Herman Cain’s Presidential campaign was sent into crisis mode when the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza was accused of sexual assault by multiple women.  Normally, accusations of this magnitude would have a severe impact on the candidate’s image, but Cain has thus far remained largely unscathed, at least in the eyes of his supporters.  Gallup reported on Nov. 7 that Cain was tied with Mitt Romney as the most preferred Republican candidate, with 21% of the vote in the most recent poll.  This number is a slight increase from the 18% support he received in a poll conducted Oct. 3-7, before the accusations were made.  The Nov. 7 poll also showed that the majority of Republicans believe the claims against Cain to be untrue. 

In the face of accusation, Cain has taken a defiant, if somewhat inconsistent stance.  Since the accusations were brought on in late October, Cain has taken varied positions defending his innocence, claiming ignorance about a settlement paid to the women, distinguishing between the definition of a “settlement” and an “agreement” and of course flat out denying any wrong doing.  Dubious as his involvement may seem, Cain has all the while maintained that he is innocent, and his refusal to admit guilt seems to be a tactic that is winning approval from his supporters.  Even though Gallup reports only 45% of Republicans agree with how Cain has handled the scandal, his support base remained solid, even increasing in the time since the scandal.  His strong defiance seems to be resonating with at least some conservatives.  As Mitt Romney continues to flip-flop, and Rick Perry forgets his own policies, Herman Cain’s resilience is striking a chord with conservatives. 

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Last Wednesday, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications welcomed Al Golin, founder of the firm GolinHarris.  Mr. Golin is a legendary public relations figure and what some might even call a ‘crisis communications guru’. 

Public Relations students listened intently as Mr. Golin shared some of his techniques, offered advice for success, and shared how Penn State could have better dealt with their current scandal.  Retired Penn State Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky was recently arrested and charged with sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year span.  In 2002, Penn State Coach Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky sexually assault a 10-year-old boy and reported what he saw to his father, who then brought it up to Head Coach Joe Paterno.  The incident found its way to Penn State president, Graham Spanier, and instead of taking legal action, Sandusky was simply ordered not to bring any children from The Second Mile, a nonprofit organization for children in Pennsylvania, to the sports complex.  Sandusky has since been banned from the Penn State campus, but all eyes are now on Joe Paterno, who was recently fired. 

Mr. Golin made it clear he didn’t agree with the way Penn State has been handling the situation.  Instead of doing what was morally sound, Penn State decided to cover up the sexual abuse scandal, overestimating their (till then) strong positive image and underestimating the power of the media and public.  The immorality of all those involved is inexcusable in the public eye. Lying only complicated the situation.  The crime Sandusky committed did not have to turn into a scandal of deceit.  Penn State simply could have come forward, showed grief, and then tried to put everything behind them by working to rebrand themselves.  According to Golin, Penn State is now in a burdensome situation that will be under the microscope for years and years.  Mr. Golin mentioned that when given the option to do the moral thing, you should take it and run with it.  Sometimes you may get into trouble with this strategy, but not nearly as much trouble as choosing to be immoral and getting caught in a web of lies.  Golin said he encourages clients need to come out and admit mistakes because lying allows for speculation, causing more negative stories to grow uncontrollably.  His advice is evidence that the PR function is heading more and more towards responsibility and proactivity (vs. reacting to crises by downplaying them as much as possible).  

Jerry Sandusky was one man who committed a crime. Now the scandal appears to be even deeper and involves Penn State as an organization, as well as Paterno, McQueary, and the president of the school.  It may have taken many years to build up the reputation of Penn State, but it only took one immoral act of a cover up to sabotage that strong, positive brand in the eyes of the public and media.   

Mr. Golin’s presentation was entertaining and stimulating for all who attended.  Students gained further insight into the world of big-time agency public relations.  But more importantly, the audience was able to learn how one of the industry’s most well-known professionals would have dealt with this specific case in crisis communications. 

By Carley Weinstein, freshman PRSSA member

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When you think of Apple, what characteristics come to mind? What kind of identities do companies like McDonald’s or Toyota have in the public eye? Now, think of yourself. How are you perceived?  What sets you apart? Your answer will be a personal brand.

“A personal brand is based on the perceptions of others. If you do nothing to manage or control your personal brand, you are left with only a reputation – which can be good or bad, and is not completely in your control,” says Carla Haase, President and CEO of Annex Learning and former GE employee.

