Winner takes it all

I have 3 eight year olds in front of me. They’re singing along to ‘we will rock you’ all preparing for their big day. Yes, even the X Factor has reached the class room and they’ll be competing on Thursday as part of their ‘fun’ activity around the festive period.

It says so much that an entertainment show has replaced the traditional festive celebrations …………..but then did we ever think that Strictly Come Dancing would reach the front pages of all Broadsheets and make national news when John Sergeant left the programme?

So, as Charlie, Altay and William sing their hearts out and play air guitar, they’re paying little attention to the fact that they’re part of a commercial machine. But although as parents we may not embrace such programmes, there is an upside. They’re teaching our young people about competition, about working hard and about winning – something that as a society we seem to shy away from. After all, it is taking part that’s the most important…..isn’t it?

And in the current economic climate we need to be hungry about winning. In PR there are no prizes for coming second. Whether it’s the pitch, attracting the best candidates or winning awards we need to compete.

The next few months will be hard for us all but we need to continue to work hard and prove the business value of public relations……………….and perhaps instead of wrapping our young people in cotton wool they can see that winning – rather than crossing the finish line altogether, is just the attitude we all need in order to survive.

Comments

[Mik Barton]

Not sure I agree Lis.

I was very proud when my youngest was a winner (player of the week at a football camp - and the trophy, for him, was like winning the FA Cup) but even more proud of my other boy not being jealous and delighting in his brother's success. There's a lesson there.

And the whole school's cheers when a disabled girl did so well and the tears of her parents brought a lump to everyone's throat.

Yes, winning is important - in any business. But doing your best, achieving against the odds and bouncing back are all important too.

Then there's the issue of how do you measure who is the winner. Measurement and PR will always be a sticky point.

I'm disappointed today we didn't get the headlines I thought we deserved - but it was still good PR work to get the coverage. The trick here is to make the client think they're a winner, while I still want to do better.

It's all a game really!