Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
A nationally known magazine was ambitious to increase its prestige
among a more influential group of advertisers. It had never made any
effort to reach this public except through its own direct circulation.
The consultant who was retained by the magazine quickly discovered that
much valuable editorial material appearing in the magazine was allowed
to go to waste. Features of interest to thousands of potential readers
were never called to their attention unless they happened accidentally
to be readers of the magazine.
The public relations counsel showed how to extend the field of their
appeal. He chose for his first work an extremely interesting article
by a well-known physician, written about the interesting thesis that
“the pace that kills” is the slow, deadly, dull routine pace and not
the pace of life under high pressure, based on work which interests
and excites. The consultant arranged to have the thesis of the article
made the basis of an inquiry among business and professional men
throughout the country by another physician associated with a medical
journal. Hundreds of members of “the quality public,” as they are known
to advertisers, had their attention focused on the article, and the
magazine which the consultant was engaged in counseling on its public
relations.
The answers from these leading men of the country were collated,
analyzed, and the resulting abstract furnished gratuitously to
newspapers, magazines and class journals, which published them widely.
Organizations of business and professional men reprinted the symposium
by the thousands and distributed it free of charge, doing so because
the material contained in the symposium was of great interest. A
distinguished visitor from abroad, Lord Leverhulme, became interested
in the question while in this country and made the magazine and
the article the basis of an address before a large and influential
conference in England. Nationally and internationally the magazine
was called to the attention of a public which had, up to that time,
considered it perhaps a publication of no serious social significance.
Still working with the same magazine, the publicity consultant advised
it how to widen its influence with another public on quite a different
issue. He took as his subject an article by Sir Philip Gibbs, “The
Madonna of the Hungry Child,” dealing with the famine situation in
Europe and the necessity for its prompt alleviation. The article was
brought to the attention of Herbert Hoover. Mr. Hoover was so impressed
by the article that he sent the magazine a letter of commendation for
publishing it. He also sent a copy of the article to members of his
relief committees throughout the country. The latter, in turn, used
the article to obtain support and contributions for relief work. Thus,
while an important humanitarian project was being materially assisted,
the magazine in question was adding to its own influence and standing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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