Open Road

Friday Jul 10th 2009

RIP sweetie darling

Surely it is a potential tragedy for public relations women of a certain age that fashion house Christian Lacroix is apparently suffering from the effects of the downturn, has gone into administration and is now urgently seeking a buyer.  My first exposure to this designer was the (at the time) hilarious Patsy and Edina grovelling at his feet in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous where he had a walk-on part. 

Could a fatuous connection be made between the flashy label’s decline and the demise of the champagne swilling, designer clad PR typology?  Since the 90s the industry has done much to tackle this rather unhelpful mockery of luvviness based upon Lynne Franks.  The industry’s membership body has gained Chartered status, our trade rag includes serious business articles (mostly), and some of the brightest graduates in the country are fighting over jobs in communications.  Have we really simply moved on or is it a rare case of ‘physician heal thyself’ that has actually worked? 

In fact, like all the best caricatures, this typology probably never truly existed outside of a couple of extreme examples.  For one thing, PRs vary wildly - usually in respect of the types of clients or businesses they represent.  Having worked in-house on a few occasions, I can favourably report that the PR department is often the most cooperative, hardworking and flexible within any organisation.  Indeed, PR is now seen as integral to the success of most large organisation. 

So why are we still beating ourselves up about our fluffy image? Having returned from a stint of maternity leave to the uncertain times we are currently living in I have concluded that this is a time-wasting exercise.  PRs don’t need to berate themselves for not being seen as the intellectual powerhouse that is the legal team or the chief financial officer.  They can actually add a lot more value to employees and customers than even they believe.  No longer will I be pretending to read the Economist when I’d rather be reading the opinion forming bell-weather that is Vogue and, frankly, at least we’re not estate agents.