This guest post is by Faith Hoffman, a senior double majoring in PR & Strategic Communication and Marketing, about her attendance at a professional development conference. Faith’s travel was supported in part by the Lamb School. If you’re interested in guest posting or have questions about Lamb School support for undergraduate development, email lambnews@purdue.edu.
The word innovation is often tied to the fields of technology or science. Entrepreneurship is a likely word to describe the study of business. If the PR and communications field were to select one word that could define the great efforts we take to individualize ourselves, I would argue this word would be “creative“.
PR professionals set the standard for organizational relationships. Although we often do not design the new product or perform the service, we define how the public receives organizational messages and what impact is being had. Because of this, the best PR professionals are constantly making unique communication strategies, embracing new technology, and creating content that holds purpose.
Creativity was a well-reported topic during the 2019 Public Relations Student Society of America International Conference (PRSSAIC) in San Diego. Speakers from several industries and levels of success shared the idea that PR professionals need to be setting the communication trends instead of trying to fit them into a company image.
The PRSSAIC keynote speaker, Dr. Kaye Sweeter APR, claims that “most creativity comes from passion.” It’s difficult to promote something that you are not interested in yourself. When you are passionate about the work you’re doing, you will be creating content that your target audience will be more interested to see. Sweeter also mentions that because we are PR professionals, we need to look at what we are sharing from every angle. We are not always writing to the same demographic, and we need to be mindful of the content we are sharing.
Perhaps one of the most creative industry leaders is The Walt Disney Company. At a PRSSAIC break out session, I heard from Suzi Brown, the Vice President of Communication for Disneyland, about her communication strategy behind the launch of the largest single-themed land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The dozens of promotional events leading up to the launch focused primarily on Disney crewmembers, the community of Anaheim, and long-standing fans of the Star Wars franchise. Their unique and imaginative strategies lead the campaign to produce over 60 billion impressions and gave Galaxy’s Edge the title of “Time Magazine’s Greatest Places.”
While PR professionals are leading the way for new events, products, ideas, and services, there is a need for creativity. If the field of public relations was only viewed in black and white, then we would never be able to make something spectacular like the launch of Galaxy’s Edge. View each project from a new scope because even if it’s not broken, we can make it better. PR professionals can claim the term creativity by practicing unique communication and feeding off of their passion. There are endless opportunities to find your creative niche, and that is what will set you above the rest.