The theory of the globalization of business leads people to believe that there is a global application to a wide range of industries. It may be a case of jumping on the global business bandwagon prematurely for some industries. The application of public relations on such a large scale may work in some cases, but I do not believe there is a one-size-fits all solution to this issue.
As an international student, my first observation regarding global public relations is the difference in consumption of media between countries. In the UK, national newspapers are a much more effective form of communication than in the US where media tends to be more regionally focused. This is likely due to the sheer size of the States, but even so, finding a comparable way to target such a large portion of the population with one outlet is difficult.
The practice of PR in mature markets such as the UK and the US is also a lot different than it would be in a third world country, for example. The perception of the industry and acceptable means of pitching a story to a journalist are just a couple of the factors that make the practice of public relations so country-specific. It would be difficult to find a PR firm that had a solid grasp of both the media culture and the target market in every country of business while the firm itself is only located in one country.
Lou Hoffman, CEO of The Hoffman Agency, suggested in a 2007 article for PR Week that there are still few PR campaigns that are truly global, and that our profession has a long way to go before we can really be considered global. I absolutely agree. As a profession though, if our clients are doing business globally, there is an undeniable need to support them through PR activity in the markets they are doing business. However we do it, this is an issue the industry does need to address. As Hoffman suggests, “It’s not enough to talk about a global mentality. We need to harness the collective brainpower of our PR people and apply it to the global stage.”
