This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
Reflecting on a long overdue read: Trust Me, PR is Dead
Sometimes you gotta just admit you were wrong.
Thank you, Robert Phillips, for writing Trust Me, PR is Dead. It inspired a blog post last year in which I defended the death of PR. I truly believed (and still do) that the type of PR we do could triumph and rise above some of the points he made in the book.
I was wrong.
I finally read the book Tuesday night, and the reviews definitely didn’t do it justice. The book is not just a PR book, it’s a book on the future of business and the economy at large. It touches on some big shit. WAY bigger than PR issues.
I didn’t realize that Phillips is the former Chief Executive and Global Chair of Edelman, the world’s largest PR firm. So it’s not like he’s an outsider looking in. He lived and breathed the work for decades, and produced many big campaigns that I’ve only dreamed about running.
And then he said PR was dead. It’s so hard to believe since there are so many PR (and similar comms agencies) still alive, including ours. B Corporation awards the Best for the World for Marketing, for god’s sake. So if it’s indeed on a dying trend, what shall it evolve into?
I don’t want to spoil it for you. It’s a good read, and it certainly got me questioning about the effects of our actions, no matter how positive our form of PR is. As I said, PR is only reflective of a bigger shift that is happening and that Phillips predicts will happen eventually. It’s what we at Conscious PR are already practicing. The question is, where us PR folks will be during that shift. Will we wither as it dies, or is it best to jump ship now?
Some heavy thoughts, but ones worth considering. Please, buy the book on Kindle. It’s a goodie.
