There are four main models of PR activities that public relations have gone through in their historical evolution:

• 1. "Manipulation", "propaganda", "publicity" (characteristic for the stages from protoPR to the "gallant age", as well as for the totalitarian and authoritarian states of our days). Character traits:
  • - any means are used to attract the attention of the public, pressure on it;
  • - Relationships are built on the principle of "consumer - victim";
  • - truthfulness and objectivity of information are not mandatory conditions, ethical aspects are ignored;
  • - Mass media is the main conductor.
• 2. "Informing the public", "public awareness". All this can be equated with the concept of "journalism" (it arises simultaneously with the stage of development of "state journalism" and develops as there is competition in corporate publications during the industrial revolution of the 19th century, has developed during the period of industrial society). Character traits:
  • - regular work with the media, the goal is the dissemination of information;
  • - information is accurate and truthful, only positive (negative facts and events are hushed up);
  • - feedback study is not expected;
  • - technology "jouralists-in-residence" (journalist at the firm).
• 3. “Two-way asymmetric communication” (appears at the beginning of the 20th century, its origins are A. Lee, E. Bernays, A. Page). Character traits:
  • - the use of research methods (to determine what information will cause a positive public reaction, therefore - "two-sidedness", dialogue);
  • - the result is asymmetric - only the organization wins, not the public;
  • - PR are pragmatic in nature, the organization pursues one goal - to obtain benefits.
• 4. "Two-way symmetrical communication" (occurs in a regulated business situation). Character traits:
  • - full awareness by the subject of PR activities that mutual understanding and consideration of the mutual influence of the environment and organization are necessary;
  • - PR activities are aimed at achieving the mutual benefit of the company and the public (“symmetry”);
  • - negotiating, concluding contracts, resolving conflicts, which leads to changes in the views, opinions and behavior of the public and the organization;
  • - transition from journalistic and advertising functions of PR-specialists to research and advisory;
  • - completeness, expressed in the direct impact of PR technologies on economic indicators and social aspects (“intangible assets”);
  • - ideology (ideal model):
    • a) the mechanism of interaction between the organization and the environment - partnership;
    • b) client, consumer, buyer business partners.

At the present stage of development of PR in the West, a mature, saturated market of PR services has formed. In the US alone, more than 5,000 firms are engaged in PR-consulting. Some of them earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Almost all large firms have services that perform PR functions. More than 200 universities and colleges train relevant specialists. American PR these days is a powerful multi-billion dollar business with great development prospects.

In Western Europe, the largest agencies, such as Burson-Marsteer, GCI Europe, etc., set the tone. There is an intensive integration of the PR services market, both vertical (creation of agencies with subsidiaries in which the holding owns more than 50 percent of the shares) and horizontal , or associated (creation of a network of agencies that have less than 50 percent of the shares owned by the holding, or are connected by partnership agreements).

At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, PR activity to an ever lesser extent remained a certain general and clear concept for everyone; to an ever greater extent, the number of directions with their own special designations stood out and constantly increased:

• - Liaising with government institutions and public organizations was called public affairs,
• - corporate image management - corporate affairs,
• - creating a favorable image of the personality - image making,
• - building relationships with the media - media relations,
• - building good relationships with staff, retaining staff - employee communications,
• - public expertise -- public involvement,
• - investor relations
• - relations with consumers of goods or services - consumer relations,
• - holding mobilization (competitions, championships, lotteries) and presentation events - special events,
• - crisis management -- crisis management,
• - management of the process of adequate perception of messages by the audience - message management.

The Russian PR market was developing very actively. He absorbed, on the one hand, the features of agitation and propaganda of the Soviet period, on the other hand, foreign methods of PR technologies. The first domestic PR agencies were created in the late 80s - early 90s: Niccolo M, Imageland PR, Image Contact.

In 1991, RASO (Russian Association for Public Relations) was formed, which has been a member of the European Confederation of Public Relations (CECR) since 1997 and actively cooperates with IPRA. After 10 years, RASO included about 100 organizations - professional PR agencies, commercial, state and public structures, universities.

Since 1992 at the Faculty of International Information (later the Faculty of Journalism) of the Moscow State Institute international relations(MGIMO - University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) there was a specialization "Public Relations". In 2002, it was licensed in 100 Russian universities, and taught as a compulsory course in several dozen more.

Since 1996, the first periodical professional PR magazine Sovetnik has been published, and by 2002 the number of specialized Russian PR publications is about ten, the most famous of which are Message, PR in Russia, PR-dialogue, "Media News".

In 1997, the National Prize in the field of public relations development "Silver Archer" was established, which, in essence, becomes the first certificate of the quality of PR services in the domestic market. Three years later, the “Archer” has a “younger brother” - the All-Russian Prize for Student Work in the Field of Public Relations - “Crystal Orange”.

In 1999-2002, professional ratings of Russian PR agencies were compiled, the number of which in the 2002 questionnaire reaches more than 100.

In 2001, a public Certification Committee was created, which began to conduct a procedure for voluntary certification of PR agencies and individual PR specialists.

Thus, today Russian PR is actively developing, which has led to the emergence of a number of centers of regional PR activity (St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, etc.). In addition, domestic PR has integrated into international institutions, which has resulted, on the one hand, in membership in international PR associations, on the other hand, in the fact that about ten Russian public relations agencies have become members of international network PR agencies.

Public relations

Public relations, PR(English) public relations- public relations, public relations, public relations, public relations, public interaction; in short: ETC- PR) - technologies for creating and implementing, under socio-economic and political systems of competition, the image of an object (ideas, goods, services, personalities, organizations - firms, brands) in the value chain of a social group, in order to consolidate this image as ideal and necessary in life. In a broad sense - the management of public opinion, building relationships between society and government agencies or commercial structures, including for an objective understanding of social, political or economic processes.

The complexity and ambiguity of the definition of the concept

ABBYY Lingvo 12 gives the following definition: Public relations- specialized activity of relighters (PR men and PR women) - specialists in the interests of personalities and corporations, government agencies, charitable foundations and trade associations to create a favorable image of the organization, its representatives, a particular person, product or idea in the eyes of the public and social groups: shareholders, financial the public, employees of companies and institutions, actual or potential customers, and members of municipal, county, state, and federal legislatures. This activity is most often carried out by providing the press, television and radio with relevant information, which is seriously relied upon and counted on by numerous local publications (newspapers and magazines, local radio and television stations).

The concept of "Public Relations" is closely related to such concepts as advertising, propaganda, publicity, journalism, agitation, marketing and management. It is only indirectly connected with the concepts of manipulation and propaganda, since, according to the declared definition, it is an instrument of a conscious dialogue between two equal subjects. However, some people closely connect these concepts due to the realities of the 90s and errors in interpretation.

Disagreements often arise between public relations specialists: whether to include the concept of “Black PR” in the field of PR.

Definitions

To date, there are many definitions of PR, reflecting the presence of a variety of concepts and points of view on the subject. For example:

However, the definition proposed by Professors Lawrence V. Longhi and Vincent Hazelton is considered the best and most adequate in modern practice. They describe public relations as "the communicative function of management by which organizations adapt to, change (or maintain) their environment in order to achieve their organizational goals." This definition is the latest theory that describes public relations as something more than just the formation of certain points of view in society.

If we consider PR as a management function in an organization, then we can give the following definition of PR: PR is the management of communications of an organization with its target audience in order to establish sustainable relationships, trust and mutual understanding.

"PR" or "public relations" - choice of term

At present, in the Russian language, the terms “PR” and “public relations”, which have the same origin, have received different semantic meanings.

As evidenced by documents from the National Corpus of the Russian Language, the term "public relations" is more often used when it comes to an academic discipline, its teaching, scientific research, official documents, formal job titles, etc.

The word "PR" usually characterizes the specific activity of public relations specialists and its result.

In terms of frequency of use in the language, the word “PR” is predominant - 260 documents, against 16 documents that talk about “public relations” .

This is explained by the fact that in everyday life there are significant differences between the academic discipline and real activity: 1) the goal of PR is to achieve results, to impose one's opinion, and public relations are focused on dialogue; 2) PR recognizes any means, and public relations - only legal ones (there may be black PR, but not black public relations); 3) The term "public relations" has a positive connotation in speech, and "PR" has a neutral or negative connotation.

The term "public relations" is promoted by specialists in this discipline, while the actual prevalence of the word "PR" can presumably be explained by the fact that consumers order and pay for PR more often. PR is advertising.

Origins of PR

Public relations is a non-twentieth-century phenomenon, rooted deep in history. These connections are as old as human communication itself. Even during the heyday of civilizations such as Sumer, China, Babylon, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, people were convinced that they should recognize the authority of their governments and their religion. This practice still exists today: interpersonal communication, the art of eloquence, organizing special events, publicity, etc. Of course, this activity has never been called “public relations”, but today, in front of public sector workers who are engaged in similar activities, have the same goals.

History of PR in Russia

In ancient Russia, the authorities used two main channels to bring information to society - the secular state apparatus and church management structures. In the annals, starting from the tenth century. special heralds are mentioned - "birichi" or "biruchi". They had to "click" "at the auction" (in crowded shopping areas) about the appearance of new princely decrees. Later, with the advent of paper and the gradual spread of literacy, the practice of posting written decrees appeared. Through church channels, information (for example, news about the birth of an heir) was brought to the attention of parish priests, and they already passed it on to the flock. Feedback was carried out through "petitions", which each person could submit not only to the relevant government body, but also personally to the head of state. This practice was abolished only by Peter I, who forbade filing petitions personally with the sovereign in cases that had not previously been considered by the relevant state authorities. An illegal, but widely practiced way of communicating with the authorities was the “osprey and conspiracy”, when the people gathered in a “popularity” (large crowd) went to the sovereign or representatives of local authorities with demands and threats (sometimes with a petition).

State PR in foreign media

In Russia, purposeful activities aimed at combating the spread of negative information abroad and the formation of a positive information background have been carried out since the 1660s. The need for this work was due to the fact that the Russian government sought to develop contacts with European countries, and the success or failure of Russian embassies depended on how Russia was assessed in Europe. Besides, Russian government actively engaged in attracting foreigners to the Russian service - military men, doctors, miners, shipbuilders, artists, etc. Negative publications about Russia affected the cost of hiring European specialists. News of various Russian troubles had a negative impact on trade and made it difficult to obtain foreign loans. During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the following methods of influencing the foreign press were tested in practice - diplomatic protests, sending materials prepared in Moscow to foreign publications, paying for the services of foreign publishers and putting pressure on Russia's trade partners associated with European publishers. A significant number of positive publications about Russian state got into the Western press through foreign diplomats working in Moscow, who sought in this way to improve relations with the Russian authorities. The Russian authorities began to pay special attention to PR in foreign media during the reign of Peter I after the start of the Northern War. During these years, special PR agents were hired. Ensuring a "positive press" became one of the daily concerns of Russian ambassadors. The reason for the changes that took place was that Russia was now waging war on European territory against one of the leading European states. The need for support from the maximum number of allies forced to take care of a good (or at least neutral) image. In fact, after the start of the Northern War between Russia and Sweden, an information war also unfolded. Concern for the "positive press" has become the norm for the Russian government, the daily activities of Russian diplomats and agents. By the end of the reign of Peter I, the system of foreign PR was raised to the highest level, which could not be achieved in later periods. The publications of the European press were monitored at two levels (by residents and in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs). The persecution of "pashkvilyants" (those who published negative materials) was provided by international agreements. For example, in Hamburg, one of the most important centers of the European press of that time, it was allowed to publish only those materials that were provided by a Russian resident. The Collegium of Foreign Affairs created a well-established mechanism for "refuting" negative publications and sending out official news. The reliable operation of such a system was reinforced by the fear of Russian troops stationed in German lands. Curiously, the political conjuncture allowed the Russian authorities to pay for the services of PR specialists extremely sparingly and irregularly, as evidenced by numerous petitions agents who were deposited in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs.

