Chania Crawford
On ICON 2023 Day 3, I had the pleasure of attending “Communicating Your Values Through Brand Storytelling” to learn how agricultural machinery company John Deere shed light onto the complex history of black landowners and how they are reclaiming their agricultural legacy and creating paths to generational wealth. Global Director of Public Relations and Social Media Jen Hartmann and PR Manager of DEI and Sustainability Bonny Verduzco led the session, showing how one idea grazed the hearts of many and was transformed into an electrifying documentary. The session kicked off with Hartmann delivering a hard truth to a room full of PR professionals. “No one cares what your brand has to say,” Hartmann said. The energy in the room dropped. That’s quite the low blow in the PR world. “What I'm trying to say is that given a choice, why would someone want to learn more to take action to join the movement? This is where Bonnie and I hope to help today by sharing our own journey to create the emotional value driven connection with your audience and what we've learned along the way,” Hartmann said. John Deere had already taken steps to join the movement to keep previously black-owned land in black possession, but they wanted to take things further. They wanted to share this story and its impact with the world. “Our PR agency pitched this story to major media outlets and while we saw some really strong pickup from outlets such as CNN and business insider, there was one segment on the today show that caught the attention of a well-known media personality who just happened to own a production company whose mantra is ‘Let’s tell your story of good.’ This was none other than Al Roker,” said Hartmann. To give us a feel for the documentary, Hartman and Verduzco played the trailer for the group. The compelling video flashed across the screen, showcasing the connection that many black people have with the land and the legacy it creates. Senior Advisor at John Deere Marc A. Howze was featured in the documentary, having a personal connection to the matter. His words echoed through the room. “Social justice without economic justice is just chit chat,” Howze said. The trailer ended and both Hartmann and Verduzco looked back at the group with pride. “This is a 90 minute film that dives into the complex history of black farmers in America. From sharecropper to ownership and the economic impact that it has on the community, not just the families. And of course, it also shines a spotlight on the very complicated issue of Heirs’ property,” Verduzco said. Looking back on the project, Hartmann is grateful for her supportive leadership team. While filming, they had long talks about the government's contribution to the long-term discrimination of black landowners for much of the 19th century. She worried about leaving those testimonials in the film, but a leader on the team at the time reassured her by saying, “Jennifer, we are not in the business of burning books. This story needs to be told and we can’t rewrite how we got here.” While the history is unfortunate, the documentary brings us one step closer to protecting black owned land. Along the way, Both Verduzco and Hartmann wanted to make sure the message of the documentary went beyond John Deere. “Our goal was never to get John Deere in the headlines. It was to speak out on something that not only we care about, but our employees and customers care about too,” Verduzco said. To watch the trailer and learn more about the process of creating the film, visit gaininggroundthefilm.com.
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PRSSA ICON’s first Sunday breakout session featured an insightful analysis of the power of creator and influencer marketing from Brandi Boatner, IBM’s digital and advocacy communications manager.
During the session, Boatner touched on how public relations professionals can utilize influencers/creators through the power of relationship building. “We must add creators to the mix and how we build relationships with influencers who generate content,” Boatner said. The creator economy is growing exponentially in the United States as one of the predominant industries. Companies utilize creators to get messaging and products in front of audiences and communities. Despite this, we must remember to distinguish between influencer marketing and creator marketing, Boatner said. “Influencers can become celebrities unto themselves with more recognition, leading to a stigma,” Boatner said. “The term ‘creator’ represents an authenticity that was formerly associated with ‘influencers.’” When working with creators, it is important that companies are open and honest with them to avoid any bad blood between the two. “Make sure creators are disclosing paid partnerships,” Boatner said. “It could be costly for the creator and reputation damaging for the brand.” In addition, companies must use engaging and interactive content when using creator marketing to reach their audience. “Static posts aren’t going away, but Instagram is prioritizing reels,” Boatner said. “Marketers and communicators should utilize the tactic to ensure their content gets in front of audiences.” Ultimately, public relations professionals and creators are a perfect match and influence is at the table. Communicators must think creatively about how to maximize and profit from this partnership. Eve Krejci
In one of the first sessions at ICON 2023, Alexandra M. Merceron, the current Executive Vice President for Rubenstein, a strategic communications & reputation management firm, and Lecturer at Columbia University, spoke about AI. Her session covered the history of AI, its flaws and features, the legal and ethical problems regarding AI and what to expect from it in the future. History of AI: The session began with how AI has been a part of lives for longer than anyone realizes. Take Siri, for example, she mentioned. “It’s always been around, but now it's in our faces,” said Merceron. Many corporations, including Forbes and The New York Times, have created their own AI platforms used within their ranks. “Bertie” is a publishing platform designed by Forbes in 2018 that has various artificial intelligence features intended to make writers more effective. Introduction of ChatGPT: Merceron stated that 2021 was the turning point for AI, as OpenAI introduced GPT3 that year. GPT3 is a neural network machine learning model trained using internet data to generate any type of text. It required a small amount of input text to create large volumes of relevant and sophisticated machine-generated text. In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a