A picture speaks 1000 words

In public relations we are considered words people, using the power of the pen to tell our stories.

It is sometimes forgotten the power a picture can possess. Yes words are better at conveying nuanced messages, helping you to speak directly to your audience; however often one image can capture the hearts and imagination of a nation in a way words rarely do. Images are not exclusive; they speak a universal language which can be understood by everyone.

The Vietnam War was often considered the first ‘television war.’ In the 1960’s people could see the Vietnam War in colour and in the comfort of their living rooms. In the mid-1960’s, television was considered to be the most important source of news for the American public, and possibly the most powerful influence.

Initially the coverage was pro-American, with interviews and a generally positive spin. The violence in the news reports often involved little more than puffs of smoke in the distance, as aircraft bombed the unseen enemy. It was only when the war came into urban areas that the destruction and suffering started to appear regularly on TV.

The real change came with the beginning of American troop withdrawals in 1969. The focus was still on ‘American boys’ and the troops were still presented in a sympathetic light. Nevertheless journalists were growing increasingly sceptical of claims of progress, and the course of the war was presented more as an eternal recurrence than a string of decisive victories. Visuals from the war zone, although not violently graphic, placed emphasis of the human costs involved.

The power of these images being beamed directly into American homes and around the world helped to change the tide of public opinion, putting pressure on the government to eventually pull out of Vietnam.

So I suppose if there is a moral to this tale, it is this. Sometimes we should put down our pens- because there is truth in that old saying; a picture speaks 1000 words.

By Pema Seely

Can we finally have it all?

Last week, we received the news that Helen Gurley Brown, former editor of Cosmopolitan, had died. She presided over the woman’s glossy for 32 years, taking it from a conventional magazine for repressed housewives of the USA to what many regard as a bible for 21^st century womanhood.

During her career, Gurley Brown was criticised by feminists for placing too much editorial emphasis on attracting and pleasing men, and for her vocal appreciation of plastic surgery. Nevertheless she remains in my opinion a justifiable and valuable female role model.

Helen Gurley Brown was one of the first people to suggest that women might have it all- the corner office, the loving family and fulfilling sex-life.

Although in theory, Gurley Brown is of course correct, it is only 50 years after this initial statement, and numerous boardroom and bedroom struggles, that this utopian ideal looks to be coming anywhere near some kind of reality.

The problem was, that although Cosmopolitan encouraged business, love and motherhood, popular culture and the world’s media didn’t really play ball. Over the past 50 years, the two seem to have colluded in their portrayal of such women, intermittently branding them as boardroom bitches, unloving mothers and inattentive wives.

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher was widely dubbed The Iron Lady; whilst this pseudonym suggested her uncompromising approach to foreign policy, it hardly painted her as a loving wife and sensitive mother. Our first female PM has not been the only muti-tasking mummy to suffer the media’s scrutiny. Anna Wintour’s less than open demeanor has led to her portrayal as an ice-woman and bitch, a characterisation the press eagerly confirmed in their reporting of her affair and divorce in 1999.

This criticism of career women is not confined to real-life editorial, but perpetuated by popular culture. There are countless television series where women in power are negatively portrayed or seen failing to maintain a work life balance; The Devil Wears Prada, Ally McBeal and BBC’s Mistresses to name just a few.

Nevertheless, all is not doom and gloom. Perhaps I am optimistic but the tide does seem to be turning and recently I have noticed a far more positive media approach to the women that have it all.

First of all Karen Brady, vice-chairman of West Ham United, wife and mother of two became a veritable nation’s sweetheart. Then there was the reaction to Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg’s brave declaration that she leaves the office at 5.30pm everyday for dinner with her children. This statement, which could’ve been met with derision, was actually applauded for its conveyance of simple family commitment. Similarly, last month, when pregnant Marisa Mayer was named Yahoo CEO, comments were predominantly congratulatory, focusing on her aptitude for the job rather than her imminent delivery. 

I’m not saying that the problem of work-life balance for females no longer exists. The very fact that a successful businesswoman in a loving relationship and with children compels comment at all, proves there is still some way to go. Nevertheless, as we at Wordville find so often, it helps to have the media on our side.   

By Polly Robinson

Set up for Life

Like most people in the UK – and indeed the world – I was glued to my TV screen on Saturday night, willing Jessica Ennis on in her quest for Heptathlon gold. She had, of course, been the favourite to win all along. The media hype before the event had been colossal and poor Jess had the hopes of a nation on her shoulders as she entered the biggest spectacle of her life.

After she won by such an impressive margin – and after the initial celebrations had died down ever-so-slightly, whispers started over whether she would choose to race in the 110m Hurdle event later in the week. Jess had, after all, achieved the best hurdles time ever achieved by a heptathlete. 

As my family joined in the speculation, I argued: “She could, but she doesn’t need to.” In fact, Jess doesn’t need to do any athletics ever again. What she achieved on Saturday was so magnificent that it has cemented her in sporting history and paved the way for her to do absolutely anything she wants – she could be a presenter, a sports pundit, a film star, a politician… Almost overnight, she has the world at her feet.

It’s every PRO’s dream; achieving the equivalent of Jess winning the heptathlon gold for one of our clients. An idea so great, so huge, so influential, so genius that it simply never leaves the pages of the world’s media and is written about for years to come.

While we’re talking big and aiming high, here are my top three Jess-Ennis-Gold PR equivalents of 2012:

-          Kony video

A perfect example of viral publicity working at its best, the video exposed warlord, Joseph Kony’s use of child soldiers in Uganda. Film-maker Jason Russell from advocacy group, Invisible Children, uploaded a 30 minute documentary to Youtube and Vimeo that had soon been viewed by over 100 million people that had previously been unaware of the issue.The Kony 2012 campaign’s goal was to increase awareness about Kony and his actions, pushing people to urge the American government and others to intervene in the search for Kony. The group then developed the ‘Kony 2012 action kit’, consisting of various DIY marketing materials, which quickly sold out at $30 per set.

-          Mission: Impossible – The Queen

I’ve never really been much of a Royalist. In fact, Britain’s Jubilee fever left me feeling somewhat queasy. But even I had to voice my new-found respect for the Queen when she met up with James Bond at her Palace, climbed into a helicopter and jumped (yes, that part was real) out at 20,000 feet, to make her entrance into the Olympic Park. The dare-devil Queen was watched by around a billion people – and in a matter of seconds quashed any image or reputation we Brits have as ‘reserved’ or ‘stuffy’. This bold move will certainly be in the history books of the future, and will earn us a new reputation as a ‘fun’, ‘radical’ and truly ‘far out’ nation. Overnight, widespread faith in Britain was restored.

-          Lauren Luke / Refuge

      Self-taught make-up artist, Lauren Luke, was once herself a victim of domestic violence. The Youtube sensation, whose self-filmed make-up tutorials have earned her over 111 million views, was chosen by Refuge to front a campaign against domestic violence by making a series of videos that showed victims how to cover up their bruises after being attacked. The shocking tutorials – one entitled ‘How to look good the morning after’ – were a depressing reminder of the high numbers of victims that try to cover up their abuse. Refuge’s campaign was everything that a PR campaign should be; it took advantage of a medium that was likely to go viral, it was impactful, and bore a simple message; making it worthy of stories in almost all target national and consumer media.

By Jess Matthias