The history of the development of public relations as a science

Modern PR technologies were developed in Europe and America: in France and the USA. In 1900, Harvard University already had its own publicity bureau. A publicity office was also established in 1904 at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1912, the first major PR bureau was created at the American Telephone and Telegraph Association.

Public relations departments and specialist firms emerged in the United States in the early 1920s in response to the activities of the Muckrakers. One of its founders are the journalist Ivy Lee (Ivy Lee) and the company of J. Rockefeller (John Davison Rockefeller), whose employee Ivy Lee later became. One of the first public relations campaigns is considered to be a technique invented personally by Rockefeller: the distribution of shiny new dimes to children.

In the early 30s of the 20th century, the post of PR adviser appeared in the US Democratic Party. A similar position in the Republican Party appears in 1936. During this period, PR stands out as an independent management function, which begins to be in demand in the largest US companies.

It can also be noted that at the same time the first specialists in political campaigns appeared.

1945-1965 US PR boom. PR finally stands out in independent direction in management and continues to grow rapidly.

Universities are starting to produce bachelors in PR. By 1965, the number of employees employed in the field of PR exceeded 100 thousand people, by 2000 - 200,000 people in the USA alone.

Types of public relations

Wider meaning of the word PR revealed with the help of epithets:

• Black PR [Darkness-Pear]- the use of "black technologies" (deception, falsification) for slandering, destruction of a competing party, group, etc., dissemination of insulting or economically dangerous statements on its behalf, etc. Sometimes it is enough to confine ourselves to the publication of compromising evidence. The phrase is formed by analogy with the expression "black propaganda". According to one version, it appeared in Russian after the release of Viktor Pelevin's novel "Generation" P "". In fact, the concept of "black PR" existed in Russia long before the release of Pelevin's novel (1999). In the early 1990s, “black” PR was understood mainly as the publication of “paid” articles, regardless of their orientation (“for” or “against”), in contrast to the “correct” PR (the concept of “white” PR was not at all in move) - that is, carried out by more subtle and legal methods.

• pink PR- is based on the technology of myths and legends, and is intended to satisfy the need of people to hide behind a "veil of illusions".
• Yellow PR- use, in order to attract attention, offensive elements for the majority of the population of this state (taboo words in titles, in images - the use of sexual content - from nude, through erotica - to pornography, in public actions - pseudo-homosexuality, making racist, xenophobic statements, etc. . P.)
• Gray PR- advertising (positive or negative), hiding its source. Unlike "black PR", it does not imply a direct lie about its origin. Also, gray PR is sometimes understood as a kind of indirect black PR, which does not contain direct lies and is aimed at the subconscious of the recipient. For example, when the material about the murder specifically mentions that it happened near the office of a certain organization or in the hometown of a certain famous person.
• White PR- the phrase appeared to demonstrate a concept that contrasts with black PR, that is, open advertising on its own behalf. PR in the narrow sense of the word.
• Self-PR- “untwisting” oneself, often anonymously.
• brown PR- something akin to neo-fascist and fascist propaganda.
• Green PR- socially responsible PR.
• Viral PR- the term "viral" means in this context offline distribution. Based on the need of people to share interesting information with their circle of friends and acquaintances.

Another understanding of the directions of public relations can be offered, based on the allocation of certain criteria , namely:

• PR "external" and "internal": according to the criterion of working with target audiences outside and inside organizations; from the technological point of view, in the first case we are talking about working with uncontrolled, in the second - with controlled media;
• PR "positive" and "negative": we are talking about positive, creative or negative, destructive work; many PR-specialists categorically deny the very possibility of considering a negative direction as, in principle, related to public relations;
• PR "negative" and "anti-crisis": "service", providing attacking or defensive business activities; this dichotomy is conceivable only if the question of “negative” PR and anti-crisis counteracting it is seriously raised; the opposite approach, in essence, considers the real society as conflict-free, consisting for the most part of highly moral people;
• PR "everyday" ("routine") and "anti-crisis" ("emergency"): in the first case, we are talking about PR activities in a relatively calm, everyday environment associated with positive activity and allowing a high degree of planning due to the controllability of the situation; in the second - about activities in a situation of time pressure, stress, a high degree of uncertainty caused, as a rule, by "external" forces;
• Everyday PR and project PR: performing either routine, ordinary work, which, in principle, has no time horizons, or activities of a mobilization nature related to the development and implementation of projects;
• PR in the areas of commercial, non-commercial, political and government: implementation of PR activities related to differences in access to resources, greater or lesser degree of risk, greater or lesser ability to perform creative work;
• Personal, organizational and product PR (PR of people, organizations and goods/services): according to the criterion of the work of the PR structure with one or another object of PR promotion;
• "Offline PR" and "Online PR": PR activities in a normal environment or using a full-fledged PR agency and on the Internet or using an online PR agency;
• PR is eventful and sensational: in the first case, the central category is "news", in the second - "sensation" (also news, but one that almost automatically attracts the attention of the press);
• PR support and PR promotion: in the first case, we can talk about news coverage in the media of such independent types of promotion as an exhibition, presentation, press conference, holiday, anniversary, etc., in the second case, about creating such events that are themselves interesting to the media, and whose "promotional" nature is not obvious to the target audiences.

Relighter - "connector", public relations specialist

Relayter (English relaiter) is a public relations specialist, a link between a person or organization (company, enterprise, person) and the public. The field of activity of the relighter is the positioning of persons and organizations, the establishment and maintenance of harmonious relations between the customer (client) and the public. Often, a PR specialist performs the functions of a marketer, advertiser, image maker, brand maker and other related professions.

The duties of a public relations specialist also include the creation, expansion, maintenance of favorable relations with the media (media relations), which includes the selection (selection) of the most suitable publications, television and radio channels, Internet resources that meet the needs of the client and the goals of a particular project. Active work with selected media and constant contact with the public contributes to strengthening the reputation of a person or organization, building up publicity capital and intangible assets in a competitive environment.

Working with the media at present, which is the "fourth power", requires a systematic approach. In this regard, a public relations specialist should take into account the psychology of a journalist, his motivation, desires and needs in today's rapidly changing world. The creation of special events by the relighter should arouse public interest in information, be interesting and relevant, topical.

Volumes of PR services in the Russian Federation

Russian PR agencies

• Fleishman-Hillard Vanguard
• Pro Vision Communications
• PRP Group
• S.P.N. Ogilvy
• Communication group AGT
• Mikhailov & Partners

The international rating of The Holmes Report bulletin (one of the most authoritative independent industry sources about the PR industry in the world) "Top 250 Global Rankings 2011" (global rating of communication companies) includes the following Russian PR companies (the place in the rating is indicated in brackets):

• (48) AGT Communications Group
• (55) CROS (Community Development Company)
• (58) AGT Communications Group
• (174) Pro Vision Group
• (193) Ya Corporate Communication

Industry organizations

• Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communications Management Global Alliance
• Center of Communicative Technologies - CCT Black&White PR (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Created by Nikolay Tseveron
• International organization of companies - consultants in the field of communications ICCO
• Eastern European Network of Independent PR Agencies CEEPR-net
• Russian Association for Public Relations (RASO)
• Association of Public Relations Consultants (AKOS)

Corporate PR (Corp.PR) - the formation of the image of an entrepreneur, his company.

Corp.PR brings results in the form of signed contracts, government orders, investment projects, credit lines, etc. due to the "good" image of the company.

EXAMPLE! David Thomson is the owner of The Thomson Corporation (the world's leading business information solutions company) and patron of the Art Gallery of Ontario. He is a renowned art collector and owns a remarkable collection of paintings by John Constable.

Commercial PR (CPR) - promotion of an entrepreneur's business product, brand promotion.

For example, the need to maintain the legendary Ferrari brand forces its owners to continue the unique manual assembly of the car and bring into its design those qualities that allow them to win the most prestigious races in the world - Formula 1. The Ferrari brand has become a symbol of quality, luxury and comfort.

Internal (intra-corporate) PR - management of relationships within the company.

The main task of internal PR is to build certain trusting relationships between the company's management and personnel at all levels of management.

Components of internal PR:

The presence of a corporate culture;

The effectiveness of the system of interaction between departments and employees in the company;

Motivation for work activity;

Acceptance by employees of the mission and goals of the company.

External PR - contacts with the external environment of the company: with competitors, partners, investors, customers, customers, with everyone except the company's employees.

The services of professional PR agencies are actively used government bodies to create a positive image in international relations and in support of their own economies:

see also

• publicity
• Grass roots (movement)

Literature

• Sam Black Public Relations. What it is?. - M .: News, 1990. - 239 p. -

As a result of studying this chapter, the student should:

• know prerequisites for the formation of public relations;
• be able to highlight the national specifics of public relations;
• own skills of periodization of the development of public relations.

Classification of the stages of development of public relations

Public relations has a long history. There are several classifications of stages (periodizations) in the development of this aspect. public relations.

One of the most common classifications is based on the features of the relationship between the state and society at different stages of social development.

The first historical stage in the development of SO is characteristic of traditional societies (from antiquity to the end of the 18th century). It is called paternalistic(from lat. pater- father). The state at this stage acts as the highest authority (“father”), and society, citizens are in a subordinate position (“children”).

Science and art at that time were in their infancy, information was transmitted through mythology, and later religion. Accordingly, priests and priests were historically the first specialists in SA. They tried to explain the ongoing processes in nature and society by the intervention of higher forces. Secular power was perceived as messengers of these higher powers (gods), called to maintain the unchanging order of things. From the rest of society, unquestioning obedience to spiritual and secular authorities, recognition of their authority and faith in their ability to solve all problems were required.

Thus, the church maintained the legitimacy of secular power. The channel of information between the government and society was one-way. There was no public discussion, any doubt and disagreement with the official version of events were suppressed by force.

The second stage of SO development refers to industrial societies (XIX-XX centuries) and is called clientism(from the word "client").

The word “client” itself appeared in ancient Rome and meant a personally free person who voluntarily is in the service of another person (“patron”) in order to receive certain benefits from him. Subsequently, this word changed its meaning, they began to call the buyer, the person who purchases goods or services.

The client is not forced to purchase these services and goods, but is influenced by persuasion. The sellers’ slogan “the customer is always right” is well-known, but in reality the relationship between the seller and the client is one-sided - the seller determines the range and price of goods, and the client only decides whether to buy these goods at such a price or not. If there is one seller for a certain type of product or service (monopoly), then the client does not even have such a choice.

This situation is possible not only in trade, but also in information sphere and in politics. In such cases, the seller is the one who provides certain information, and the client is the one to whom this information is intended. If the client believed the information, then we can assume that he "bought" it. The seller affects the emotions and feelings of customers and thus bribes them, forcing them to believe in themselves.

The third stage in the development of SR began at the end of the 20th century, during the period of the emergence of post-industrial (information) societies. The type of interaction inherent in them is usually called cooperation. Ego is associated with the emergence of various channels of information, which gives a person the opportunity to compare incoming information and make independent decisions. No one has a monopoly on the production and dissemination of information, its content is becoming extremely diverse. In order to be in demand, the communicator (the goth who initiates the interaction) must adapt to the interests of his audience, take into account their opinion. Thus, information interactions acquire a two-way character.

Another classification belongs to the American researcher James Gruning. He proposed to single out four successive stages, or models, of SO development, describing the change in the function of this activity.

