PRU session: Effectively Integrating Public Relations and Advertising “Drive or Crash” with Michael Goldberg

In this digital day and age, it may seem like the “wild west”: everyone is working to be at the top of their game to ensure clients and companies continue to see the value of what we do. Michael Goldberg, EVP-Chief Marketing Officer of Zimmerman Advertising, says Pivotal to our survival is a realization that it is our job to “sell stuff.” No matter what position we are in, it is important that what we do has a positive impact on the bottom line – which never lies, said Goldberg. We must continue to be valuable.

Showing our value can sometimes be one of the main difficulties for PR professionals with all the intangible benefits that we know about, but we must adapt to stay in the game. Goldberg says we are at an intersection, and we must grab the wheel and drive if we want to make it in the future communications landscape.

Part of that survival is working together effectively with other players on the field. Goldberg talked about being relentless in pursuit of clients and customers by focusing on results. “There’s a thin line between brilliance and true insanity,” Goldberg said. He believes that sometimes, it the best ideas may just be the wildest at the time, but it is important to be fearless to achieve success. He used the Crocs shoes campaign to demonstrate how to connect to customers and boost the bottom line in a brave way (using voices from both those who love and hate those croslite plastic shoes!). This was a great example of how public relations and advertising worked together.

In other Wild West territory, digital age news, Goldberg reports that Social Media has overtaken the Pornography industry as the as the top reason people go online…hmm.