Winter 2015 Vol. 47, Issue II www.prssa.org/FORUM
A Very Personal Ethics Month Experience
BY BRITTNEY DARNER UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA
PRSSA Ethics Month has come
and passed. In our classes, PRSSA
meetings and media events, the
importance of ethics in the professional communications world is
emphasized. We graduate singing the mantra, “Protect the free
flow of truthful information, respect privacy and be trustworthy.”
Reading the PRSA Code of
Ethics introduces these concepts,
but experiencing an ethical breach
personally helps reinforce them.
In September, I was forwarded a
link to a fellow classmate’s website. When I clicked to her résumé
tab, I was shocked to see my résumé with her name at the top.
About five months prior, this
peer had approached me after class.
She told me she loved my résumé,
and asked to see it for inspiration.
I built the template myself and
as a non graphically-minded student, I spent a lot of time making
it unique. It was personalized and
I was proud of it, knowing how
hard it was to create. I was flattered and told her I was happy to
send her my résumé to look over.
Looking at my résumé on her
site, I was overcome with anger
and even worse, disappointment.
I tried to help someone, and in return she stole something I created
and called it her own. I was unsure
of what to do, so I approached a
trusted professor and asked her
opinion. She said unfortunately,
she could not take academic action, but suggested I approach
my peer and express my concern.
I decided to send my peer a
long message to explain why I
was upset and ask her to take the
résumé down. I told her I felt betrayed and that I wanted my résumé to be unique. She kept it up
anyway, and I moved forward.
It was a tough lesson to learn,
but I made the best of the situation
and used it as an opportunity to revi-
talize my résumé and make it better
than before. Going forth, whenever I
reference someone’s material or repurpose a social media post or press
release, I will remember this experience and be fully aware of giving
the creator the credit they deserve.
As unfortunate as any ethicallyunsound experience is, we can learn
from it and continue to be trustworthy
and honest professionals. Just a few
final words of parting advice: always
share your resume as a PDF file!
PRSSA member Brittney Darner personally connected with Ethics Month when her résumé was copied by a peer. Above is Darner with University of North Florida’s PRSSA Chapter. Photo courtesy of Darner.
Storytelling: It’s Not Just Fairytales and Fables
BY LAUREN STALEY OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY
Since coming to college I have
had the opportunity to hear some
compelling stories from fellow
students. These unforgettable stories often arose in the most ordinary settings in the most humble
ways. As I listened to these stories
unfold I could tell the speaker had
learned something profound just
from his or her tone of voice and
facial expressions.
These stories were 100
percent authentic and that’s what
made them special. Hearing the
inspiring accounts of others made
me a firm believer in the power of
stories. People take the most away
from great stories, and it turns out
this concept can be applied to the
world of marketing and public
relations.
Last summer, I read a book
called “Start Something That Matters” by Blake Mycoskie, founder
of TOMS Shoes. This book outlines Mycoskie’s secrets to success. One idea he stresses is the
importance of great storytelling.
“Stories are the most primitive
form of communication. People
don’t need new facts, they need
a new story,” Mycoskie says. I
realized my love for stories could
actually be a successful business
strategy.
I started paying more attention to companies that incorporate
storytelling into their business
strategies and it turns out there are
some, like TOMS, that do it very
well. Cola-Cola is one of those
companies. I had the opportunity
to hear Coca-Cola’s Scott Ryan,
vice president of specialty retail,
speak at a Central Ohio PRSA luncheon.
He reminded us how marketers
don’t own the brand — consumers do. Therefore, Coca-Cola created the “Share a Coke” campaign
based on the idea that people could
create their own stories through
personalized Coke packaging.
Ryan also shared some Coke cam-
paigns created for the
2014 World Cup that documented
Coke’s role in getting young soccer fans from around the globe to
Brazil for an experience of a lifetime.
Stories have an emotional
element that transcends what logic
and facts can communicate. When
told authentically, stories have the
power to connect people and engage consumers with a brand in
a way other marketing strategies
can’t. We all have a story to tell,
and Mycoskie would say we need
to share our story with everyone
and strive to share that story often.
I encourage you to do just that —
find stories to tell for your organization. You can start by perfecting
your own story.
At first, it may not look like
much, but great stories are the
ones that take some digging to
uncover.
Lauren Staley’s own pair of TOMS, pictured above, have inspirational words
and their definitions written all over them. She says she wears them proudly
knowing she “helped support a good cause and that the man behind the brand
values storytelling” just as she does. Photo courtesy of Staley.