Here’s my thing on social media – too many voices, and you take away from the brand. I think people can contribute in the strategic sessions, which should happen before any SM launch. ONE person should be running your Twitter and FB pages though. People identify with the brand voice, not with multiple.

There is tremendous value to be gained from developing a comprehensive creative and communications strategy that employs advertising and public relations for the benefit of the brand. I find it frustrating, both personally and professionally, when I see a brand that has employed different strategies for the two, as the messaging often unintentionally contradicts itself and clouds consumers’ image of the brand.

Along with disjointed advertising and public relations initiatives, negative publicity can also cloud consumers’ brand perceptions. If the only mechanism a company (and its ad/pr teams) have for generating a buzz around a brand is to endanger the company’s reputation, then they need to reevaluate their strategy. As brand ambassadors, both public relations and advertising professionals have an obligation to represent a brand with accuracy and integrity. I feel it is foolish council to advise a brand to intentionally subject itself to negative publicity. (Let’s face it – with social media amplifying the speed of communications, there are plenty of opportunities for one disgruntled consumer/audience member to trigger a spiral of negative brand publicity without an advertising or public relations team fueling it.)

Speaking to the point about social media, both advertising and public relations intiatives can benefit from engaging audiences through social media. It seems absurd to me that there is a tug-of-war dynamic. If companies harness their creative energies behind integrated campaigns that embrace social media as a tool to leverage both adversiting and public relations initiatives, they stand to gain both increased market share and the opportunity to position themselves as a (successful) model for other brands to mirror their marketing and pr efforts after. All of which can be accomplished without encouraging a brand to intentionally flirt with negative publicity.

“Patience is a virtue I can’t wait to have.”

Seems appropriate, no?

Thanks for reading!

Kasey – What if you have good intentions by creating the controversy, but it backfires? Ad should talk with PR before going ahead with a campaign, just so they can be prepared. Does this always happen? I don’t know. You bring up a good point about how we should evaluate the potential and define what’s negative.

At the end of the day, Advertising/PR/Marketing and social media for that matter, is all about audience cultivation and message delivery. Whether it’s a video ad on a website, an article about the latest gadget or an email-based coupon, we are all peddling content to various segments of people.

I think the real change will come when clients demand that their Ad and PR shops work in tandem and more so than just concalls and emails. Service consulting teams need to be TRUE teams, and that means across agencies and companies for the sole reason that the client’s messages must come across in a unified front and not fractured. Single overarching messages is what we always tell our clients. It’s up to the Ad and PR agencies to work together, learning from each other and make that happen. Who cares about lines in the sand. At the end of the day, keeping the client’s happy and keeping their programs moving towards goals is what we should be all about.