21 things that defined PR agency life before the web (you won’t believe no #5)
Public relations in an agency is unrecognisable from 25 years ago.
It started, as these things often do, as a conversation on Twitter.
I posted a list of activities that we used to undertake as part of our day job when I started out working in public relations in 1993.
It’s turned into a nostalgic trip down memory lane for a lot of people in my network. Thanks to everyone who jumped into the conversation.
25 years ago workflow in an agency was defined by media relations. Activity was focused on earned and owned media.
The first agency that I worked for was A Plus in Slough, UK. It subsequently became Brodeur, then Pleon, and latterly Ketchum. What goes around comes around.
The internet was in its infancy. If you had internet access it was via a dial-up modem for email or an online service. WordPerfect 5.1 was the state of the art word processor.
Here’s another 21 things that defined PR agency life in the early nineties.
Media and journalist directories: Guardian Media Guide, Pims monthly UK directory, and Hollis
Calling journalists, and receiving inbound calls. The phone has become an underused tool
Double spaced press releases for edits and notes
Printing at a dedicated workstation from disk, documents shared via hard copy
Sharing a dial-up modem and email address between the whole office
Photocopying, posting and faxing press releases
Printing and collating press kits for an event
An embargo was an embargo
Biking or couriering images, transparencies and video
Arranging meetings at exact time and place
Cutting out, copying and spray mounting press coverage
Physically measuring column inches with a ruler
The anxiety of waiting for photos to be developed in a darkroom, or using a repro shop
Dictating documents by phone or face-to-face
Viewing transparencies on a lightbox and physically retouching
Choosing a photos from a contact sheet and ordering printed copies
Microfiche machines for researching newspaper archives
Cutting and splicing audio interviews
Transferring artwork to a printer by ISDN and hoping the line didn’t drop
Correcting mistakes on printed documents using Tippex
Lunches that lasted until the end of the working day and beyond