Learning to develop and manage your personal brand should begin in college. It is important to begin presenting yourself in a positive way to those around you, both in person and on various social media platforms - it will make you more attractive to potential employers.

How does one go about developing that positive image? According to Haase, there are four keys to successful branding: clarity, drive, passion, and growth. Clarity means identifying exactly what you want to show people – what do you stand for and what makes you unique and special? After identifying a clear set of values that you want to stand for, you need to actively reinforce your message through what you say, do, and show to others. Actively reinforcing your message is not as hard or as daunting as it sounds. Personal brand management is easy when you are doing what you love and truly believe in. It becomes work when you’re pursuing something you’re not really passionate about. If you are doing something that you feel is wrong, or that you don’t stand for, this goes against your effort to create a solid brand.

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Welcome to our newly designed blog! It took a good while to get it up and running, but now that it is fully functional we hope we can provide a steady stream of interesting content about public relations.  As students of the S.I. Newhouse School, we are exposed to great teachers, great professionals and great leaders in the field. We want to be able to share our experiences and insights with the rest of the public relations community. We hope our posts will help fellow students and young professionals better understand the depths of our ever-changing industry.

Our VP of Communications, Briana Quaglia, will be the point person on this effort and has been the true visionary for the site. She has pushed greater innovation on our beloved Ehling Report, resulting in this digitized version, and has taken on the huge responsibility of organizing rich content every week. Her keen eye for detail and her creative flair will be something to watch.

What can you expect to see here? Well we have given ourselves a pretty expansive creative license to take this wherever we see fit. We might feature one of our members who had a great internship experience one week and interview a human resources representative the next. We may give an update about our award-winning student run firm, Hill Communications, or we just might vent about how a company is butchering their public relations effort. Briana is even tossing around the idea of a round-up of our favorite blogs every Friday.  

We don’t know the blog’s exact editorial formula for sure, but what we can guarantee is our posts will be fresh, insightful and helpful for aspiring public relations professionals.

I will try to post as much as possible—god knows I have enough to talk about – but we encourage all of our readers to get involved, comment and use this site as a starting point for discussion. It is our ultimate mission to deepen the understanding of public relations as we know it today.

Sincerely yours,

David Lurie
PRSSA President

…well we want to know, anyway!  Introducing our new segment, highlighting what awesome internships/experiences our members had over the summer. Members highlight what they learned from the opportunity and some of their best memories.

My Summer at Ketchum Raad Dubai

Why should you spend your summer in a foreign country working full-time? Because it will be one of the most valuable investments of your life. While it might sound cliché, I must admit that my six-week internship at Ketchum Raad in Dubai changed my life. I left the United States excited about the opportunities the trip would provide for my career, and I returned with both invaluable work experience and life-long memories.

Looking around the walls of the office in Dubai, I saw many Ketchum posters reminding me to “break through” and provide creative solutions for our clients’ needs. However, “break through” creativity is difficult in the Middle East, where the public relations industry is almost as young as I am. Working on the Healthcare Practice team also meant that all ideas had to be relevant to the specific needs and boundaries of the Middle East region and the Arab world.

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Social Media Internship – Fall 2011 

Telecommute!
Work off-site on social media projects and traditional PR initiatives for existing clients. Clients range from retail firms to medical device companies to travel consulting firms to legal offices. Intern will need strong writing skills as well as the ability to develop relations with media outlets. Resourceful, energetic, self-starters are encouraged to apply! Email pam@psconsultants.com with your resume.

Marketing internships with DC-based company – Fall 2011

Can telecommute!
Popcorn & Ice Cream (www.popcorn-icecream.com), a small business marketing consultancy located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, seeks an intern to assist with myriad tasks addressing multiple areas of marketing and communications. Tasks may include, but are not limited to:
 - PR: Researching and pitching influential editors/reporters/bloggers
 - Copywriting: Writing for blogs, websites, newsletters, and marketing collateral
 - Social Media: Managing profiles to include creating and posting content, driving followers/likes, and engaging with followers
- Events: Researching events and tradeshows in local geographies and across industries Popcorn & Ice Cream focuses exclusively on small businesses and non-profits.
Founded by Hillary Shenk Berman (Newhouse, ’99), the company is growing quickly. Candidates must have an interest in marketing, small business, and entrepreneurship. Attention to detail, strong writing ability, and creative thinking are essential. Knowledge of social media marketing preferred. Intern can be located in Syracuse or any other location, though knowledge of the Washington, DC area is strongly preferred. We will work virtually via the phone, email, and Skype. Position requires approximately 10 hours per week, but hours will vary based on client project schedule. Please forward resume and cover letter to jobs@popcorn-icecream.com. In your cover letter, please provide details surrounding your interest in and experience with small businesses, as well as knowledge of the Washington, DC area.

