Press Agentry: USF Groundbreaking

Press agentry or publicity: one-way communication to “hype” a cause, product or service, as defined in “Public Relations Strategies and Tactics.”

USF Press Agentry: Groundbreaking Ceremony

On Wednesday, April 28, USF had a groundbreaking ceremony — a press agentry — to celebrate the expansion of the Recreation Center and the new Southeast Student Dining Facility. Because I was scheduled to be in the office for Sport Clubs at the time, it was convenient for me to walk out front and experience first hand this press agentry right on USF grounds.

It was a great event: complete in tradition and ceremony. I noticed this large pile of dirt near the tent. Were they building here? Was this, in fact, the location for the groundbreaking of this new facility? Oh, of course not. Shortly after a few speeches by notable figures, including President Judy Genshaft, the group walked over to the pile of dirt and each person picked up a shovel. They were going to start building, right?

No. This was a press agentry: it was a tradition, a ceremony to officially date the beginning of the new facilities. Participating in the press agentry: Bill McGillis, associate director of Athletics; Andrew Cohen, Student Government representative; Judy Genshaft, USF president; Jennifer Menningall, vice president of Student Affairs; Leo Arroyo, architect; and Edward Parker, Jr, president of Biltmore Construction.

We can credit P.T. Barnum as the leader in press agentries, with his marvelous stunts to get promotion for his circus. He was the leader back in the mid-19th century, when this model of public relations was prominent. Now, although the two-way symmetrical model has taken hold, we still see some cases where the publicity stunt has been carried on. The main fields for press agentry today include: sports, theatre, music and film.

Me with USF President Judy Genshaft

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 8:06 pm. It is filed under PR & Media, Personal Updates and tagged with Judy Genshaft, PR, press agentry, publicity, Quiksilver, University of South Florida, USF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.