1. Press mediation stage (XIX century) is characterized by a situation in which a party interested in disseminating certain information reports a certain set of facts to representatives of the media, which at that time were newspapers. Further, the media bring this information to their audience in almost the same form as they were received, only with minimal literary processing. Example: a presidential candidate gathers representatives of the press or sends them a written appeal with his program, and newspapers print this appeal verbatim, without any criticism or comments on their part, leaving readers to judge the accuracy and completeness of the information.

So the press comes out mediator between the communicator and his audience. It can be seen that the information channel here is one-way. A variation of this type of communication is propaganda. In the modern communication space, there is the concept of "publicity" (publicity), which has the characteristics of a press-intermediary model.

Publicity is the free placement by the media of factual information about a person or organization, usually in the format of a news report, the content of which this person or organization have no direct influence.

• 2. Stage informing(first half of the 20th century) is associated with the formation of SO as a special type professional activity, an increase in the number of channels of information interaction (the emergence of radio and television). Within the framework of this model, the media are no longer just trying to convey the information of the communicator to their audience, but pre-process this information in order to make it more objective and accurate. Newspapers no longer only publish ready-made messages from politicians and businessmen, but accompany them with their comments, invite experts and analysts who explain to the audience the meaning of these messages, separate facts from subjective opinions, reliable information from unverified information. The concept appears media reputation: for the communication of deliberately false information, not only their customer is responsible, but also the publication that placed this information without verification. At the same time, the channel of information continues to be one-sided: the media supply the society with information, while the society itself has almost no influence on the content of this information.
• 3. Bilateral asymmetric communication (mid-late 20th century) basically corresponds to the previous model, but now communicators are beginning to more actively involve society in the discussion of information messages. The purpose of such involvement is to find out how the audience perceives media messages, whether they believe them, whether they share the broadcast settings. If it turns out that an inefficient method of communication has been chosen and the audience does not perceive incoming messages well, the communicator decides to change the form of messages or the channel for their transmission. The essence of this model is to make the audience believe the broadcast messages. In fact, such a task has always been faced by communicators. But if earlier its achievement did not require much effort, since the population was mostly illiterate, and the flow of information was limited, now people have become more critical of information messages, and in order to convince them, the whole arsenal of modern technologies and scientific knowledge is required. achievements of communication theory, psychology, sociology.
• 4. Bilateral symmetrical the model (the end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century) makes it possible to use the intellectual potential of the whole society in communication. If earlier the communicator was always sure of the truth of the messages he broadcast and tried by all means to convince the audience of this, now he invites the audience to discuss certain messages and determine whether they are true. If the majority of the audience declares that a particular message is irrelevant, unfair and incorrect, then the communicator no longer seeks to broadcast the same message again, in a different form, as in the previous model, but changes its attitude towards this message, taking into account the opinion audience.

Example: within the framework of a bilateral asymmetric model, a political leader, faced with the rejection of his program in a certain audience, changes the manner of presentation and the channel of communication, but not the content of the program. Now he sets out the same program in different words and in a different setting, more appropriate, in the opinion of the audience. In the framework of a bilateral symmetrical model, the politician offers his voters a set of program points and asks the audience for their opinion on them. People speak out about the proposed theses, criticize them, offer their arguments for and against. The politician carefully listens to all opinions and includes in the final program only those theses that have found mass support from the audience.

A number of comments should be made on the proposed classifications:

• each model of social relations corresponds to a certain level of development of society: a bilateral symmetrical model is not applicable in a traditional society oriented towards following authorities, and early models are poorly applicable in modern societies with a developed individual consciousness;
• each model is presented in the most superficial form, but in reality they all have a lot of nuances that take into account the regional, national, cultural context;
• in modern communications authorities and society in each country there are elements of all types of social relations. Each next stage does not cancel the previous one, but supplements it with new forms of communication;
• the described models are equally applicable both in the relationship between the state and citizens, and in the communications of commercial structures and their audiences. Public participation in the development and adoption of government decisions within the framework of a two-way symmetrical communication model is very important, as it contributes to the development of civil society institutions and a democratic state.

The American scientist R. Smith in his book “Public relations history” identifies 4 main stages in the development of public relations.

The first stage - "The Era of Manipulation" - falls on the beginning of the 19th century. It was during this period, in 1807, in the draft of the Seventh Address to Congress, that US President Thomas Jefferson first used the phrase "public relations." At the initial stage of its existence, public relations were more of a political nature. The main task was to intensify the actions of various political institutions, aimed at increasing loyalty on a national scale. This period was distinguished primarily by one-sided communication. The work with the public did not involve establishing a dialogue, but informing about the activities of the government.

Later, in 1829, Jefferson's successor, Andrew Jackson, invited Amos Kendall to the White House as a press officer, who, working with the media, invented and applied the method of "information leakage". Also, with his light hand, the first government newspaper Globe began to be published. Work with press releases was built as follows. Initially, a press release from the White House was sent to small local newspapers, then reprinted in the Globe with a note on the source of the information. At the same time, a small local publication was naturally indicated as a source of information. This approach was aimed primarily at creating the image of a favorite president in the most remote corners of the United States. Kendall also introduced in 1930 the concept of "relationships for the general good" ("relations for the general good"). The 1830s and 1940s were characterized by the appearance of the first consulting agencies and press agents. Their activities were aimed at establishing and maintaining good relations with the media.

The second stage, which began at the beginning of the 20th century, was called the “Era of information”. This period was characterized by a number of major changes that took place in the public life of the United States. Large industrialists did not seek to establish a dialogue with the public. The economy developed, small enterprises were replaced by large ones. The main goal was to obtain maximum profit, the interests of society were not taken into account. It was at this time that a group of journalists appeared on the domestic arena of the United States, called "mudrakers." They sought out facts and made them widely known to the public. As a result, representatives of large companies have become more and more active in using press agents to explain the point of view of the company or its representatives.

So, the father of world public relations is called the journalist Ivy Ledbetger Lee. Since 1903, he began to actively act as a press agent, in fact, performing the functions of a public relations specialist. Lee was the first to speak openly about the need to work with the general public. True, during this period, communication was still built unilaterally. The public was not involved in the dialogue, the main task was to inform. In 1907, Lee published a declaration of principles in which he spoke of the need for cooperation large corporations with the media in the provision and dissemination of information. The "Declaration of Principles" is considered the prototype of modern CO codes of ethics.

The beginning of the third stage, or "Era of Persuasion", dates back to the middle of the 20th century. More precisely, 1923, when the book Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays appears. In it, he talks about the concept of public relations as well as the responsibilities of PR advisors. However, Bernays introduces a broader definition, combining public relations and publicity and introducing the concept of "fame management". The communication process ceases to be one-sided, a dialogue is being established. Public relations began to be regarded as a science and art of management, the first professional associations appeared: the Public Relations Association in the USA, the Public Relations Institute in Great Britain in 1948.

End of XX century marked the fourth stage in the development of public relations. Today, SOs are aimed primarily at building relationships of mutual understanding and cooperation, as well as at resolving crisis and conflict situations with the least losses. The communication process is two-way. The number of communication channels used is increasing. Public relations are used at all levels: international, national, regional and local. In every serious company there is a public relations department; in small and medium-sized businesses, the department is replaced by a PR manager.

At one time, Turkey, which actively developed the tourism business, faced an acute problem of attracting American tourists. Studies have shown that an American tourist who could visit Turkey is a person over the age of 40 with an annual income of 50,000 dollars. As a secondary audience of influence, the mainstream media and heads of American travel agencies pulled up. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were the priority markets. Initially, a tour was organized for media representatives and travel agencies. A documentary film about Turkey was also shown. The topic of religious tourism was highlighted separately. In addition, a manual was issued for tour operators operating in Turkey and a Turkish tourism news bureau was established. Also, a series of articles about the cultural heritage of Turkey, its customs and customs was published in a number of local American newspapers. As a result, at the end of the campaign, the number of American tourists was 11.4% of the total number of foreign tourists.

By the end of the XX century. the main directions of public relations have developed, which, perhaps, will stand out as separate disciplines. These include:

work with state institutions (government relations);

investor relations;

corporate relations (corporate relations);

relations with the media (media relations);

organization and holding of special events (special events);

image making;

crisis management (crisis management);

message management.

"Public relations" (PR; Public relations - public relations) - a very rich concept in terms of the number of "names" given to it. When in 1975 one of the American foundations ( Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education) undertook an in-depth study of this topic, about 500 definitions of PR were identified. The participants of the study did not limit themselves to simple calculations, but carefully analyzed the collected materials and derived their own, synthesized definition, which was as follows:

Is this definition enough to understand the essence of PR? Of course no. But not at all because the 65 scientists involved in the mentioned study misunderstood something. It's just that "public relations" is a constantly evolving system, and the variety of its descriptions only indicates the emergence or dominance of any trends in certain periods or among certain groups of researchers and practitioners. It is from this point of view that it is advisable to make a brief analysis of a number of interpretations of PR.

Returning to the above definition, we note that for all its versatility, the leading accent is clearly traced in it: PR is some kind of activity to organize universal cooperation in the name of "serving the interests of the public." This kind of approach, which can be conditionally called altruistic, is present in dozens of other definitions of PR, both earlier and later.

For example, the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), created in the UK in 1948, adopted the following interpretation:

An equally "altruistic" definition, reflecting the focus of PR on achieving abstract social harmony, is offered by the well-known English PR specialist Sam Black:

The "altruistic" approach to PR is enshrined in Webster's rather popular dictionary ( webster. New International Dictionary):

However, there is another approach (let's call it compromise), which focuses on other factors: firstly, we are not talking about abstraction at all, but about satisfying specific interests; secondly, the organization takes into account the interests of the public so that its interests are adequately perceived. Such an understanding of PR in the first decades of the 20th century was offered by one of the "fathers" of "public relations" - Edward Bernays, who wrote:

It is quite natural that the number of supporters of this, in our opinion, more vital approach, persisted and multiplied over time. For example, an authoritative forum of representatives of more than 30 national and regional PR associations, who gathered in 1978 in Mexico City for the first World Assembly of PR Associations, offered the following interpretation:

Finally, it is worth highlighting a purely pragmatic approach, devoid of any kind of "biblical" touch. So, even John Rockefeller said that the ability to communicate with people is a commodity that can be bought just like we buy sugar or coffee, and emphasized that he was ready to pay more for such a skill than for anything else in the world. It is clear that by the word "communicate" the American millionaire meant management through communication.

The same approach was pointed out many decades later by political scientists of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. In accordance with their definition, recorded in the 1997 book Public Relations - Public Relations - State Power and Administration, PR is "specialized, professionally organized activity of management, but management of a special kind. This is targeted management of the state of public opinion in a certain area, corporate relations, carried out by non-violent (and not administrative-command) means".

The authors of the Dictionary of New Foreign Words, prepared in 1995 by Moscow State University scientists, turned out to be pragmatists, where PR is understood as "the organization of public opinion in order to most successfully operate an enterprise (institution, firm) and increase its reputation. It is carried out in different ways, but primarily through the media. The art of relationships between state (management), public structures and citizens in the interests of the whole society."

In general, all of the above definitions can be characterized as meaningful (meaningful). In addition to them, there is a group instrumental definitions, i.e. those that answer the question of what methods, techniques, tools are used to carry out PR activities.

For example, the Dictionary of Sociology, published in the United States back in 1944, emphasizes that the theory and methods of PR "involves the use of sociology, social psychology, economics, political science, as well as the special skills of a journalist, artist, organizer, advertising specialist, etc. to solve specific problems in the field of public relations."

Perhaps new facets of understanding the term "publications" are given by an attempt to find for it synonyms. A number of researchers use the concept of "communication management" as a synonym for PR (for example, the book by A.B. Zverintsev, published in 1997), deciphering it as "professional activity aimed at achieving effective communication both within the organization and between the organization and its external environment.

