below.

Public

Diplomacy,

Cultural

Diplomacy

Ministry of

Foreign Affairs

Promotion by

cultural means

Ministry of

Culture &

National

Heritage

Promotion of

the economy

Ministry of

Economy

Promotion of

tourism

Ministry of

Sport and

Tourism

Promotion of

science and

education

Ministry of

Science &

Higher

Education,

Ministry of

Education

About 50 mln.

zł budget funds

About 51,3 mln

zł budget funds

About 55,8 mln

zł budget funds

+ about 5 mln

euro from EU

funds

About 33,8 zł

budget funds +

about 1,6 mln

euro EU funds

About 58,7 zł

budget funds +

about 300.000

zł EU funds

Source: Framework Strategy for the Promotion of Poland until 2015, p. 62.

A comparison with the Czech Republic or Hungary shows how modest these sums are.

Although these are much smaller countries they allocate much bigger sums of money to

their promotion. The budget of the Swedish Institute in Stockholm is 8 times bigger

than for the whole Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Undoubtedly this budget will not

increase significantly in the near future, thereforeit can be assumed that the promotional

activities will be modest. This can be shown by the budget plan in the sphere of

promotion until 2015, part of which was already implemented in 2008-9.

2008

Preparation of the ‘Framework Strategy for the

Promotion of Poland until 2015’

Preparation of the ‘Marketing Strategy for

Poland in the Tourism Sector between 2008-

2015’

Preparation of the ‘Main assumptions for the

strategy of promoting Polish culture abroad

until 2015’

Polish Year in Israel, EXPO

in Zaragoza

2009

r

Preparation of the „Strategy for the promotion

of Polish science abroad”

Preparation of the government programme to

promote foreign students coming to Poland

Preparation of a ‘strategy to internationalise the

Polish economy’

Preparation of a strategy of promotion for the

period of the Polish presidency in the EU

Preparation of ‘A Plan of promotional action

connected with the EURO 2012 project’

Preparation of the assumptions for ‘A strategy

Polish Year in Israel-

continuation and ending

Polish Year in Great

Britain- beginning

Promotion of the 5

anniversary of Poland

joining the EU

Promotion of Poland in

connection with the

anniversary of the fall of

communism in East and

68

for Polish public diplomacy until 2015’

Preparation of a ‘strategy for the promotion of

Polish culture until 2015’

Central Europe

Promotion of Poland in

connection with the

anniversary of the outbreak

of WW2

Commemorations of the

10th anniversary of Polish

membership in NATO

Presentation of Polish

culture in connection with

Vinius- European Culture

Capital 2009.

2010

Polish Year in Great

Britain- continuation

International Chopin Year

commemorations

Expo in Shanghai

Implementation of

prioritized promotional

programmes in selected

Asian countries to coincide

with the Year of Chopin

Polish Days in Lithuania

30th anniversary of

Solidarity

2011

Implementation of the

promotion of Poland in

connection with Poland’s

Presidency in the EU

2012

Promotion of Poland as a

host of EURO 2012

2013

The beginning of work on the next ‘Framework

Strategy for the Promotion of Poland’ for

2020/2022, especially identifying priority

projects between 2016-2017 and start

preparation for them. Preparation of the ‘Polish

Year’ in Italy project.

2014

r.

Continuation of work on the ‘Framework

Strategy for the Promotion of Poland’ for

2020/2022

Source: Framework Strategy for the Promotion of Poland until 2015, p.67

It is also worth mentioning the strategies implemented by particular ministries and

sectoral institutions to show the direction taken by the promotion of Poland abroad. In

2010, within the framework of the ‘Innovative Economy’ two programmes started. One

was the ‘Promotion of the Polish economy on foreign markets’ and ‘Support for the

participation of entrepreneurs in promotional programmes’ for which 366mln zloty from

EU funds was earmarked. It is quite a high amount of money, bearing in mind the sums

of money in the table above. Within the framework of the first programme Polish

exporters will have their task made easier as research into their image will be carried

69

out. This is highly significant as such measures had not been taken before and their

results can help in planning successful strategies. The second task assumes the support

enterprises which take part in sectoral support programmes and one-off events to

support the Polish economy and Poland at home and abroad. These events have been

defined by the Economy Ministry on a separate list (so-called general promotion

programmes). These support programmes enable all the entities interested to obtain up

to 300 thousand zlotyfor participation in a sectoral programme and 25 thousand zloty in

a one-off event or trade fairs. These programmes have set themselves the task of

strengthening the competitiveness of the economy by boosting its image among

international partners and by facilitating easier access to information about Poland. A

further 22mln zloty is to be earmarked for the organization of promotional events to

boost the recognition of Poland around the world.

As far as the promotion of Polish tourism is concerned the ‘Marketing strategy for

Poland in the tourism sector between 2008-2015’ is now being implemented. Its desired

effect is to increase the recognition of Poland internationally as a country which is

attractive for tourists and which has high-class but competetive tourism products to

offer. The document is to be the basic instrument for the Polish Tourism Organisation

and to provide the basis for defining how the EU structural funds are to be used in this

domain. As I mentioned earlier the need for the document arose directly from the

guidelines set out in the Framework Strategy for the Promotion of Poland until 2015 by

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Directions for the Development of Tourism until

2015 by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The strategy was also meant to be the

signpost for regional documents in the field of tourism such as strategies for the

promotion of tourism in voivodeships. On the basis of these documents strategies at the

sub-regional and local level are formulated. The document consists of three basic

componenets, which are closely linked. Component A covers promotional activities

with the use of modern marketing tools in order to promote ‘POLAND’ as a tourist

brand. Component B is aimed at establishing an integrated system of tourist information

about Poland and its implementation by developing the e xisting www.polska.travel

website. Actions within the sphere of Component C are centered on obtaining,

popularising and exchanging knowledge through the organisation of training sessions,

workshops and conferences for potential participants who may benefit from the project.

As the strategy document says, „the tourism industry should principally be seen as a

‘product’”. That is why, bearing in mind the great role of the tourist product in the

promotion and development of tourism POT will aim to stimulate the development of a

professional product and on the other to promote it at home and abroad. The financial

resources aimed at the promotion of Polish tourism come both from the budget as well

as EU funds. In 2008, i.e. when the strategy was being formulated the funds from the

budget amounted to 38,378 thousand zł, and in 2009 38,760 thousand zł. As far as EU

funds are concerned around 30,000,000 euro (85% -from the EU , 15% - from the

budget) was earmarked for the promotion of Polish tourism at home and abroad. From

the ‘Innovative Economy’ 2007-2013 as part of the Promotion of tourism in Poland.

And 5,882,352.95 euro (85% - from the EU, 15% - from the budget) for the promotion

of Eastern Poland. Another 117,300,000 euro is to come from the EU to co-finance

tourist attractions as part of the ‘Innovative Economy’ 2007-2013 programme, actions

6.4- investment into products above the regional level. The remaining funding will be

from domestic sources and will make up between 15% and 70%. The remaining tourism

infrastructure is to be the target of planned promotional campaigns

(http://orka2.sejm.gov.pl/IZ6.nsf/main/5EF05C08). Tourism industry specialists say

70

that in Poland tourism is beginning to be seen as a dynamically developing sector. The

table below shows this.

