Do companies really control their own brand image?

Indeed Kanye West’s outburst at the VMAs affected those watching at the time, but little did Kanye realize that this moment in his career would be relived over and over again by audiences worldwide. Within minutes social networks and YouTube had already broadcast the news to millions.

With the click of a mouse Kanye’s image was instantly ruined. Despite Kanye’s popularity, his efforts to clean up his own mess were unsuccessful. The power of media and new communications tools such as YouTube and twitter make stopping the spread of the controversy impossible, and Kanye is not the only one that has suffered the consequences. 

What about the two Dominos employees that posted a YouTube video of them contaminating food? Whether the video was a joke or not, it instantly made consumers everywhere question Dominos’ credibility. Companies spend billions on advertising, marketing and public relations all in hopes of managing their brand image. However in a society saturated with new communication tools, companies are losing sight of their control. If companies think they own their own brand image in today's society they are wrong. Bloggers, vloggers, and tweeters everywhere hold as much sway over their brand as they do. Public Relations specialists beware, social media tools are affecting brand images everywhere.

Katie Barta
University of Minnesota
Jour 3279
Blog Assignment

When to writing it comes, like jedis, are we. Yes, hmmm.

Writing isn’t for everybody. To some, it’s a bothersome task while to others; it’s a must for everyday life. For public relations people, it’s necessary to know how to write. We have to do it every day in our line of work, and we have to do it well. We are like jedis.

I don’t use this analogy in the sense that we have the ability to pull mind tricks on the public. We are no better at wielding light sabers than any other person and we don’t speak in a weird backward to forward way like Yoda does.

Jedis are some of the greatest warriors in the galaxy. There are the evil villains who occasionally kill a good guy, but we tend to put them in the back of our minds. As professionals in the PR business, we have to be great at writing. We use our writing skills to craft pitches to the media, to write and edit blogs, or to figure out how to make our awesome Twitter status fit in fewer than 140 characters. We are faced with tough tasks such as these every day and we need to be prepared to do battle with them.

It’s important to have the right skills for the job. Some writers may be great at writing to the media. They can put together news releases, their work is clear and concise and they are easily understood by everyone. Other writers may struggle with the news release part of the job, but succeed in other areas; like blogging.

Lots of public relations is communicated via blogs these days. It’s a completely different style of writing, although it is still a very effective method of communication. Blogs and social networking sites provide a different platform for written communication for PR professionals these days.

Writing for blogs gives the author some wiggle room. Their writing can be loose, it can sound spoken, and there might be some slang included. The guidelines aren’t as rigid or as clear cut when writing for a blog. A blog that I like is Pop! PR (www.pop-pr.blogspot.com). It’s written out of California by Jeremy Pepper. I think that he presents a lot of good ideas on different topics involved in PR.

As jedis, we must constantly be honing our skills. Practicing writing every day isn’t a bad idea. It may seem time consuming, but it’ll certainly pay off in the end. Blogs are free, so don’t be afraid to consider starting one for yourself and it may turn into a paying career. That is if you can find something to talk about on a day-to-day basis, and do it well. Oh, and if someone tells you they sense much fear in you, you just may be Darth Vader someday.