PRWEEK

THE YEAR IN PR . . . PR SHAPED THE STORIES OF 2003

To supplement the Book of Lists, PRWeek asked four industry insiders with very different careers what the biggest PR stories and trends of the year were. It was a question that allowed them to focus on a diverse cross-section of stories.

'My thinking went to the political side,' says Helene Solomon, president and CEO of Boston-based firm Solomon McCown & Company, which specializes in public affairs, healthcare, and crisis. 'President Bush tried to convince the American people of three things: that there were weapons in Iraq, that the war was over, and that the economy is on the upswing. But his management of images of the news really stands out for me, and it was capped with the image of the turkey in his Thanksgiving trip.'

Indeed, looking at the year in pictures, Bush's aircraft-landing PR stunt, his signing of the partial-birth abortion ban, and his trip to Iraq were all examples of the President's deliberate and skilled actions (whether or not they achieved the desired goals).

'Among his advisors are people with broadcast backgrounds, setting up shots,' Solomon says. 'For a long time, people made sure that a shot was framed properly, with the right flags in the corners. But the imagery, use of it, and management of issues was really advanced.'

The other big political story was Democratic Presidential hopeful Howard Dean's fundraising and campaigning through grassroots methods such as internet marketing and arranging meetings through Meetup.com.

'His use of the media and the internet, and a building of support in a groundswell built momentum in the media,' says Solomon. 'And that provoked media coverage of the mechanics. It's the field-of-dreams PR story of the year. It's textbook PR in a sense. I saw a picture of the stereotypical person from the 1980s counter-culture wearing a Dean sticker. You don't see imagery around the Dean campaign that's old and staid. He's covering all the bases. We have to believe that it's calculated.'