PR WORKSHOP

Assoc.Prof Yeşim Esgin

Istanbul Medipol University I Communication Faculty
“The three main elements of public
relations are practically as old as
society: informing people, persuading
people, or integrating people with
people. Of course, the means and
methods of accomplishing these ends
have changed as society has
changed.”

Edward L. Bernays (2013). “Public

Relations”
PUBLIC

“A public is a group of people that

shares a common interest vis-à-vis an
organization, recognizes its significance
and sets out to do something about it.
Publics are homogeneous in that they
are similar in their interests and
characteristics. They usually are aware
of the situation and their relationship
with the organization. “

John Dewey, The Public and Its

Problems (1927)
Don’t confuse
publics with
markets
Think of the difference as that
between family and friends. A public is
like your family. You don’t pick them.
A market, on the other hand, is more
like your friends. You pick them; they
pick you.

Categories of Publics
The Six-Point PR Planning Model
1. Situation Analysis
2. Defining Objectives
3. Defining Publics
4. Media Selection
5. The Budget
6. Implementation and Control
LASWELL’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Harold Laswell, 1948

One-way communication model

Achieving Excellence in PR
Two-way communication model
PR Workshop Assignments The Six-Point PR Planning Model
Fall / 2023
Assignment I
• Choose a PR Agency
• Choose the agency’s well-known
PR Campaign and analyze it !
The evaluation criteria is given below.
1. Situation Analysis
2. Defining Objectives
3. Defining Publics
4. Media Selection
+
5. The Campaign Message

Assignment II – Exxon Valdez Disaster

What key lessons can be learned from the crisis
in terms of managing public relations effectively during
environmental disasters?"

Requirement:
• Team-Up (Min 3 - Max 6 students)
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill-
1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaRdUHrUnBs
 Concession Strategy
or not?
• Crisis counselor James Lukaszewski revealed that he advised
Exxon to charter aircraft to carry volunteers from major U.S.
cities to Alaska in 1989 so they could help clean up some of
the 11 million gallons of oil spilled in Prince William Sound.
• Exxon rejected the idea on grounds that the airlift would cost
too much. The company eventually spent $2.2 billion in clean
up costs, another $1 billion to settle state and federal lawsuits
and $300 million in lost wages to Alaskan fishermen.
• Exxon also has spent more than a decade fighting a $5.3 billion
fine in punitive damages for criminal negligence in the oil spill.
Certainly an environmental airlift would not have eliminated
all of Exxon’s expenses. But in hindsight it seems fair to
conclude that an airlift would have helped the company’s
reputation, which in turn could have eased its legal battles as
well as its strained relations with stockholders, consumers,
government agencies and the media.
• In 1999, Business Week magazine commented that “Exxon
could have emerged from the case with a far better image if it
had taken a more conciliatory approach.… Instead, Exxon took
a tough stand. And 10 years later, the furious debates, and the
bitterness, continue.”
• Showing the ramification of continuing anti-Exxon sentiment, a
jury in 2000 ordered Exxon to pay $3.5 billion for defrauding
the state of Alabama on royalties involving gas wells.