A similar definition is offered by A.F. Veksler. In her dissertation prepared in 1998, "public relations" is the management of the entire set of communication processes of an organization in relations with the public in order to achieve mutual understanding and support.

PR as a theory of communication is considered in his book by F.I. Sharkov

To this should be added that at the turn of the second and third millennia, not only individual researchers, but also the world PR community as a whole, again attended to the analysis of the definitions of the type of activity under consideration. Thus, in 1999, by decision of the European Confederation of Public Relations (CERP), a terminological working group headed by T. Barat (Hungary) was created, which prepared a report on the interpretations of PR used in European countries. Based on this report, the CERP General Assembly in June 2000 recommended that all practitioners in Europe use the following definition: "PR is the conscious organization of communication. PR is one of the functions of management. The goal of PR is to achieve mutual understanding and establish a fruitful relationship between an organization and its audiences through two-way communication."

Indeed, PR is ultimately the construction of a system of harmonious (and therefore effective) communications that contribute to the achievement of the desired result. However, here we come to a very important issue that we will encounter more than once throughout the book. If PR is a type of management activity, then what exactly do we manage? Building houses, manufacturing consumer goods, shaping wages? Not! The function of PR is to control only perception. Hence, a house, a consumer product and a salary, a PR specialist should take exclusively for granted. It is not in his competence to advise how best to build, produce, charge. The task of PR is to change the attitude to the product (project, action, object, leader) without changing the real essence, i.e. PR is perception management through consciously organized communications.

In a lecture given at The Baltic PR Weekend International Conference in St. Petersburg in 2005, one of the world's oldest PR specialists, founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Burson Marsteller Agency X. Burson defined PR as a methodology for influencing public opinion and behavior. Speaking about the specifics of this impact, X. Berson named three possible options:

create a non-existent opinion (setting),

to strengthen the existing opinion (installation),

change some mind (setting).

Let's add to this that we are talking about the creation / strengthening / changing of an opinion, but not a product (project, action, facility, leader) as such, the production essence of which in each of the above cases lies outside the competence of a PR specialist and can remain unchanged.

At the same time, a number of other activities represent the construction of a communication system and its management. Therefore, it makes sense to compare and identify the difference between the definitions of "public relations" and the concepts that intersect in a number of ways.

One such concept is "lobbyism". Initially (in the 17th century) and literally translated, the word lobby meant a corridor where members of the English Parliament went out for walks or voting; lobby. Later, lobbyists began to be called people - regulars on the sidelines, working on members of parliament or congress in favor of a particular bill.

In the 19th century in the United States, the term "lobbyism" began to refer to the purchase of votes for money in the corridors of Congress.

Today, behind-the-scenes bribery is only a part of this phenomenon, but in general, modern lobbying is a multi-stage communication process, including a system of argumentation and a mechanism for preparing and adopting regulations in favor of certain socio-political forces. However, in all cases we are talking about promoting interests (and, accordingly, about building communication) through public authorities.

Another term that does not have a Russian equivalent, but is widely known in the West, is advocacy (from advocate - upholding, supporting, promoting views and interests) also means organizing communication in order to promote interests, but unlike lobby, it is about communication and promotion interests not only through public authorities, but also through any other structures: domestic and international public organizations, commercial firms, political parties, through influential personalities, etc. In other words, the concept of advocacy is broader than lobby .

The difference between PR and lobby and advocacy lies in the greater breadth of the concept. The communication subjects of PR already include both their own staff and the mass of the population related to a certain profile of activity. As for the purpose of communication, it consists not only in promoting a certain interest, but also in preparing the ground, additional conditions for such promotion.

It makes sense to deal with such communication-instrumental "relatives" of PR as propaganda and advertising. With regard to propaganda, there are two main lines of opinion. According to the first direction, propaganda and PR practically do not differ from each other: both concepts mean the use of certain technologies for the effective introduction of any theses into the mass consciousness.

However, most PR people, to which the authors of this book belong, believe that it is wrong to call their activities propaganda, and here's why:

propaganda allows the distortion of figures and facts in someone's interests, while PR is based on truthful information;

propaganda has a rigid setting and seeks to force people to accept (change) a certain point of view, without being interested in whether they want it or not; PR are softer in nature and only offer people to use some information, and then voluntarily accept (reject) certain opinions and ideas;

finally, propaganda emphasizes a one-sided impact on an individual or group; PR in without fail involve the establishment of a mechanism for two-way communication, receiving and taking into account the oncoming signal from the audience.

Turning to the pair "PR - advertising", it should be noted: the similarity between them is expressed in the fact that during the development of information campaigns, PR firms and advertising agencies use similar steps and techniques to identify target audiences and formulate the main messages. In the future, often the same tools are used to carry out these messages - oral conversations, direct mailing of text messages, mass media. But this is where the differences begin.

If the main advertising mechanism is the paid use of newspaper space and airtime to post client information, then the task of a PR specialist is to ensure that information coming from a client is placed solely due to its relevance both for the journalists themselves and for their readers, viewers and listeners.

Further. If advertising is a relationship openly paid by the seller of a product or service between him and the buyer, which also has formal features (for example, the heading "advertising") and is regulated by a special law (in the domestic situation, this is the Law of the Russian Federation "On Advertising"), then links with are much less specified by the public. While advertising is measurable and controllable in terms of reach and impact, public relations activities are not easily recognized, much less measured for effectiveness. According to the figurative expression of E. Blazhnov, "PR is a special advertisement, it is an advertisement of a delayed acquisition, an advertisement of an upcoming purchase." In other words, if advertising is directly focused on a specific result, then PR is aimed at creating indirect favorable conditions for its achievement.

The next difference is that if advertising is a campaign limited in time and volume to throw certain doses of "good news" into the public space, then the PR mechanism is more subtle and focused on building continuous relationships with various social groups, and on a variety of occasions. , including negative ones.

In conclusion of the paragraph, summarizing the above, we will try to determine the meaning of the words that make up the term "public relations". So what is "public"? This is the internal and external environment of some organization or project. This environment is divided into categories such as company personnel, members of a public formation, partners and opponents, real and potential consumers of goods and services of a certain organization; moreover, these goods and services can act as materialized objects, as well as leaders, programs, ideas, etc.

Actions aimed at building communications and harmonizing the relationship between the elements of the environment make up the meaning of the concept of "connection". It should be emphasized that these connections, implemented primarily through the mass media (mass media), are designed to exert a targeted influence on public opinion for given and often different purposes. In one case, such influence is aimed at obtaining public support, in another - achieving public understanding or neutrality, in the third - mitigating the consequences of crisis and conflict situations.

No matter how we define public relations, in any case, we will have to admit that this is not so much a science and technology invented by someone, but an objectively and constantly present in society function aimed at creating a favorable (neutralizing unfavorable) background around and inside some object at some time and to some extent. Another thing is that the means and methods for implementing this function can be applied with a greater or lesser degree of awareness, based on fragmentary empirical information or a coherent system of scientific information, motivated by various factors, etc.

Since ancient times, as socialization progressed, a person has established himself in society as an active person - with the help of not only strength, but also persuasion. He strove for recognition in society, demonstrating his abilities and capabilities to others as an active worker, a wealthy person, a leader, a warrior, a boss, a politician, a ruler, a leader, a king, a king, a president, a leader, a boss. Persuasion in a word, personal example, high reputation, attractive image, the impression made contributed to attractiveness and trust, formed a benevolent attitude in society.

Getting into the world, a person already by birth belonged to some communities (nations, nationalities, language groups, strata, classes, communities, etc.). For the convenience of getting their daily bread and survival, in the process of life, they united with others in collective corporations - artels, workshops, family partnerships, cooperatives, joint-stock companies, guilds, holdings, conglomerates.

Life products had to be brought to market. In the process of exchange - natural, barter, commodity-money, in the conditions of market expansion, a variety of goods and services, competition between producers and sellers developed, which required effective persuasion of buyers in favor of a particular product, and therefore, in favor of a particular producer, that they are the best. These efforts to create the necessary public opinion, to convince you that you are the most the best professional, and your enterprise is the most effective, adequately fit into the rationale for public relations technology.

The history of PR is closely connected with the history of human culture and is very exciting in itself, as it touches on such aspects human activity as art, politics, economics, system of public relations.

So, you need to study the history of PR in order to:

better understand the functions of PR, their strengths and weaknesses;

with the help of awareness of historical roots to see the place and purpose of PR in modern society;

to understand the essence of the historical context, which is extremely important for the further professionalization of modern PR practice;

find interesting examples of creative moves in the past that can be used for modern marketing communications.

Considering PR in a historical retrospective, we can talk about several chronological stages of their development, in each of which (npotoPR of ancient times, PR in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, PR in the gallant XVII century, PR in the Age of Enlightenment and great revolutions, PR of an industrial society) characteristic features and examples are distinguished in accordance with the characteristics of the era.

At various stages of human development, researchers record four content models PR activities:

I. "Manipulation", "propaganda", "publicity" (a description of the stages from npotoPR to PR of the gallant age, as well as the totalitarian and authoritarian states of our days).

Character traits:

any means are used to attract the attention of the public, pressure on it;

consumer-victim;

truthfulness and objectivity of information - optional conditions, ethical aspects are ignored;

the main conductor is the media.

II. "informing", "informing the public", "public awareness". All this can be equated with the concept of "journalism" (it arises simultaneously with the stage of development of "state journalism" and develops as there is competition in corporate publications during the industrial revolution of the 19th century, it develops during the period of industrial society).

Character traits:

regular work with the media, the goal is the dissemination of information;

the information is accurate and truthful, only positive (negative facts and events are hushed up);

feedback study is not expected;

technology "journalists-in-residence" (journalist at the firm).

III. "Two-way asymmetric communication" (appears at the beginning of the 20th century, is associated with the names of A. Lee, E. Bernays, A. Page).

Character traits:

use of research methods (to determine what information will cause a positive public reaction, therefore - "two-sidedness", dialogue);

the result is asymmetric - only the organization wins, not the public;

PR are pragmatic in nature, the organization pursues the goal - obtaining benefits.

IV. "Two-way symmetrical communication" (appears in a regulated business situation).

Character traits:

full awareness by the subject of PR activities of the need for mutual understanding and consideration of the mutual influence of the environment and the organization;

PR activities are aimed at achieving the mutual benefit of the company and the public ("symmetry");

negotiating, concluding agreements, resolving conflicts, which leads to changes in the views, opinions and behavior of the public and the organization;

completeness, expressed in the direct impact of PR technologies on economic indicators and social aspects ("intangible assets");

ideology (ideal model):

a) the mechanism of interaction between the organization and the environment - partnership;

b) client, consumer, buyer - business partners.

If we talk about the so-called systemic PR, the first country where it appeared was the United States of America. It is believed that the term "public relations" itself was born in the United States, and its author was Thomas Jefferson, the third American president, who used this phrase in 1807 in a draft of his Seventh Address to Congress. By intensifying public relations, he meant building up the efforts of political institutions to create a climate of trust on a national scale.

The first PR campaigns in America were of a pronounced political nature and were developed as a technique for putting pressure on the British government.

