Reports are that China is shopping for a public relations firm to improve its image in the west.  A little late for that.  This is why PR people get a bad reputation.  Once the damage has been done, it is so difficult to repair the organization’s image.  China’s PR campaign needed to start last year, not once protesters try to extinguish the flame and world leaders threaten to boycott the summer Olympics.

How many PR firms are really going to want this job?  You’ve got I client that has already stepped into it big time, they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong and – let’s face it- I don’t expect the Chinese leaders to be receptive to the idea of being told how to run their country for the sake of the Olympics.  That’s one meeting I want in my office, not theirs.

This is a good lesson for corporate America.  Get the PR folks to the table at the start of an idea or project. Too often PR is brought in to clean up the mess that was none of their doing.  I am sure they wouldn’t have completely prevented the protests, but I have no doubt they could have set a much better tone in the court of popular opinion. 

It’s great to have a crisis-management plan, but it’s even better not to have to use it.  “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” are truly words to live by when it comes to PR and your corporate reputation.