There is a longstanding belief that the War of the Roses exists between the media and PR people. I say those days are gone, so let’s put that totally behind us! I have sat on both sides of the fence and all those jokes about the ‘dark side’, ‘selling your soul to the devil’ etc are so old school that anyone who says them appears uneducated and living in the dark ages. The role of the journalist and the PR professional go hand in hand, like a wetsuit and a surfboard – they both serve their purpose and assist each other in the end outcome.
So at the risk of being controversial… where the war really exists is between internal PR people and the PR agency. In an agency we see it every day unfortunately; in-house PR people who don’t like that an agency have been brought in to be the ‘creative ones’ and they are set to show us who is boss – a short lived power trip that doesn’t assist anyone, least of all the client, and only makes them look unprofessional. The reality is the role of in-house and agency are both incredibly important and achieve completely different things.
As an agency there is no way we can be across every internal step of the company and as an in-house person there is usually no way you can achieve what an agency can due to our size and depth of experience. But when we work together and both use our unique points of difference you strike gold.
Fantastic in-house people are usually meticulous with detail, planned, measured, have sensational systems and know the sensitivities of the brand inside out. Some of the best PR operators I have meet are amazing national in-house PR/marketing managers, whose detail and systems I will always admire – these are not the people I am referring to. The opposite end of the spectrum is the Gen Y junior marketing assistant, who with two years experience thinks she should really be the state marketing manager and sets out to make the agency’s job a challenge to achieve, just to prove who is really boss. If only they understood the difference in our roles and worked to the betterment of the brand.
Agencies are amazing at bringing in the sparkle, extensive media contacts and thinking outside the square because we aren’t hemmed in by what the brand can or can’t do. We come in big and need the in-house gems to bring us back down to what is achievable for the brand. An agency’s job is to present every opportunity and ensure we can get our foot in the door where others can’t. You don’t win a football game with just the prop, you need the whole team, the muscle to ensure you are competing and winning. And that is what we are, we are the team, we are the muscle. Yeah sometimes we get a bit crazy with ideas and you need to settle us down, but when we work together it really is where the magic is made.
Do brands need both roles? Absolutely for all the reasons listed above and for all the different things we bring to the table. We are almost different specimens.
I know this blog may spark some conversations, so please, by no stretch think I am not giving credit to in-house professionals, as many of them make our life so much easier and I have some amazingly talented associates who I now call my friends who are these people. But it does exist, the movement of undercurrent negativity between the two camps that needs to be eliminated in our industry in order for our clients to really benefit from both our skills. So for those ‘negative Nancys’, listen up and change your ways!
Just like the old battle ground between the media and public relations people that has been put to bed years ago, let’s put down the hatchets PR professionals and work together to achieve success.
