I’ll admit, we’ve been a little bit down on the “Live in Canberra” campaign.
We’ve always rather thought that the best way to change perceptions is to address the causes of those perceptions rather than put lipstick on a pig and call it Suzanne.
So I was a little surprised to see a media release from our spiky headed Chief Minister headlined: “LIVE IN CANBERRA TAKES OUT PUBLIC RELATIONS AWARD”.
Then I thought, well, the PR Industry love any campaign that spends lots of money on PR people without causing much lasting damage (like, you know, actually getting people to move to Canberra for an education system we’re in the middle of dismantling).
But finally I brought myself to read the media release, and what is the award the campaign has won?
“the Government-sponsored campaigns category at the Public Relations Institute of Australia (ACT) Awards for Excellence”
So it was the best PR campaign organised by Stanhope’s own Government in a year? They’ve got a special category just so he can accept a gong? How sweet!