similar text-based AI model, which became the fastest technology to reach 100 million users. Flaws and Features: The main feature of ChatGPT is to respond to prompts and questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails. While ChatGPT is a cutting-edge technology platform, it has flaws. For example, Merceron mentioned that ChatGPT can output morals, values and ethics, making its information biased. Some data also comes from users and Wikipedia, which can create results with skewed biases. Who Uses AI and How: Companies and other organizations, like Nike and Netflix, as well as the general public, use ChatGPT. Companies such as Facebook and Google are also hopping on the AI bandwagon by creating their own platforms. Newsrooms and PR agencies are progressively using it more and more to increase the quality of work and help manage their organizations. The more people use AI, the better it gets, so when these organizations utilize the different aspects of ChatGPT, it improves the data it gives back. “The more times you go into the tub, the more likely you are to pull out something great,” said Merceron. Ethical and Legal Issues of AI: As AI is not a person, the issue of copyright comes into question. If someone creates something with AI, do they have any rights over it? As decided by federal courts, if something is created by AI, copyright laws do not protect it because these laws only apply to human beings. Another issue with AI is the fact that it can eliminate jobs. For example, background actors can now be generated by AI. This calls into question whether or not the people whose faces were analyzed to use for the AI-generated background actors are entitled to financial compensation. The courts must decide these questions and situations as time passes and more problems arise. Alex Zito
The emergence of artificial intelligence has revolutionized numerous industries and public relations is no exception. The shift is so profound that Greg Matusky, a seasoned PR professional with contributions to PR magazines, articulated that we have transitioned from the “information age” to the “age of intelligence.” Matusky believed that AI could not attain sentience. “I never thought AI would be able to be sentient, but I was proven wrong, and my theory has already gone out the window,” said Matusky. AI may not be sentient in a traditional sense like a human, but it is slowly revolutionizing itself to become a software assistant. “You can talk to AI using a natural language model, meaning you’re talking to it just like your client,” Matusky said. “This isn’t software; it is an assistant that you should talk to.” Storytelling is an important aspect of PR, and many wonder what it means when machines can tell stories outside of human nature. “Embracing AI doesn’t mean letting go of our humanity; it means amplifying it to tell stories that resonate on a new level,” Matusky said. He emphasizes the significance of human touch. “The information age is over, and the age of intelligence is upon us; we need to maintain our position as storytellers because it is the only way we are going to get there,” Matusky said. Other sectors have embraced AI more quickly than the PR industry, something that Matusky noted numerous times. While it may seem like a missed opportunity, it can be taken as a time to learn from other sectors’ successes and build upon them. “In the dance between AI and PR, it’s not about leading or following, but working together to embrace a new world of technology, creativity and innovation,” Mastusky said. Chania Crawford
The reasoning behind the Cleveland’s MLB name change In the 2022 Baseball Season, Cleveland’s resident MLB team officially changed its name from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians. The team was known as the Cleveland Indians from 1915 to 2021, and the decision to change the name came from a place of progression and new beginnings for the Cleveland baseball team. During the beginning stage of the name change process, the team spoke to several representatives from the Indigenous American community locally and nationally. The team was able to gather different opinions and viewpoints, ultimately helping their decision to officially change their name from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians. According to the Cleveland Guardians website, they found several consistent themes throughout their discussion. Some of the themes they found are as follows:
The team additionally involved fans, stakeholders, and local Cleveland residents to vote and provide input on new name ideas, one of those ideas being the current name “Cleveland Guardians.” “We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality.” The team said in a social media post. “Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community.” The significance of the Cleveland Guardian’s name change There were many debates among Cleveland baseball fans on social media; many didn’t understand the need for a name change, while some fans did. Ultimately, it came down to the team looking to practice better Corporate Social Responsibility, cultural sensitivity and inclusivity. According to Investopedia, a world-leading source of financial terms, companies who engage in Corporate Social Responsibility are conscious of their impact on all aspects of society, including economic, social and environmental. It’s important to note when dealing with a situation such as a name change for the baseball team; the company needed to look at the bigger picture. Just because fans didn’t find the former name offensive and damaging to the reputation of American Indigenous people didn’t mean it wasn’t offensive. The company took the proper steps of having difficult conversations with the underrepresented community and found that it was in the best interest of their key publics to change the name to something non-offensive. To some, the name change may be seen as “stupid” or unnecessary because the name “Cleveland Indians” never affected them negatively. Still, it’s important to put yourself in other people's shoes and look at these issues from a new perspective to truly understand the purpose of the name change. The name change created a sense of belonging between the team and its fans, especially for the American Indigenous community. No longer would the name “Cleveland Indians” perpetuate a caricature stereotype of the American Indigenous community. To read more about the process and decision-making behind the name change, visit the team's website at https://www.mlb.com/guardians/fans/cleteamname/key-learnings |
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