In our continuing series focused on the intersection of PR and creativity, we checked in with Heidi Modarelli-Frank, Chief Relationship Officer at Marcus Thomas, about their PR functionality in today's branding landscape.
How would you describe the functionality of the partnership between an agency and its PR counterpart?
Public relations + social + creative + media + digital = true integration, and it’s critical to brand success in 2023. People don’t live in siloed channels. Brands that want sticky relationships with people need to be thinking in an integrated way.
The reality is, integration hasn’t always worked smoothly – or in the best interest of the client. When P&Ls and territorialism get in the way, the integration road can be very bumpy. Truly integrated agencies, where disciplines aren’t competing for dollars and client positioning and work in partnership from the beginning, probably integrate best.
I’m spoiled working in an integrated environment at Marcus Thomas, but I’ve also been at the table as the public relations or social agency when the client has third-party creative or media. That relationship is often “here’s the campaign, now go publicize it” or “socialize” it. That rarely works well. The idea doesn’t activate as powerfully. The value comes when all perspectives come together at the beginning, at the briefing, even concepting together. When we do that, we more fluidly get to a true value exchange for the consumer and the brand. Sometimes the best idea is social-first or experiential. Sometimes, public relations is critical to creating cultural relevance with an audience. It’s harder to get there when you have to reverse engineer ideas.
Back in the day, PR was about protecting a brand and its reputation largely through earned or free media: Press releases, statements, stories and crisis management. What has led to the PR function becoming more creatively oriented?
This characterization isn’t really accurate. The practice of public relations has a deep history employing creativity to build brand credibility, change perceptions and drive action. As far back as 1929, Edward R. Bernays, considered the “godfather of PR,” helped Lucky Strike make smoking a women’s rights issue, enlisting debutants to march in New York City’s Easter parade while smoking. (Long before we knew the dangers of smoking!) In the 1950s, Edelman legendarily created a traveling Toni perm box to tout at-home perms, instead of using ads.
Creativity is and has always been a part of it. The question should be, why is the advertising industry just starting to take notice? Social media has shone a burning spotlight on the influence of third-party voices, and brands have recognized the need to harness this. Communications channels have converged. People are shunning traditional ads, and even paying to avoid them. People have the power to block advertising like never before. Brands need to think about the holistic experiences they’re creating. As a result, the ad industry is starting to wake up to the power of public relations.
How are you leveraging modern tech and/or social media in client work, and what value does it add to the creative process?
We usually start thinking about the consumer, what kind of a journey they’re on (e.g., journey of parenting or taking care of their yard) and think about how they might engage with various technologies along the way. How, as a brand, can we leverage those technologies to deliver value? For example, we created a voice assistant skill to help people find time to mow their lawn based on weather and their busy calendars. We’ve also leveraged TikTok and influencers to help first-time homeowners learn tips for maintaining their yards and their yard equipment. Tools like generative AI help to get all the obvious ideas out of the way and get to great ideas, faster. Generative AI also can be helpful in identifying influencers, media and story trends. Social listening tools offer a great way to gain consumer insights.
What kind of projects does your agency call on a PR counterpart (in-house or external) to get involved in? In what ways have brand communications evolved in light of having a more integrated partnership?
We work from a roundtable model – when a new project or opportunity comes through, we triage with various discipline leads, which are all in house at Marcus Thomas. We assess the opportunity and what skills we think the challenge will need, then bring the right disciplines around the table for the planning, briefing, brainstorming, etc. This could include anything from brand or product launches to new campaigns. For example, we launched Ditto, a joint venture between JOANN stores and SINGER sewing machines – our strategy, public relations, creative, media and social teams worked fluidly to take over New York’s Fashion Week. Seamless partnership was critical to the idea, which started with strong insight and executed with influencers, events, street tactics, social and more.