The PR profession has recently undergone transformation as new online media is introduced and traditional media becomes endangered.

John Bell of Ogilvy PR’s digital team blogged about desired qualities of PR professionals:

“If I were a CEO, I would want people who understood these changes at my side," says Bell. "I would want to know how communications works today and how it is likely to work tomorrow. I would want folks who could deploy programs quickly and remain nimble in their response to the marketplace.”

Newspapers that were once regarded as industry leaders are now making decisions about whether to continue operations and the Web has taken control of the way we receive information. In response, journalists and PR professionals must work even harder to continue success and adapt to the change.

The Web is a 24-hour news source that is constantly being updated. More extensive information must be given, and at an even faster rate.

For PR professionals, this means looking beyond the traditional forms of communication. A press release is not nearly as valuable as it was 10 years ago. Now, news releases must include other media, like videos and photographs.

Ogilvy debuted this video at PR Week’s “Next Conference.” The clip catured insights by PR industry experts on what the PR professional of the future would be like:


One thing seems to be consistent: the future professional must be a good writer who can perform with speed. In addition to fundamental writing techniques, students must be well-versed in the new communication tools being used.

That’s what Auburn University PR students are doing.

Robert French’s “PR Messages in Style and Design” class is designed to help students become aware of the software applications and implementations of online public relations activities that industry professionals are using.

The course exposes students to HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), CD-ROM development, Web site development, blogging and several software packages including: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, HTML/CSS
, SnagIt/Camtasia, Macromedia Flash 8, Utterz, FileZilla, WordPress & Ning, Movie Maker, Browser Bob
and Autorun.

Each Style and Design student is expected to create a digital portfolio containing: newsletters, brochures, HTML pages, dynamic Web sites, blogs, personalized browsers, tutorials, video, audio files/podcast content, and more.

Students create content for online sites such as PROpenMic, a social network created by French for students, professors and online pros with more than 4,000 members worldwide. Other online site assignments are written for TheCornerNews.com, TheLoveliestVillage.org and WarEagle.me.

Each week, students also create blog posts about the required reading, “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li.

French mentioned the following in an article issued by PR Week:

“Students have to study it and they also have to do it,” French says. “They're... doing things in the digital realm, but really they're writing and creating collateral. [It's] not so much a big change as it is using new and emerging strategies and tactics that employers [will] want.”

Click here to view the full article.

French alters the program each semester to include new media that emerging professionals will be required to use. May of French’s past students claim that the knowledge and skills they required in this class allowed them to be a step ahead in the PR job market, and ultimately get a job or internship.



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