Job of the Month Page 23 - The PR Report

Adman admits PR “ultimate weapon in the marketing arsenal”
Article in full: by Harold Mitchell, Business Day.com.au 2/7/10
Spin: just what doctor ordered
THIS column is about public relations ‐ or, to use the in word, ''spin''. People who work in public relations used to be called
PR practitioners. But now they are the ''spin doctors'' and it drives logo‐maniacal Louise mad. No matter what terminology
we use, ''spin'' is an incredibly effective communications tool, if not the ultimate weapon in the marketing arsenal.
At Charlie's insistence, I accepted an invitation during the week to appear on the ABC panel show Q&A on Monday night.
Charlie only watches the ABC (or SBS if he has to watch a soccer match), so appearing on Q&A was like winning the grand
final. What an experience, as half a dozen supposedly intelligent people have the hot studio lights shining on them.
The ABC studios are in Sydney, and given that the overnight temperature in that city on Monday night dropped to an
unusual 2 degrees, it didn't seem to be such a bad place to be. The program is an ABC winner but last Monday was an
exceptional night. It seems that a star was born while the erudite regular compere of Q&A, Tony Jones, took a week off.
''You never think that your replacement will be as good as you,'' says Louise.
''Maybe better,'' says Charlie.
As soon as the panel started to talk about spin, the viewers started to tune in ‐ big time.
The show normally has an audience of 500,000 viewers, which is really good for 9.30pm. The previous week, the program
attracted 541,000 viewers but last Monday it jumped to nearly 750,000.
Admittedly, the panel included Barnaby Joyce. He normally draws a couple of hundred to town halls in western Queensland
but only if there is a chook raffle to get things under way.
There is no doubt that the star attraction on Q&A last Monday night was that tall, attractive Italian girl, Virginia Trioli ‐ and
did she get the show really moving. She previously won a Walkley Award for seeing off the career of former Liberal defence
minister Peter Reith over the ''children overboard affair''. It was a more than an interesting night with Joyce, who typically
goes for the jugular, getting all confused and pinning himself by his own jugular. Nasty look, that. Louise says if you talk too
much you'll finish up saying something stupid. Say no more.
The panel and the audience discussed the matter of ''spin'' around the former prime minister, wondering if the next spin
would be for him to become the future minister for foreign affairs.
I don't know about spin sometimes. It seems to me that the only real expert was Shane Warne ‐ best spinner of all time.
Charlie still reckons he would be a great minister of foreign affairs. ''Lots of experience,'' says Charlie.
The Virginia Trioli Q&A night not only made the ratings jump but also increased numbers in the younger market (that is,
people under 55) by an amazing 75 per cent. The upmarket viewers, which the ABC normally has anyway, increased by 44
per cent. Tony Jones does the show so well and will be back next week. I wonder if the numbers will hold up.
Somehow I don't think the 7.30 king, Kerry O'Brien, will be taking a week off any time soon. They might ask Virginia to stand
in for him.
Diary note: PR & Corporate Communications Conference, Sydney, 10 & 11 AUGUST
Gala Dinner: 10 th August
Keynote speaker: John Blyth, SVP, Fleishman-Hillard USA www.frocomm.com
(formerly head of Comms for McDonald’s USA)