Toronto Star
September 24, 2002
By MICHAEL DOJC

Technology has changed teh face of public relations

When you read on Wired.com about a new computer you can wear around your neck or hear a radio report about a massive downsizing at a telecommunications giant, chances are someone like Ronald Alepian knew the story well before it reached the public.

Alepian, 31, a technology specialist at National Public Relations, was probably involved in developing the strategy for how the information would be communicated.

Many news stories have their origins in PR materials sent to the media by corporations trying to advance their causes or promote products or services.

On one end of the spectrum, the job of public relations entails throwing media parties to push products, sending out news releases and talking to journalists on the phone in hopes of "spinning" their clients' agenda into a story. "We don't do that type of work," Alepian says from a Calgary hotel room, fresh from a meeting with his firm's Alberta office where he had discussed the best ways to position their clients within the oil and gas sector.

"What I do is help corporations open up a dialogue with clients' various audiences, whether it's their employees, their shareholders, customers or partners. We open a dialogue where the company can explain what it has to offer and where it's headed.

"Our ability as communicators is to take this very complex, often nebulous concept and articulate it into a very clear value proposition to the public and make it relevant to them."

In today's world, people are inundated with corporate messages. Alepian's job is to create a communications strategy that enables clients to cut through the noise and reach customers.

It can be a challenge for companies to explain the complexities of products and services, especially if they are selling something intangible like a consulting service, or a software product so industry-specific and sophisticated that only a select few have any idea what it is, let alone what it does.

"There are whole corporations built around products that the average layperson wouldn't even understand," explains Alepian. "What we've really become is management consultants dealing with the communications and marketing issues of a corporation."

With the advent of the Internet, public relations has had to evolve.

"We are at a point where a company does something in Asia and the entire world knows about it in a heartbeat. If a company launches a product in China and that product fails, shareholders and employees in the United States know about it 30 seconds later," he says.

The idea of media is no longer just "the 6 o'clock news and the morning paper. It's instantaneous, global, 24-hour-a-day scrutiny of a company and an evaluation of its performance. If you are not managing that process, that process manages you."

Reactions have to be swift and well thought-out, even if they come at inconvenient times. A couple of years ago, Bell was having problems with its 416 area code on a Sunday evening. Although the company resolved the technical issues quickly, it needed to communicate what had happened to clients so that Monday morning everything would be under control.

Working with senior executives at Bell Canada through the night, Alepian and a large team had to develop a solid understanding of what the problem was and respond in an intelligent manner to make sure all of Bell's employees, customers and partners were not only informed of the situation but realized it had already been fixed.

"A lot of Bell's enterprise customers that rely on digital communication to do their business were worried that this problem was ongoing and not just temporary."

Alepian worked as a programmer for companies including ANC-Lavalin, Sandwell and Compaq in the early 1990s before deciding he wanted to be involved in communications. Six and a half years ago, without any contacts or references, he cold-called the president of National Public Relations in Montreal and asked if they could meet. It's a strategy he recommends.

"One piece of advice that I'll give people looking for work is call up and ask for a meeting. Don't necessarily call up and ask for a job. Call up and say, 'I'm thinking of moving into this career. Can you give me a pointer or two?' or 'Could you tell me a little bit what it's like?'"