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本帖{zh1}由 lilywizardry 于 2010-1-20 20:17 编辑
Public relations in the recession
经济衰退中的公共关系
Good news
好消息
Jan 14th 2010 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
Other firms’ suffering has bolstered the public-relations business
其它公司的苦难促进了公共关系业的发展
THE past year or two has tested the idea that all publicity is good publicity, at least when it comes to business. Undeserved bonuses, plunging share prices and government bail-outs, among other ills, have elicited the ire of the media and public—and created a bonanza for public-relations firms. The recession has increased corporate demand for PR, analysts say, and enhanced the industry’s status. “We used to be the tail on the dog,” says Richard Edelman, the boss of Edelman, the world’s biggest independent PR firm. But now, he continues, PR is “the organising principle” behind many business decisions.
过去一两年，“一切宣传都是好宣传”的想法已得到检验，至少在商业上是这样。奖金没了、股价暴跌、政府援助，还有其它种种不幸，使媒体和公众怒火中烧——也为公共关系公司带来财运。分析家称，经济衰退增加了企业对公关的需求，提高了公关业的地位。世界{zd0}的独立公关公司——爱德曼公司——的老板理查德•爱德曼说：“我们过去居于次要地位。”但他继续道，现在公关是许多商业决策背后的“组织原则”。
According to data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private-equity firm, spending on public relations in America grew by more than 4% in 2008 and nearly 3% in 2009 to $3.7 billion. That is remarkable when compared with other forms of marketing. Spending on advertising contracted by nearly 3% in 2008 and by 8% in the past year. PR’s position looks even rosier when word-of-mouth marketing, which includes services that PR firms often manage, such as outreach to bloggers, is included. Spending on such things increased by more than 10% in 2009.
私人股权公司Veronis Suhler Stevenson（VSS）的数据显示，2008年美国境内公共关系支出增幅超过4%，2009年增幅近3%，达到37亿美元。相较于其它营销形式，这种增长非同寻常。2008年广告开支缩水近3%，去年为8%。将口头营销计算在内时，公关业的情况显得更好（口头营销包括了公关公司通常经营的服务，如通过博客作者进行推广）。2009年，这些方面的开支增幅超过10%。
Not all PR firms did as well as IPREX, a global consortium whose revenues increased by 14% last year. Many had to shed jobs, and some estimates show the industry’s overall revenues declining, although not nearly as sharply as those of most of the businesses it serves. According to a survey by StevensGouldPincus, a consulting firm for the communications industry, nearly 64% of participating firms saw revenues slide in 2009 and only 23% saw revenues increase, perhaps because businesses put their faith only in the biggest and most established firms.
并非所有公关公司都能取得全球联合集团IPREX那样的成绩，其去年的收入增幅达14%。许多公司都不得不裁员，而且一些估计数据显示公关业的总收入有所下降，虽然降幅远没公关业服务的大多数行业的降幅那么大。通信行业咨询公司StevensGouldPincus的调查表明，将近64%的参与调查公司2009年收入下滑，只有23%的公司收入增长，这可能是因为这些企业只信任{zd0}的和最稳妥的公司。
PR has done well in part because it is often cheaper than mass advertising campaigns. Its impact, in the form of favourable coverage in the media or online, can also be more easily measured. Moreover, PR firms are beginning to encroach on territory that used to be the domain of advertising firms, a sign of their increasing clout. They used chiefly to pitch story ideas to media outlets and try to get their clients mentioned in newspapers. Now they also dream up and orchestrate live events, web launches and the like. “When you look at advertising versus public relations, it’s not going to be those clearly defined silos,” says Christopher Graves, the boss of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. “It may be indistinguishable at some point where one ends and the other begins.”
公关业表现良好一定程度上是因为公关通常比大型广告活动便宜。公关的影响体现为媒体和网络上的正面作用范围，也比较容易测量。此外，公关公司正开始进军过去属于广告公司的领地，体现了公关公司日益增强的影响力。公关公司过去主要是将构思想法投向各个媒体，试图使他们的客户出现在报纸上。现在他们还谋划、安排现场活动和网络发布等。奥美公共关系国际集团老板克里斯托弗•格拉夫说：“当你比较广告和公关时，这种对比并非泾渭分明。一些时候，在一种活动结束，另一种活动开始之际，可能难以将它们区分开来。”
PR has also benefited from the changing media landscape. The withering of many traditional media outlets has left fewer journalists from fewer firms covering business. That makes PR doubly important, both for attracting journalists’ attention, and for helping firms bypass old routes altogether and disseminate news by posting press releases on their websites, for example.
