Embracing Public Relations

By : Odylia Martin

The question of whether the globalisation of public relations is a myth or reality is easily answered: it is definitely a reality. The key question is what kind of reality is it? And two further questions: what does it mean for us? And where is it headed?

Any concept of globalisation that attempts to airbrush out the importance of local, national, or regional dynamics is not going to take us very far. It is no longer acceptable to rely on the watchwords "Think Global, Act Local." Perhaps closer to the mark is a line by Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who once said, "All politics is local." In some important senses, all PR is local, too

Yet as one or two academics have pointed out, globalisation is not a new concept. While the term "globalisation" was coined only in the 1980s, the concept originated much earlier than that.

Consider for a moment that the Roman Empire once extended from Scotland in the North to Tunisia and Egypt in the South and from Portugal in the West to Turkey in the East. Within that vast region, there was one currency, one banking system, one legal system, one trading system, and one official language for matters of state and commerce. No wonder then that there were revolts and street riots protesting the imposition of Roman rule on local life. This isn't much different from a meeting of the World Health Organization today.

In considering the reality of global PR, we should remember that it is complex, not simple. The tension and balance between the power of international and the power of local is an old theme. One lesson is clear: global and local always co-exist and have always been intertwined. History shows that one does not necessarily lead to the demise of the other. Globalisation is complex and multi-layered and it is perilous to forget that.

If the 19th and the first half of the 20th century were dominated - sometimes tragically - by nation states, the last 50 years have seen the emergence of a new global player: the multinational organisation, or as some experts prefer to say more accurately and neutrally: "the transnational organisation".

Transnationals may be headquartered within a particular country and carry strong cultural associations from that home country. Coca-Cola, for example, has long been regarded as American as apple pie. The historic brand essence of Mercedes or Peugeot was quintessentially German or French. But increasingly, the country of origin is becoming less central to the DNA of these organisations. They think and act internationally; they have intellectual property and operations around the world; and their culture becomes global, not national or local.

People often assume that transnationals are only multinational businesses such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, Nokia, or Sony. However, one of the key points about understanding the globalisation of PR is that we aren't just referring to businesses, but to many other types of global players as well.

Transnationals may be political such as the European Commission, UNICEF or the World Health Organisation. They may be NGOs such as Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. They may be economic such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and they may be cultural such as CNN, BBC World and Al Jazeera. These disparate organisations all demonstrate the willingness and ability to think and act on a global or regional basis, rather than on just a national basis.

The first step in understanding the reality of the globalisation of PR is that some of the key players now are no longer capable of being understood within the confines of traditional national boundaries. It's not just that they act internationally; they act supra-nationally. Their psychology, their thinking and even their cultures are becoming truly global.

The term globalisation most simply refers to the growing interdependence and interconnectedness of the world - politically, militarily, economically, or technologically. Whether people view globalisation as a liberating force for economic prosperity and world peace, or whether they fear it as a catastrophic form of tyranny and the nemesis of advanced capitalism, both supporters and opponents agree that globalisation rests on our interconnectedness and interdependence. That's true whether the issue is trade barriers, pornography on the internet, climate change, or the advance of avian flu. Like it or not, we have never understood so keenly as now that we all inhabit the same planet.

Yet there is a second idea that is often mistakenly linked to interconnectedness - an idea that is far more problematic for those of us facing the challenges of the globalisation of PR.

It is the idea that globalisation means not just international connectedness but also international homogenisation. This notion holds that globalisation inevitably moves towards uniformity in consumer behaviours, tastes, cultures and personalities. According to this view, whether we live in Malaysia or New York, Belgium or Bolivia, we will all eventually act in the same way, consume the same products, and have the same cultural reference points. Local differences will diminish over time as an inevitable result of globalisation.

Understandably, this argument worries many people. Take the night skyline of many a major world city on any continent and see the familiar neon signs for Kodak, Panasonic or Fosters. It does seem to indicate a world that increasingly looks alike.

It is also true that nearly the world over people can be seen drinking a Coke, taking their kids to McDonald's, using Microsoft Windows, or clutching a Siemens mobile phone. Does that mean that people around the world are all becoming the same? Does it mean that national, regional and local differences are slowly melting away into a uniform global consumer marketplace? Far from it.

The strongest evidence that globalisation does not mean bland uniformity comes from the many corporations whose products and services penetrate scores of countries. These companies need to make their brands relevant in ways that are faithful to the core attributes of the brand, yet flexible enough to accommodate diverse trading patterns, differing consumer tastes and behaviour; and a variety of business, media and political cultures. Take the work we do for Siemens and MasterCard, representing both businesses in dozens of diverse markets. Of course, we help these clients drive a central global plan based on core brand values. But the effectiveness of these programmes comes from the huge creativity and intellectual property residing around the world.

The real challenge for PR is to help organisations bridge that which is global and that which is local. Unfortunately, there is no magic template for doing this. What there is instead is a steadily growing body of wisdom that comes from doing it day in day out in numerous markets around the world.

I mentioned at the start of this article that old watchwords like '"Think Global, Act Local" are no longer relevant. With very few exceptions global campaigns that are designed, executed and controlled centrally have little place in today's global PR market. "Think Global, Act Local" was an attempt to get beyond complete centralisation by suggesting that execution, at least, needed to take place locally. But it still implied that corporate headquarters could establish a strategy that would resonate around the world as long as it had a little local interpretation in the execution phase.

Today global campaigns do not come from some NASA-like Mission Control centre. Instead they originate from any corner of the world. And once originated, they have to find differing expressions to be effective in different markets.

Our business is more and more about the quality of our ideas - strategic and creative ideas. By their nature, ideas can come from anywhere - especially if we are to avoid the charge of cultural imperialism.