Public Relations’ Milestone
By Editor on Nov 4, 2006 in industry
On 30th October 2006, we have possibly passed a milestone in public relations. The press release turned the century. It is believed that Ivy Lee, who is also considered to be the father of modern public relations, created the first press release for his client, the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was following an accident on October 28, 1906, in which 50 people lost their lives when a three-car train met with an accident at Atlantic City. Lee convinced his clients to distribute a public statement on the accident and even take the journos on the accident site through a special train. The New York Times is believed to have commended this approach of openness and published this press release, verbatim, in their 30th October 1906 issue with the header, ‘Statement from the Road’.
Trust and honesty indeed is the hallmark of public relations; as someone has rightly said that truth is not a substitute for public relations. And that is the truth that all of us in the profession must appreciate and practise.
(Contributed by CJ Singh)
Also check out- The 100th birthday of the Press Release
Technorati tags: PR, Public Relations, India, India PR,
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On Nov 4, 2006, hobbit said:
I wonder if we can create a nice history draft of the PR industry in India. Well, we know some of those in the textbooks and that Good Relations was perhaps the first PR agency in India if I’m not wrong. Then what happened after Perfect Relations and IPAN getting establshed? How was the PR practice in the 80s? Can we compare it with now? Might be interesting.
On Nov 4, 2006, prpoint said:
It is a good idea, to document the developments of PR industry in India.
Please also check up with Melcole. I think they are the first Indian PR agency in India. Somebody from Melcole can clarify.
If I remember, Late Mr R K Swamy (Founder of R K Swamy and Co) has advised State Bank of India in 1976 on various PR aspects. You can read his speech in one one of my forums in 1990s. http://www.prpoint.com/rkswamy.html
On Nov 4, 2006, CJ said:
CorePR came into being on 13th September 1987, the first one north of Delhi at that time. Everyone raised eyebrows the moment I left my PR job with a German company, and many friends asked “What will you be doing exactly?” But that was the greatest challenge and our pitch usually centered on educating the managements as to what PR can do for them. The journalists scoffed at the word PR and to top it all there was this PR Consultancy in Chandigarh.
Another big challenge was to make journalists accept press releases from a private PR firm, which, at least in this part of the country, very few had an exposure to the PR practice. Only hard copy of the release was accepted that too signed by the client. First six months, and everyone appeared to be sure that we are going to stay.
Another challenge was that the city was still growing and there were handful of newspapers in the region, and every one who mattered in the city knew some or the other journalist, and thus engaging an agency for media relations was considered unnecessary.
And the major hurdles in corporate decision making for engaging a PR agency were the accounts manager, who did not see any tangible benefit in PR activities.
Well, these are some of the several challenges that we faced, and I am sure, many of the other agencies must have many more such interesting experiences to share.