PR ain't dead, traditional media ain't dead

Yes, this is one day out of many that I will actually take a break from all the social media and online marketing channels and remind you that Traditional media is still alive and well.

Sure, the total spent has dropped in recent years, couple that with the recent recession that hit traditional media hard and the trend looks like traditional media and PR are pretty much dead. But yet we still enjoy (once in a while) TV ads that feed our desire for a particular brand or product, PR pieces that boost our confidence in a brand, the car brochure that help you finalize your purchasing decision and you can understand why it still has value.

Let's look real quick at two examples:

1) Miracle on the Hudson (US Airway water landed on the cold Hudson river, all passengers and crew member made it to safety)

Looking at the timeline of events, social media clearly took the lead in reporting of the incident, including the first witness' photographs and forum talks, and video upload as the plane glide onto the water. Traditional media and company official statement comes almost 35-60 minutes later. However, it was those TV reports that put the story into context, and the company's official statement that communicate the picture inside the cockpit at the time of the incident, communications between the tower and the pilot, and company's position on the incident to public view. This is still the recognized authority when it comes to official communication to the general public.

2) H&R Block Death and Taxes

This is actually H&R's social media initiative. With Twitter, Facebook, YouTube penetration in the millions. However, they still spent millions more in their SuperBowl ad to attract many of their audiences to got them thinking about filing for tax early. With the economy in recession at the time, where almost everyone (include me) looking for maximum refund, this can be classified as a campaign success. (Even though I ended up using TurboTax online instead)

The two examples not only illustrate how alive traditional media and PR are, but it also illustrated an important point: PR and traditional media has evolved and the best use is to integrate with social media in order to gain maximum effects and optimized results. With that said, if you are planning to get help from PR and ad agencies, make sure you pick one that understands this fundamental shift in advertising and not one that got themselves stuck in the early 90s.