Expenditure in the Tourist industry between 2005-2009

Type

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009*

Money spent by foreign visitors in Poland

20,3

22,4

24,3

23,5

23,3

Money spent by Poles on travel in Poland

15,7

18,9

20,5

23,9

21

Money spent by Poles on foreign travel

4,2

6,8

7,4

9,2

7,9

Money spent on business travel

7,1

6,1

6,8

7,3

7,4

State expenditure on tourism

2,5

2,7

2,9

3,1

3,2

Total expenditure in the tourism sector

49,8

56,9

61,9

67

62,8

Share of tourism in GDP %

5,1

5,4

5,3

4,9

*/ initial data (in 2009 GDP growth by 1.7%)

In 2009 expenditure in the tourist sector amounted to 62.8bn PLN and were 4.2bn down

on 2008. In 2009 tourism amounted to 4.9% of the GDP. This was 0.4% down on 2008.

It should be remembered that Poland was one of the few EU member states which

posted a growth in its GDP in 2009 (+1,7%). The tourism sector saw losses throughout

the world in 2009. That is why the share of tourism in the GDP fell as other sectors of

the economy developed more dynamically than tourism in 2009.

Another area for analysis in discussing Polish public diplomacy is culture. According to

experts in the field, including B. Zdrojewski, the Minister of Culture and National

Heritage (2009) ‘culture in the age of economic globalisation remains the most

important distinguishing factor of national identity and also the main vehicle for

promoting the image of the country abroad. Using the tools of cultural promotion it may

be possible to effectively supplement political actions, as well as boost trade and, what

is most obvious the attractiveness of the country for tourists. That is why I feel that

there is no more effective tool of promotion than culture. It is thanks to culture that

Poland can and should play a significant role on the world stage”. The institution called

upon to promote the image of Poland is the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM). There

are plans, however, to pass a law to establish an institution to effectively compete on the

world stage and create an image internationally commensurate with Poland’s position in

the world. The Culture Ministry has recently completed inter-ministerial consultations

on a bill to establish a ˝Kultura Polska˝ Institute, which is to be set up after the IAM is

transformed, to become an effective base for a strengthened effort to promote the

country. Apart from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute there are also the Book Institute,

Theatre Institute, Polish Film Institute and the National Audio-visual Institute which

function in the cultural diplomacy domain. Another institution which plays a significant

role in promoting Poland’s role in protecting artistic heritage is the Kraków-based

International Cultural Centre, established in 1991.

One of the more important documents in the domain of cultural diplomacy is ‘The

National Strategy for the Development of Culture 2004-2013’, in which the importance

of promoting of our country is stressed. The Ministry also conducts a program entitled

‘The Promotion of Poland’s Culture Abroad.’ The aim of the program is to create a

positive image of the country abroad using Polish culture, Polish artists and their work,

the implementation of international cooperation in the field of culture in terms of

international agreements and treaties. As far as the countries where this effort should be

particularly prioritized are all the countries of the European Union, Russia, other

71

European countries (including the Ukraine) and Israel. When it comes to the basic

instruments of cultural diplomacy the following were listed in a report entitled, ‘From

cultural exchange to new intelligent force. Promotion of Poland through culture.’The

report was prepared by the Ministry of Culture and mentions:

• Seasons – Polish culture days- events aimed at presenting the Polish cultural

offer (historical and modern) in all areas of culture. As a result of their character

and length they require an intensified level of cooperation between cultural

institutions and artists from Poland with those of the partner country. The pre-

ordinate aim of the seasons is to establish long-term cooperation, directly

between the partners and its continuation after the completion of the given

season.

• Study visits- inviting to Poland artists and managers, curators and critics,

representatives of opinion-making environments, directors of cultural

institutions, public opinion leaders who constitute a numerous group of

influential advocates for change around the world. A great advantage of this

type of diplomacy is its cost-effectiveness, i.e. the ratio of costs to benefits

clearly points to the latter.

• Iconic figures in Polish culture- presentation of Poland’s contribution to

universal culture by the popularisation of both historic and contemporary

figures. A significant role is played by getting the patronage of UNESCO (e.g

the Year of Jerzy Giedroyc (2006), Year of Joseph Conrad (2007).

• The participation by Polish artists in international cultural events. Supporting the

artists from Poland is a very important promotional instrument. Their presence is

valuable not just at cultural events but also at international trade fairs, where the

subject may not be directly connected with art. (such as the Polish cultural

programme at the EXPO)

• International co-productions and joint ventures by a few cultural institutes from

different countries with prestigious and active partners which may lead to long-

term cooperation.

Among the most important events organised in the recent past to promote Polish culture

were the Polish Year in Israel in 2008/09 and the Polish Year in Great Britain 2009/10 –

both aimed at achieving long-term effects and the establishment of contacts in many

cultural sectors. Another significant event was the events surrounding the Frederic

Chopin Year in 2010, which was the first event on such a large scale. The events

organised in many countries around the world lead not only to increasing the popularity

of Chopin’s music but also boosting interest in Poland and its culture.

Polish cultural diplomacy also makes use of other tools, such as scholarship programs.

One of them is addressed to citizens of Eastern Europe Trans-Caucasia, Iraq and

Afghanistan. This program was launched in 2003 at the initiative of the MSZ and is

implemented by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in cooperation with the

Institute of Eastern European Studies at Warsaw University. The scholarship is open to

applicants who specialize in Polish subject-areas, particularly in the context of the XXth

Century, with around 60-70 scholarships awarded annually.

Unfortunately, just as in previous areas a huge problem is caused by budgetary

constraints, which hamper the effective promotion of Polish culture. The table below

shows the financial resources allocated to the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the

International Cultural Centre.

72

Table. Subsidies to the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the International Cultural

Centre in Kraków 2000-2008

Grant to institution in thousands of zloty

Year

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute

The International Cultural Centre

in Kraków

2000

697

1,222

2001

8,388

2,022

2002

2,200

2,126

2008

27,558

4,186

2009

36,950

5,715

Source: MKiDN (http://orka2.sejm.gov.pl/IZ6.nsf/main/5D57163C), retrieved

12.09.2010.

A look ahead- The EU Presidency and Euro 2012

In discussing the tools of public diplomacy it is difficult not to mention upcoming

events which have a very big potential from a promotional point of view. Namely the

Polish Presidency in the EU (2011) and the European Football Championships (2012).

As far as the former is concerned Poland will take over the Presidency in the EU on 1

July 2011. During the Presidency Poland will host most EU meetings and will be

responsible for their organization. That is why coherent and wide-ranging promotional

activities are so important. It is with this in mind that the Council of Ministers passed a

document entitled, ‘Programme of Preparation for the Presidency of the European

Union .’ As far as cultural diplomacy is concerned the framework of the undertakings is

outlined in the document entitled, ‘The Strategic assumptions of the Polish Presidency

in the II half of 2011’. As T. Grosse (2007) wrote, an assessment of the presidency can

be made on two levels. The first is the effectiveness of implementing European aims

and the second the implementation of national aims while presiding, i.e. a particular

influence on European affairs. Studies carried out in 2006 by J. Tallber show that

countries usually place emphasis on their own interests while they perform this

function. It is undoubtedly true that the Presidency will give Poland an opportunity to

improve its image on the international stage but the experience of other countries shows

that this is not always the case. The Czechs went through a government crisis while

they presided in the EU in 2009, while the Hungarians debated on a media law and

internal matters clouded their presidency with domestic affairs taking first stage. One

may talk of a certain marginalization of Hungary during their presidency. As specialists

say one of the more successful presidencies was that of France in 2008. What was

worthy of note were actions undertaken by President Sarkozy during the war in Georgia

and steps taken to minimise the effects of the world financial crisis. As I’ve said before,

apart from its strictly political side, the presidency i san opportunity in the country’s

image-building sphere. As far as {Poland is concerned cultural diplomacy is

undoubtedly going to be used. The aim is to promote Poland in the EU, the EU in

73

Poland and Poland and the EU around the world (Poland as an ambassador of the EU).

