PR and pop music go together like…well they go together not very well at all.
So in the interest of mashing them together—of creating an unholy Frankenstein—here are five songs whose medium truly is the message (whatever that means).
“Sorry,” by Justin Bieber
Crisis comms in motion…in wonderfully catchy motion.
The first line of the chorus—”Is it too late now to say sorry?”—should be on the lips of everybody confronted with a brand crisis. And the answer, according to Crisis Management 101, is “No, it’s never too late.” In fact, it’s never too early either.
When your brand has made a faux pas, you have to own it and own up to it.
We recommend playing this song on repeat throughout the office so your people don’t forget.
“Listen,” by Beyoncé
Granted, Queen Bey ain’t talking about media monitoring in this track, but the sentiment remains: “You should have listened.”
We see it too often, brands that stumble along not sure what kind of coverage they’re earning, not sure what the conversation is that surrounds them. And it’s troubling; how can you take charge of the message when you don’t know what people are saying, seeing, hearing?
So listen to Beyoncé, and listen.
“Search, Find,” by The Bee Gees
A unanimous office favorite of all the songs on the list, this one speaks to the PR pro/disco god in all of us. When it’s your job to build out those precious and priceless media lists, what else can you do but search, find?
With a simple swap of one word in the chorus, it all suddenly makes so much sense:
Search, find
No stone unturned, no hell, no fury gonna stop my love pitch and all its glory
Search, find
When those bounce-backs get you down, let Barry and the boys do their thing.
“Message in a Bottle,” by The Police
It’s a desolate little ballad, the story of a lonely man desperate for someone to hear his story.
Sound familiar?
Sometimes it can feel like our communication efforts are wasted, that nobody’s listening and nobody’s hearing our message. The lesson here is “Keep your chin up.” Sting eventually hears back from “a hundred billion” people—a tidy little audience that most of us would be happy to count as having engaged with our message.
This one’s for all of us who’ve ever felt like we’re marooned on a PR island, where no one could hear our screams. Stick with it; someone’s bound to find that bottle and come rescue you (and your campaigns).
“Full Measure,” by The Lovin’ Spoonful
Okay, we admit this one’s a stretch. “A cupful of living that you hold in your hand?” Sorry, Lovin’ Spoonful, but just what are you talking about?
Wacky lyrics aside, this song is on the list strictly because of its title. We’re huge advocates of the three pillars of PR campaigns:
- Find and connect with the right influencers
- Monitor your earned media
- Measure your outcomes so you know what’s working and what isn’t
Without the full measure, you’re basically bumbling along from one campaign to the next, with zero insight into what exactly is contributing to your success…or lack of it.
So thanks go out to the Lovin’ Spoonful, but we’ll take it from here.
