PR Secrets Christmas Special: Only the REAL Santa will do!
PR during the Christmas season is interesting, largely because every organisation wants to appear ‘real’. Whether that’s the ‘real’ flavour (undisputedly now Coca Cola!), the ‘real’ Santa or the ‘real’ Christmas (and if you read my blog last year, you’ll know Rudolf was the clever invention of a copywriter and was never ‘real’ at all!)
Almost every supermarket uses advertising to project what they see as the ‘real’ Christmas experience, the picture-perfect family with well-dressed children, a fabulous spread of food and indulgence at every turn.
Of course, for most, the reality is very different, the ‘fete Santa’ that kids see almost always has a fake beard and a badly fitting suit, and that’s ok because we all accept that for one day, it’s ok for us all to put aside reality, pretend that perfection exists and even though most don’t find it, we try to have a good time anyway!
Whoever sold Christmas did an amazing job - but for businesses during the rest of the year, being honest, truthful and reliable should be key messages for every organisation.
PR is often perceived to be about hype, but it’s anything but – PR and spin are not related. Punchy slogans come from marketing, logos and design come from branding, those brilliant adverts come from the advertising agency – so where does PR come in?
Building your reputation, establishing trust, raising (and maintaining) awareness and increasing confidence in your brand - that’s where PR comes in. And yes, it’s about sales and recognition.
This means:
· We only say you are number one if you really are number one.
· We find what you do best, and talk about that
· We help you become the champion for your audience, talking about the issues the affect them.
Our tools for this are:
· gaining digital and print editorial coverage to extend your reach
· guiding and creating great content and
· improving your internal and external communications
· helping develop winning award entries.
You’ll notice therefore, that news coverage for a brand is very different to their advertising messages. It’s more subtle, more toned down, and feels more authentic. Over time, these subtle mentions build feelings of authenticity and reliability and done well, your brand becomes the standard by which others become measured – sometimes, even owning the genre (for example, the vacuum cleaner is often called the ‘Hoover’ no matter who made it).
We help clients agree their core values and goals and ensure that these messages are reinforced across the organisation. In PR in HR, we’d be reminding Santa’s employers that as a public facing employee, he needs to project the agreed standard of Christmas, to conduct himself in a manner befitting the role and to communicate our messages of thoughtfulness, kindness and reliability to his young audience. We’d be helping his employer agree what those messages are, agreeing the best way he can deliver them, then supporting those messages with authentic press coverage.
Thankfully, Santa hasn’t been our client this year, which means come Christmas PR in HR will be able to take a few days off.
We look forward to seeing you in 2020, we wish you such a joyful time over the holidays and for those who need peace, we wish that for you too.
With love, Kay and the team. x