In view of the subject of the article the first set of actions are of interest to us. The key

message articulated in the documents mentioned earlier is ‘Poland is a responsible

partner and interesting country.’ In view of the subject of this paper it is the first two

sets of measures that are of interest us. The idea of ‘Poland as a responsible partner and

interesting country’ is the key concept as well as the image-building aims. These are

raising the level of awareness about Poland and showing Poland as a partner who can

fulfill the function of a responsible leader. A further aim is to show Poland as a country

with a rich cultural heritage but that is open and modern and to encourage both business

and tourist interest in Poland. As far as the target groups are concerned these are

primarily EU institutions and particular member states. Because of the model of the

presidency particular emphasis is to be placed on communication with our trio, i.e.

Denmark and Cyprus. It is also important to communicate with countries such as The

Czech Republic and Hungary (partners from the Vyshehrad Group) and our Eastern

neighbours. As far as the channels of communication are concerned these will include

cooperation with the media (a press and information centre set up for this reason), the

establishment of a website, a system of visual identification, design of gifts and gadgets

as well as information and education understood as the preparation of a package of

training materials concerning the Polish presidency.

As I have already mentioned the greatest emphasis will be placed on the cultural

programme. The body responsible for its design and implementation is the National

Audiovisual Institute (NIA) and the cultural events abroad are to be the responsibility of

the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The guiding motto of the NIA is ‘Polska 2030’.- the

potential of culture as a tool of social change. The Polish government has earmarked

around 30mln zloty for additional cultural events. The works of Czesław Miłosz,

Stanisław Lem, Karol Szymanowski are to be promoted, as well as a programme of e-

culture, which will be based on the implementation of projects in city space.

Additionally five films are to be prepared on the subject of Poland and Poles. In May

2011 a logo of the presidency will be unveiled. Supplements will be published in

international publications such as the „International Herald Tribune” – to promote

Poland and talk about different aspects of life in the country. It is also to promote the

cuisine and show the most beautiful places in the country. Already the website on the

Polish presidency has been launched with information about it,

www.prezydencjaue.gov.pl and the official presidency page, www.pl2011.eu. What is

more Poland is also promoted on social networks such as Facebook and there is a

special channel on YouTube entitled ‘Polish Presidency 2011’ as well as thematic group

on Goldenline.pl. Reports on the progress of the presidency will also appear on Twitter.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has signed a contract with Burson-Marsteller

Sprl, who are to provide logistical back-up in the information aspect of the presidency,

i.e. renting conference roomsfor press conferences or conferences for experts in

Brussels, the preparation of study visits for journalists in Poland, training for Polish

officials and spokesmen and monitoring foreign press [Pawlicki 2011]. Burson-

Marsteller Sprl does not, however, have any influence on the strategy of the information

campaign. The fee for the company’s services from April until the end of 2011 is

1.12mln euro.

The second significant event, but somewhat different in character is Euro 2012, co-

organised with Ukraine. In discussing the promotional effects of this event it is worth

74

referring to S. Anholt who claims that countries communicate through a hexagonal

channel of communication. See the diagram below.

Diagram: The hexagon of communication channels

Source: S. Anholt, J. Hildreth, Brand America. The secret of the mega-

brand. Polish Brand Institute, Warsaw 2005, p.14.

As far as the most important channel is concerned in the case of EURO 2012 it is tourist

promotion. According to S. Anholt (2005) tourist authorities have the biggest budget at

their disposal and the best marketing experts. Moreover tourism, in itself creates

promotional possibilities. Spain is an example of a country, which based itspromotional

strategy on this industry. The Olympic Games in Barcelona and the World EXPO in

Seville accented the changes taking place in the country and contributed to changing the

image of the country. A similar case was that of Portugal, which partly owes its success

to the organization of the EXPO in 1998. The motto used by the organisers in Lisbon

was, ‘All Roads Lead to the EXPO’. It was meant to ease the path of the visitors making

their way to the EXPO. It can, therefore, be assumed that it was easier for Portugal to

organize the European Football championships in 2004 with the communications and

hotel infrastructure in place. Euro 2004 offered Lisbon an opportunity for promotion in

Europe and beyond. The effect was that the city, already popular with tourists from

around the globe posted a growth in the number of visitors of around 15 percent. As far

as Poland is concerned an important element of its offer for tourists are its cities, their

atmosphere and the events organized in them. In many cases the cities, which are

organizing matches during the Euro are also bidding for the title of European Cultural

Capital 2016, thus there is a cumulative effect with the promotional undertakings

complementing one another. The funds for the preparation and implementation of the

promotional undertakings will, to a large extent, come from the EU, from among others

the ‘Let us Promote Poland Together’ project, part of the Action 6.3, ‘Promotion of

Poland’s Tourist Assets’, a priority axis of the Operational Programme of an Innovative

Economy 2007-2013. Thanks to funds from this source a presentation of the potential of

Polish tourism will be made on selected markets abroad. Taking advantage of the

context of the European Football Championships it will be targeted on the citizens of

the countries where following football is the greatest, including the United Kingdom,

Germany and France. The choice of the methods and marketing tools will take into

Tourism

Exports

Foreign and Domestic

policy

Investment

and

immigration

People

Culture and

heritage

i dziedzictwo

75

account the universal values representative for European societies, taking into account

certain national characteristic and cultural diversity. These were contained in the above-

mentioned ‘Marketing Strategy for Poland in the Tourism Sector between 2008-2015’.

A very significant channel of communication in the context of Euro 2012 is the

country’s cultural activity and the export of culture, such as the works of great masters

but also the successes of national sports teams and of individual sportsmen. We can

observe the appearance of interdisciplinary such as the European Stadium of Culture.

The idea is to incorporate art into this undoubtedly great sporting event. For the third

time in the history of the Euro it is to be co-hosted by two countries. (earlier:

Belgium/Holland in 2000 and Austria/Switzerland in 2008). The main aim is to create a

common cultural space to enable joint projects and to promote a feeling of community

between the citizens. A further aim is to build a joint image of Poland and Ukraine

through culture.

Looking at S. Anholt’s hexagon of communication in the context of the organisation of

the European championships one may note that we are dealing with all the channels.

The promotion of the country on the world stage through sport is become clearer as the

television broadcasts of the great sporting events (the Olympic Games and World

Championships in the mass spectator sports) are reaching more and more people. An

effective promotion of the brand of a city or country is an opportunity to attract

investors. Investors who cooperate with sporting organisations in a given region or

country by means of sponsorship, also build their own brand.

It i salso worth noting that sport is one of the most important phenomena of the so-

called mass culture. With reference to the economic aspects of sport there is a duality in

its perception. On the one hand, free time, demand for leisure , the trend towards a

healthy lifestyle mean that sport is becoming a product to which the rules of marketing

apply. On the other, the ability of sport to create a spectacle and draw crowds mean that

it is an important element of promotion used not just by companies, but also cities and

countries which organise the particular event. One can point to a number of reasons why

sport helps to shape the image of cities or countries. Firstly, it gives vent to emotions,

which accompany the sporting struggle and that leads to a faster and better cognition

and people remember the names of products, companies and, of course, the countries

and cities where the event takes place. Sport brings associations that many would like to

exploit. Football is the main sport in Europe and what follows, the most popular. As S.

