The biggest challenge facing the public relations industry remains, in my mind, the abysmal state of writing at all levels of the profession. How can we represent the best and brightest of the global multinationals when we can’t consistently and coherently communicate?
You know the problem is becoming widespread when the trade journalists covering the PR field fall prey to arcane and obfuscating prose. Case in point: the title of PR Week’s upcoming global conference. Check this out:
"PR Global International Reputation Summit: Balancing Your Local and Global Voice to Build a Consistent Corporate Identity in an Interconnected and Instantaneous Media Climate."
Oh baby. Ernest Hemingway has to be spinning in his grave. I’d expect this sort of hyperbole and superfluous word use from an IT guy or a management consultant. But, what does it say about PR when PR Week comes out with something like this?
As the cartoon character, Pogo, famously exclaimed, ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’
The depth of the irony in the original post continues, I give you:
“So while ONE winds HIS way around yet another hidden curve, a group of Humvees carrying battle-ready G.I’s CAN COME barreling out of the foliage at any time. AND, THEN THERE ARE the F-15 FIGHTER JETS WHO, like THEIR ground-based ALLIES, simply appear out of nowhere, SKIMMING THE TREETOPS at a deafening Mach 2.0.” emphasis mine
Repman, I may as you, WithoutProof say, be “Without Clue,” but I believe I have demonstrated that *your* writing is “abysmal.” I suggest you read and follow the guidance of both Strunk & White’s, “The Elements of Style” and Zinsser’s “On Writing Well.” Until you do the forgoing, avoid blogging on the abysmal writing of your peers–for the pot is just as black.
Oof. I don’t think he means you, Ed.
Judging by the quality of the content on both your respective blogs, it’s evident which of you does the “heavy lifting” at Peppercom.
I’m still around and have even lost some weight, MSE. Lunch dieting…it’s a new fad.
As for Rep, I am sure he is doing just fine and it’s good when the industry calls itself out for improvement. Especially when it is in regards to written words and communicating. Effective communication – look into it.
What I have been wondering about is why a successful [sic] medical supply executive would care so much about a blog on PR. Aren’t you busy enough peddling your supplies? Do you ruminate around your home and in your MSE office about ways to defile this blog and its author? If so, I would feel really sorry for you, pal. Find a hobby! I am also happy to see those boys in Philadelphia beat up on your Mets.
“The biggest challenge facing the public relations industry remains, in my mind, the abysmal state of writing at all levels of the profession.”
I stand by my original comment and rely upon repman himself to provide its basis:
“Joe’s lifetime full of regrets got me thinking about my own situation.”
“Hilton, on the other hand, has no substance whatsoever below the surface and could care less what people think.”
“The weather is perpetually cold, windy and rainy. So, what gives? I could see Bangor topping a list of cities with the highest suicide rate. But Bangoe [sic] doubling as MelanomaCentral? Maybe the rare rays of sunshine that actually do break through the murkiness are so pissed off that they wreak havoc on unsuspecting Bangorians (Bangorites?).”
For those of you who cannot read my mind, my “Amen” was to RepMan’s observations, not the guy above my post.
On the contrary, Med guy, I believe With Clue has proven again to be Without Clue and you have once again shown yourself to be the med supply field’s version of the Mets bullpen.
folks, come on, lighten up- the rep man was just proving how pathetic the pr industry is.
gotta wonder where lunch idiot and the rest of the hired guns went when the rep man seems to need them most.
seems to me that the rep man’s own image and rep have taken a blow here…but fear not, he will post another blog and try and bury this one rather than responding.
Marketing is to other business disciplines as dermatology is to brain surgery, and public relations is the pimple on marketing’s ass.
It makes perfect sense that you guys don’t have the best and the brightest flocking to sign up.
Amen and alleluiah.
Breaking the “big words = great writing” mindset is one of the hardest tasks we have with freshly minted college grads. I’ll take someone who can precisely give it to me in seven words over someone who can communicate the same thought in 20 every time.
This is, by far, the most ironical post by a blogger that I have ever encountered.
“How can we represent the best and brightest of the global multinationals when we can’t consistently and coherently communicate?”
“Oh baby. Ernest Hemingway has to be spinning in his grave. I’d expect this sort of hyperbole and superfluous word use from an IT guy or a management consultant. But, what does it say about PR when PR Week comes out with something like this?”
How indeed?