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Course In Advanced Public Relations Theory

Week Two:  Rotbartâs MTYFS

By Dean Rotbart

Letâs review. 

Last week we discussed the Efficient Markets Theory of Media Relations, also known as EMTMR. 

EMTMR posits that PR has little real-world impact on news coverage. Basically, either you are newsworthy or you are not.  PR will not do anything to alter that. 

And we conducted a thought experiment.

I asked that you imagine a world without PR for one full year.  Magically, all PR ceases around the globe.  How would the news we read and view change?  Or would it?

EMTMR is a hypothesis that is widely accepted by many journalists and news organizations that believe PR people are basically well-dressed hucksters.  Many, many companies that have hired PR agencies and gotten little for their investment also endorse this concept.

This week I seek to introduce a new theorem, which I have personally developed over more than two decades in the fields of journalism, public relations and academia.  It is eponymously named, Rotbartâs MTYFS theory of public relations.

In sharp contrast to EMTMR, Rotbartâs MTYFS suggests that in the public relations markets ö just as in the financial markets ö there are index funds and then there are Ÿber fund managers, such as Warren Buffett and George Soros.

The PR ãindex fundsä do nothing more than deliver to you your fair share of publicity.  They are market efficient.  If you belong on the cover of Fortune, these PR index fund managers ö also known as conventional PR agencies ö will place you on the cover of Fortune.  If you donât merit PR attention, these PR index fund managers ö (still known as conventional PR agencies) ö will disseminate press releases until your patience or treasury or both run out.

Basically, PR index fund managers will not get you any more than you deserve.  And usually no less.

But all the Efficient Market theorists on Wall Street can not explain away the decades-long ultra performance records of Buffett and Soros and others of their ilk.  These managers defy the notion that when it comes to return on investment it is impossible to get more than your fair share.

So, too, does Rotbartâs MTYFS spit in the eye of those who say a brilliant PR person or agency canât win great media coverage for a company, person or product that doesnât deserve it.  

According to Rotbartâs MTYFS, there is no such thing as ãnewsworthy,ä if you define newsworthy with a ãsome companies are, some companies arenâtä approach.  The media are constantly anointing new darlings even while banishing yesterdayâs cover boys and cover girls to the newsworthy graveyard.  (It is no coincidence that in journalism parlance, the archive of newspapers and magazine clips is called the Îmorgue.â)

If people and things were inherently newsworthy, there would be little room for newcomers and old-timers would seldom forfeit their appeal to the media.  After all, newsworthy is a birthright ö ala EMTMR.

I know Rotbartâs MTYFS trumps EMTMR because I have practiced it and I have taught it and I have seen the results.

Rotbartâs MTYFS abolishes the fable of inherent news value.  There is no such beast.

The PR universe is full of index fund managers.  But it also boasts its Buffetts and Soroses, who defy EMTMR quarter-to-quarter by taking ordinary companies, people and products and delivering extraordinary media coverage on their behalf.

Rotbartâs MTYFS is real.  Iâm the founding member of its professional society.  It stands for More Than Your Fair Share, and when it comes to publicity, everyone who was not born to be on the cover of Fortune deserves it.

Do you practice MTYFS public relations?  Does your PR firm?

In our next lesson, weâll see why so many companies sabotage their own best PR opportunities because they remain wed to the EMTMR way of thinking.

Homework this week

I would like you to email me (rotbart@tjfr.com) with your observations on who are the Buffetts and Soroses of the modern public relations universe.  Which PR practitioners consistently outperform the PR averages?  Please provide me names, affiliations and a brief performance review.

Class dismissed.

Week One:  Thought Experiments

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August 27, 2003

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