Anholt rightly notes, countries should remember that simply winning the right to host a

mass sporting or cultural event is not an automatic ticket to gaining publicity. It is an

opportunity to show oneself in the media and the given city or country should decide

what they want to say about themselves. An example of a positive use being made of

the European championships is that of Austria, who co-hosted this event with

Switzerland in 2008. The income generated for the Austrian economy amounted to

415,2 mln Euro. There was also a record growth in the number of incoming visitors

(+16%) and overnight stays (+16,4%) in May 2008, and studies on the image of Austria

(particularly in the Czech Rep and France) showed a marked improvement. The most

frequent associations with Austria were: high quality, rest, hospitality, peace and

pleasure (Kobenter 2009).

It is reasonable expect that the combination of Poland’s presidency and Euro 2012

present an opportunity for the promotion of a positive image of Poland and that this will

76

translate to boost tourism in the country. These events are what specialists term as

‘media anchors’ as their potential makes it easier to reach the media. We have to work

to ensure that the message we have to communicate is cohesive and attractive.

Otherwise we will struggle to overcome the negative stereotypes that exist among

foreigners.

References

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78

Communication and Web 2.0: New skills, new professionals

(Comunicación y web 2.0: Nuevas competencias, nuevos profesionales)

Carmen Silva (Open University of Catalonia, csilvaro@uoc.edu), and Gloria Jiménez

(University of Sevilla, gloria_jimenez@us.es)

Abstract (Resumen)

We face a different technology, a new way to entertain and inform, to buy and consume

media and information. This is the era of interactive marketing, Web 2.0 and many still

do not realize. We need to unite creativity and technology, but above all to educate

ourselves in this new environment to meet the brands with more accurate proposals and

to explain to customers how to reach their targets and what to do with them. This new

economic reality expressed, on four basic principles: openness, peer interaction, sharing

and global action.

All these new skills and competencies and this new environment for business

communication show that we need new job descriptions, qualified people who can

handle the tools, understand the network environment, you can put the strategies and

objectives of trademarks ‘thought 2.0’ and integrate the corporate culture of the

company. Executives, creative, coordinators, planners, etc. must learn this new language

to cope with its challenges. What some are assuming a real problem, jump on the

bandwagon of new technology-for others implies a universe of opportunities.

Companies and institutions need a mixture of profiles currently psychologists,

sociologists, communication, anthropologists... to identify the behaviors of the

consumer-prosumer. They also require content experts to develop proposals attractive,

relevant and relevant to multicultural audiences segmented hyper. In short, are

clamoring for multidisciplinary joint teams and journalists, creative, psychologists,

marketing, producers, publishers, artists, intellectuals generate enriching and stimulating

experience for Internet users.

This study analyzes the current market needs 2.0 to compose the teams in the work

environment that meet these needs, what skills are most in demand, how are media

professionals 2.0?, Can we talk about profiles always or adaptations of the traditional?

Spanish

Estamos ante una tecnología diferente, un nuevo modo de entretenernos e informarnos,

de comprar y de consumir medios y de informarse. Estamos en la era del marketing

interactivo, de la web 2.0 y muchos aún no se dan cuenta. Debemos unir creatividad y

tecnología, pero sobretodo educarnos en este nuevo entorno para satisfacer a las marcas

con propuestas más exactas y poder explicarles a los clientes cómo llegar a sus targets y

qué hacer con ellos. Esta nueva realidad económica la expresan, en cuatro principios

básicos: apertura, interacción entre iguales, compartir y actuación global.

Un nuevo entorno que requiere habilidades y competencias diferentes. La comunicación

2.0 requiere nuevos perfiles profesionales, gente preparada que sepa manejar las

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herramientas, entienda el entorno de la red social, pueda poner las estrategias y

objetivos de las marcas en ‘pensamiento 2.0’ e integre la cultura corporativa de la

empresa. Ejecutivos, creativos, coordinadores, planners, etc. han de conocer este nuevo

lenguaje para enfrentarse a sus desafíos. Lo que para algunos supone un problema -

subirse al carro de las nuevas tecnologías- para otros implica un universo de

oportunidades laborales.

Las organizaciones necesitan una mezcla de perfiles psicólogos, sociólogos, técnicos de

comunicación, antropólogos... para identificar los comportamientos del consumidor-

prosumer. Requieren especialistas en contenidos que elaboraren propuestas atractivas,

pertinentes y relevantes para audiencias multiculturales e hiper segmentadas. Piden a gritos

equipos mixtos y multidisciplinares: periodistas, creativos, psicólogos, técnicos de

marketing, productores, publicistas artistas, intelectuales que generen experiencias

enriquecedoras y estimulantes para los internautas.

Este estudio analiza las necesidades 2.0 del mercado actual para componer equipos de

trabajo que respondan a esas necesidades: ¿qué competencias son las más demandadas?,

¿cómo son los profesionales de la comunicación 2.0?, ¿podemos hablar de los perfiles

de siempre o de adaptaciones de los tradicionales?

Introduction (Introducción)

Estamos ante una tecnología diferente, un nuevo modo de de entretenernos e

informarnos, de comprar y de consumir medios e información. Nos encontramos en la

era del marketing interactivo, de la web 2.0 y muchos aún no se dan cuenta. ¿Qué es una

campaña en AdWords? ¿Cuántos clicks, cuánto dinero, cuántas visitas son poco o

mucho? ¿Qué hace una organización en las redes sociales?, ¿Por qué hablan de una

marca en los blogs especializados del sector? Nos hace falta unir creatividad y

tecnología, pero sobretodo educarnos en este nuevo entorno para poder satisfacer a las

firmas con propuestas más exactas y poder explicarle a los clientes cómo llegar a sus

targets y qué hacer con ellos.

En un entorno tan cambiante como el de Internet, los profesionales que trabajan con la

imagen y la identidad corporativa, se enfrentan a una serie de nuevos retos que, en

muchas ocasiones, están suponiendo un problema para ellos y para las propias empresas

e instituciones puesto que no saben cuáles son sus auténticas necesidades.

Objectives (Objetivos)

Con el presente trabajo se pretende:

• Describir la Web 2.0 como entorno laboral.

• Comprender las competencias y habilidades necesarias para trabajar en la Web

social.

• Realizar un acercamiento a los nuevos perfiles profesionales que se están

demandando en la Web 2.0 desde el punto de vista de la comunicación.

• Descubrir la formación y currículum que se necesita para desarrollar trabajos 2.0

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Methodology (Metodología)

Methodological strategies (Estrategias metodológicas)

Con la finalidad de describir, comprender, aproximarnos y descubrir estos perfiles nos

acercamos a la realidad con un estudio de carácter mixto desde el punto de vista

cualitativo. En primer lugar comenzamos con una revisión bibliográfica y de la

literatura científica enfocada a tal fin; posteriormente, realizamos una entrevista a una

muestra seleccionada. Esto es: se efectuaron 10 entrevistas en profundidad con 25 ítems

base que dieron lugar y pie a otra serie de cuestiones espontáneas.

Selected sample (Muestra seleccionada)

La población objeto de estudio fueron distintos roles y puestos de trabajo (decisorios,

línea media y base) tanto de:

• Empresas de comunicación

• Empresas anunciantes

También fueron objeto de estudio consumidores reales, posible público potencial y

comprador en potencia de productos o servicios de las marcas y/o empresas. Con una

edad superior a los 18 años de edad con independencia de la clase económica, social o

cultural que ocupen a nivel de estatus. Para nuestra muestra nos hemos centrado en las

provincias de Sevilla y Barcelona.

