A History of PR evaluation by Tom Watson

Tom Watson, of Bournemouth University, features in a fascinating two-part video which traces a history of the discipline through the lens of evaluation. Tom begins his narrative with George Washington and most of the prime movers are from the US, but the story shifts to the UK post-1945. 

He points out that early British interest in evaluation focused on cuttins and transcripts - with the emphasis on how to do it cheaply. Tom then identifies (14mins) a strongly anti-intellectual streak in the then IPR, quoting 1950 president Alan Hess's criticism of the "tendency for too much intellectualisation, too much market-research mumbo-jumbo..."   

Hess would no doubt have approved a spectacularly ill-informed PR Daily piece entitled Advertising vs PR: hoe to Measure the Value of Editorial Coverage that ran this week. A glance at the comments reflects strong feelings in the righteous battle against AVEs!