In Recession, Government must engage, give focus
Posted by Ann-Marie O'Sullivan on June 29, 2009 in Industry comments, Public Relations with 0 CommentsThe annual Awards for Excellence in PR took place at a sell-out event on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at the Conrad Hotel, Dublin. The awards in the 13 categories were presented by Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan TD and myself, in my capacity as Chairman of PRCA (Ireland). The following is the address I delivered at the awards ceremony.
INTRODUCTION
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen - It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 2009 Awards for Excellence in PR here at the Conrad Hotel. These awards are a joint initiative of the Public Relations Consultants Association Ireland (PRCA Ireland), the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and I'd like to welcome Orla Burke, Vice President of the PRII and Director - Healthcare, Fleishman-Hillard and Joanne Crockard, Committee Member of the Northern Ireland branch of the CIPR and Director of Crockard Communications.
This is the 16th year that we have come together to recognise the outstanding - and often vital - communications work of our peers and colleagues, and it has arguably never been more important for us to do so.
As members of our industry's representative bodies, as friends, co-workers, clients and competitors, we need to celebrate the excellence which exists in our industry, promote the successful work that we do, and remind our key audiences that public relations should be a core element in any communications programme worthy of the name.
Our annual "Awards for Excellence in PR" is a great way to begin that process. Not only does it allow us to measure our own performance against the best in our business, it encourages us all to raise our standards, and also provides a showcase we can use to improve people's awareness, understanding and appreciation of the value that we, as a group of committed practitioners, bring to organisations large and small, public and private, new and established.
Ireland is experiencing the worst recession in living memory. Virtually every organisation in the country is dealing with extraordinary challenges and pressures. More than ever, clients and employers need to be confident that every euro they spend is worthwhile. And events like the Awards for Excellence allow us all to make a stronger argument for the value that the PR industry in Ireland offers. Nominated or not, shortlisted or not, these awards reflect positively on the PR industry of which we are all vital members.
Looking at the expertise in this room, and given the continuing evolution of our industry, I believe we are well placed to prove to clients, prospects and employers that PR is an important part of their drive for success, and that in many ways, the more challenging the environment, the more valuable public relations becomes.
We should leave here today prepared to prove to all and sundry that when it comes to navigating these turbulent times ... communication experts are essential.
One only has to look at two of the current major challenges facing the Government - the state of the economy and the 2nd referendum on the Lisbon Treaty - and it's patently clear that the challenges for the government are ones of effective communications.
KEY COMMUNICATIONS CHALLENGES
1. Lisbon Treaty
From a communications perspective, there is no doubt that the first Yes campaign for Lisbon, and particularly the Government campaign, got it completely wrong. There was a complete absence of engagement with the voting public which allowed the more vociferous and better focussed No campaign to fill the communication and information vacuum the government itself created.
'Voting No will sideline us in Europe' is not exactly the most positive campaign message. Yet it was very nearly the best that the Yes campaign could muster. In opposition to the No campaign's litany of talking points, it was an extraordinarily underwhelming message to work with.
An Irish Times/TNS poll before the last referendum pointed out that "the reason most often cited by No voters is that they don't know what they are voting for or they don't understand the treaty - with 30 per cent of No voters listing this as the main reason for their decision." This was a shocking indictment of the government's efforts on communication. Ben Dunne articulated it so succinctly - "If you don't know, vote No."
The starting point of any PR campaign - Public Relations 101, as our American colleagues would describe it - is to define your goals and objectives first, then your audiences, and then develop the messages to move those audiences so that you can accomplish your goals.
While the No campaign will have to find new ways of encouraging a No vote, the government has not used any positive message to date, so its armoury should be full. If it's not to be a referendum on the Government, then the body politic and the entire Yes campaign has to explain the treaty and its significance. One thing is for sure, it'll be interesting to see how the Government will cope with this second opportunity, an opportunity that we as an industry stand ready to play our part in.
2. Current Government Communications
With regard to our economic situation, the fact that we are in the midst of a global economic recession and that Ireland has been badly hit by our dependence on the construction and property sectors is very "Dog Bites Man" in terms of its news value. However, what feels like an ongoing lack of direction and leadership coming from government at this time is a different story.
Providing leadership in good and bad times is the role of government. Its ironic that at a time when we need leadership, we need direction and we need inspiration that we're getting party politics. We all accept that times are hard, but what people can't accept is a lack of national direction. In short, the Government needs to be engaging with people. There is a willingness to do what we can for the sake of the country, however, we need our Government to communicate their focus in this regard to the citizens of this country. Unfortunately, this has not been forthcoming to date.
CHANGE OF FORMAT, GOVERNMENT CUTS, ETC
Moving on, some of you may have noticed the suspicious abundance of daylight still lurking around outside. This is the first year that we have held the awards at lunchtime and I'm delighted that our new format has been a sell-out. Sunshine and the PR Awards have always been synonymous, with many of us heading home from previous awards in the early morning light - so in that regard, nothing much has changed!
In recent times the public relations profession, in common with other consulting professions, has been affected by significant cuts in both public and private sector expenditure. However, given the strategic and operational contribution that the PR profession has made to multiple government departments and agencies over the years, it was very disappointing that public relations was singled out by the government during the first tranche of cutbacks last year.
The unilateral cut by Government across all existing PR contracts with Government Departments and the Public Sector, without any defensible rationale, served to underline a complete lack of understanding as to the real value of PR. Public Relations is a strategic management tool which plays a key role in educating audiences and in converting awareness into understanding and acceptance. Is it any wonder that the government is facing a crisis of confidence when it clearly doesn't appreciate the value of effective communications.
CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. In conclusion, there are a number of people and organisations that I would like to thank.
I'd like to again thank our partner organisations in these awards, the PRII and the CIPR, for their support.
To the judging panel of Deborah Martin, Catherine O'Mahony, Sean O'Riordáin, Anne Matthews, Nick Mulcahy, Niamh Ward, Gary McDonald, Barry Kenny and Tara Buckley for their work and dedication in arriving at today's results. The assessment of the entries across the 13 award categories was a long and challenging process and I thank you all most sincerely for your efforts.
To Gerry Davis, Chief Executive of the PRCA and PRII who chaired the judging panel and who is responsible for this wonderfully organised event along with his very hard-working team of Ann-Marie Jordan, Cyrilla Costelloe and Áine Sheehan.
To the Conrad Hotel for their support.
To our Sponsors - RR Donnelly, Fennell Photography, SuperValu, Valrhona Chocolates and weddingrunner.ie
And, finally, to the members of my Board at PRCA (Ireland) for their ongoing support and enthusiasm.
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for your attention and good luck to all the shortlisted finalists this afternoon.
Ann-Marie O'Sullivan is a communications professional with over twenty years of experience in providing strategic communications counsel to large and small organisations across a broad spectrum of industry sectors.Find out more at Ann-Marie O'Sullivan's Profile. Don't forget to subscribe if you'd like to hear more!
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