Assuming things go as planned, I will work in the Public Relations sector of an organization which fits my worldview. Being a person who values his own morals and always wants to do good, it was hard to find where I fit within my major. Sure, I enjoy writing and I enjoy making people happy, but it is difficult to not feel slimy when segmenting and simplifying large groups of people. My previous post dealt with creating messages designed for specific groups, and doing so will usually come with ignorant, surface-level ideas that only happen when treating people as a group. The idea of the masses is terrifying to me because it dehumanizes the individuals.
My need to be different from others is reflective of how I want to change PR. Already companies have tried different approaches and found success. Particularly I have noticed a trend of self-awareness benefitting organizations on the internet. The first to make this method work is the ever-hilarious Wendy’s Twitter by subverting the idea of a business account entirely, insulting users and acting as an individual, instead of a corporate entity. The approach of corporate self-awareness has also worked for Canada’s famous No Name brand which features comically simple designs that catch the eye.
These examples are what I would consider better adaptations to the Internet and Internet culture than what other orgs have been trying. The idea of developing a brand voice came soon after, since Wendy’s did so well each company just HAD to have their own personality. The truth is corporations cannot talk — behind every picture, post, and tweet is just some person at a computer being payed to embellish on behalf of the stakeholders. In my mind, breaking that veil which gives the title of “customer” to the business and “company” to the user is what PR is about.
Allow me to give an example, and it is the first time PR had really stood out to me. When Activision released their newest Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 2, people were playing online at rates high enough to garner news press as a world phenomenon. A man named Robert Bowling was given the title of Community Manager and was tasked in taking and answering the community’s inquiries on his twitter @fourzerotwo.
For those who are unfamiliar with video games, gamers as an audience seem like the worst group to do PR for. They will complain about how broken the game is in its current state, they will complain that new changes ruined the game, they will each have and voice many opinions on how to make things better, and they’ll still play the game daily while doing so. As a person who games himself, we are the only group where stronger backlash and vitriol indicates our passion for the game and want it to be as good as it can be.
Bowling’s approach was genius as he was not listed as the game’s developer Infinity Ward or Activison, it was his personal account. Because he was seen as an individual, the community was more considerate when giving criticism, and there was a clear separation that Bowling was a messenger and couldn’t implement change himself. The gaming community can recognize when they are receiving canned corporate messages, so the answer was to break down all the walls. Every player knew Bowling was payed to be in his position, but positive change to the game did not feel like fan appeasement, it felt like a favor directly from him.
Bowling would still deal with trolls, but I think Bowling’s example is one which deserves to be looked at. The title of Community Manager, and the emphasis on him as a corporate representative would seemingly lead to a heavy corporate voice. It turns out that a corporation revealing that it acts like a corporation is the most genuine and human thing it can do. The gamers did not see themselves as angry customers, they were fans. And Bowling did not see himself as a company, he was a bullshitter.
Adam's Blog 