Other firms' suffering has bolstered the public relations business

The past year or two has tested the idea that all publicity is good publicity, at least when it comes to business. Unde­served bonuses, plunging share prices and government bail-outs, among other ills, have elicited the ire of the media and pub­lic – and created a bonanza for public-rela­tions firms. The recession has increased corporate demand for PR, analysts say, and enhanced the industry's status. "We used to be the tail of the dog," says Richard Edelman, the boss of Edelman, the world's big­gest independent PR firm. But now, he con­tinues, PR is "the organising principle" behind many business decisions.

According to the data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private-equity firm, spending on public relations in America grew by more than 4% in 2008 and nearly 3% in 2009 to $3.7 billion. That is remark­able when compared with other forms of marketing. Spending on advertising con­tracted by nearly 3% in 2008 and by 8% in the past year, PR's position looks even rosi­er when word-of-mouth marketing, which includes services that PR firms often man­age, such as outreach to bloggers, is includ­ed. Spending on such things increased by more than 10% in 2009.

Not all PR firms did as well as IPREX, a global consortium whose revenues increased by 14% last year. Many had to shed jobs, and some estimates show the industry's overall revenues declining, although not nearly as sharply as those of most of the businesses it serves. According to a sur­vey by StevensGouldPincus, a consulting firm for the communications industry, nearly 64% of participating firms saw rev­enues slide in 2009 and only 23% saw revenues increase, perhaps because business­es put their faith only in the biggest and most established firms.

PR has done well in part because it is of­ten cheaper than mass advertising campaigns. Its impact, in the form of favour­able coverage in the media or online, can also be more easily measured. Moreover, PR firms are beginning to encroach on ter­ritory that used to be the domain of advertising firms, a sign of their increasing clout. They used chiefly to pitch story ideas to media outlets and try to get their clients mentioned in newspapers. Now they also dream up and orchestrate live events, web launches and the like. "When you look at advertising versus public relations, it's not going to be those clearly defined silos," says Christopher Graves, the boss of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. "It may be indistinguishable at some point where one ends and the other begins."

PR has also benefited from the changing media landscape. The withering of many traditional media outlets has left fewer journalists from fewer firms covering business. That makes PR doubly im­portant, both for attracting journalists' at­tention, and for helping firms bypass old routes altogether and disseminate news by posting press releases on their websites, for example.

The rise of the internet and social me­dia has given PR a big boost. Many big firms have a presence on social-network­ing sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, overseen by PR staff, PR firms are increas­ingly called on to track what consumers are saying about their clients online and to respond directly to any negative commen­tary.

(“The Economist”, January 16^th 2010, page 7)

Exercise 5. Comprehension check. Read the statements and decide if they are true (T) or false (F):

1. The recession has decreased corporate demand for PR.

2. Many PR firms had to shed jobs.

3. PR has done well in part because it is of­ten cheaper than mass advertising cam­paigns.

4. Public relations and advertising may be quite distinguishable.

5. The rise of the internet and social me­dia has given PR a big boost.

Exercise 6. Study the text on the problems of PR (Exercise 4) and find the adequate English translation of the following words and phrases:

1) вызвать (добиться), 2) раздражение (ярость), 3) устный, 4) экономический спад, 5) усилить (улучшить), 6) сокращаться, 7) стремительно падающий курс акций 8) простираться, 9) терять, 10) соскальзывать (идти вниз), 11) влияние, 12) сфера (владения), 13) выдумывать (сочинять), 14) неразличимый, 15) извлекать пользу из чего-либо, 16) увядающий, 17) идти обходным путем (обходить), 18) призывать (обращаться).

Listening

Exercise 7. Listen to the second part of the report on the problem of Public Relations and answer the questions (“The Economist”, January 16^th 2010):

1)What is the best indication of PR’s growing importance?

2) What did America’s Federal Trade Commission require from the bloggers?

Exercise 8. Match the words and phrases with their definitions:

1. to gauge	to speed up
2. to fall foul of	to concentrate on
3. cheerleading	a legislator
4. to hamper	supporting
5. to be focused on	to prevent, to hinder
6. a regulator	a person with the most important position in the company
7. to accelerate	steady development
8. to surpass	to measure, to assess
9. in perpetuity	to quarrel
10. a chief executive	to exceed
11. sustainability	forever

Exercise 9. Listen to the report for the second time and fill in the gaps using the phrases from exercise 8.

A PR firm called Ketchum helped IBM start a blog about _____________________, complete with posts written by the technology firm's ex­ecutives. It also created cartoons on the subject that it uploaded to YouTube. Edel­man recently worked with eBay on the launch of a web-only magazine, "The In­side Story", which provides articles on shopping and tells readers what is selling well on the online retail giant's website.

VSS forecasts that spending on PR in America will _____________ $8 billion by 2013, with much of the growth coming from on­line projects such as these. According to Miles Nadal, chief executive of MDC Part­ners, a media holding company, invest­ment in digital pr accelerated during the recession “and will go forward in __________” because clients became more focused on measuring the impact of their efforts. The internet offers various yardsticks, from traffic to cheerleading websites to num­bers of Facebook fans, whereas the num­ber of people who see a conventional ad­vertisement is much harder to _____________.

Perhaps the best indication of PR's growing importance is the attention it is at­tracting from ____________. They are worried that PR firms do not make it clear enough that they are behind much seemingly inde­pendent commentary on blogs and social networks. In October America's Federal Trade Commission published new guide­lines for bloggers, requiring them to _____________ whether they had been paid by com­panies or received free merchandise. Further regulation is likely. But that will not ___________ PR's growth, says Jim Rutherfurd of VSS. After all, companies that fall foul of the rules will need the help of a PR firm.

Exercise 10. Translate the following sentences into English using the target vocabulary (Exercises 3, 6, 8):

1. Внимание исследователей было приковано к тем информационным агентствам, которые были не в ладах с законом и не выполняли требования регулирующих органов.

2. Мы не пойдем обходным путем и не будем выдумывать оправданий, потому что не хотим вызвать ярость нашего исполнительного директора.

3. Вашей задачей будет распространять новости о стремительно падающем курсе акций.

4. На собрании директор призвал наш отдел усилить работу по связям с общественностью в надежде, что это даст мощный толчок к развитию позитивного образа компании в СМИ.

5. Результатом экономического спада явилось сокращение общих доходов как крупных, так и мелких компаний.

Exercise 11. Paraphrase the following sentences using the target vocabulary (Exercises 3, 6, 8):

1. We are scared that economic decline will last forever.

2. It’s hard to measure unobservable features of the process of sleeping.

3. We promise to take steps to prevent our competitors’ firm from regaining steady development.

4. Salesmen were determined to take advantage of increased sales rates.

Speaking

Exercise 12. Work in pairs. Make a list of possible laws that you would like to introduce in your country in regard to PR agencies activity using your target vocabulary (Exercises 3, 6, 8). Present your ideas to the class. Compare your results with other students’ ideas.

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