History of Public Relations

In 2002, Adam Curtis wrote and directed a four part BBC documentary called The Century of Self in which he examines how marketing changed by the influence of the Freud family. Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, applied his knowledge of crowd psychology with his uncle's new techniques of psychoanalysis to transform marketing from a "needs" basis to creating an emotional response to a product and creating a "desires" basis. He was originally hired to create propaganda by the United States government and wanted to apply his knowledge to corporations in time of peace, so he coined the term "public relations" and set up shop in New York City. As Paul Mazer from Lehman Brothers in the 1930s described it, "People must be trained to want new things even before the old has been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality that American man's desires must overshadow his needs." His techniques were cunning and manipulative, swaying women to start smoking because he made it seem to represent equality and he even started a war in Guatemala so an American banana plantation would eliminate an interfering local government. All of this was done in the name of free enterprise to benefit his client's interest.

It is important to examine the founder of modern public relations and know his techniques. Apple recently came out with a commercial for their new phone that plays heavily to your emotions by showing a man experiencing the birth of his child over the phone's camera feature. The would be a classic Bernays technique. I recommend you watch the series at the great website freedocumentaries.org.

Inspirational: The Unexpected Creates Big Impact

One of the biggest thrills I get is seeing art and animation used in unexpected ways. MUSE Amsterdam and Starcom did just that for client Samsung in a cutting edge marketing campaign last month. The ad campaign has two elements to it, a live event and recorded but interactive replay of the event.

First, they created a live event in front of an eager crowded street watching an overlaid projection of 3D artwork onto a historic building. The animation shows the building cracking and bursting open with butterflies, water and vines. It's a beautiful example of their client's new 3D-Outdoor projection system. Also at the live event, representatives showcase the new 3D LED TV for visitors and they have a drawing for visitors to win one of their own.

Second, for the vast audience unable to attend the live event in Amsterdam, they posted the video on YouTube. The video looks just like what you would expect from a normal YouTube page but then as the video shows the animation of the building cracking, the page suddenly cracks open with it revealing vines and water. The top YouTube banner falls to the bottom on the page and butterflies are flying out on the comments sections and thumbnail previews. A pop up informs the user to click on as many butterflies as possible for a chance to win their own Samsung 3D LED TV and the game begins! The final reveal has the building completely destroyed and showing the client's product.

It is a great balance of beautiful artwork, unexpected elements and interactivity. Have a look at the live event HERE and the interactive ad HERE.