GFW PRSA recently had Chesapeake's VP, corporate development, Barnett Shale Division, come speak to the chapter about some of the company's communications/PR tactics. She provided some excellent insights based on a wealth of experience and knowledge to listeners.
I was very interested in the Shale.TV information she touched on during th Q&A:
Q - When Shale.tv was announced, your quote may have been heard as demeaning to PR?Unfortunately, we won't get to see how that experiment goes. I was very interested in how this corporate advocacy channel would do for their audience. I was looking forward to hearing about the successes and/or failures of the venture that brought in some recognizable media talent. This looked like an interesting PR challenge for the company.
A - It was not meant to be demeaning to PR. I think news teams took it personally. I do think it is important to understand difference between corporate advocacy and mainstream journalism. Media is changing. We are doing an experiment and we'll see how it goes.
I will give credit to Chesapeake for the Shale.TV idea. So what if it ruffled some feathers of some media friends. (It was probably more problematic to Chesapeake to have the local community up in arms.) It would have been interesting to see what kind of measurable impact this experimental venture could have produced for the company.
We all know media is in a state of flux as is the PR industry. With so many tools and tricks to figure out and try, I think more experimentation with creative and unique ideas will only help us be that much more effective for our companies, organizations, and clients.
(photo credit: confusedvision)
As long as any corporate interests are disclosed, I can't imagine what objections can be raised to whatever creative approach a company takes to connecting with and communicating with its communities. The biggest concern I heard and saw with Chesapeake's insistence that the channel would be balanced and unbiased, which seemed like a stretch. It is good to see that the company was admitting it would be an advocacy tool. Ultimately, the big lesson that may have been learned from all of this is that the more creative the approach to communication, the more likely it will be to get whacked by the budget ax. If it's not generating revenue, it is expendable.
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