Newhouse Speaks #1: Andy Checo and Sabrina Macias

Today, Andy Checo, associate vice president at Havas FORMULATIN and Sabrina Macias, vice president of global communications at DraftKings, visited Newhouse to discuss a range of topics regarding the public relations industry with students. A major issue that communication professionals both in-house and at agencies face today is the matter of diversity and inclusion. If a company believes that hiring individuals from diverse ethnicities sufficiently fulfills the “requirements” of diversity and inclusion, then these companies have it all wrong. Checo and Macias shared that one of the major questions that companies need to ask themselves is “are we making sure everyone is represented?” A company needs to invest in its employees and ensure that everyone is represented and valued. Not only does this matter affect a company internally, but externally, the message that a public relations agency projects onto the public, must go through a thoughtful process in order to be aware of the effect a specific message can have on a variety of people. The matter of having diverse professionals in the field doesn’t stem from a company level; it stems from the students who study or are interested in communications. Macias questioned, “how do we get more people to understand the industry so there is a voice for them at the table?” Meaning, from the foundational level, what can this industry do to attract a wider range of people?

Another concept discussed was PESO; paid, earned, shared and owned media. The meaning of this term has evolved right alongside the evolution of the public relations industry. At Checo's and Macias’s companies, paid media is a major facet. Paid media can mean paid content to publish, sponsored content and paid influencer content. Owned media corresponds with the social networks that companies own such as its Facebook and Twitter pages. Paid and owned mesh together in regards to the synchronization of paid content that is posted on companies' owned networks. Earned media is still an important asset especially within business PR, sports PR and government relations, according to Macias. Shared media also plays a major role today with articles and posts constantly being re-shared or re-posted on various social media platforms.

This information regarding PESO surprised me because many agencies do not take the same approach to paid media as Checo’s and Macia’s companies do. For instance, rather than paying influencers to post content about a specific brand or topic, some public relations agencies will send products out to influencers to try. Influencers can decide whether to post these products at their own discretion. Taking this approach as opposed to paying influencers seems beneficial because if it’s a brand that is widely known and reputable, many influencers will post these products. Furthermore, companies can obtain the same earned, owned and shared media the same way paid content would, except without paying to achieve these types of media. Yet, a downfall to this method that Checo and Macias discussed is that many agencies have had to turn to paid media to secure influencers to post content about brands.

As I begin to develop content for my PRL 215 blog, I am interested to see if there is a specific method to media content that public relations professionals take when working with clients in the health and fitness fields. Many influencers today work within this field, so I am curious to discover the relationship between brands and fitness experts/influencers. #PREvolution

Checo and Macias speaking to Newhouse students.