Lydia Fink-Cox, our guest blogger, is a technical communicator and freelance writer and editor. A proud Michigan native, she currently resides in Kalamazoo with her husband and two children. Linnie is pleased to have Lydia as a guest blogger.
Public relations have long been used by individuals and corporations to improve or change their image. Successful PR can turn things around for an individual in a PR crisis or by a corporation trying to reinvent itself. However, I have noticed a new arena of PR: the public sector.
Here in Michigan, where we’ve lead the nation in unemployment in recent years, there have been numerous ideas tossed around about how to keep people and jobs here, how to increase tourism and how to turn things around for our state.
PR in the public sector comes out of these efforts. Several cities have launched campaigns of reinvention, including initiatives to:
- Change the Motor City into the Movie City
- Attract artists and arts patrons to Grand Rapids
- Use art to positively portray Flint’s history
- Create a college-going culture in Kalamazoo
Although the ultimate goal of these public sector initiatives may be to boost tourism and attract companies and residents, these are not marketing campaigns, “shop local” initiatives or business deals for corporations. These are campaigns of reinvention, with the hope that by changing a city’s reputation, you can change its fate.
What do you think about PR in the public sector? Are there similar campaigns of reinvention where you live?
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