Toward a Greater Good

     Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations met all of my expectations of an entrepreneur depicting the public relations industry.  As an aspiring public relations professional, I am extremely honored to have read such an outstanding book that has further increased my interest in working in an agency setting like Edelman.  It has bestowed upon me the need and importance of staying well informed and not allowing fear to stand in the way of innovation that may come. Although Dan Edelman was not himself a user of computers, that did not stop him from gaining clients whose main focus was technology. Richard Edelman was one of the first to adopt the Internet and use it to gain advantage in the PR industry.  Today, we have no excuse in not staying informed about the world around us because we carry the news with us in our pockets.      
     What peeked my interest the most, was how much effort was put into aiding those in need during the September 11th attacks. Edelman employees helped with hundreds of media calls and volunteered to help staff the bereavement center in Manhattan. Edelman showed a completely different side to public relations, one that most people do not believe exists. It is not all about profit and gains. In order to maintain respect and integrity sometimes you have to show that you truly care. Edelman was very careful, in the following days and weeks, regarding the way they were going to continue doing business. It was crucial to avoid exploitative activities and instead reach out to the community.  We constantly hear about PR campaigns and advertisements in the news that come under scrutiny based on their inconsiderate, impulsive and negative actions. Edelman found ways of continuing their product launches and months of hard work without doing something insensitive. 
     On a last note, our agency visit to Edelman helped me visualize everything that I read in Edelman and the Rise of Public Relation. Stepping into his office, I could see him dictating email responses to his secretary while reading the ones she printed out for him because he didn't use a computer. It is a crazy thing, reading about the past while standing in the same place in the future.   What I have taken away from the Edelman visit, this book, and this class is the amount of extraordinary professionals there are in the PR industry and I hope to one day work alongside them. 

Neda Bencun is a junior majoring in public relations and advertising, organizational communications, and a minor in marketing. Her contact information is bencun92@yahoo.com and Twitter account @nedaa03