To push the public to openly express dissatisfaction, the following PR methods were used:

the creation of special public organizations for campaigning and organizing events ("Sons of Liberty" in Boston - 1766; "Correspondent Committees" in Boston - 1772);

the use of easily recognizable and emotional symbols (for example, the "Freedom Tree");

formation of the image of the "heroes of the nation" to D. Washington, E. Allen and the creation of legends;

the use of slogans as catchy slogans (eg "Give me freedom or death", "Taxation without representation is tyranny");

organization of special events to attract public attention and form public opinion in support of the idea ("Boston Tea Party" in 1773);

bringing to the attention of the public specially interpreted information as a form of agitation (for example, S. Adams presented a shootout between a group of British soldiers and a gang of port hooligans as the famous "Boston Massacre", which became an emotional symbol of Britain's rudeness and oppression of the colonies);

use of newspapers for campaigning (37 titles):

a) the radical nature of the materials;

b) manipulation of "emotional" topics for greater impact on readers (for example, the appalling living conditions of Negro and Indian colonies);

c) the publication of pamphlets (1500), using satire, irony, allegory, even swearing for the emotional perception of already published rational arguments;

d) leaflets and appeals (the prototype of news releases).

The result of the work of the revolutionaries with the press was that more than 2/3 of American newspapers welcomed the revolution, largely shaping public opinion.

Thus, during the struggle for the independence of the United States, the simplest PR technologies were worked out, which later became widespread.

When it comes to economic and social connections with the public, they were combined with advertising in Europe of the advantages and cheapness of uninhabited American lands in order to attract new colonists and funds to America and form an attractive image of the colonies by manipulating public consciousness. PR technologies were closely associated with the first attempts to attract philanthropists, sponsors and potential investors to build new American educational institutions.

Technologies for promoting the individual image of a leader were formed around the supporters of American independence A. Hamilton, T. Jefferson, D. Adams, B. Franklin, P. Page. During the years of preparation and course of the revolution, the founding fathers of the United States faced a difficult task: to position the not very popular idea of ​​the independence of the colonies in the conditions of the 14-year-long war, when the majority of the population, especially in the initial period of the struggle, did not have a clear position regarding independence.

President A. Lincoln's PR technologies played a significant role in the development of political relations with the public. He not only used the traditional means of agitation (pamphlets, publications, letters of protest, petitions, organizing new newspapers), but also developed new techniques for winning public sympathy through the media: free access for reporters to the White House to obtain first-hand information - through the secretary of the president , publication of presidential addresses, their targeted mailing to the states, establishing links with European movements, for example, for the abolition of slavery, organizing a correspondent network directly in the combat areas of the North and South.

Land development was accompanied by their popularization through media publications, slogans, case stories about the Wild West. America's first superstar was Buffalo Bill, who went from Indian war hero to press agent and showman.

In the 19th century in the USA, PR technologies begin to penetrate into all spheres of life - banking, transport, the armed forces, government and social, and even show business, where one of the "pioneers of PR" was the owner of the circus Pineas T. Barnum . The latter caused a stir around Joyce Heth, an old black woman who claimed to have babysat George Washington 100 years ago. Barnum wrote letters to newspapers about this fact under assumed names, and in order to look at the phenomenon, gullible New Yorkers brought the adventurer fifteen hundred dollars a week. True, when the old woman died, tests showed that she was 80-85 years old, but not 160, as Barnum claimed. But the "PR man" said he was misled...

In the 19th century, the figure of the first professional press secretary appeared, which was the assistant to President E. Jackson A. Kendall: he prepared public speeches for the president, wrote speeches, pamphlets for him, developed PR strategies, studied public opinion and formed an image.

The beginning of the 20th century opened the history of the progenitors of modern PR agencies and departments - Publicity Bureaus (publicity bureau). They appeared in Boston in 1900 and in the next decade became an indispensable tool for many areas of business, conducted PR consulting in various areas of life, worked out the latest PR technologies and largely replaced lawyers from the traditional sphere of lobbying the interests of companies, demonstrating the importance of working with public opinion and the public.

At this time, a "significant" figure in the history of PR appears - Ivy Lee, who contributed to the penetration into PR of advanced social theories and concepts for that time, was the author major works, such as the "Declaration of Principles" (1907), "Publicity" (1925), etc. Lee worked as a reporter in the publications of J. Pulitzer and W. R. Hearst. Professional path in PR, he began in politics, leading the 1903 re-election campaign for the mayor of New York. Further, his activity moves from the sphere of politics to the sphere of business: he worked with a large railway company, with J. Rockefeller, with Standard Oil, Chrysler, everywhere he achieved success, thereby popularizing the possibilities of professional PR.

Lee developed "internal PR": working for Rockefeller, he organized a complaints committee for workers, forced the multimillionaire to travel around all the Mines, meet with workers. By the end of this campaign, Rockefeller had become not only a hero in the eyes of the miners, but also a popular man for the public. In keeping with Lee's idea of ​​"humanizing" business and political leaders, Rockefeller and his family were shown to the public playing golf, attending church, celebrating birthdays. This paid off - the public recognized the Rockefellers as the most outstanding philanthropists of the nation.

Lee can be considered the founder of such a direction in PR as "communications in times of crisis." His PR actions are widely known in connection with strikes, railway accidents, and tariff increases. He is credited with proving the possibilities of PR greater than direct lobbying - his honest informing the public about the problems of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the need to increase tariffs in connection with this turned out to be more effective than the previous work of lobbyists.

Lee was the first of the PR-specialists to take the place of one of the leading managers of a large company. It was he who first demonstrated the possibilities of PR in Europe, managing the branch of an American bank in London in 1910.

Lee's PR methods, which he tried out during World War I with the Red Cross, generated a large influx of sponsorship funds into the organization's account and are still copied by modern charitable institutions.

Lee revives the very term "PR" and formulates new principles of professional activity in the field of PR.

Based on the classifications of PR models that we proposed at the beginning of the chapter, Li's professional activity can be attributed to the "informing" model, and the foundations of "symmetrical communication" were laid in certain technologies.

During the First World War, the propaganda campaign acquired a national scale and showed some new PR opportunities associated with the creation in May 1917 of the Committee of Public Information (CTI) under the government of W. Wilson. Such PR methods were introduced as propaganda of the US position in the war abroad, appearances by prominent figures of the country in the programs of the Committee, the provision of free space for the promotion of military operations (the prototype of social advertising), and direct censorship of information of a military nature.

During these years, the activity of another patriarch of American and world PR begins - Edward Bernays, who is the author of the terms "PR adviser" and "PR specialist" ("consent engineer"). It was he who initiated the transformation of PR from technology and practice into science. Bernays' first course on the practice and ethics of PR in 1923 at New York University had a significant impact on the teaching of the disciplines of this cycle around the world. From his works, such as, for example, "The Crystallization of Public Opinion" (1923), American specialists learned about European social schools and trends.

After the war, PR technologies demonstrate the possibility of a psychological impact on the public, which is revealed in Lippmann's works "Freedom and News" (1920) and "Public Opinion" (1922). The first book shows that in journalistic reports "there is very little field of exact knowledge" and in order to avoid falsification, it is necessary to identify the source of the news. In another book, a detailed substantiation of the psychological approach to the process of forming public opinion is given.

A. Page, a former PR expert and vice president of ATT, had a noticeable influence on the development of PR in the 20-30s of the XX century. He was the author of the idea of ​​the social responsibility of business, which is important for entrepreneurs and the public. Corporate management must meet the needs of the public and be accountable to it. In this regard, firms' PR departments must have a real impact on management.

Despite the period of the Great Depression and its consequences, it was in the 1930s that intensive professionalization and institutionalization of PR began: in 1936, the The National Association ofAcredited Publicity Directors, in 1938 - The American Association of Industrial Editors, in 1939 - The American Council on Public Relations. In parallel, before the Second World War, the formation of the foundations of the theory of PR begins.

The years of World War II gave a new impetus to the development of PR as a professional activity. At this time, first of all, government PR was actively developing. The adoption of measures for strict state regulation of relations between labor and capital (recognition of the legal status of trade unions), the mutual obligation of workers (to avoid strikes) and entrepreneurs (not to resort to layoffs), an agreement between the government and the media on the introduction of certain elements of censorship, the implementation of the Lend-Lease program - all this required serious work to inform the public and resolve specific situations with very diverse target groups.

An important role in this was played by the activities of the Military Advertising Council, created in the United States, whose tasks included informing the public about all aspects of military activity, supporting the actions of the government and its positive image at home and abroad, cooperation between the industrial sector and the public, creating a "single stream" of military information under government control. E. Davis, a well-known figure in the history of PR and journalism, is appointed the first director of the Committee for Military Information. In 1943, the military opened its own Army News Agency.

Wars in general, and primarily the Second World War, are, according to some researchers, the main stimulus for the rapid development of PR - not only in the United States, but also in Great Britain, Germany, France, and other countries.

For example, S. Black believes that it was the work in the army services and the Ministry of War Information that prepared for the UK many PR specialists who, after the war, decided to make a career in this area. In particular, NALGO (British National Association of Municipal and Government Officials), the municipal authorities became very interested in former propagandists, their technologies and began to move them into a new field, creating departments of "publications".

The first "foreign relations" services appeared after the war in French government agencies and private companies, despite the fact that the term "public relations" (les relations publiques) had not yet been introduced into circulation.

Although the PR activity developing in Europe was strongly influenced by American approaches, after the Second World War, their own scientific schools of "public relations" began to gradually form. Thus, during the period of the "German economic miracle" of the 1950s, German specialists paid more attention to PR. In Germany, a special concept of "public relations" was developing, treating public relations as a tool of interpretation and integration, with which it is possible to ensure constant interaction in the political, economic and social spheres and to contain the so-called effect of alienation of people.

According to one of the pioneers of "public relations" in Germany - A. Oekla, the main tasks of PR were to help individual subjects navigate the society, receive correct information and form their own opinion. This trend continues to develop in the works of M. Kunchik, F. Bogner and G. Bentele.

Representatives of the French school of PR of the post-war period also sought to develop their own principles and technologies in this area and were very cautious about the American concept of "public relations", where the principle of promoting corporate interest dominated. As M. Crozier stated, in particular, American PR-experts ultimately sell to citizens the public opinion ordered by the monopolies.

The actual spread of PR in the international space in the post-war period was accompanied by a number of significant formal events in the field of public relations:

R. Harlow founds Public Relation Journal (1945);

as a result of the merger of regional PR associations, a Public Relations Society of America(PRSA;1948);

International Chamber of Commerce establishes PR Commission (1953);

PRSA develops the first code of ethics for PR (1954);

in London, the International PR Association (IPRA) is created, its charter is officially adopted, the IPRA Council is elected (1955);

The IPRA adopts the PR Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (1961).

There is a further professionalization and institutionalization of PR activities. By 1980, about 4,000 certified PR specialists were graduating from US universities.

At this time, the "autonomization" of American society took place, when it seemed that a single nation was disintegrating into many components, each of which insists on its own interests and expresses them in protest forms (civil rights movements, women's, consumers', farmers', anti-war movements) . PR-specialists needed help in organizing social relationships between business leaders and the public. Following this public request, numerous seminars on management, PR technologies were organized on the topics: how to communicate with various target groups of the public, how to use the media and other information channels, how to prepare for a crisis and get out of it with the least losses.

A scientific discussion grew about the role of PR and the further expansion of their influence and areas of activity. F. Kotler's well-known statement that it is necessary to add a fifth component to the traditional four "pi" of marketing - Public Relations, caused an immediate negative reaction from such public relations specialists as J. Grünig, J. White, W. Eling.

This creative discussion continued into the more modern period of PR development - after 1980. It is characterized by the following tendencies:

development of a set of measures that will allow to control the development and application of PR:

a) supplementing and amending codes of professional ethics, primarily PRSA and IPRA, adoption of new national and international Documents (the European Lisbon Code of Professional Conduct in the field of PR);

b) attempts to license PR practice;

deterioration of relations with the traditionally main channel of communication with the public - the media ("manipulation of news by PR methods", "method of complex manipulation of PR attention", "PR tricks");

the transition from external consulting to making independent decisions in the organization, to an ever greater association of PR with management, referring them to one management function;

internationalization and globalization of PR, going beyond the national framework (increasing members of the International PR Association (IPRA), the International Organization of Public Relations Consultants (ICCO), the creation of national associations, the institutionalization of this activity in almost all medium and large companies in developed countries, the development of international network agencies such as Burson-Marsteller, Schandwicke Europe, EPIC, Porter Novelli Intern, HillKnowlton, GCI Europe and etc.).

