Winner of the 2019 Textbook & Academic Authors Association’s The Most Promising New Textbook Award
How can public relations play a more active role in the betterment of society?
Introduction to Strategic Public Relations: Digital, Global, and Socially Responsible Communication prepares you for success in today’s fast-changing PR environment. Recognizing that developments in technology, business, and culture require a fresh approach, Janis T. Page and Lawrence Parnell have written a practical introductory text that aligns these shifts with the body of knowledge from which the discipline of public relations was built. Because the practice of public relations is rooted in credibility, the authors believe that you must become ethical and socially responsible communicators more concerned with building trust and respect with diverse communities than with creating throwaway content. The authors balance this approach with a focus on communication theory, history, process, and practice and on understanding how these apply to strategic public relations planning, as well as on learning how to create a believable and persuasive message.
Key Features
- Chapter-opening Scenarios capture your attention by discussing current PR challenges—such as the Wells Fargo cross-selling, VW emissions cover-up, and P&G’s “Like a Girl” campaign—and thus frame the chapter content and encourage active reading. At the end of the chapter, you explore various aspects of socially responsible communication to “solve” the PR challenge.
- Socially Responsible Case Studies in each chapter illustrate the key responsibilities of a modern public relations professional such as media relations, crisis communications, employee communications, applied communications research, and corporate and government-specific communications. Each case features problem-solving questions to encourage critical thinking.
- Social Responsibility in Action boxes feature short, specific social responsibility cases—such as Universals’ #NoFoodWasted, Nespresso in South Sudan, and Merck’s collaboration with AIDS activists—to highlight best practices and effective tactics, showing the link between sound public relations strategy and meaningful social responsibility programs.
- Insight boxes spark classroom discussion on particularly important or unique topics in each chapter.
- Personality Profile boxes will inspire you with stories from PR veterans and rising stars such as the U.S. CEO of Burson-Marstellor, the Chief Communication Officer of the United Nations Foundation, and the Executive VP at HavasPR.
Janis Teruggi Page draws from 20 years of executive experience managing strategic communications for regional and national media companies. She managed corporate, consumer, and media relations, creating programming partnerships with major TV networks, directing PR for national industry trade show events, and supervising new product launches. She is a member of PRSA and continues to serve clients through her consultancy, MediawerksPR.
An award-winning educator, Janis is a faculty member of the Department of Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair scholar. She has developed and taught both undergraduate and graduate-level PR courses such as principles, writing, cases, campaigns, corporate advocacy, issues management, sustainability, and visual communication.
Janis has produced more than 50 conference papers, book chapters, and refereed articles. Her work appears in the Journal Public Interest Communication, the Journal of Public Relations Education, the Journal of Political Management, and the Handbook of Strategic Communication, among others. Janis is also co-author of the 2020 textbook, Visual Communication Insights and Strategies. She earned a Ph.D. from Missouri School of Journalism in 2005.
Lawrence J. Parnell is an award-winning practitioner and educator. In 2003 he was selected the PR Professional of the Year by PRWeek; in 2009 he was named to the PR News Hall of Fame, and in 2015, the George Washington University Master’s in Strategic Public Relations, which he leads, was named Best PR Education program by PRWeek. He is an active member of PRSA and the Page Society.
He offers the practical experience of more than 30 years of communications work in government, corporate, and agency settings and 12 years in academia as an associate professor of Strategic Public Relations and program director at The George Washington University, (GW). As well, he has served as an adjunct professor at the GW School of Business and teaches Strategic Communications to MBA candidates.
During his career, he has advised elected officials, government leaders, and corporate executives at the national and global levels on major business and communications issues. He continues to provide high-level communications consulting and training to corporations, nonprofits, and government organizations through his firm Parnell Communications.
His research on CSR, PR, and public diplomacy has been presented at national and global industry and academic conferences and published in Shaping International Public Opinion: A Model for Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy.
