At Cocktail Hour

Above: Bob Pankuck, Doug Fidoten, Tim Pollak and Tiger Ishii

Right: Jennifer Robinson & Jill Gabbe

Tim Andree with the Panelists

Right: Tim with Jonah Bloom and Richard Edelman

Left: Tim with Tim Pollak

More to think about...

How does the proliferation of user-generated content impact corporate communications, as the traditional role of who controls the message is in the midst of a paradigm shift?

How does a company determine which blogs can be ignored and which ones impact its brand image and sales?

Are we, as professionals, on our way to losing total control of the message?

We want to hear from You!

Thanks for joining us at Wednesday’s Arthur W. Page Society event. We think our panelists started a really good conversation, and we’d like to keep it going. More importantly, we want to know what you think. The discussion, “Advertising & PR today – What’s the difference in the digital world?” brought forward a number of issues facing us as communications professionals. Pick one or weigh in on as many as you want. Jonah, Tim and Richard will be checking in to hear what you have to say, so look for new info from our experts…

Journalists – a dying breed?

What’s your reaction to Jonah Bloom’s comment that it's the journalists who have the most difficult time in today's digital world, more so than advertising and PR practitioners…

We want to know, as companies, politicians and citizens take control of their own media relations online, is the idea of the journalist as an objective reporter of "the truth" obsolete?

Why do CMOs last only 20 months?

Tim Pollak argued that the Chief Marketing Officer needs to have clearly defined responsibility, otherwise he's made a scapegoat for things beyond his control. He said that unless the CMO is also responsible for product development and sales, he isn’t actually accountable, unlike his other “C-suite” counterparts.

But is this just an excuse for the fact that most CMOs don’t seem to be up to the job; indeed, is marketing even a “C-suite” role?

Media "haves" and "have-nots"

Richard Edelman's statistic that 25% of high school students don't access any form of media for their daily news poses an enormous challenge to companies, advertisers and PR companies alike. The future will be divided between media "haves" and "have-nots."

How should we reach out to these media "have-nots" who rely on their friends to get the news?

Every company is a media company

With digital technology, every company today is a media company… So why are the Chief Communications Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer still two separate roles?

How should we handle Bloggers?

Is the goal to intersect vertical mainstream media with horizontal bloggers?

Do we need to treat bloggers like journalists?

PR versus Public Affairs

What’s the dichotomy between PR and Public Affairs?

Consumers are the winners

Truth, Transparency and the Advertising Way – The blogosphere makes advertisers honest and holds the manufacturer accountable. It’s the best time for consumers; and it's more important than ever to have someone at the top to orchestrate the entire communications process to ensure it's effective and credible.

Is PR critical for an ad's success?

In today’s media world, without PR, can ads work?

SuperBowl ads miss the point

Are SuperBowl ads just a big waste of money? The goal is to be top of the viewers' polls, leading to increasingly outrageous, even controversial, ads, which seem to hurt, rather than promote the brands.