Procedure (Procedimiento)

El procedimiento aplicado para el presente estudio fue:

a. Preparación de la guía de entrevistas cuestionarios.

b. Información a la muestra del estudio a realizar.

c. Realización de la entrevista.

d. Extracción de datos.

e. Análisis de los datos.

New skills and new profiles (Nuevas competencias y nuevos perfiles)

La web 2.0 tiene unas características concretas y específicas de recepción que la hacen,

cuanto menos, diferente a las websites de la era 1.9 y versiones anteriores. Los

conceptos ‘creatividad’, ‘tecnología’, ‘interacción’, ‘simultaneidad’, etc. son términos

que conviven en esta nueva etapa de la red… Pero, en esta avenencia, el profesional de

comunicación debe reinventarse, re educarse en este nuevo entorno para poder satisfacer

así a empresas y sus marcas con propuestas atractivas y eficaces. Y, sobre todo,

eficientes para, de este modo, poder explicarle a su cliente cómo puede llegar a su target

y qué puede hacer con ellos. Todo ello mediante estrategias bien pensadas para cada

público y capaz de diversificarse. En definitiva, cómo trazar la estrategia comunicativa a

partir de las posibilidades que permite la web 2.0.

La también llamada web social en la que nos movemos ha establecido dinámicas

propias de comunicación personales y especialmente sociales (como su nombre indica),

mediadas por tecnologías digitales en un entorno de convergencia mediática ya ha

llegado a generar una cultura propia que Henry Jenkins denomina “cultura

participativa” y que define con las siguientes características (Jenkins et al, 2006):

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1. Apenas impone barreras a la expresión artística y al compromiso cívico.

2. Se percibe un fuerte apoyo para crear y compartir las creaciones personales con

otros.

3. Se ofrece cierto tipo de tutoría informal por la cual aquello que es conocido por

el más experto es transferido a los más novatos.

4. Donde los miembros creen en que sus contribuciones son valoradas.

5. Donde los miembros sienten algún tipo de conexión social entre ellos (donde al

menos se toma en cuenta lo que otras personas piensan sobre lo que han creado)

6. Donde no todos los miembros deben contribuir, pero al menos todos se sienten

libres para contribuir cuando estén preparados y creen que su contribución será

valorada apropiadamente

Una cultura participativa que marca el trabajo de gestión de la comunicación en la red y

un concepto que nos ayuda a dilucidar cuáles son las competencias que deben

desarrollar sus profesionales en estos entorno.

Applications for web 2.0 (Las aplicaciones por y para web 2.0)

Pero para entender la adaptación del profesional de la comunicación a la web 2.0,

previamente hemos de comprender en qué medida ha de adaptarse a esta web 2.0. Y es

que, según O’Reilly (2006), las distintas aplicaciones web podrían situarse en tres

niveles o escalones distintos. Éstos son:

• Tercer nivel: Una aplicación funciona única y exclusivamente en Internet

dejando de existir fuera de la red. Estos ejemplos los encontramos en Skype o

Wikipedia, por ejemplo. El caso de Google (a través de su aplicación ‘Google

Desktop’ supone una excepción, un híbrido entre on line y off line).

• Segundo nivel: Encontramos aquí aplicaciones que tienen razón de ser fuera del

campo Internet pero sólo como mero valor añadido, no como funcionalidad en

sí. El ejemplo más claro sería el de Flickr, que proporciona al usuario un

programa para gestionar imágenes pero sólo puede compartir las mismas al tener

una conexión directa a través de Internet.

• Primer nivel: Es el caso de aplicaciones que tienen el mismo uso on y off line.

Ejemplo claro: Google Docs.

A estos grados hay que sumarle un cuarto nivel, el que se denominaría Nivel raso, base

o 0, que consiste en todas aquellas aplicaciones creadas, en principio, para trabajar a

través de Internet pero que, fuera de la red, funcionan exactamente igual. Sería el caso

de Google Maps.

Professionals: the competences and web 2.0 (Profesionales: las competencias por y

para web 2.0)

Tapscotty y D. Williams, autores de Wikinomics1, aportan algunas ideas sobre

transformaciones que abarcan incluso el aspecto económico: una nueva economía

impulsada por el cambio tecnológico, la demografía y la globalización, que motoriza el

cambio y la innovación basados en nuevas formas de colaboración. Es la web

colaborativa (término que, aunque aún no está reconocido en la RAE, ya se plantea para

su aceptación en próximas ediciones). Esta nueva realidad económica la expresan en

base a cuatro principios básicos:

• Apertura

1 www.wikinomics.com

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• Interacción entre iguales

• Compartir

• Actuación global

Retomando las características que citábamos anteriormente como las propias de la

cultura participativa; Henry Jenkins (2008) analiza más detenidamente este concepto y

propone una serie de destrezas sociales y competencias culturales que deben ser

fomentadas y ejercitadas desde los espacios educativos; y que, desde una perspectiva

comunicacional, entendemos tienen que ser igualmente asumidas por los profesionales

de la publicidad, relaciones públicas y periodismo con el objetivo de ajustar lo máximo

posible las propuestas diseñadas. Estas capacidades son, según este autor:

• Juego: Capacidad para experimentar con el entorno como una forma de aprender

a resolver problemas.

• Representación: Habilidad para adoptar identidades alternativas con el propósito

de la improvisación y el descubrimiento.

• Simulación: Habilidad para interpretar y construir modelos dinámicos de

procesos del mundo real.

• Apropiación: Habilidad para reinterpretar y remezclar contenido mediático.

• Multitarea: Habilidad para examinar el propio entorno y centrar la atención

cuando se necesite en los detalles significativos.

• Pensamiento distribuido: Habilidad para interactuar de forma significativa con

herramientas que expanden las capacidades mentales.

• Inteligencia colectiva: Habilidad para sumar conocimiento y comparar las notas

con otras personas en función de una meta común.

• Juicio, Criterio: Habilidad para evaluar la fiabilidad y credibilidad de diferentes

fuentes de información.

• Navegación transmediática: Habilidad para seguir el flujo de las historias y la

información a través de diferentes medios.

• Trabajo en red: Habilidad para buscar, sintetizar y diseminar información.

• Negociación: Habilidad para viajar a través de comunidades diversas,

percibiendo y respetando las múltiples perspectivas, y comprendiendo y

siguiendo normas alternativas.

Todas estas nuevas habilidades y competencias, y este novedoso entorno para la

comunicación empresarial, ponen de manifiesto que estamos necesitando nuevos

perfiles profesionales, gente preparada que conozca realmente y sepa manejar las

herramientas que tenemos en la red. Personal cualificado que pueda adaptar las

estrategias y los objetivos de las empresas y sus marcas en ‘pensamiento 2.0’ e integre

la cultura corporativa de la organización y comprenda y comulgue con el concepto de

Web colaborativa. Ejecutivos, creativos, coordinadores, planners deben conocer este

nuevo lenguaje para hacerle frente a sus desafíos. Lo que para algunos está suponiendo

un auténtico problema (dominar el lenguaje de las nuevas tecnologías y pensar en

hipertexto) para otros implica un universo de oportunidades laborales.

El futuro se presenta con grandes posibilidades para aquellos profesionales capaces de

interpretar las necesidades, intereses, inquietudes, aspiraciones, humores y percepciones

de la gente y desarrollar las habilidades exigidas para este mundo colectivo. Pero que

además sean capaces de captar la cultura de la empresa.

