Rules of Engagement Have Changed," Say Panelists At Los Angeles Workshop PRSA-LA State Of The Industry" Part II Corporate Perspective"

Public Relations Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter sponsor a evening event on the PR industry from the corporate view.

(PRWEB) March 6, 2004--Reporters dont have an agenda," says Los Angeles Times PA Vice President

One of concerns that surprise me all of the time is that people actually believe that we have an agenda," said Gisselle Acevedo-Franco, public affairs vice president, LA Times and president of the Los Angeles Times Foundation. Acevedo- Franco was among four panelists at the PRSA-LA sponsored 2004 State of the State of PR: Part II The Corporate Perspective," held recently at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.

For the most part believe it or not, some of these reporters that are out there really dont have an agenda. They can read through you, and when youre trying to put a PR number on them, they know it," explained Acevedo-Franco.

Acevedo-Franco, who directed corporate communications at AT&T and the Metropolitan Transit Authority invited PR Pros to a May 2004 symposium with about 10-15 reporters. I invite you to come and spend time with them. Ask them how they get their story, what is it that motivates them, how are they getting some of their information, because youll find out that theyre motivated by truth, they feel like theyre ambassadors and they have to tell the story. So the information they get and how they get it becomes absolutely critical to them."

Rules of Engagement have changed:

Its not just about what kind of PR skills or expertise"

At Bank of America we're looking for diversity, not just ethnic diversity," said Senior Vice President Rosabel Tao, Corporate Communications, Bank of America, Los Angeles. Were looking for diversity in terms of the integrated marketing mix. We have dramatically changed the way we look at an agency now. Its not just about what kind of PR skills or expertise you bring to the table. We also look for what kind of integrated marketing campaigns can you provide with direct mail, advertising, event management, multicultural, public affairs to online."

Tao oversees and directors PR activities that include media relations, executive communications, issues management, internal communications and special events. She joined Bank of America in Spring 2002 with more than 14 years of broad experience in reputation management, corporate communications, high-tech, public affairs, crisis communications, employee communications and community relations. Previously, Tao worked with Weber Shandwick Worldwide in Seattle, WA.

What we look for now in every single campaign that we do, we need to consider every single channel we can reach our target audience with. All agencies we work with bring the ability to partner with sister agencies with a full variety of companies. We do a lot of business with IPG for example, which is a holding company that brings a whole host of different kinds of agencies that we do work with all of them in some capacity," explained Tao.

Were looking for folks who can execute flawlessly," says Singapore Airlines

As a foreign company that operates in the United States, our challenge in terms of diversity when it comes to agency is completely the reverse," said James Boyd, director of public relations, North America for Singapore Airlines. Our challenge is communicating with the mainstream audience. It is really a focus on the basics. In the past a lot focus has been on marketing strategy and the big picture. Because the company (SingaporeAirlines) is so small we actually are looking to outsource the work that were doing. Were looking for a virtual staff. Im looking for folks who are absolute expert tacticians. Were not looking for strategy, because it comes from the head and regional offices. Were looking for folks who can execute flawlessly."

Prior to joining Singapore airlines, Boyd served as regional director of public relations for Air New Zealand, responsible for the airlines media relations and crisis communications activities in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

We have the capacity to fly 500,000 Americans every year from the U.S. to a destination," said Boyd. American Airlines will fly that many people in two-and-a-half days. So in terms of the actual size of the business were quite small. The public relations challenges lies in the fact that Americans dont necessarily want to be purchasing a small company when their buying international travel. They want all of the comfort and assurance that comes from a big image. So the challenge is then how to we take a small company and attach ourselves to really broad issues and speak to them to make it seem we much larger than we are?"

Crisis communications involves good planning and communicating to employees first"

During a crisis situation when youre running around it requires good planning, good preparation, and making sure you tell your employees at least at the same time if not first, then we tell our dealers," said Simon Sproule, vice president, Corporate Communications, Nissan North America, Inc. The media will be there on queue, you need to communicate with your employees, because they will be your best ambassadors." Sproule is responsible for the design and implantation of corporation communications strategies, community outreach, product introductions and international communications in North American.

He joined Nissan from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover North America, where he served as their chief communications officer in North America. Most recently, Simon was the vice president of communications and corporate affairs for Jaguar from January 2000 to August 2001.

Trust and credibility are the critical key characteristics for PR

Integrity and results are the two main ingredients we look for in a PR agency, and there is no gray matter in between," said Gissellee Acevedo-Franco, public affairs vice president, LA Times and president of the Los Angeles Times Foundation. Integrity in the sense that if youve got a crisis it has to be someone who really understands how to manage that. Recently the LA Times has a huge issue with embezzlement while trying to raise money for 9-11.

"A temporary worker allegedly was caught trying to collect cash donations when a donor spotted several typographical errors. We knew instantly we had to write a letter to 1.6 subscribers to tell them about the problem and how we were going to fix it. The best advice that I got from a PR firm was get out there, tell your story, deal with it with integrity, be honest and dont let it linger. We had to put all of our crisis communications issues in order, we had staff working 24/7 and we did what we need to do, but we had to save our integrity," she said.

"The best advice I got was put it out there, let people know, take responsibility and move on," said Acevedo-Franco. "That level of integrity is what produced results. People were terrified at the LA Times that we about to move into a 50-year old summer campaign and that it would impact the results. We actually doubled our profits for that summer. Someone said to me it is going to have a negative impact for you, having integrity and having a PR firm tell us to be honest about it and get up front is what shifted that entire dynamic."     

George McQuade is vice president of new business and media relations at MAYO Communications (www.MayoCommunications) and writes monthly on PR Tips and the media as the West Coast Bureau Chief for Odywer Publications. If you have an interesting story or trend in the advertising, PR or media industry feel free to contact him at

818.340.5300. For daily news and other stories

on the industr visit MAYO Communications or

www.odwyerpr.com.

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By George McQuade

MAYO Communications

West Coast Bureau Chief

www.Odwyerpr.com