Richard Edelman, CEO Edelman PR

  • Massive dispersion of authority as people seek out different media and information sources.
  • Media brands have shifted to aggregators of CGC. I think that’s true to some extent but not nearly on the scale that it should be or really needs to be if media brands expect to survive the next few years.
  • Trust is highest in NGOs since they’re seen as being free of monetary concerns. Jeremy Pepper is skeptical and said so on Twitter. Thoughts?
  • Hype, spin and other traditional tactics are unacceptable and Google means your mistakes last forever.
  • Employee bloggers are the most authoritative. I think this is absolutely true, but only if the blog is free from marketing or C-level interference.
  • Every company is a media company. Yep. Every company now has the ability to bring their message directly to the consumer base and other stakeholders, free from having to go through the filter of the media.
  • Social media has created a new set of audience expectations for transparency and other such issues, expectations that it’s important to be seen as either matching or working toward.

Since I work for a rival PR agency I’m going to refrain from some of the commentary I might make since I consider doing so to be poor form. Suffice it to say Edelman is an effective speaker and makes his points passionately. He obviously believes what he’s saying and that makes for a compelling presentation.