5/7/13 – Explaining the unexplainable to the uninformed

"So,...What is PR, anyway?"

We're asked this question a lot, and for good reason, since there's no easy answer.

We know what PR is NOT. It's NOT advertising -- paying to get your widget/soup/pizza into a magazine, reviewed on a website, or mentioned on a morning news program.

PR is everything BUT advertising. It's creating a photo op that makes the evening news...It's convincing a food editor to include a review of kids snack in her next issue...It's pitching a TV segment on the latest in low sodium products and -- surprise! -- you happen to have a product that fits the bill.

Our definition of PR? Well, we like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said back in the 60's, when asked if a film was hardcore pornography. He confessed he could not easily define what was or was not obscene, "but I know it when I see it."

And, like porn, PR just may be in the eye of the beholder. And let's leave it at that, shall we?