Campaigns that Shook the World summary

As you flip through a magazine in a doctor’s waiting room, you might notice a QR code placed in an ad inviting you to visit a website. A separate article might tout the latest online videos or tweets from politicians and celebrities alike.

Forms of media once separate now mix and blend in a large melting pot of multimedia communications. Paid advertising mingles with editorial content, while social media messaging has broken down all boundaries. The name for this phenomenon is converged media.

So in the wake of such revolutionary changes, what is the state of public relations today?

PR is certainly not irrelevant, as it still can expand the reach of a brand campaign for little cost. A single, well-placed news article can bring your brand message to a town, nation or even worldwide. What’s more, such placement is practically free.

Before you begin to prepare your project, you need to understand the two fundamental elements of any successful public relations campaign: authenticity and strategy.

Authenticity is a must-have in any winning campaign. Presenting your product or personality authentically trumps by a longshot any meticulously molded but essentially artificial image.

The strongest tool for any modern campaign is the intelligent use of digital media.

Some tools allow direct communication between companies or personalities and a target audience, while others create millions of word-of-mouth advertisers ready to spread your message among their fans and followers.

Iconic brands such as athletic gear maker Nike and drinks giant Pepsi didn’t make it to the top alone. These companies have basketball great Michael Jordan and pop legend Britney Spears to thank for boosting their brand internationally.

Celebrity endorsements offer an effective way to supercharge your brand. But such endorsements are more than just a lucrative PR opportunity or extra revenue for Hollywood stars.

As new technologies continue to shape the art of communication, so too do new audience members. Today’s young people, for example, are highly conscious of how and why they buy.

Inspired by today’s conscious consumption trends, younger people buy from brands that don’t just have appealing marketing but also demonstrate social, environmental and ethical value.

In earlier decades, all a company had to do to turn someone into a customer was come up with a great marketing campaign and watch as people walked right into the trap.

This is no longer the case. While brand marketing is still important, customers today are some of the most effective brand ambassadors.