何为公关?或者说公关究竟要做什么?我在做公关这将近3年里一直在思索这个问题，有的时候的看法过于阳春白雪，有的时候又过于下里巴人。在我刚刚转行来到伟达公关(Hill & Knowlton)不久，我给卡夫食品(Kraft Foods)的一些老同事打电话知会这个变动。有一个曾经待我不薄的大姐(其实她已经快退休了)听说我改做公关了，下一句就是问我在哪个酒楼，我当时也没多解释，心里偷笑但嘴上说道，你想喝酒的时候随时来找我。

　　我座位旁边也是一个新员工，刚从诺基亚跳槽过来的大美女。有一天她突然问我，如果被问起来在哪里工作或者在做什么，她该怎么回答呢，那时我终于明白为什么过年回老家之前她总是一脸愁容了。因为“公关”这个字眼在中国仿佛蒙了一层香艳的薄纱，尤其是“公关小姐”这四个字更是让人想入非非。最直接的联想莫过于电线杆上或公车站牌上那些小广告：月薪5万招聘男女公关，要求身体健康、思想开放、形体/ 相貌/ 气质出众者优先，或者联想到一些媒体上曝光的钱色交易或权色交易。

　　我这里说的“公关”，其实是对于“Public Relations (PR)”一个最直接的翻译，那么“公关小姐”对应的就是“PR girls”。让我们来看西方社会，尤其是发达国家对于“PR girls”这个词的联想是什么：Classy, smart, respectful, friendly…(出自http://www.prgirlz.com)。有哪个女孩不想成为这样的女人，仪表精致、举止优雅、做事聪明、礼貌待人、友善真诚……甚至很多男人为迎娶一个PR girl而自豪。为什么东西方对于同一个词汇的理解会有如此大的差异呢?

　　通常不太熟的人问起我在从事哪方面工作的时候，我首先会说是咨询(Consulting);如果追问哪方面的咨询呢，我就会说是营销方面的咨询(Marketing Consulting);如果追问具体做什么呢，我就会说是做公关(Public Relations)。既然有水平追问到这里，通常能够理解公关是做什么的。不过被熟悉的人问起自然不能如此敷衍，我通常会直接说是做公关的，然后耐心解释一下究竟何为公关，也就是我一开始抛出的问题。

　　一般情况下，介绍公关都是以广告为参照标准的。有一张图片直白的展现了公关与广告的区别，见下图。如果讲解对象是女性，我经常会采用更加低俗的讲法，比如“我直接告诉你我的床上功夫很好，这就是广告;而我让你的闺蜜告诉你说我的床上功夫很销魂，这才是公关。”

　　如果再往下详细解释，公关究竟是什么，又要干些什么，恐怕真正的公关从业者也很难用三言两语描述的清楚。同理，其实任何行业的从业者都很难用三言两语定义自己从事的行业。这是一个年轻的行业，出现在二十世纪初期，但第一次对其做出精确定义还是在1978年全球公关行业协会的聚会上，具体是这么说的：PR is the art and social science of ***yzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest.

　　毋庸置疑，这些从业者把它拔的太高了，高度概括几乎就是高度抽象的代名词，看过这个定义的人肯定还是一头雾水。我觉得Wikipedia的解释还不错，我整理为这样一段描述，并将几个关键点用下划线勾了出来：Public relations (or PR) is a field concerned with maintaining public image for high-profile people, commercial businesses and organizations, non-profit associations or programs. Actually, it is thepractice of managing communication between an organization and its publics. Public relations provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that provide a third-party endorsement and do not direct payment.

　　Wikiepida将公关进一步细分为3个领域，分别是Financial Public Relations, Product Public Relations, Crisis Public Relations，实际上远远不止这么几个领域。我某日翻看伟达公关的员工手册时发现一个章节叫“Defining Our Capabilities”，里面对于传统意义上的PR进行了非常有逻辑的分类，如教科书一般经典。其实除此6种之外，还有一类叫做“Black PR”，意在基于事实去攻击竞争对手，这种手段目前备受争议，大家也可以参与Wikipedia正在进行的关于是否将其添加到“PR”词条的讨论。作为谨守商业道德的国际公关公司，伟达公关自然也暂时不提供这种服务。对于6大PR领域的介绍我摘抄在下面，给所有对这个行业感兴趣又不明故里的人看看。

　　公共关系行业依托于人力，没有厂房和设备，可以理解为支张桌子就能开公司，但牛毛遍地的公关公司当中究竟孰大孰小，哪些才是全球Top 10，这部分在网上极难搜到让我满意的资料。造成这样的原因有很多，我想最主要的原因是公关公司极少独立上市，2009年底过会登录深圳创业板的蓝色光标是个异类。纵观全球市场，公关公司的生存状态主要是两类，要么作为上市的大型传媒集团子公司存在，要么作为私人企业在运营，这两者的详细财务数据都很难得到，所以缺乏一个像Fortune 500那样的公信榜单。不过在这个行业依然不乏一些相对有影响力的排名，首当其冲的是业界权威媒体PR Week的年度排名，可惜要看这个东西需要先支付一定的美刀，我也一直没有看到过流出版。此外，还有一个叫做Holmes的咨询公司也会每年做一个榜单，同样杯具的是也要付费才可以看到，不过幸运的是我在网上发现一份某公司购买的报告，虽然是一份2007年出具的报告，收入数字也今非昔比了，但竞争格局可见一斑。报告勾勒出了第一集团的5家公司，分别是万博宣伟、福莱公关、爱德曼公关、博雅公关、以及伟达公关，第二集团竞争格局比较激烈，有些公司在中国市场的足迹不深，有些公司则广为熟知，比如凯旋公关、奥美公关、明思力公关、罗德公关等等。

From The Holmes Report (2007)

　　There are five genuinely global public relations brands, each with global fees in excess of $200 million. The market leaders are Weber Shandwick Worldwide (Interpublic) and Fleishman-Hillard (Omnicom), each of which has global fees of $350 million or more. Edelman (independent) is now probably the third largest public relations firm in the world, with fees of around $320 million in 2006, followed closely by Burson-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton (both WPP) with PR fees in excess of $220 million each. (Burson’s total revenues are considerably higher, as the company now also includes research company Penn Schoen & Berland and several public affairs firms not operating under the Burson brand).

