What PR People Can Learn From Miles Davis

Author: Trevor Young - October 10 2009

Think of a PR and communications campaign as a jazz band.

The drums and bass represent the campaign strategy. Rock solid. Anchoring. A driving force.

Add in trumpet, sax, piano etc. These instruments help flesh out the sound. Bring it to life. These are your creative tactics. They weave in and out, adding colour, flair and movement.

Drums and bass by themselves don’t work. Absolutely critical, yes, but a bit boring and dimensionless without the ‘tactical’ instruments.

Trumpet and sax on the other hand can be very noisy, indulgent and directionless if played by themselves. However, in concert with drums and bass, they can sound magical.

Same with a great PR campaign. Strategy without the tactics won’t go anywhere. Similarly, if you’re all tactics and no strategy, the campaign will be messy and directionless.

(YouTube source)

(also posted on The PR Warrior)

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One Response to “What PR People Can Learn From Miles Davis”

  1. Paul Eastwood Says:
    October 11th, 2009 at 2:43 am

    Jazz, like PR has its own disciplines, beats to the bar, chords, scales. Even though jazz is partly improvised, it has to work within these disciplines.

    It’s often not written down, so the band has to listen hard to each other as well as play.

    Remember to do that when you pitch together. Listen hard. It actually encourages spontaneity.

    Improvisation, individuality, spontaneity; why doesn’t it all fall apart?

    Teamwork within a framework. it’s no good just producing a great solo.

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