Wanted: A PR for PR

In the past couple of years, there has been a growing interest to explore and expose the inner workings of the public relations industry. Although some movies and TV shows like The Spin Crowd, PoweR Girls and The City, positioned our industry in the spotlight, they haven’t exactly portrayed it in the best light. It’s a known fact that pop culture has overly glamorized the public relations industry. From Samantha in Sex and the City series to Whitney Port in The Hills, public relations professionals are portrayed as powerful ladies dressed head-to-toe in Gucci and Dior, who spend their nights in exclusive VIP parties. All in all, the PR industry is perceived as superficial and frivolous.

Kim Cattrall plays Samantha, a glamorous PR Executive
 in Sex and the City.
Photo Credit

Artist Manager (aka Jack-of-all-Trades)

Behind every great artist, there is a great manager. Everyone knows that in the entertainment industry, talent is simply not enough. To make it big in saturated markets, such as the music industry, artists need to portray a unique image, have access to the right contacts, and have a great support system. It’s the artist manager who provides those elements that complement the artist’s craft, and enable him/her to reach stardom. 

After signing with an artist manager, the artist becomes a company, and the manager, its CEO. It’s the artist manager who oversees all aspects of the artist’s career and makes sure that the artist’s vision is articulated properly across all channels. Of course, like in all businesses, CEOs can’t do it all by themselves. While he is truly the personal representative of the artist, the artist manager has to assemble and manage a team of professionals that will help him achieve the artist’s career goals. It’s common knowledge that the artist needs a good lawyer, to protect his career against restrictive contracts or dangerous lawsuits, and an experienced accountant to manage the financial aspects. Traditionally, the manager will also bring a publicist and a booking agent on board. Yet, it has come to my attention that there’s an emerging trend, especially in the Puerto Rican market, where managers also act as the client’s publicists and booking agents.

This “jack-of-all-trades” management approach has certainly surprised me, due to the time consuming nature of Public Relations. It’s difficult for me to conceive that a manager can put in the necessary time and dedication to develop and execute an effective PR campaign, while dealing with all the other duties that artist management involves.

Out with the Old, In with the New

We live in a world where communication is shifting towards the Internet and social media. We’ve seen how publicists and artists around the world have been benefiting from new tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. to create a more direct and long lasting relationship between their clients and their fan base. 

Additionally, some renowned publicists have already made the new-age leap by offering digital press kits to media outlets in order to facilitate the information and the use of multimedia in journalistic articles. Yet, the vast majority of publicists still feel the need to incorporate traditional PR tools such as EPK’s, official press releases, press conferences and press kits. Although necessary, press kits handed out in hard copy, are becoming wasteful, expensive and basically outdated. With this in mind and a clear objective of providing new life to an old market, IndiAmbassador launched a powerful tool called Presskit.to.