‘Just’ know PR? This is why you are f%cked.

By , September 14 2010, 9:40 am 3 Comments

Last week I received an email that was a breath of fresh air – it contained this video.  




Graeme Anthony is young man who’s just moved to London and he knows, quite rightly, there’s a lot of social media wonkiness to cut through.  Ex-Brazen PR‘s “Digital Doctor” (WTH ?!?) he rightly went on the offensive and created what I can describe as the ultimate CV for the job.  Be afraid (and be sad for me because I can’t snap him up right away).  The video is a very professional production (kudos to Dan Burdette), that makes use of annotation, connected video storyboarding, playlists and general knowledge that demonstrates why the rest of the PR community is utterly f%cked if they don’t know or speak this language. Why f%cked you say?  This is happening now.  Imagine what the new school of pros will be pushing in front of our faces.  It’ll likely include pyro coming out of a box.  Don’t mistake what I am saying the basics – sending cookies etc will always work but up against this would you employ you? Can you upload a YouTube video?  Tag it correctly for maximum impact on a site that uploads 24 hours of content every minute?  Do you know how to add annotation?  If the answer is ‘no but I could learn’ give yourself a point but then take two away for not doing it already and demonstrating that to your current or future employers.  It’s important, nay imperative.  As an employer I need to know you know the power of video, text, SEO, the disribution points of the internet and how information flows.  More than that I want to see what you’ve done and how you’ve done it.




Don’t get me wrong visual CVs are nothing new but the level, the detail and the passion here is clear.  Graeme’s video [and blog] shows intelligence, humour, knowledge, strategy, process, creativity and savvy I don’t see that often.  Don’t get me wrong the LDN PR community is a savvy and creative bunch but we’re not racing towards the future of our profession. The future is digital (and yes the self-servingness of that statement is not lost on me).  Counselling your clients has never been more important yet most do not have the understanding or passion to find out about “the new country’.  For example – print whore execs.  Dinosaurs.  The FT is great the FT online is better.  Why?  It’s read by 16x as many people and lasts forever and increases your organic SEO.  yet we all know they like the thud on their desk and their friends to see their name/brand in print.  Take them on a journey. Take yourself on a journey – push yourself beyond what is in the textbooks on the blogs and connect the dots, ask questions and be better armed tomorrow.  Ged Caroll and Steve Earl have some other great career advice, otherwise get ready to flip burgers (people like Graeme will be working on the digital brand strategy for you).   Recruiters/employers here is what you’ve been waiting for : graeme.anthony@hotmail.co.uk

Filed under: , , , , , , , ,
  • http://www.londonstimes.us Rick London

    Paul, Fun article but……….

    I don’t think there are any more fun articles to read than these type. Mainly because they are so far off-base, I generally find them on down days when I need a lift. I did my PR internship in 1983 at a Madison Ave firm in NYC. There was no WWW. Everyone there were certain they “knew something new and if you didn’t know it you were f(*^ed”. I hear it over and over again in all industries. I returned to school in my 40′s (the best technology school in the U.S.) Google, Bill & Melinda Gates, Dell, etc all on our board. This is where we became humbled. I built my business online. I never used one video and doubt I ever will, though I am sure they work beautifully for many businesses. They would distract from mine. PR IS NOT A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL business and anyone who thinks it is is f*^ed. My sites have remained Google’s #1 ranked since 2005 (none others even come close; we also saturate the pages), and MSN’s #1 since 2008. So if I’m so f*^ed for “only knowing PR”, why are things going so well? Thanks kindly, Rick London

  • http://www.twitter.com/munkyfonkey Paul Armstrong

    Thanks for the comment Rick. Appreciate your pov – I think it all hinges on what you are looking for in a career / how client facing you are (and want to be). I stand by my point : if a candidate were against another candidate with this level (or any level) of digital knowledge (these days at least) i’d feel safe betting a wedge on who’d get a second interview – regular PR job or not.

  • https://twitter.com/comms_anarchist Graeme Anthony

    Hi all. Now I have a spare five minutes I just wanted to thanks so much for all your feedback and support – greatly appreciated. And a huge thank you to Paul also for throwing me into the spotlight.

    Needless to say that the last 24 hours have been a rollercoaster ride and have to admit that this has been an amazing experience. Reading through all of the numerous reactions, I tend to agree more with my doubters who have quite clearly stated; ‘I don’t get what all the hype is about’. Because I genuinely don’t.

    I knew this would be different, that’s why I did it, but not for one second did I believe it would generate this much interest. At its raw foundations I’ve used YouTube Annotations in a creative manner…no big deal – for me it was the natural choice and most relevant channel to present myself through.

    What is shocking is Paul’s and thousands of other peoples reactions – ‘the ultimate CV for the job’. Now Paul is ranked by PR Week as one of the UK’s top 10 most influential people in the digital industry and it really does reflect poorly on the creative industry when my CVIV is one of the best that he’s seen.

    Whether I get a job out of this is irrelevant. For me it was about manufacturing something that I had never tried before, gauging its reaction and if successful, implementing it into other areas of my work.

    Like I said, receiving a torrent of support and a handful of opportunities has been superb…but if at least ten people come away from this thinking ‘I can do that, in fact – I can do it better’…then I’ll be a happy man.

    Remember, an exceptional PR communicator should and does have the natural ability to PR themself. If I can’t demonstrate this to future employers…then I’m not much use to them at all.

    Again, thanks to everyone for taking an interest and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.