　　Other significant players include Brodeur Pleon, Ketchum and Porter Novelli (both Omnicom) and Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (WPP); Manning Selvage & Lee and Publicis Consultants (Publicis Groupe); Euro RSCG Public Relations (Havas); GolinHarris (Interpublic); Ruder Finn (independent), Cohn & Wolfe and GCI Group (both WPP), and Trimedia (Huntsworth), all of which can best be described as international rather than global, with resources in every region but remaining gaps in either their geographic reach or their service offerings.

From Hill & Knowlton Employee Manual (2008)

　　Marketing Communications

　　In a public relations application, this is the service that targets the end of consumer (with trade channels that reach that consumers) to help position, build credibility/ reputation and/ or sell products and services. Most often based on extensive consumer research, it conveys key messages to defined target audiences within the sales and marketing chain to influence purchasing decisions.

　　Marketing communications includes non-paid/ negotiated media coverage, events, partnership activities, product publicity, new product launches, and can help business target other business. It can take the form of promotions and niche marketing activities in specialist sectors. Marketing communications PR is increasingly critical in specialist sectors, such as marketing to children and youth, nutrition and ethnic groups.

　　In general, marketing works through third party endorsers, including the media, to explain a product or reinforce a brand message to consumer.

　　Corporate Communications

　　The focus in corporate communications is on the company’s reputation and “perceptual assets”, not on the product or service. The public relations goal is to help the company distinguish itself in the marketplace by identifying its most important audiences (e.g. community, shareholders, clients, prospects, ***ysts, employees and media) and articulate key messages. Corporate communications brings context and focus to any positioning need and helps build corporate reputations in leadership, quality in management and long-term value. Subsets (or “asset groups”) of this capability can be crisis communications, litigation support, and internal or employee communications.

　　Crisis and Issue Management

　　A major crisis can threaten a company’s future. It represents significant risk for the company’s image, its ability to continue ordinary operations, its customer base, its standing in its own and distant communities, and its credibility in the financial markets. The stakes are high and the time in which the company must react or respond and assure its audiences is short. The margin for error is slim. Public relations professionals provide planning (before there is a crisis), counsel and logistical support in the event of a crisis. PR and do the following:

　　· Help a client assess potential risks.

　　· Assist in the development of a corporate crisis communication system.

　　· Plan and implement crisis-oriented communications for a wide variety of internal and external audiences.

　　· Evaluate the effectiveness of a company’s crisis system and its response to past crises.

　　· Monitor coverage of public reaction to a crisis.

　　· Train key managers in crisis assessment, management and techniques of appropriate and timely communications.

　　Internal or Employee Communication

　　Employee communications is a key management responsibility. Programs are designed to enable employees to share in the vision and values of senior management, foster support and enthusiasm, and/ or to gain understanding in the event of a crisis. PR role is to diagnose employee attitudes and perceptions and craft communications programs aimed at driving employee behavior. As in other corporate disciplines, PR professionals operate from a research base, beginning with surveys aimed at eliciting the values employees hold and their perceptions of the company. PR professionals work to assure there is alignment between employee values and the company’s mission. Traditional communications activities include general client counsel, writing, design and production of employee publications, scripting and production of special management and employee events. PR professionals also participate in labor negotiations, merger integration, restructurings and downsizings, and vision and mission development.

　　Financial Communications

　　Today’s market is competitive is completive and volatile for publicly-held companies, which means they must compete for the financial community’s attention, investment capital, and shareholder loyalty. Success requires an active, effective financial communications program. Financial relations services include initial public offerings (IPOs), investor relations planning, developing and writing annual and quarterly reports; corporate positioning; restructuring counsel; media relations; market intelligence; mergers and acquisitions; proxy solicitation; interactive services; and research and information services.

　　The last 15 years have seen the growth of international public relations driven by increasing numbers of privatization sold both locally to retail investors and across a range of other markets. International work has also extended the range of financial communications, for example, in promoting debt instruments from emerging markets that need a “story” to be marketed. Financial PR is often used not only by listed companies, but also by other participants in the market, including exchanges, fund managers and investment banks.

　　Internationally, financial PR increasingly involves coordinating multi-market programs that must reflect different local styles of communicating with media and ***ysts as well as different regulatory environments governing media disclosure during financial transactions.

　　Public Affairs

　　Public affairs is the art and science of helping individuals and their organizations survive and prosper in a climate that is profoundly influenced by public policies and the diversity of human interests they must serve.

　　Public affairs encompass government relations, lobbying, and procurement. Public affairs professionals are specialists in forecasting and cultivating public acceptance of political and other issues. They use media relations, grassroots communications, and lobbying to reach key influencers, public advocacy groups, think tanks, special interest groups, consumers, and opinion leaders.

　　Public affairs involve the sophisticated application of media outreach, advocacy advertising, alliance building and other strategies that can broaden both the message and the appeal. A full-service public affairs and government relations firm assists clients in the design and implementation of broad-based communications and campaigns to affect public policy.

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