Blog 13: Virtual PR Agencies

Posted on October 6, 2009 by schipp.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Building off of my last post, I decided to search for companies concerned primarily with using the internet and other digital technology for public relations. Guth and Marsh (2007) call companies that do this virtual public relations agencies. For example, companies such as Kansas City’s INK Inc. use the new technologies of the Digital Age to create strategies and tactics for its clients, but also to promote itself through online distribution of informative materials (http://www.inkincpr.com/). INK Inc. is a credible company that is cutting edge because of its reliance and effective use of digital technology for public relations.

Bisbee and Comapny is another credible virtual public relations agency, however, it focuses more specifically on the use of social media for its clients’ public relations strategies and tactics (http://www.bisbeeandco.com/index.html). On Bisbee and Company’s web site and under their services tab is more specific information on what the company does with social media. In addition, there is a nice play on words on their home page where it says the company is “providing PR services virtually anywhere.” While this is a nice play on words, there is also a lot of truth to that statement. Virtual public relations agencies have the ability to connect with anyone in a way that I personally think gives them a “leg up” from other more traditional public relations firms.

A great example of Bisbee and Company’s work as a virtual public relations agency is it’s relationship with .Com Marketing, which hired Bisbee and Company to promote the budding company in 1997. Today Bisbee and Company’s public relations strategies and tactics have paid off,  .Com Marketing is considered one of the top 100 interactive marketing and online advertising agencies according to AdvertisingAge (http://www.commarketing.com/). This relationship with Bisbee and Company and .Com Marketing is also an example of how public relations, advertising, and marketing are similar, can work effortlessly together, but are still different realms of business and communication.

From downloadable brochures to online newsletters to online interactive media, the options seem limitless for the Digital Age. The public relations agencies that will last the longest are the ones who will cease the opportunities the digital technology offers. In my opinion the bigguest opportunity is to be able to reach people on a global level, which not long ago was not a possibility.

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Blog 12: Chapter Eleven

Posted on by schipp.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Chapter Eleven discusses the effect of the Digital Age on Public Relations, a topic I was interested to read seeing as my previous blogs have touched on this. There is no doubt the Digital Age offers many changes and advantages for the public relations industry, but I was particularly interested with what I read about hypermedia. According to Guth and Marsh (2007) hypermedia is “integrated multimedia incorporating digital audio, visual, and text information,” and it can be seen on web sites today (p.355).

I decided to check out CNN’s web site that Guth and Marsh referred to and I found a great example of interactive hypermedia at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/index.html. This web page of CNN shows how they used the internet to publicize a news special they were doing in 2008 entitled Black in America. The whole page is very interactive and features tabs three tabs at the top, several links to related news stories (many with video footage, too!), a poll, and now footage from the show. All the different features allows CNN to reach many different types of consumers/viewers, while also publicizing their special to the vast number of internet users.

After finding CNN’s interactive web page, I decided to search the web for an example of hypermedia based more on the entertainment realm of the media and less on news media. With a little searching, I found out that Disney has a large division, the Disney Interactive Media Group, that focuses on creating and promoting its interactive, informative, and entertaining media (http://corporate.disney.go.com/wdig/). The division’s web page features information about what they do, links to press releases, Disney online, advertising information, and so much more.I can only imagine how many people must be involved in this division of Disney because Disney is a huge conglomeration, meaning it must oversee so many companies.However, after viewing the web site, it seems the Disney Interactive Media Group is well organized and quite tactful, which I am sure relates to why Disney is such a strong and powerful conglomeration.

The Disney Interactive Media Group and CNN’s web page on Black in America are great examples of how hypermedia and PR are implemented with the internet. I am sure Walt Disney himself had no idea the possibilities and opportunities his company would face in the Digital Age. It is amazing to see how companies shift with technology, and specifically how they use hypermedia to attract audiences and promote their work.

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