Promotion

Public relations isn’t just media relations. Marketing isn’t just promotion. Promotion isn’t just advertising. PR isn’t just one-way. Digital isn’t just Web. I’m writing a book, provisionally titled Influence Professional. It’s about influence and a new role in the marketing and PR mix. It’s also about taking a good look at where marketing and public relations got to in the 20th Century, what happened in the last ten years, and what will happen in the coming decade that will make the last ten look like we were just taking it easy. Most intriguingly, on talking to as many people as I can, not only have I found little useful understanding amongst those looking in on our professions, but I’ve found inconsistent definitions and misunderstandings between our respective disciplines. ...

According to Mark Imrie, formerly Head of Products for O2 and now Head of CRM and online capability, “MMS was a technology-led service that was rushed to market”. Quoted in Billing World last month, Mark succinctly explains the lacklustre performance of MMS to date. But where next? What’s required for MMS to take off in 2008? I’d say it boils down to phone design, pricing and applications, and these three are coming together nicely to form the perfect storm next year. ...