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Las empresas necesitan actualmente una mezcla de perfiles: psicólogos, sociólogos,

técnicos de comunicación, antropólogos, etc… que nos permitan identificar los

comportamientos del consumidor-prosumer (definido en Wikipedia2 como un acrónimo

formado por la fusión original de las palabras en inglés producer (productor) y

consumer (consumidor). También requieren especialistas en contenidos que permitan

elaborar propuestas atractivas, pertinentes y relevantes para audiencias multiculturales

hiper- segmentadas.

Y es que, como expresa Martín Hazan en El modelo de la nueva agencia (2009:11):

“Necesitamos recursos humanos interdisciplinarios e inquietos, redactores que puedan

sintentizar toda una noticia en un buen titular, pero que, a su vez, tengan su blog como

hobbie, y que participen en redes sociales, que entiendan la forma de comunicarse e

informar en Internet. Es esencial que entiendan de SEO y SEM (Posicionamiento y

marketing en motores de búsqueda). No sólo su forma de escribir, que conozcan cómo

funcionan los buscadores y que sepan sobre marketing online, para poder redactar para

la Web, de la misma manera que un periodista debe entender cómo funciona un diario”.

Así, en línea con esta afirmación, podemos decir que no hay duda de que las

corporaciones, grandes o pequeñas, para dar respuesta a sus demandas en materia de

comunicación necesitan personal polivalente, multidisciplinar. En palabras del mismo

Hazan, “directores de arte que puedan manejarse en los diversos medios, directores de

arte multimediales”. O, en otros términos, ser capaz de dominar el lenguaje audiovisual,

el del mobile marketing, etc. Nos referimos a equipos mixtos donde periodistas,

creativos, psicólogos, productores, publicistas artistas, intelectuales generen

experiencias enriquecedoras para los internautas, que tengan la capacidad de

provocarlos con mensajes movilizadores que tengan la virtud de adaptarse a los

diferentes formatos con inteligencia y flexibilidad.

El presente lo está marcando un cambio en la manera que tenemos de comunicarnos, un

cambio en las plataformas y soportes, un cambio en la actitud de los consumidores, un

cambio en las propuestas… y todo ello implica un cambio en los profesionales pero sin

olvidar cuáles son los objetivos de las marcas.

A este respecto, Lucas (en AA.VV., 2009) dice que: “Consideramos que la irrupción de

este verdadero paradigma emergente de la colaboración, requiere algo más que la

simple incorporación de nuevas tecnologías, aunque éstas sean importantes. Nuestra

perspectiva resalta la necesidad de desarrollar nuevas prácticas, sensibilidades y

habilidades pragmáticas en el management, para poder moverse efectivamente en la era

de la colaboración en redes virtuales que se avecina con el desarrollo de la web social.

A este nuevo entendimiento y a esta nueva praxis de la gestión la denominamos

Management 2.0.

Toda tecnología que se traduce en una innovación implica nuevas o mejores prácticas,

una suerte de desvelamiento de un nuevo espacio de posibilidades. En este caso, el uso

del software social devela un rasgo medular del fenómeno humano: los seres humanos

se constituyen y crean su mundo en el lenguaje, en conversaciones. La Web 2.0 está

mostrando palmariamente lo que podríamos sintetizar en tres conceptos. En primer

lugar, que los mercados son conversaciones. En segundo lugar, que las organizaciones

2 http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosumidor

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son bien entendidas también, como redes de conversaciones. Por último, que la práctica

de administrar es, en lo esencial, conversar”.

Siguiendo las directrices de este autor, podemos sintetizar que esta forma de realizar

‘managament 2.0’ implica:

• Gestión del conocimiento: enlaces, autoría, etiquetas, extensiones, señales,

impulso del aprendizaje, fortalecimiento de las redes sociales., capacidad de

penetración, expandir la experiencia del blogging, hacerse presente y notorio,

networking en eventos y conferencias, conocimiento y descubrimientos

inesperados, fomentar el desarrollo de habilidades sociales, etc.

• Visión clara frente a un plan detallado: la intuición, la flexibilidad y la capacidad

de adaptación son centrales en los inicios

• Liderazgo.

• Movimientos rápidos, en tiempo real, aprendiendo en la acción: no quedarse

quieto, comunicar, pulsar opiniones, recibir propuestas. Estas llegarán tanto de

los principales jugadores del sector como de cualquier internauta anónimo (pero

no por ello desdeñable).

Se está poniendo el acento en una comunicación que contempla al consumidor en sus

distintas facetas de relación con la marca, con ‘su’ marca. Y a eso hay que sumarle que

cada herramienta tiene sus propias características, lenguajes y formas específicas de

comunicación.

En esta nueva realidad los pioneros comienzan ya a distinguir claramente esas

demandas laborales. Porque, como ya se expresa desde AERCO –Asociación Española

de Responsables de Comunidad- (2009): “Cada día aumenta el abanico de nuevos

perfiles cuyas tareas pueden resultarnos difíciles de distinguir: community manager,

social media director, chief social media officer, moderador, dinamizador, social media

PR, etc. Por sorprendente que parezca, el perfil que resulta menos novedoso es el del

Community Manager. Sin embargo, con el tiempo, han ido modificando y adaptando

algunas de sus tareas. Foros, chats, comunidades, y en general los primeros medios de

comunicación online, que ahora mismo serían los abuelos de las redes sociales y demás

herramientas colaborativas tal como las conocemos hoy, estaban liderados por los

responsables de comunidad, que a su vez estaban apoyados por los moderadores o

dinamizadores.”

A este respecto los colaboradores de Territorio Creativo (2009) aclaran que existen una

serie de protagonistas y participantes en esta nueva telaraña y panorama que supone la

web 2.0 y su entorno. Así, nos encontramos con unos actores denominados

‘moderadores’ quienes velan por la calidad del contenido generado por el usuario (user

generated content), asegurándose de que cumple las pautas de conducta de una

comunidad o canal de comunicación y evitar que haya problemas de convivencia entre

sus miembros. Existen también los llamados ‘dinamizadores’, miembros de las

comunidades que generan conversaciones, participan y en definitiva ayudan a que éstas

estén vivas. Los ‘analistas de medios sociales’ (social media analysts) y los ‘jefes de

medios sociales’ (chief social media officer), quienes utilizan los medios sociales para

las relaciones públicas, proponer estrategias de marketing (promociones y campañas),

pero no buscan necesariamente crear o mantener comunidad entorno a algo o alguien.

Su punto de vista es corporativo y no tienen que ser necesariamente usuarios.

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Cristina Aced en su obra Perfiles Profesionales 2.0 habla de profesionales

especializados en optimizar la reputación on line. Entre los ámbitos que destaca como

más habituales en la ejecución de estas tareas se encuentran disciplinas como:

periodismo, relaciones públicas, publicidad y marketing. Aced habla de perfiles nacidos

al calor de la red; expertos en analítica web, gestores de contenidos digitales, arquitectos

de la información, expertos en usabilidad; y algunos más destacados: directores de

marketing relaciones y/o comunicación 2.0, community managers, responsables de

reputación online, consultor de comunicación digital, responsable de grupos de trabajo

(es un community de communities) Como se puede comprobar algunos de estos perfiles

son adaptaciones Web de categorías off line. Del mismo libro se desprende que, en

mayoría de los casos, estos profesionales han aprendido a realizar sus tareas de manera

autodidacta y destaca de ellos el interés por los avances tecnológicos, las habilidades

multitareas y la capacidad de ser versátil y trabajar en diferentes temas y plataformas,

distribuyendo adecuadamente el tiempo de su jornada laboral.

