Lessons from PR Week

I was lucky enough to talk to Tanya Lewis from PR Week a few weeks ago and to have my headshot and a few paragraphs appear in this week’s PR Week. The article profiles 4 “creatives” promoting greater understanding of social media in PR. Because of the Aug 4 timing, I was very excited to do this as I could discuss the work my team will be doing covering real long-tail athlete stories on the ground in Beijing over at http://summergames.lenovo.com and at www.twitter.com/lenovo2008.

The online article is behind a subscriber-only firewall and the print article is on Page 13 so, being new to PR, I pretty much assumed this would be the veritable tree falling in the forest. Not so. Here’s what I learned this week:

• Print is alive and well in certain sectors – evidently, I have a lot of colleagues and friends who comb every page of PR Week.
• News of print coverage travels fast online through social media. Change blogger and former colleague Qui Diaz was quick to tweet her congratulations and I have received emails from a range of folks I hadn’t heard from in a while.
• But most interesting? Everyone who wants to be perceived as creative has their headshot done in front of a brick wall. ALL 4 individuals from the article had done this. I was lucky that mine looked slightly different as it was taken in front of a “Beware of the Dog” mural in an alley in Greenville (thank you Brains on Fire). Evidently, I’m going to have to think of something really nutty – swinging from a trapeze? – to set me apart from the rest of the “creative” PR set. Any suggestions?