Is the interactive era turning marketing into public relations? (Review of "Spin" by Clive Veroni)

Abstract

In this book review of Spin: How Politics Has the Power to Turn Marketing on its Head by Clive Veroni (House of Anansi, 2014), the author discusses how advertising revolutionized politics in the twentieth century and how politics is returning the favour in the twenty-first. He discusses how Clive Veroni correctly identifies the new era of interactivity brought about by the internet, social media and digital communications. The reviewer argues that some of the strongest points of Veroni’s book are his discussions of the concepts of the open branding, team building and scenario planning. Veroni’s examples and theory make an implicit yet direct link between marketing and the professions of communication through two central themes that he identifies: the exploded fragmented media and mindscape in which practitioners operate and the increasingly dialogical and fluid nature of brands. Many of the elements of political communication that Veroni identifies as pillars of the future of marketing are in fact pillars of the strategic practice of public relations.  ©Journal of Professional Communication, all rights reserved.