公关业还受益于媒体格局的变化。许多传统媒体衰落，从业的记者和公司都少了。这种情况使公关具有双重重要性，例如一方面是吸引记者的注意力，另一方面是帮助企业彻底绕过旧有途径、通过在企业网站发布新闻稿传播新闻。
The rise of the internet and social media has given PR a big boost. Many big firms have a presence on social-networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, overseen by PR staff. PR firms are increasingly called on to track what consumers are saying about their clients online and to respond directly to any negative commentary. When two employees of Domino’s, a pizza chain, uploaded a video of themselves apparently sticking ingredients for dishes they were preparing up their noses, the firm responded by posting a video of its own online, of a senior executive apologising for the incident.
互联网及社交媒体的兴起大大促进了公关业的发展。许多大企业出现在脸谱网（Facebook）和Twitter等社交网站上。公关人员负责xx这些网站。客户越来越多地聘请公关公司跟踪网络上消费者对他们的看法，同时由公关公司直接回应任何负面评论。当披萨连锁店达美乐的两位员工上传一个视频，视频中他们似乎将正用于制作食物的配料放进鼻孔里，达美乐通过在线发布官方的高管道歉视频来回应此事。
Blow-dried blogs
辉煌的博客
That sort of content is proliferating. A PR firm called Ketchum helped IBM start a blog about sustainability, complete with posts written by the technology firm’s executives. It also created cartoons on the subject that it uploaded to YouTube. Edelman recently worked with eBay on the launch of a web-only magazine, “The Inside Source”, which provides articles on shopping and tells readers what is selling well on the online retail giant’s website.
博客数量激增。凯旋公关公司协助技术企业IBM创建了一个可持续性方面的博客，配上IMB管理人员写的帖子。这家公司还制作以可持续性为主题的卡通，上传到YouTube网站。爱德曼公关公司最近与eBay合作，推出一本只通过网络发行的杂志——《{dj2}消息》（The Inside Source）。这本杂志刊登购物文章，告诉读者网络零售巨头网站上的畅销商品。
VSS forecasts that spending on PR in America will surpass $8 billion by 2013, with much of the growth coming from online projects such as these. According to Miles Nadal, chief executive of MDC Partners, a media holding company, investment in digital PR accelerated during the recession “and will go forward in perpetuity” because clients became more focused on measuring the impact of their efforts. The internet offers various yardsticks, from traffic to cheerleading websites to numbers of Facebook fans, whereas the number of people who see a conventional advertisement is much harder to gauge.
VSS预测，最迟到2013年，美国的公关开支将超过80亿美元，增加的许多开支用于上文所述的那种网络项目。媒体控股公司MDC Partners的首席执行官迈尔斯•纳达尔认为，经济衰退期间数字公关上的投入增加了，“而且将无休止地增长”，因为客户更专注于测定其措施的影响。互联网提供了各种评价标准——流量、后援网站、大量脸谱网迷等等，而统计传统广告的观众人数却大为困难。
Perhaps the best indication of PR’s growing importance is the attention it is attracting from regulators. They are worried that PR firms do not make it clear enough that they are behind much seemingly independent commentary on blogs and social networks. In October America’s Federal Trade Commission published new guidelines for bloggers, requiring them to disclose whether they had been paid by
companies or received free merchandise. Further regulation is likely. But that will not hamper PR’s growth, says Jim Rutherfurd of VSS. After all, companies that fall foul of the rules will need the help of a PR firm.
监管当局越来越注意公关业可能是公关业日益重要的{zh0}标志。监管当局担心，公关公司不会让人们足够清楚地认识到，博客和社交网络上许多看似独立的评论背后都有公关公司的影子。十月份美国xx贸易委员会公布了新的博客作者指导方针，要求他们披露自己是否收受企业付款或收到免费商品。可能会有更严格的监管。但VSS的吉姆•鲁塞福德说监管不会妨碍公关业的发展。毕竟，违反这些规定的企业将需要公关公司的协助。 |
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