Presentation given on March 4th, 2015 by Christophe Ginisty at the monthly lunch meeting of the Belgian Public Relations Consultants Association (BPRCA) on the Future of Public Relations

1. How long will
PR people
remain influent?
Christophe Ginisty
March 4th, 2015

2. Some words about me…
• Creator of the ReputationWar conferences cycle,
• 2013 President of the International Public Relations
Associations (and still member of the Board of
Directors) – Content Director of the coming World
Congress in South Africa, Sept. 2015.
• European Digital Evangelist @ Edelman EMEA
• Founder and Managing Director Rumeur Publique
• Founder and President of Internet sans Frontières
(2008-2011)
• Twittos: @cginisty
• Blogger: ginisty.com
• Happily living in Brussels now

3. It used to be like this
(at least most of the time)
Organizations generate
information
Organizations decide
to communicate some
Organizations hire PR
people
PR people select target
among identified
influencers
PR people define a
strategy for the
information flow
Message delivered to the influencers
Influencers decide what to say
Audience is informed and reacts
1
2
3
4
5
6
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4. Now it is a bit like this
(most of the time)
Organizations generate
information
Organizations decide
to communicate some
Organizations hire PR
people
PR people select target
among identified
influencers
PR people define a
strategy for the
information flow
Message delivered to the influencers
Influencers decide what to say
Audience is informed and reacts
PR
comfort
zone
Stakeholders follow
organizations, interact
and stay tuned
Stakeholders become
influent and the crowd
becomes a media
Social
media
zone

5. Through the years
1984 : Public relations is
the practice of managing
the spread of information
between an organization
and the public
(in Dr James Grünig’s academic
bible on Public Relations)
2010 : Public Relations is
a strategic
communication process
that builds mutually
beneficial relationships
between an organization
and their publics
(Professionals and voters on the
PRSA website in 2012)

6. What are the challenges?
Scale
Trust
Emotion
Noise
Singularity
Distrust
Information
Limited impact

7. PR challenges
VS
Scale
Trust
Emotion
Noise
Singularity
Distrust
Information
Limited impact
Influence ?

8. It is NOT a digital challenge,
it is a social one.

9. PR has NOT become digital,
it has become social.

10. 2 thoughts to survive…

11. The digital component of PR is
not anymore aside

12. Digital and PR
(from 2005 to 2015)

13. Digital and PR
(from 2005 to 2015)

14. Think reptutation instead of image

15. Reputation…
• You work on your image, you earn your reputation
• Reputation is made of what people have understood about
you
• Reputation does not only rely on what you say and how you
communicate
• Reputation starts from who you are and how you behave
• Reputation is a co-construction
• Reputation is social by nature
• Reputation becomes a truth

16. A reputation
issue often
comes from a
distortion
between
communication
and perception
The ideal
situation in terms
of reputation is
when it
translates
exactly who you
are

17. Communications
Behaviors
Competition
Trends
Beliefs
Legacy
Emotions
Personal experiences
Media coverage

18. Social media intelligence is The key!

19. Organizations generate
information
Organizations decide
to communicate some
Organizations hire PR
people
PR people select target
among identified
influencers
PR people define a
strategy for the
information flow
Message delivered to the influencers
Influencers decide what to say
Audience is informed and reacts
Stakeholders follow
organizations, interact
and stay tuned
Stakeholders become
influent and the crowd
becomes a media
PR
comfort
zone
Social
media
zone
What is the solution?

20. Welcome to
« community driven organizations »

21. Thank you very much!
christophe@ginisty.com