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, a mature, saturated market for PR services was formed. So, in the US, more than 5 thousand firms are engaged in PR-consulting. Some of them earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Almost all large firms have services that perform PR functions. More than 250 thousand advertisers and more than 130 thousand journalists are employed in this area. More than 200 universities and colleges train relevant specialists. With an average salary in the field of about 50 thousand dollars a year, the salary of leading PR specialists reaches 100-350 thousand. American PR today is a powerful multi-billion dollar business with great development prospects.

France can serve as an example of the modern development of European PR. The originality of the French PR school is illustrated by the works of its representatives translated and published in Russia. So, in the series "Modern Consulting Technologies" in the early 2000s, two translations of the works of the most significant authors in this field were published. The first book, Managing Company Image, was written by Jean-Pierre Beaudoin, professor at the Sorbonne and President-CEO of Information et Entreprise, one of France's largest PR groups. This agency was founded in the early 1960s by a legendary personality in the field of public relations, the former director of communications in the office of General De Gaulle in London, and then in Algeria, Jacques Cou de Frejac, considered one of the founders of public relations in Western Europe. Among clients Information et Entreprise - IBM, Coca-Cola, Nasdaq, European Council, McDonalds, Mars, American, British and French financial, insurance and patent companies, German manufacturers of high fashion clothing.

In Bouari's interpretation, the legend says that when, during the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, Moses announced that with a wave of his staff he would make the waters of the Red Sea part so that the people of Israel could cross the sea on dry land, and then the sea would close and drown the pursuers, one boy exclaimed: "Moses, if You will do it, I promise you a whole page in the Bible." Based on the fact that the sea really parted, the boy can be called the first professional PR man.

Seriously speaking, in the field of public relations, the French school is one of the strongest in Europe, while the French are considered trendsetters in such a delicate area of ​​PR as the ethics of the profession.

One of the main authors of ethical codes is J.-P. Beaudoin, they occupy a significant place in his books. These are, in particular, the Professional Code of the French Public Relations Association (AFREP, 1954), the Athens Code of the General Assembly of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA, 1965), the Code of the National Association of Press Attachés - Communications Professionals (UNAPC, 1976 ), Reference materials of the Syndicate of Public Relations Consulting Companies and the Union of Advertisers (Syntec PR UDA, 1989), International Professional Charter of the International Committee of Associations of Public Relations Consulting Companies (ICO, 1991).

Here are two quotes from the AFREP Professional Code that define the relationship between the press and PR specialists: "Information for the media ... should not carry any hidden meaning or any compensation"; "The PR specialist is obligated to respect the independence and initiative of the media. When the group needs to maintain the initiative in the dissemination of any information, the PR specialist buys print space and airtime."

Continuing this theme, F. Bouari examines the relationship between professional PR specialists and media representatives who wage positional wars with each other. In his opinion, the reason for these wars is determined by the following circumstances: with rare exceptions, the entire print press (meaning newspapers and magazines) consists of editorial and advertising space. A kind of division of powers is thus established between the editor, who is responsible for the editorial part of the publication, and the management of the publishing enterprise, responsible for the economic existence and prosperity of the publication. The main role in ensuring economic prosperity is played by advertising strips, for which you can charge a fee. However, with rare exceptions, every company wants to minimize its budget line "marketing, PR and advertising" - but this general article ("disgusting term"), which should have been broken into three separate lines, is still in circulation.

Beaudoin is also concerned about this issue. Comparing the two fields of activity - advertising and "public relations", - he suggests that PR specialists come up with the equivalent of an advertising media plan in their field.

Beaudoin describes the system models of PR activities, formulates and reveals its main categories. His view of "public relations" is the view of a professional who believes that the main thing in PR is to comprehend how public opinion functions, to calculate which segments of it perform a role function, and to determine the mechanisms for managing them. The concept of "target audience" - one of the key ones in "public relations" - is considered by him from the perspective of "required audiences" with which to build "effective" or "productive" relationships.

The basic concepts are also "legitimacy", "individuality", "proximity", "complicity" - the key words in modern Western PR practice. Developing the concept of "proximity", Beaudoin contrasts it with the concept of the so-called distant communication.

His view on the problem of openness in "public relations" is curious. Public relations professionals are required to determine what to open and to which target audiences, depending on their values, interests and needs.

Noteworthy is the term "complicitity" ("involvement") considered by Beaudoin and very popular in the West in the context of the "inform / attach" bundle, since the goal of PR activities is not so much to convey any corporate or other message, but to cause a certain effect, include in the process.

In addition, attention should be paid to the terms "corporate", "institutional". The latter is used to replace the former and denotes everything related to the image of a company or organization considered as an institution.

In modern PR activities, the problem of brand policy and PR campaigns in foreign markets is becoming increasingly relevant. In this regard, Beaudoin's thoughts are interesting that, despite globalization, public opinion is not uniform and audiences from different countries still perceive Renault and Perrier, IKEA and Volvo brands differently, which affects the nature, models and intensity of PR- campaigns. In this sense, it is possible to speak of national schools of public relations.

However, universal approaches, systemic models of "public relations" that everyone can adapt to professional tasks and national specifics.

Concluding a brief outline of the development of world (or rather, American and European as predominant) PR, we note: at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, PR activity remained to a lesser extent a common and clear concept for everyone; to an ever greater extent, the number of directions with special markers-designations stood out and constantly increased. So,

work on relations with government agencies was called "government relations" (GR),

corporate image management - "corporate affairs",

• creating a favorable image of a person - "image making",

• building relationships with the media - "media relations",

staff retention, creating good relations with staff - "employee communicaitons",

work with public organizations, involvement strategies - "public involvement",

investor relations - "investor relations",

relations with consumers of goods or services - "consumer relations",

holding mobilization (competitions, championships, lotteries) and presentation events - "special events",

• crisis management - "crisis management",

management of the process of adequate perception of messages by the audience - "message management" etc.

At the same time, global PR functions generalizing for all the named directions were also fixed. So, the already mentioned X. Berson proposed the following periodization of the development of public relations:

1) The beginning of the 20th century - the 60s. HOW TO SAY.

It was understood that the trend of the period was the provision by some leaders of their "ready-made" thoughts to PR specialists. The latter were required to express them different ways and place in various communication channels.

2) the 60s of the XX century - the beginning of the XXI century. WHAT TO SAY.

During this period, when the systems of legal and public control over doing business were being formed more and more intensively, not only "transfer" actions, but also the meanings of the messages became in great demand. The problem lies in that, but what to say about this to the public is the task of a PR specialist.

3) XXI century. WHAT TO DO.

There was a recognition of the totality of the information and communication function. Public opinion began to react much faster to current events than before. The distance from the message to the behavior has become significantly shorter. Hence, PR-specialists became full players at the table where big politics was determined. According to Fortune magazine, in the 100 largest companies in the world, they were part of the top management. There has been a rethinking of the balance between the "executive" and strategic parts of PR in the direction of increasing the role of the latter. The first question that is asked to a PR specialist in the 21st century is WHAT IS THE PROBLEM AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT? The second follows from it - WHAT TO SAY TO THE PUBLIC ON THIS ABOUT? And the project cycle ends with the question, IN WHAT FORM SHOULD THIS BE DONE?

The emergence of the PR market. The formation of the Russian PR industry began at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. It absorbed, on the one hand, the features of agitation and propaganda of the Soviet period, on the other hand, modern PR theories and technologies that were demonstrated by foreign PR structures operating in Russia at that time.

In the late 80s - early 90s, the first domestic PR agencies were created (more precisely, their prototypes), among them Niccolo M, Image Land PR, Image Contact and some others.

In 1991, the Russian Association for Public Relations (RASO) was formed as a public non-profit organization with the rights of a legal entity.

Its founders were the Union of Journalists of the USSR, the Association of Advertising Workers, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RSFSR, the Russian Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange, Rosvneshtorg, the Information Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MGIMO of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Economic News Agency and a number of other organizations.

The first president of the RASO was the Dean of the Faculty of International Information of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO - University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.Yu. Borisov.

RASO and other professional associations. By 2005, RASO was non-profit partnership"RASO - Public Relations", the number of its founders was reduced to three: the Union of Journalists of Russia, MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the National Advertising Association.

By this time (since 1997) RASO became a member of the European Confederation for Public Relations (CERP) and consisted of over 70 corporate (agencies, government and commercial structures, universities, media, public organizations) and more than 20 individual members. President of the RASO in 2005 - Dean of the Faculty of Journalism of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of Sociology, Professor M.A. Shishkin.

Along with the RASO, other professional associations also arise. In this regard, the Russian Association of Public Relations Consulting Companies (AKOS) should be mentioned. Founded in 1999 by sixteen professional PR agencies, she joined the International Consulting Organization (ICO) the same year.

The initiator of the creation and the first chairman of AKOS is the general director of the Imageland PR agency V.V. Moiseev. In the future, the rotation of chairmen was carried out annually.

In 2001, CERP-Students-Russia, the Russian branch of the student branch of the European Confederation for Public Relations, appeared, in 2003, RASSO, the Russian Association of Students for Public Relations.

Corporate subjects of the PR market. The number of professional PR agencies in Russia is growing every year. In 2005, the public relations and market database of the PR magazine Sovetnik listed about 250 such agencies, about 150 of them had their own representations on the Internet.

At least a third of all agencies are based in Moscow. About 40 agencies are members of RASO, including all members of AKOS.

Subdivisions for working with information and public relations had almost all major government organizations.

PR developed dynamically in commercial structures. By 2005, PR departments or leading PR specialists of such companies as Gazprom, LUKOIL, Philip Morris, RAO UES of Russia, Megafon, Aeroflot - Russian Airlines, etc., joined RASO.

It should also be noted that by 2005 Russian PR specialists and structures fit well into the corresponding segment of the international market. This was expressed, on the one hand, in the fact that the number of foreign specialists working in the Russian branches of international corporations decreased due to the arrival of Russians in their places; on the other hand, in the fact that domestic PR agencies have entered large international network agencies - Imageland Edelman PR, R.I.M. Porter Novelli, SPN Ogilvy, Maslov, Sokur and Partners (exclusive representative of Ketchum in Russia and CIS countries) and some others.

PR in the regions. By 2005, Moscow PR still dominated, but Russian PR was no longer just Moscow. Moreover, if the active emergence of PR agencies in the regions began already in the mid-90s, then in the early 2000s this process acquired new structural forms: the North-Western, Ural branches of the RASO and the RASO branch in the Central Federal District (formations at the level federal districts), as well as the Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Volgograd, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Perm and Yaroslavl representative offices of the RASO (formations at the level of subjects of the Russian Federation).

In addition, independent regional professional associations have emerged outside the RASO: the Volga Association of Public Relations Specialists, the Orenburg Association for the Development of Public Relations, the Krasnoyarsk Association of Public Relations, the South Ural Association of Public Relations Specialists, the Tyumen Association of Public Relations Specialists .

PR education. The Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO - University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) is the first university that began to train students in the specialty "public relations", their first graduation took place in 1994.

By 2005, the number of Russian universities with a license in the specialty "public relations" exceeded 120; in the same year, universities graduated more than a thousand certified PR-specialists.

In dozens of universities, public relations was taught as a compulsory discipline.