Milán Berzosa, community managers de Ideas4all, en unas declaraciones realizadas

para Expansión&Empleo (12/06/2010. Pág. 3) resaltaba como competencias deseables

para estos perfiles …las aptitudes personales y las ganas que le pongas para conseguir

objetivos tangibles.

Mónica Morales en su blog Transiciones, especializado en RRHH, bebe de Cristina

Aced para destacar las siguientes competencias 2.0 deseables para trabajar en entornos

2.0:

1. Flexibilidad y capacidad de adaptación.

2. Creatividad y capacidad resolutiva.

3. Innovación

4. Trabajo en equipos virtuales. Capacidad de aprovechar la tecnología actual para

llevar a cabo el trabajo en equipo. Reuniones a través de servicios de

webmeeting, compartir el conocimiento a través de las redes, trabajar con

soportes tecnológicos, etc.

5. Capacidad crítica. Saber discernir entre toda la información que encontramos en

la red.

6. Generación de confianza.

7. Gestión de la incertidumbre. Capacidad de trabajar bajo presión y gestionar los

momentos difíciles.

Estamos hablando de competencias que se han hecho imprescindibles. De El modelo de

la nueva agencia (AA.VV., 2009) se desprende, asimismo, que el nuevo profesional de

la comunicación 2.0 debe entender las necesidades de los proyectos y saber trabajar en

equipo:

“Al Director de Arte le puede parecer que cierto sitio debería ser en flash, pero el

programador puede tener muy buenas razones, más prácticas, más tangibles, sobre por

qué debería ser en HTML. Esta interacción es necesaria. Debe entender de experiencia

de usuario y poder trabajar en equipo con el director de arte para lograr herramientas

que estén a la altura de internet.

Tiene que estar constantemente actualizado y poder integrarse a las nuevas plataformas

y servicios web que los usuarios están demandando. Internet avanza todos los días y

esta persona debe avanzar también.

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El equipo de cuentas, la cara de la agencia, tiene que poder comunicarse con todos ellos,

y transmitirlo al cliente, por lo tanto debe entender, en menor medida, lo que todos ellos

entienden.

Tiene que saber de diseño sin saber diseñar y saber de tecnología sin saber programar.

Tiene que conocer todos los medios y todas sus posibilidades. Hoy el famoso ‘lleva y

trae papeles’ se va a quedar sin trabajo, porque la campaña ya no es sólo en papel. Hoy

la agencia tiene que presentarle al cliente formatos nuevos, que éste no conoce y esto no

es tarea fácil. Esto solo puede hacerlo alguien que entienda qué está pasando y no

alguien que lleve, repita y sonría”

Y, ¿cómo es la interactuación con el público objetivo, con ese target intermedio

formado por la propia empresa, la organización y con el pretendido consumidor final?

User generated content

El término con el que se denomina el acto de participar en la generación de los

contenidos de los sitios web 2.0 es el de User Generated Content. El UGC se refiere a

los sistemas de colaboración donde el usuario no se limita a navegar entre las

informaciones producidas por otros sino que se convierte él mismo en productor.

Isaac Mao habla del término sharismo3 para referirse a la cultura participativa. Para

Mao, se trata de un estado mental neuropsicológico que nos lleva a compartir

conocimientos motivados por las características tecnológicas de la Web Social 2.0 y las

prácticas culturales que sostienen movimientos como el de Creative Commons y de las

comunidades de software libre.

El sharismo es, según este autor, una propiedad innata de nuestro cerebro, abierto

siempre a establecer relaciones neuronales y compartir información en procesos

creativos de producción de conocimiento:

“Cuanto más abiertos y fuertemente conectadas estén nuestras neuronas, mejor será el

entorno colaborativo para todo el mundo. Cuanto más colectiva sea nuestra inteligencia,

más inteligentes serán nuestras acciones. La gente siempre ha encontrado las mejores

soluciones a través de las conversaciones. Ahora podemos ponerlas todas online.” (Isaac

Mao)

En línea con dicho término encontramos otro, recientemente acuñado, que se ha

convertido en todo un fenómeno desde un punto de vista comercial: el crowdsourcing.

Para entender plenamente su significado debemos comenzar definiendo el término y

concepto del que surge: el outsourcing. El outsourcing se refiere al acto que realiza una

empresa cuando encarga un trabajo determinado en el exterior, con el fin de ahorrar

costes principalmente. Esto es, la subcontratación de terceras empresas para externalizar

parte del trabajo de su cadena productiva.

Originalmente, en empresas productivas los encargos realizados eran trabajos de

manufacturación que no requerían ninguna aptitud especial y los lugares escogidos

solían ser China e India, países sin formación cualificada pero con un gran potencial de

3 http://freesouls.cc/essays/07-isaac-mao-sharism.html [Accessed 26 June 2010].

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trabajo. Sin embargo, con el tiempo el trabajo se ha ido multiplicando y especializando,

de forma que estos países no sólo se han ido formando en técnicas concretas de la

cadena productiva sino que, además, se han convertido en verdaderos motores del

outsourcing. El ahorro en costes que supone esta actividad para la mayoría de las

empresas es altísimo y si a ello le sumamos las ventajas fiscales que posee, el resultado

es la enorme popularidad de la que goza dicha actividad.

Una vez definido el concepto original, pasemos al que ahora nos concierne. El

crowdsourcing supone una forma de outsourcing, en el sentido de que supone ofrecer

la posibilidad de trabajar en un proyecto externo a una gran cantidad de personas

anónimas (crowd significa en inglés masa). El término nace de la mano del escritor Jeff

Howe en la revista especializada en tecnología Wired, y consiste en “externalizar el

trabajo, sobre todo intelectual, a través de Internet, es decir, utilizar el potencial de

millones de cerebros conectados a la red” (Bosco y Caldana, 2007).

Como podemos observar, la idea es deudora principalmente del outsourcing, con

algunos matices. La principal diferencia la encontramos en el hecho de que no importa

donde se sitúe el trabajador (o cerebro), ni su experiencia o conocimiento del problema

a tratar; lo que importa únicamente es el resultado. La otra gran diferencia es que no

existe un lugar físico de encuentro, sino que todo es a través de la red. Por otro lado,

también podemos señalar que el fenómeno se sirve a su vez del Used Generated

Content, pues se nutre de la participación activa de los usuarios de Internet.

La actividad del crowdsourcing nació principalmente en el ámbito científico, ámbito en

que sigue siendo utilizado tanto por pequeñas empresas como por grandes

corporaciones o incluso por instituciones de la talla del MIT (Massachussets Institute Of

Technology). Uno de los centros que más recurren a esta práctica es Innocentive.com,

fundada por la farmacéutica Lilly. Esta página publica los problemas o desafíos en busca

de soluciones; y a su vez se inician grandes líneas de investigación de multinacionales

como los gigantes Procter&Gamble, Boeing o Nestlé Purina. La dinámica es la

siguiente: se plantea el problema y por cada solución la empresa ofrece un premio

económico. Los desafíos se dividen en las categorías de química y biología, y la

remuneración suele estar entre 15.000 y 60.000 dólares. El esquema se basa, por tanto,

en sustituir la actividad que antes realizaban los propios empleados, por una enorme red

de personas anónimas, donde se pueden esconder grandes cerebros a un precio

económico. El negocio es perfecto: se aglutinan muchas ideas y el coste siempre es

infinitamente menor; hay menos riesgos y muchas más rentabilidad (Bosco y Caldana,

2007).

