Buffering Through Life

It’s hard for me to define myself. Sure, I can list off enough details to give a pretty decent police sketch but past that I’m stumped. I find it impossible to tell you who I am, because I find that I am really just a perception. I am how people view me.

Companies are similar. They can try to be whomever they like, however it’s really up to me, the consumer to decide who they are. That’s why public relations matters. PR people should be gauging the public’s perception at all times and tweaking the company’s identity as needed.

Jim Haynes explained that research is important at all most all steps of a campaign. Danielle Allen counted that research is needed before any planning can actually begin and then again to evaluate the campaign, while convincing clients to pay for it is another story. I believe that both speakers were right. For a company’s persona to be understood by the company, they need to research and see what people are thinking of them. Extra research tells how to execute a plan to reach a certain objective that should ultimately assist with the created persona that research revealed. It’s a convoluted research circle, a research reach a… no, I won’t go there now.

A smart advertising professor told me about a comparative ad campaign between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Pepsi encouraged viewers to decide which tasted better: Pepsi or Coke. When polls showed that people seemed to prefer Pepsi, Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke.” Backlash was so strong to the new cola that Coca-Cola brought back its classic flavor. Ironically enough, “New Coke” was created to taste more like Pepsi. (New Coke is still sold oversees as the only option for “Coke.”)

Coca-Cola failed to properly research their constituents and see what they wanted from a soda. They tried to be something they weren’t and the result was so loud immediate action was taken. Again, I don’t believe that we get to decide who we are. Others decide for us. Hopefully we are smart enough to research this and fully understand it before we take any action and then research at every step of the process to assure that we on the correct track.

The only thing I do know about myself is that I hate Excel. I do not want to be a boring PR practitioner squished into an Excel sheet. Fingers crossed a new charting system emerges on the scene before someone decides to hire me. Or perhaps they can read my Excel apprehension in an interview and that’s why I can’t nab the 3rd interview. I have such a wonderful 3rd interview suit that no one ever gets to see.

One other great thing from class that I realized is that speechwriters aren’t such losers after all. Apparently it’s a lucrative field. One of my tops three interests just got bumped to number one interest! And I bet I can fit rhetoric research into speech writing if I squint just a touch. Granted Mimi will never understand what I do, but she can understand a paycheck so I suppose that will suffice.