The US-based Institute for Public Relations (IPR) is "an independent nonprofit that bridges the academy and the profession, supporting PR research and mainstreaming this knowledge into practice through PR education." It's a fantastic resource for students and lecturers alike who are researching topics relating to PR practice - and this isn't just because of the breadth and depth of research papers in the archives, but also because there's no paywall.
On Monday, while talking to my second year PR students about PR evaluation and why they had to understand and know how to measure AVEs in order to critique them, an email from the IPR arrived in my inbox. By coincidence, it was alerting me to a just-published research paper on media measurement.
"A New Paradigm for Media Analysis: Weighted Media Cost looks at a new way to analyse media coverage. 'Weighted Media Cost' looks at the correlation between media space achieved by PR activities, time, and business outcomes. While I've got some issues with this methodology as a way of proving the value of public relations activities (most of these issues, in fairness, the authors raise, although don't dwell on too much) it's an interesting read.
This was an issue at my placement - whether to use 'above the line' marketing strategies to ensure coverage with a guaranteed AVE and OTS, or rely on 'below the line' PR networking skills to gain the same for free.
It was particularly interesting to see the coverage reports from their clippings agency (Durrants) in relation to value for money.
Posted by: Chris White | February 11, 2010 at 11:22 PM