Why PR is important to the identity process

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When Stagis work with our client’s identity we work within the following three disciplines: (1) we uncover the cultural aspects of the organization to discover the authentic strenghts, (2) we work with the design and (3) with communications to express the authentic strenghts. In this case communications cover a wide range of disciplines; communications strategies and tactics, stakeholder communications, media campaigns, web communications, social media, internal communications – and Public Relations, PR.

PR seperates from other communication disciplines by working with ‘earned media’. In short; you have to deserve good PR – you can’t just buy it. This means that PR can be a complex discipline to work with. So why do we work with PR as part of an identity process?

What is it that you can do with PR, that you can’t achieve with advertizing or by communinicating in your own controlled and ‘bought’ channels like websites etc.? The answer is simple. PR works with your reputation. When advertising creates awareness about your brand, PR sometimes have the ability of adding legitimacy and credibility. And most brands need all aspects. Let me give you a couple of examples on how PR impacts your reputation.

Change of perception
A couple of years ago Stagis worked for the bus industry with a large identity project which lasted for more than 3 years. In this process we worked with all parts of an identity process from the analysis and strategy, the design features like websites, logo, news letters etc. to a wide range of communications and PR efforts. Especially the PR activities were a central part of the project – because one of the main issues for the bus industry was ‘perception’.

The perception of bus drivers was really bad. When media wrote about the bus industry it was stories like ‘bus driver was drunk driving’, ‘bus driver gets beated’ and similar negative stories. The stories affected both the internal and the external perception of the job and the whole industry. Stagis took a central part in changing this, when we worked with rebranding of the bus industry. We succeeded in developing and seeding a wide range of positive stories about bus drivers, which helped them regain pride in their job. This was a crucial part of the project and helped secure value and results for the client. You can read and see all about the project Chauffører med karaktér here (or in English on stagis.com)

Endorsement of your brand
PR can help you change perception, as we did with the bus drivers, but it can also add legitimacy and credibility to your product or your company. In a branding project the media is an effective channel to tell the more complex and personal stories, which are of great importance when you want to endorse your brand. This was the case for another client of yours – CBS and the master programme Master of Management Development – which has ‘personal development’ as one of their authentic strengths. An example of how the master programme helps the participants’ development of their personal leadership is the ‘job swop’. In the job swop two managers swop one anothers job for a week. Because when you find yourself ‘leading in another context’, you gain new insights in your personal leadership. Stagis helped the MMD-programme to tell the story endorsed by one of the participants, head nurse Joy Hult who swoped job whith officer Mads Mikkelsen at Royal Danish Army Officers Academy. Joy told about her experiences live on the national TV show GO Morgen Danmark as part of a larger branding project, see the show at the Master of Management Development website.

Engagement of your target audience
In the nearest future we are conducting a large vision formulation proces in the municipality of Varde and in order to succeed PR plays an important role here as well. One thing that is crucial when formulating a new vision in a citybranding project is to make sure, that the people who actually lives there takes ownership of the proces and the new vision. Stagis is helping the city council and the mayor of Varde with telling the story about how the authentic identity is being uncovered and defined, when sending the City Council on a one day mission of being ‘Anthropologist for a Day’.

Protection of your brand
This was just a couple of examples on how PR works with your reputation and how you can use it to create credibility and legitimacy – and not just awareness. All of the above are examples of proactive PR which is used to build your brand. But you may find yourself in a situation where you need to protect your brand in a situation of crisis. If something goes wrong and your brand finds itself under siege from the media and the rest of the world, your handling of this is cruzial. In these worst case scenarioes Stagis helps our clients with crisis communications and handling of crisis. You are always welcome to hear more about how Stagis work with communications and PR by contacting me. Looking forward to talk more about identity proces, reputation and branding!

Derfor er PR in vigtig del af branding
PR er et af de redskaber, som du kan spille på, når du skal bygge, understøtte eller beskytte et brand. For hvor kommunikationskanaler som reklamer, websites og andre ‘styrede’ medier skaber opmærksomhed, kan PR noget helt andet; nemlig tilføring af legitimitet og opbygning af troværdighed. PR kan hjælpe dit omdømme ved fx at arbejde målrettet med holdningsændring, ved at fortælle om dine autentiske styrker, ved at engagere dine målgrupper eller ved at beskytte dit brand i tilfælde af kriser. Hvis du vil høre mere om, hvad PR og påvirkning af pressen kan gøre for dit brand, er du velkommen til at skrive til mig.