Numerous non-state centers operated, in which short-term training of PR specialists was carried out, including the Educational Center. S.D. Belenkov in the structure of RASO (since 2002).

Practitioners. Since there are no official statistics in the field of availability, as well as the ratio of supply and demand for practitioners in the field of PR, let's turn to studies conducted by the Sovetnik magazine in 2003.

They show that for each proposed vacancy in the PR structure (meaning the most common vacancy for a PR manager), about three applicants applied.

At the same time, the required and proposed age approximately coincided and was located at the level of the "fork" from 21-23 to 45 years.

Among applicants (as well as among graduates of specialized universities) women predominated (1:1.5), but for employers gender in most cases did not matter.

At the same time, the standard requirements were the presence higher education(not necessarily in the field of public relations, but mainly humanitarian), computer literacy, knowledge of the English language.

The salaries offered and requested were based on experience and ranged from $300 to $1,500.

Key corporate events. Since 1996, on the initiative of the RASO, an annual (usually in February) series of events (festival) has been held under the general name "PR Days in Moscow".

Since 2001, the International Forum of PR Specialists "The Baltic PR Weekend" has been held in St. Petersburg.

Along with Russian and foreign PR-specialists, representatives of the executive and legislative authorities, large commercial structures, well-known politicians and businessmen take part in the festivals.

In 2003, for the first time, "Student PR Week" was singled out as an independent block of corporate PR events at the federal level. Actions of the Week (competition of youth PR journalism, presentations of student projects, seminars, master classes, conferences) are held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Tver, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk and a number of other Russian cities.

The market engine has been determined. In the 90s, such an engine was a certain pool of PR specialists scattered in the field of state, business formations, public organizations and PR agencies; in the 2000s - predominantly professional PR agencies and a group of their most notable leaders.

No matter how good the specialists are, the state PR specialists are a bureaucratic apparatus. Subdivisions of reputable commercial firms are approaching it as "fat folds" accumulate. PR of public associations is mainly "amateur art", which, however, ceases as public activists become commercialized.

Professional PR agencies are primarily in the communications business. And even the parallel businesses that successful agency managers have serve not so much for "creative relaxation and accumulation" as for supporting agencies in difficult periods of life. Agencies live on the principle of "feed the wolf's feet" - the surrounding reality simply does not give them a chance to become bureaucratic or go into amateur activity.

An independent agency is the main driver of the market. PR in state or commercial structures is a stage that precedes ("it's time to get to work") or final ("it's time to retire") the stage of the most successful development of agencies. The final one in order to ... return there in a different capacity.

"Kinship" relationships have become more important than specialization. In the 90s, it was customary to argue: these agencies are engaged in the PR business, and those in the political business. We work with aviation, and you work with cars. And rightly so - the market is differentiated, and this will continue to happen.

The 2000s showed that differentiation is not limited to the concept of "specialization". Practice, as always, turned out to be richer than theory.

Thus, three models of PR agencies were born. The first - included in the international network, the model - the "needle": tasks, checks, reports with prejudice. Music is ordered by the one who pays (shares), however, providing a largely guaranteed budget.

The second - agencies serving one project or one structure in the commercial sector, a home agency working on the "favorite" model. Complete confidentiality: "We are a crust of bread - and that in half." But there is little room for maneuver. Yes, and there are quarrels between "their guys."

The third is the same, but for public sphere. To somehow distinguish, let's call them court agencies or "relatives". Everything is fine, but the state budget is a fickle category, and besides, leaders change frequently. And each "marshal", as you know, has his own "son".

Over- and extra-category structure - "omnivorous" agencies, those that keep their finger on the pulse constantly, do not depend on personal connections to the maximum, are introduced into the sphere of influence of the first, second and third models.

It is worth saying and here's what. The emerging division into business and political PR almost disappeared as soon as the limitation of the political market dawned.

We need to remember freelancers. "Arbiters", breakers of the market, dumping and unprincipled "underground", muddying the waters and spoiling the game. Necessary evil and gain at the same time. "Shpana" in the view of some and "recruiters" for others. In business, this type almost degenerated at the beginning of the 21st century; in politics, mutations with unpredictable results continued.

In fact, PR is dead. His world life fell just in the 20th century; Russian - for the last decade: starting with the semi-fairytale characters of Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee, it almost ended with an orange book by the kind English grandfather Sam Black.

The pseudo-life of the magical term "PR" in the 21st century is supported only by university professors who explain to students the definitions that have gone down in history. Since the term does not contain any magic, there is no common understanding of it, the people do not know it or do not like it, but it means simple things - the production of messages and their placement in communication channels. In both cases, the words "conscious" and "based on the natural interest" of the recipients are appropriate.

And... was born in a new capacity. One large plant has been promoting itself for five years solely in order for the state to "surrender" to it its block of shares, which, in principle, is capable of changing the owner. When it succeeded, PR ceased, or rather, it turned into exclusively "bought positive" on the pages of socially close newspapers.

Another large company at the same time ordered an unusual seminar - "The production and management of criticism." She recognized the realities of the 21st century. But the plant remained in the 20th century.

In the last century, everyone learned to hold events - press conferences, club evenings, receptions, competitions. Now they are learning to think, interpret information and promote it to the right channels. And a press conference in this context can become not so much a beautiful show with the "correct" set of questions and answers, but a reason to legitimately position the texture that was born before and outside the press conference, and the competition - not so much a way to "define the best" as a strategy involvement in some project of the necessary target audiences. And as the most target audience, one person may well act ...

Because the house is as it was - it is so. With mice, cats and grain. In the early 90s, another magic word was uttered almost in a whisper - "image makers". In the 2000s - in short - "zhmeykery" and even "mordodel". In 2005, the charismatic PR-brand leader-minister Sergei Shoigu told us reproachfully: your PR people recommended learning to pronounce the letter "r", and jump up when going out to people. It's funny. Well, yes, but before it seemed that no.

In the 20th century, the very profession of "public relations specialist" seemed mysterious and super promising for Russia. It was believed that you can "learn a little", read good books, become a PR man and receive high fees. Back in the 20th century, there was talk of "a low level of understanding of the miraculous impact of PR" by executives.

In the 21st century, the question arose: why understand or even know the term? Remember the saying: since you are so smart, show me your money (read: or add something to mine). You can not? And there - PR, PR ... The question is effectiveness, and not mythological stories about the merits of the profession.

PR cannot guarantee results? This, too, is a myth (or an excuse for the unskilled), which should be left in the last century. PR can guarantee results! He just does it differently. Remember the children's English rhyme?

Here is the house that Jack built.

Here is the grain that lies in the house that Jack built.

Here is the mouse that ate the grain that lies in the house that Jack built.

Here is the cat that bit the mouse...

The same in PR:

Here is the information field where you are not.

Here is a client who is exploring an information field in which you are not.

Here is the information about you that we throw into the information field that the client is studying and in which you are not.

Here is the information that appears in the information field...

Information audit - information strategy - change

information field - influence.

Slowly? Yes, not fast. But soon only cats will be born. Who do not always manage to grab a mouse. Which... See above.

Since we define PR as a type of communication activity, we should consider their features in relation to various communication systems. In this case, we understand such systems as logically complete sets of actions for the purposeful production and dissemination of information designed to have a planned impact on target groups.

One of the complexes is the formalized and recognized in the world practice RACE system, which is widely used both for planning and for evaluating PR projects.

R is Research (research: analysis and problem setting), A - Action (action: development of the program and estimates), C - Communication (communication: implementation of the program by information and communication means), E- Evaluation (assessment: determining results and making adjustments to the program).

It means that the main task of the research stage of a PR campaign is to determine the target audiences, their attitude to a particular person, organization, product or service, as well as the nature and sources of information through which the actual (desired) attitude and action could be achieved.

At the "action" stage (action planning), a PR campaign concept is prepared, a typology and a list of key actions, principles for implementing media policy are determined, and a phased work plan for the implementation of a certain project is developed.

At the communicative stage, the planned actions are carried out in the direction of influencing previously defined target groups.

This work is accompanied by regular monitoring of the situation, dynamic response to its change. Based on the results of each stage, the work done is assessed for its compliance with the desired changes, the PR strategy is corrected, and at the end of the entire campaign, an analytical report on its effectiveness is prepared and recommendations for the future are developed.

As for the load that PR itself carries in this system, its greatest "weight" is probably fixed in position C (communication, intercourse).

In international practice, there is also a more detailed version of the RACE - ROSIE formula, which determines the strategy of companies in the market according to the goals:

R (research)- study,

O (functions of objectives)- goal functions,

S(strategies)- strategy,

I (implementation)- application,

E (evolution)- assessment (to decide on further actions)

Additions to the RACE - ROSIE system in the form of a PR quality cycle were proposed in the early 2000s by S. Belenkov, who at that time was the head of the Russian Association for Public Relations and the Independent Institute for Communication Analysis. In the above diagram (see tab, Fig. 1
) shows that the cycle begins with the very need for public relations. This is followed by a briefing (discussion of the prospects for the implementation of this need between some customers and contractors), then working proposals are prepared for the implementation of the project. If they are accepted, the RACE-ROSIE system comes into effect.

There is an important emphasis in S. Belenkov's scheme: PR in the proposed communication system is cyclical, and each new cycle within the project means not only a quantitative increase, but also significant qualitative changes.

However, one should hardly confine oneself to the interpretation of PR as some kind of self-sufficient system. As an instrumental complex, public relations are always part of larger global systems: firstly, part of market (marketing) communication system, secondly, as part of the universal information system "transmitter-receiver-feedback", differentiated according to the forms of messages, channels of their distribution and levels of impact.

Let's take a closer look at each of these systems.

Under market system in relation to the area under discussion, we mean the system of integrated marketing communications (IMC). Deciphering its terms, we fix that marketing (in accordance with the interpretation of F. Kotler) is actions performed in relation to:

To what? TO GOODS (product);

For what purposes? For the purpose of its SALE at a certain PRICE (price);

Where? In a certain PLACE (place);

With using what? With the help of various PROMOTION tools (promotion).

Promotion tools are structured into the following groups:

sales promotion(incentive to make purchases); This category is divided into the following positions:

merchandising (decoration of the place of sale);

packaging, label, label;

purchase with a gift;

shopping with discount coupons;

branded souvenirs;

competitions, games, drawings, lotteries, contests, quizzes;

product demonstration;

product tasting;

sampling - offering product samples;

direct marketing(establishment of direct communications between the manufacturer and the consumer) in the form of:

interest clubs.

Exhibitions and fairs, where there are opportunities for in-depth familiarization with the goods and / or their preferential, exclusive or some other purchase.

In the system, BCIs are allocated to a separate category and public relations as actions aimed at the production and distribution of free messages based on the effect of a natural information occasion.

In the 2000s, another technique was used to group promotion tools.

Thus, the ATL group (above the line - above the line) was allocated five mass media: print media, radio, television, cinema, outdoor advertising; in the BTL group (below the line - under the line) - the above forms of sales promotion, aimed at both trade and consumer audiences and designed to cause specific measurable actions or reactions in these audiences.

This kind of division helped to better understand and plan the budget of the communication campaign: if the ATL part was essentially an advertising budget (production and placement of information materials), then the BTL part was the budget allocated for organizing direct communications and creative messages. Thus, PRs fell into the BTL part.

Now let's put two questions and try to answer them. First, is it possible to completely distinguish between public relations and what is not public relations? Probably not, because, for example, the very concept of "message" is present in all designated categories and is subject to similar laws of creation and perception.

Another curious nuance is that PR is the most difficult to separate from the other concepts listed above, the IMC tool.

