Praisers Get Praise
The leading lights of the praisery biz whooped it up Thursday night to honor great work in the darkest of media arts.
Under a frigid, but well-lit tent at Gotham's Tavern on the Green, the industry trade PR Week handed out awards for the year's best work, the PR-man's Oscars, if you will.
“I think all of us would rather be at the Oscars getting an award,” said the dean of the group, Richard Edelman, prexy/CEO of the eponymous PR monolith. “But we’ve gone so far beyond being flacks and hacks—some of this is really important.”
Given annually, the awards honor many an aspiring Edward Bernays, like Raymond Buse III, who took the coveted "PR Professional of the Year" for his 15-year effort to promote Cincinati “as a dynamic, progressive, and vibrant place to both live in and visit.”
I’m calling my travel agent.
The irony of the awards is that the best PR, of course, is never acknowledged as such. But there were those who used their persuasive powers for good, and want to get credit for it.
Take Fleischman-Hillard’s campaign to stop a syphilis outbreak in Kansas City. That’s “syPHILis” and “Did you take Phil home last night?” NewsMarket took “Best Use of Broadcast” for its campaign to promote George Clooney’s work in Sudan’s Darfur region. I wonder, did the broadcasters who were “used” get an award?
“More money is moving from advertising into PR,” said Edelman, before running out of the big tent. “The dispersion of media means PR is more important. There is a general distrust of institutions; things that are peer to peer conversations are more valuable than ever.”
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