2300 Blog 2

Article- http://kdpaine.blogs.com/kdpaines_pr_m/2009/08/the-ultimate-consequences-of-measuring-the-wrong-thing.html

Katie from KDPaine’s PR Measurement Blog wrote an article called, “The ultimate consequences of measuring the wrong thing.” It discussed the current movement of organizations and their PR bussing employees to protests against health care reform and other national topics. Katie said that these actions take a blow at corporate and PR’s credibility. Shows such as the Rachel Maddow show expose the organizations and ruin the mass effect the companies were trying to create. When finding out that the random gathering of protesters turns out to be not so random they can no longer be a representation of the public’s feelings and political standings. The PR people are kidding themselves if they think this tactic works.

Katie claims the organizations are measuring the wrong thing. They believe that by having a large gathering and press coverage the Ad Value Equivalent (AVE) would be that of the purchased ad space. The issue here is good coverage v. bad coverage. As PR professionals, bad coverage is a nightmare but that is exactly what these companies are creating for themselves in the long run. They try to manipulate the nation’s opinions in the dark. When the light is turned on the company loses credit. It would be better to run an ad that promotes unassociated citizens to take a stand themselves. These organizations are getting themselves in way over their heads.

-Melanie Fenn