La idea, sin duda, está respondiendo y por ello, está traspasando a otros ámbitos. Por

ejemplo la empresa de juguetes Lego presentó una convocatoria en busca de inventores

para crear una nueva generación de robots, los llamados Lego Robotic. Asimismo, otro

ejemplo lo encontramos en Zazzle.com que paga por diseño de postales, camisetas y

otro tipo de productos; simplemente hay que crear una galería de diseños y éstos se

aplican a diferentes artículos, pudiendo ganar hasta un 17% de la venta de los productos

(Anónimo, 2006).

Los medios de comunicación tampoco se han quedado atrás. Un ejemplo de ello es el

archivo fotográfico iStockphoto.com. En un principio los bancos de imágenes se nutrían

de fotógrafos profesionales; sin embargo, ahora irrumpen en escena fotógrafos

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aficionados que cuelgan sus fotos en la red. Como señala el autor publicitario Ezequiel

Triviños “esta pléyade de nuevos agentes está multiplicando exponencialmente la oferta

y pulverizando los precios. En iStockphoto.com se pueden licenciar imágenes de

excelente calidad entre un dólar y cuarenta la pieza” (Treviño, 2006, p. 24). Por otro

lado, en producción audiovisual también encontramos televisiones que empiezan a

nutrirse de páginas de UGC (contenido generado por usuarios) como Youtube o iFilm.

La televisiones licencian el contenido y lo emiten por un precio mucho más bajo que el

de la producción propia. Así encontramos ejemplos como el del canal estadounidense

Current TV, en la que el 30% de la programación viene dada por este tipo de contenidos

(íbidem).

Ante ello, el ámbito publicitario está comenzando a responder ya que se encuentra ante

sí un nuevo modelo mucho más económico, que rompe con la estructura clásica y en

crisis de la agencia de publicidad y que, sin duda, abre una puerta a pequeños y

medianos anunciantes para hacer publicidad en el medio televisivo. Sin embargo, el

modelo y sus diferentes variantes chocan con los planteamientos publicitarios por los

que el sector publicitario lleva décadas combatiendo.

Results (Resultados)

A continuación se exponen los diversos resultados obtenidos a partir de la labor

realizada:

Applications (Aplicaciones)

Si atendemos a la información aportada por las personas realizadas y la labor de

revisión realizada nos encontramos con que, si nos referimos a estudiantes, los

conceptos de ‘nivel 0’, ‘Tercer nivel’, ‘Segundo nivel’ y ‘Primer nivel’ cada vez son

más conocidos, dominados y entendidos a nivel de un lenguaje más. Sin embargo,

cuando nos referimos a profesionales, aquéllos que superan los 40-45 años de edad la

mayor parte de ellos conocen la existencia de estos términos pero no dominan el

lenguaje de las aplicaciones como un lenguaje aprendido más.

Competences (Competencias)

A nivel de competencias nos encontramos que, igual que en el caso anterior, a medida

que el nivel de edad aumenta, los conceptos de colaboración, actuación global, apertura,

interacción, etc. disminuyen. Aunque, también es cierto, esto no se da en la totalidad de

la muestra entrevistada.

User generated content

Un elevado número de las personas entrevistadas parte de que el concepto de User

Generated Content aporta más que resta. No obstante, al igual que en los epígrafes y

estudios anteriores, conforme la edad del entrevistado es menor, el grado de opinión

positiva acerca de que sea el usuario el que genere los contenidos aumenta.

Discussion and conclusions (Discusión y conclusiones)

90

En función de los resultados y a la luz de los datos obtenidos podemos afirmar que la

tecnología que avanza aporta y añade aspectos más positivos que negativos. Asimismo,

no sólo aporta sino que, además, nos encontramos ante una nueva manera de

enfrentarnos a la realidad mediática. Este debate, que parte de la interactividad, nos

lleva a un contexto donde los términos ‘colaborativo’, ‘solidaridad’ y ‘compartir’ se

hacen más que patentes en el desarrollo de los quehaceres y labores del profesional de la

publicidad, de las relaciones públicas y, por ende, de la comunicación.

Por otra parte, los nuevos profesionales tienen que poseer necesariamente un carácter

multidisciplinar y claramente hipertextual para poder trabajar en esos equipos mixtos.

Que la filosofía 2.0 se instale totalmente e incluso que se incremente con tecnologías 3.0

y superiores es cuestión de tiempo. Cuanto más tiempo tarde el profesional en adaptarse

a este nuevo panorama, más tardará en aprehender las reglas del juego y, consecuencia

de ello, más ralentizado irá el progreso del desempeño del trabajo. Así, desde esta óptica

abogamos por una adaptación al novedoso mapa que se nos traza incitando al sector a

una conciliación con esta perspectiva mediática 2.0 que, todavía, casi podemos

considerar como novel.

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Acknowledgments

Dear colleagues,

It began 30 hours ago and it has been both intense and intensive. Let me give you some

figures:

 3 plenary sessions, with 21 keynote speakers

 15 regular sessions in three parallel streams, one of them mostly in Spanish

 51 papers presented

 102 registered people from 25 countries on five continents

Definitively much more than expected. However it is not quantity but quality that

allows us to say this Conference has been truly successful.

That’s the reason I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all who have contributed to

the quality, and therefore to the success, of Barcelona Meeting COM: International PR

2011 Conference.

First of all, to the directors of Communication departments of Pompeu Fabra

University, Miquel Rodrigo, and the Open University of Catalonia, Lluís Pastor. If this

Conference were a ship, they would be the shipowners. Neither of them is in the field of

public relations, but they trusted us when we told them that this Conference would be a

very significant milestone in our discipline and that the most relevant experts in the

subject would be here. By the way, thank you Bob [Heath] for not making me out to be

a liar.

I want to thank our wonderful volunteers as well: Adrià, Clara, Kate and Laura. All of

them are students in a subject of mine, Public Relations Strategies, and last week they

did the final exam. Let me tell them one think: girls, guy, your exams are good enough

but... I am sure today you know much more about strategic public relations than two

days ago. Don’t worry: me too. Probably all of us. These days your work has met the

highest professional standards: congratulations and thank you very much. If this

Conference were a ship, you would not be cabin boys: you would be young officers.

I would like to thank all the people from Open University of Catalonia involved in the

Conference: particularly to Montse [Atienza], Cuki [Armora], Sandra [M. Salvans],

Roser [Nadal], Toni [Ponce] and Patricia [Pérez]. Thank you for working beyond the

call of duty. It is said that, to make fried eggs with bacon, a hen helps but the pig gets

involved. Thank you for not being hens on board.

There are no words to express my deepest gratitude to my colleague Elisenda Estanyol,

lecturer in my department also at the Open University. Well, perhaps actually there are

words but I don’t know them in English so let me say just one thing and, please, believe

me because it is absolutely true: without her expertise, hard work and dedication, this

Conference would not have been possible. Thank you, Elisenda. If this Conference were

a ship, you would be the helmswoman.

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Let me thank these two guys I have around me as well. You know them well: Jordi

[Xifra] and David [McKie]. Seriously, gentlemen, it has been a pleasure, an honour and

a constant source of learning to be aboard with you. If this Conference were a ship, you

would be admirals.

And above all, thank you all so much for being here: keynote speakers, speakers,

attendees, guests, media professionals. If this Conference were a ship, you have turned

it into a flagship. Thanks.

Ferran Lalueza (closing speech, 29 June 2011)

Effective media-monitoring reports: Framing, measurement and evaluation

Abstract

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