We thrive on niche industries and buzzwords. We’re so used to what’s always been that we’re slow to get to what’s yet to come. We want change and we say we’re keen to embrace it, but where’s the impetus?
There are a lot of discussions doing the rounds at the minute about what certain industries are in today’s business world.
People are questioning what PR stands for – some say it’s people relations, while others say we shouldn’t be calling it public relations any more.
Marketers are trying to decide if they’re still marketers, social marketers, social media marketers, a little bit of everything or none of the above.
Traditional media is looking for a new home. With the gathering crowd discussing how long print media has left in its current form and where the print traditionalists will go for work, names are being conjured up to describe this new workplace. New media doesn’t do it; that was so last century, seemingly.
But you know what? It’s just a name. Who’s to say it has to be the same name for everyone?
If you view PR as People Relations, Personal Recommendation or any other acronym, use it. If you want to be a social media marketer, a social marketer in media or any combination, is there any mix that’s more relevant than the other?
If it works for you and your clients, that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Covering a complete industry in one or two words seems a little archaic. Can you really say what PR entails? Or combine the different kinds of marketing in just one sentence?
One of the most popular food companies in the world has the right idea. Food company Heinz proudly states it takes 57 varieties of products to make the company what it is today. Not one size fits all; not one bean or sauce to cover the whole bean or sauce industry.
Maybe it’s time we took the Heinz approach for what we do, and recognize the micro-industries underneath the industry umbrellas. What do you think?
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Industries are often pigeonholed by one word descriptions. PR; marketing; advertising; manufacturing. But what about all the micro-industries underneath?
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Industries are often pigeonholed by one word descriptions. PR; marketing; advertising; manufacturing. But what about all the micro-industries underneath?
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The irony of your singular approach to Heinz is past practice proves the company continues to reinvent itself.
About seven years ago, Heinz unveiled half a dozen non-red colors of ketchup, aimed at kids. I found this USA Today story from 2003 that helps explain the campaign. In a nutshell, the company, in an effort to increase sales, ingeniously asked kids to define everything from the taste to the packaging to the color. In that sense, the campaign was a crowdsourcing success. But looking back, the campaigjn was short-lived and nobody can find the colored varieties anymore.
Sometimes, ketchup is what everyone agrees on. Ditto for PR, whatever that means.
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Another way to look at that is that ketchup didn’t cover all the bases with just one bottle or flavour – hence the different coloured bottles. Of course, kids don’t buy the product, their parents do – perhaps the wrong focus group was targeted?
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Twitter: ariherzog
The irony of your singular approach to Heinz is past practice proves the company continues to reinvent itself.
About seven years ago, Heinz unveiled half a dozen non-red colors of ketchup, aimed at kids. I found this USA Today story from 2003 that helps explain the campaign. In a nutshell, the company, in an effort to increase sales, ingeniously asked kids to define everything from the taste to the packaging to the color. In that sense, the campaign was a crowdsourcing success. But looking back, the campaigjn was short-lived and nobody can find the colored varieties anymore.
Sometimes, ketchup is what everyone agrees on. Ditto for PR, whatever that means.
Another way to look at that is that ketchup didn’t cover all the bases with just one bottle or flavour – hence the different coloured bottles. Of course, kids don’t buy the product, their parents do – perhaps the wrong focus group was targeted?