Upsetting the Apple cart - part two

If it's not cracking iBooks it's exploding iPhone cases. Seems Apple may have failed to pay attention to this issue when it was fledgling and as a result have not implemented strategies to steady the cart. Have they underestimated their loyal public and failed to predict the backlash from the media and consumer authorities in France following a handful of faulty handsets? Or has their performance failed to meet their promise? Apple now risks managing a full blown crisis! If the number of youtube videos or blog posts about the exploding iPhone are anything to go by I'd say they're well into the critical phase of Hainsworth and Meng's Issue Life Cycle. Read the article

Going to a higher place

'Going to a higher place' is the headline in an op ed in the VET section of Campus Review this fortnight which aptly summarises the dilemma that VET is facing under pressures for higher education reform. It suggests that VET needs to undergo a realignment of cultures to survive in the higher education sector but that universities have a role to foster a new kind of culture that is more inclusive.

Are VET and universities strange bed fellows or can they co-exist, complement and enhance the education experience? What role does public relations play in communicating this new culture and do PR professionals from both camps have to cooperate for it to succeed? Given that universities have a tradition of exclusivity - and may fear an association with VET providers that may drag their reputation down - this might be a tough sell for education reformers.

It's spooky just how pertinent the news is today given the topics discussed in yesterday's Strategic Communications class. Check this out My brand loyalty is not under threat though - I've never owned this model! ;-)

What should Apple do now though? With a reputation for high quality products and customer focus it seems odd that they don't recall the laptops and replace them. They've done that before with other products - and while obviously the cost would be large, the savings on maintaining a spot-free Apple reputation might offset any market losses in the long run.

I read an op ed in today's SMH online about trust and the media written by SMH owner, John B Fairfax and, while it's not linked to my blog topic higher education, it is interesting because it passionately talks about just how trustworthy and truthful journalists are - particularly compared to the evil three 'Ps: politicians, PR professionals and the public'. It's interesting that Fairfax thinks that the 'public' are manipulating journalists isn't it - that's an awful lot of untrustworthy people isn't it?

Communications theorists would argue that this so called 'manipulation' is simply integrated marketing communications (IMC) and to suggest that politicians, PR professionals and the public are the manipulators and that the media is the great equaliser, is a bit rich. While I'm sure that journalists attempt to practice with integrity and honesty, I'm also sure that many, if not most, of the three Ps do the same. Newspapers are commercial organisations just like the corporations who employ PR professionals and as such are in the business of selling - doesn't such commercial interest suggest that they too would engage some kind of IMC?

Might it be that this system (of operating within guidelines and protecting the interests of the organisation and their stakeholders) that warrants careful and strategic communications planning -the catchcry of PR professionals - rather than the 'hold nothing back' approach sometimes undertaken by journalists and fiercely defended in this article, is the real protagonist? I would argue that this system is in fact the public sphere that we all exist in and contribute to and that journalists, as well as politicians, PR professionals and especially the public, all have their place in it - let's just all get on with our jobs and put the parochial one-dimensional arguments to bed. Read the article, 'Trust, like respect, must be earned, and the media take that job seriously'.