 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The media-usage survey by Ketchum and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center pointed towards nine key media findings, which are listed below. In this roundtable discussion, a panel of communicators familiar with the survey explores it and its principal findings.
The participants include Ed Keller, chief executive officer of Keller Fay Group, co-author of The Influentials, and president of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association; Tracey Maffeo, a Ketchum vice president and specialist in reputation management; William G. Margaritis, corporate vice president, worldwide communications and investor relations, at FedEx; Nicholas Scibetta, Ketchum senior vice president and global director of the agency’s Communications and Media Strategy Network; and Jerry Swerling, professor and director of public relations and the Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center at the University of Southern California. David Rockland, Ketchum partner and global director of research, served as moderator.
"It's hard to find a publication about public relations that doesn't talk about how rapidly the communications landscape is changing. Some experts go as far as to contend traditional media are dead and that the blogosphere is our future. Others say that today's young media consumer doesn't read the newspaper or watch local or national news on television. It seems, too, that there are a fair number of media communicators who have bought into these myths," said Rockland. "Our survey of media professionals and consumers shows that, yes, the world is changing, but not that fast. And, many of those 'dinosaurs' of media relations – your local TV news at 6, or the daily newspaper on your doorstep or on the Web – are, in fact, the real ways consumers get information. Here we ask some experts to comment on the findings."
Q1. What key finding resonated most for you from the survey, and why?
Q2. What survey finding involving consumers surprised you the most, and why?
Q3. What survey finding involving corporate communicators surprised you the most, and why?
Q4. What underscored for you that new media have a definite place in the media mix?
Q6. How did your view of word-of-mouth communications change as a result of the survey's findings?
Q7. What do you consider the best practices for affecting word of mouth through public relations?
