A Century Later, Still Defining PR
May 17, 2011, 10:30am posted by Matthew Panichas
Recently, Paul Holmes penned a blog post discussing the ambiguity surrounding the definition of public relations. The post examined the need for a 21st century definition of PR. He argued, in my view, correctly, that PR “is the process of building, nurturing and leveraging relationships with a wide range of publics.” But it also struck me as odd that he had to write this post at all. For a field approaching the century mark (if you count forward from World War I and the rise of Edward Bernays), many professionals—even those somewhat familiar with our field—still seem to mistake the purposes, advantages and functions of PR as compared to advertising and, more broadly, marketing.