Adrian Crookes was a lecturer in the second module from the CIPR Diploma in PR qualification, conducted in the Accredited qualification centre in Bulgaria - Apeiron Academy.
Adrian is also a lecturer in the CIPR post-graduate qualification programmes for PR Academy (London) - one of the largest centres for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) qualifications and a strategic partner to Apeiron Academy (Bulgaria).
Adrian Crookes is a strategic communications consultant with over 25 years’ experience in the full communications and marketing mix as a communications director, broadcaster and journalist. He is Senior lecturer and tutor for BA (Hons) Public Relations at London College of Communication, University of the Arts. From 2009 year Adrian manages his own strategic communications consultancy called Junction PR .
Hello, Adrian! Thank you once again for being a lecturer in the CIPR Diploma in PR course in Bulgaria. What are your thoughts about the lecturing session?
The students were very engaged and had lots of very good examples of PR in practice. The issues that communicators are facing seem to be the same the world over and we were able to have some really good discussions about PR practice and the application of theory. I always learn so much from talking with students and the session in Bulgaria was no exception.
You talked about PR Planning & management. Could you please share with our readers why do you think planning in PR is important and what the PR practitioner and the client benefit from it?
I think we’ve been too ready in the past to undertake short-term, media-relations focused PR activity. That hasn’t helped organisations understand how they are using that activity to support their wider business goals nor has it helped PR demonstrate its true value to fulfill organisational objectives. The planning process really makes practitioners and their managers and clients think about why they are doing certain things and what organisational objectives are being met by doing so. It’s the grown-up way of doing PR and everybody benefits from that.
You have 26 years’ experience in the full communications and marketing mix as a practitioner and you became an academic just a couple of years ago. What were your thoughts behind this decision? Which one and why is more difficult - to be a practitioner or to be a teacher?
I’ve always been interested in learning and as a practitioner always wanted to know what the latest thinking was that would help me to do my job better. So the teaching is an extension of that curiosity, really. I had an opportunity to pass on some of what I knew and discovered that I enjoyed doing that. I also quickly learnt that in a room full of practitioners, you all have different experiences and therefore different parts of the jigsaw. When you come together in a training session, you can explore all of this and hopefully come out with something unique and valuable that can be put to good use in the day job - or some other aspect of life. I haven’t given up on being a practitioner - I run my own consultancy and I’m not sure I could truly describe myself as an academic - yet! Both roles can be challenging and demanding.
You have over 15 years of experience working for the music industry in the UK. Tell us about some myths about this industry. What is to be working in this field? Are there any differences in terms of planning and further communication?
I have worked in the music industry throughout a time of complex change. When I arrived from my earlier career as a broadcaster, the world just understood the implications of the MP3 file for the sharing of music. The next 15 years have been spent figuring out how this disruptive technology can be implemented for the benefit of consumers and maintain an income stream to reward the creators of that music. The awards nights are glamorous, but the rest of it is graft. There is no difference in terms of planning how you are going to engage with your various constituencies but the pace of change taught me that planning has to be a continual process.
You manage your own consultancy - Junction PR. What are the main challenges for Public Relations as you see it as a practitioner? Are the after-effects of the crisis still present and hampering the development of the field or there are other challenges facing PR?
Probably the biggest challenge facing PR and its practitioners is to help them and the organisations they work with to understand that PR is a strategic discipline that is about more than media relations. There are huge pressures on PR practitioners to ‘get something positive written or said about them in the media’ (and increasingly social media); often without anyone stopping to think why - and whether the strategic objective might be better fulfilled by another route. The more opportunities there are to talk about this the better and the more likely that communications programmes will be more effective as a result.
All over the world there are a lot of practitioners, who do not have educational background. Do you think specific education is essential for the professional practitioner? What are the main advantages of a qualified specialist?
The main advantage of any kind of education is that you have had an ability to stop and reflect, critically, on something. It’s the way that we, as individuals, grow and it’s the way that disciplines and their organisational and societal application develop. PR is no exception and whilst there are some very good practitioners who have not been through formal training, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reflecting on their role and their discipline; seeing it from new perspectives and finding new things to agree or disagree with. It’s healthy for individuals and provides employers with a stronger, more rounded and more knowledgeable workforce. Who wouldn’t want that?
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