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As early as 2050, the United States “minority” population will become the statistical “majority” (America.gov, 2008). Of the nation’s children, approximately 62 percent will belong to minority or ethnic group by the year 2050 (America.gov, 2008). The changing composition of American consumers is an important factor for public relations agencies looking to connect with consumers and diverse subpopulations in the years to come.

            Ofield Dukes, a DC-based public relations practitioner, “encouraged students entering public relations practice to consider the diversity of the American population from an economic perspective, emphasizing that every company providing goods and services in the marketplace will have to respond to the diverse demographics and psychographics of today’s consumer” (Gomez, 2010).

            The changing racial composition will also affect public relations agencies working on Business-to-Business (B2B) accounts. For example, according to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners, Hispanics owned 2.3 million non-farm businesses; this was a 43.7 % increase in Hispanic-owned non-farm businesses between the years of 2002 and 2007. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007).  

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As young professionals entering into our respective fields, opportunities to network with peers and co-workers can provide us with great advice and potential job opportunities. One way to virtually network with peers is through Twitter. Twitter allows users to start conversations with other users with few, if any, barriers.

            One way to interact with other users on Twitter is through Twitter chats. These conversations link participants together by a hashtag that everyone includes in their Tweets. TweetChat.com is a helpful website that acts as a chatroom for a specific hashtag chat. The website refreshes the feed and adds the appropriate hashtag to the end of your tweets so you can focus on contributing to the conversation.       

            Some recommended chats include: #SocialMedia (Tuesdays at 12pm), #u30pro (Thursdays at 8 pm) for young professionals,  #pr20chat (Tuesdays at 8 pm), and #SMmanners (Mondays at 8 pm). Hashtags denote the conversation and allow participants to see a steady stream of who is participating in the conversation.

            Tweeparties.com is a tweet chat promotion website that contains a multitude of chat hashtags and times for a wide variety of topics. This site can be helpful for finding chats that pertain to personal, career, and academic interests. Hashtag chats on the calendar range from #CampusChat to #EcoWed to #Foodies.

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As the semester is winding down, seniors are starting to plan for their future out of college and underclassmen are applying to internships.  They’ve researched their opportunities, prepped their resumes, written their cover letters, so what’s next?

A portfolio.

But what goes into a portfolio?  How are contents best presented in one?  What do you want to communicate to a potential employer through your portfolio?

 “A portfolio is a portable way to show off the skills you have to offer and therefore is a great marketing tool for a job-hunter,” says Kelly Jean Brown from the Newhouse Career Development Center (CDC), “Ideally, students will start putting together their portfolios as soon as they begin doing relevant work.”

Susan Balcom Walton, an associate professor of public relations at Brigham Young University, also emphasizes how important it is to start saving work immediately.  She says that even experienced professionals should hold on to all their important work with the date it was completed.  Her motto? “Keep it all.”

Then, once it comes time to assemble your portfolio, you will have plenty of work to choose in order to represent yourself in the best light. 

When deciding what to include in a portfolio, PRSSA’s internship site has a career resources page that offers great advice.  They say to keep it simple and only include your best work (not everything you’ve ever written), in order to be considerate of your interviewers time and needs.  It’s important to think about what exactly the job or internship is asking of you.  Read the job description.  That will give you an idea of the kind of skills a specific organization is looking for.

A good portfolio includes:

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Diving into the social media world can be a little overwhelming, but a powerful presence online can really help you personally and professionally. Are you on Twitter and LinkedIn? Are you blogging? You should be.

As a student, I am involved on Twitter because I can talk to professionals, other students, and other people in PR and marketing who have the same interests as me. On a daily basis, I get advice and the most recent news from my followers. Have a question about a product or company? Who better to ask than a person directly managing their social media?

It’s great to actually network with people and actually talk to people who are interested in the same things as you. Connecting with others can really help you.

As PRSSA President of our WCU Chapter, I network with other PRSSA Presidents and PRSSA students. We bounce ideas off each other and help each other out through our experiences with similar situations. It’s also a great way to stay in contact with people I’ve met at PRSSA conferences and other events.

When you start getting involved with social media, make sure you do the following:

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