Let's move on to the second question. The fact is that IMC involves the use of such an approach to the dissemination of information, which is based on a complex impact on the consumer. After all, consumers do not separate billboards, media messages or exhibitions into separate elements, they combine all this into an abstract whole and, on the basis of this abstraction, form their opinion about services and organizations. From this it is clear that the task of the seller is to combine the activities of all instrumental groups in order to obtain the required cumulative effect.

It turns out that IMC (IMC is synonymous with such concepts as "an integrated approach to communications", "strategic business design", "communication field planning", etc.) is bringing the entire arsenal of promotional tools in line with the understanding of the consumer and the topics to which he reacts.

And the question here is as follows: which of the IMC tools will be the main one in coordinating this process, ensuring its integrated nature?

And again, the option of public relations suggests itself, since they are the most "dissolved" in many positions and the least defined as a category.

"PR is an integral part and coordinator of the BCI system" - such a conclusion seems to us as logical in theoretical terms as it is acceptable in practical terms.

However, both this conclusion and the review preceding it decipher only the instrumental essence of the marketing system: what elements, mechanisms do we include when carrying out PR activities? But there are other questions: how should they act and what should they influence?

Well-known American advertising experts C. Sandage, W. Freiburger, K. Rotzol expressed the following idea: company-wide goals are often expressed in financial categories (income, return on invested capital, etc.), marketing goals relate to behavioral results (increase in attendance store, the number of goods purchased, etc.), and the goals of PR and advertising, if viewed from this angle, are to influence what is happening in people's minds. In other words, advertising or PR messages are very rarely able to complete the act of sale or cause a certain action in a simple causal chronology. They rather affect our knowledge, our feelings. This conclusion in many ways illustrates the urgent need to communicate to the problems of psychology when considering the mechanism of the impact of the message on its recipient. The content of an advertising and PR message is determined by many factors, among which the main role is played by the goals and nature of the impact on the addressee, and is designed to create a socio-psychological attitude (attitude) in him.

Installation is the internal psychological readiness of a person for any action. Usually, the following main levels of psychological impact are distinguished:

cognitive (transmission of information, messages),

affective (attitude formation),

suggestive (suggestion),

conative (definition of behavior).

The essence of cognitive influence is the transfer of a certain amount of information, a set of data about a product, factors characterizing its quality, etc.

The purpose of affective influence is the transformation of the array of transmitted information into a system of attitudes, motives and principles of the recipient of the appeal. Relationship building tools are frequent repetition of the same arguments, bringing logical evidence of what was said, the formation of favorable associations, etc.

Suggestion involves the use of both conscious psychological elements, and elements of the unconscious. This is due to the fact that a certain part of the message can be assimilated by the addressee, bypassing the sphere of active thinking. The result of suggestion may be a conviction obtained without logical evidence.

It should be noted that suggestion is possible, firstly, if it meets the needs and interests of the addressee and, secondly, if a person with high authority and unconditional trust can be used as a source of information. Suggestion will have a greater effect, again, with repeated repetition of PR and advertising appeals.

The conative effect is realized in "pushing" the recipient to action, telling him what to do. Awareness of the need for these basic levels of influence on human consciousness formed the basis of many PR and advertising formula models, which we will briefly describe.

The oldest and best known formula is AIDA (attention - interest - desire - action, i.e. attention - interest - desire - action). It was proposed by the American advertiser Elmer Lewis back in 1896. Its essence lies in the fact that the ideal appeal in the first place should attract involuntary attention. Ways to achieve this goal are varied: the use of contrasts; bright, original color scheme; catchy drawing; funny decisions in the location of the message (for example, placing its text "upside down"); shocking the audience, etc.

Once the audience's attention has been captured, the message must hold their interest. To do this, it may contain a promise to satisfy the needs of the addressee, be original, interesting in form and concise. In accordance with the AIDA model, the message should also arouse the desire of the addressee to try out the advertised product, to become its owner.

And finally, the message should contain a “hint” to the recipient what he should do, for example: “call today”, “demand at the pharmacies of your city”, “come and see for yourself”.

A modification of the AIDA formula is the model AIDMA, including the fifth component - motivation (m - motivation). Speaking about the characteristics of AIDA (AIDMA) formulas, it should be noted that they belong to the group of models focused on the action of an individual consumer, i.e. are of limited use in practice. At the same time, they mark a whole era in the development of the theory and practice of PR and advertising.

Somewhat less widespread models ACCA and DIBABA. ACCA as a formula for PR and advertising impact is characterized by the fact that it reduces the results of exposure to the definition of an audience that has gone through one of four stages of consumer behavior: attention (attention), perception of arguments (comprehension), persuasion (conviction) and action (action).

The DIBABA formula, proposed by G. Goldman in 1953, is an abbreviation for the German definitions of the six phases of the sales process:

1) determining the needs and desires of potential buyers;

2) identification of consumer needs with supply;

3) "pushing" the buyer to the necessary conclusions about the purchase, which are associated with his needs;

4) taking into account the expected reaction of the buyer;

5) calling the buyer's desire to purchase goods;

6) creating an environment conducive to buying.

A milestone in the development of approaches to the formation of PR and advertising appeals was DAGMAR (DAGMAR), set out by American advertiser Russell Colley in 1961. The name of the formula includes the initial letters of the English definition Defining advertising goals - measuring advertising results(determination of advertising goals - measurement of advertising results). According to the model, the purchase act goes through four phases:

1) product brand recognition;

2) assimilation - informing the addressee about the quality of the goods;

3) persuasion - psychological predisposition to purchase;

4) action - making a purchase by the addressee of the advertisement.

Qualitative difference DAGMAR models from shopper action-oriented approaches is the premise: making a purchase is determined by all the main elements of the marketing mix (including the price of the product, the seasonality of sales, the marketing mission of the seller, the reputation of the company, etc.). PR and advertising in this complex are the most important, but not self-sufficient elements. Colley's followers, who are in the same positions, represent the so-called Dagmar school. From the later formulas of integrated communications, one can note the "Approval" model, which involves the passage of the following phases by a potential buyer:

1) awareness of the need to purchase;

2) the emergence of interest in the product;

3) assessment of its main qualities;

4) checking, testing quality;

5) approval.

Summing up a brief overview of some PR and advertising models, it should be noted that they are not mutually exclusive. Almost every message directs the recipient to make a purchase. At the same time, the effectiveness of any PR and advertising activities can only be assessed in the case of clearly defined goals in front of it within the framework of a systematic approach to marketing activities.

The nature of the movement of information along the universal communication chain has been repeatedly described in domestic and foreign literature. Following the minimal structural formula ("information transmitter - information receiver - feedback"), more and more branched "trees" periodically unfold, having in principle an infinite potential for growth. We will also try to contribute to this process, paying special attention to PR-logic and PR-components.

1. At the initial stage, some person formulates his vision of the Development of any process. Let's call this person the LEADER, and the function performed by him - initial voicing of the message, the proclamation of a common philosophy (ideology).

2. Further, CORPORATE SPECIALISTS are involved in the work (in this case, we mean specialists from the manager’s environment; in subsequent chapters of the book, the concept of “corporate” will be considered in more detail), who are engaged in fixing and primary interpretation of the message. The general meaning of interpretation (in other words, it is called coding) is to translate the message into a sign system that is understandable to one or more target groups.

In other words, a leader can utter a few words that are quite clear to his subordinates, but completely incomprehensible to some other personalities. In order to "interpret" what was said, it may be necessary to prepare several pages of text, but the essence of the leader's intentions will remain unchanged.

3. On stage secondary interpretation CORPORATE AND (OR) ENGAGED SPECIALISTS carry out an arbitrarily wide-ranging set of actions for multi-stage differentiation of messages:

• by topic (package of informational occasions);

  by form (historical background, biographies, interview texts, thematic brochures, a set of corporate identity components);

  in style and content, etc. (Each of these positions will be discussed in detail in our book.)

Note that stage number 3 (as well as stage number 2) may not exist at all. In fact, the character we have called the leader can independently prepare an information product, communicate directly with the media, speak at a rally, and so on. At the same time, this does not guarantee (with the exception of a very few variants of charismatic leaders) neither an adequate "translation" (interpretation, encoding) of the message into the language of the target groups, nor a wide dissemination of information.

4. The next stage of the communication chain is selection and use of information dissemination channels- is absolutely inevitable.

For example, we can talk about the use of media channels (news agencies, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, Internet) or non-media channels, which in turn fall into non-media direct (advertising, direct mail), non-media indirect (sponsorships), etc. .d.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that the subsequent effect of "hitting" the message depends not only on the correct choice of channels, but also on the differentiation of messages in relation to these channels. Such forms of messages as, for example, a text for direct mailing to addressees, a speech for a speech to a target audience, an advertising block for the media, an outdoor advertising module, a press release, an exhibition exposition, an educational presentation, an annual report, etc. , should be significantly different from each other.

But even here the process of differentiation does not end, since not only the forms and channels of dissemination of information are different, but also the target groups themselves: we can talk about the company's staff, the population of the country as a whole, the state administration, partners, consumers, and, finally, the media themselves, which are, on the one hand, a distribution channel, and, on the other hand, a specific target group. Accordingly, not only an oral presentation and a written press release can differ, but also the press releases and speeches themselves, depending on who they are addressed to.

5. Even with the maximum objectification of the process of creating and disseminating a message, on the way to the consciousness of the target groups there are always subjective barriers to information perception. In certain cases, they arise due to the mental level, situational states, psychophysiological characteristics of the target groups; they are also generated by technologies for the passage of information flows through the environment surrounding the target groups. When moving through barriers of perception, the messages are "read" by the target groups. If some words and phrases are not too clear, they are subject to translation (decoding) into a more acceptable and not necessarily identical to the "original" language.

6. Having passed these barriers, the "dry informational residue" (which never completely coincides with the originally sent information) is fixed in the mind. But the process of information movement does not end there either, since in the future it "travels" within consciousness, where there are different levels of perception.

In most cases, information impact is carried out with the aim of influencing one level - inducing target groups to perform certain actions. But actions are only the "top level" of some pyramid, and for such an impulse to have a real effect, it is necessary to influence the "foundation" and subsequent levels, namely:

• values ​​that govern

  needs that affect

  interests that shape

  relationships that finally find expression in

  opinions that, clash in

  actions .

Values ​​are basic, formed over a long period, and therefore stable and difficult to change components that determine people's behavior. Even the most ambitious information campaign is hardly capable of completely changing value orientations, but it is possible and necessary to try to influence them and, in any case, take them into account, since they control needs, i.e. a hierarchical complex of positions (material and spiritual), without which a person cannot imagine his life. At the same time, the totality of these needs is flexible, mobile, and purposeful informational impact is quite capable of influencing the nature of their formation.

Next come interests - that which is not only perceived as necessary, but also perceived as one's own, one's own, in the name of which it is worth taking specific actions. To promote a better understanding of interests is another task of informational messages.

However, interests are not yet followed by actions. Between them there is a layer of opinions, when an individual begins to evaluate some perceived objects with one or another measure of sympathy, and others - with varying degrees of negativism. To become a kind of marker in the formation of opinions, to gently and unobtrusively explain in relations with people "what is good and what is bad" - this is a specific task.

Here it is very close to action: support (buy, vote, etc.) what you like, and reject what you perceive with a "minus" sign. The principal conclusion is as follows: the farther from the final link of the chain ("action") the information influence begins, the more significant the result will be achieved. Conversely, a direct call for immediate action has a very low effect.

7. Whether the desired actions are taken by the target groups or not - some changes in the levels of perception are likely to have occurred. Fixing these changes and bringing them to the head link in the communication chain simultaneously means the completion of one information cycle and the resumption of the next one.

Who is the PR specialist in this case? An interpreter of messages and a conductor in the communication chain, able to look at all levels of differentiation, and then choose the right one from them.