A couple of days ago I attended a conference at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, here in Lisbon, and listened to David Phillips speak about the true challenge of PR in our days: to increase the scope of thought to something as crucial and as vague as 'relationships'. Beyond his presentation, we had a very interesting chat and he explained to me that 'a brand is a token', and tokens are the basis of relationships.
Very pertinently, though, a question was asked by someone in the audience asking if, in reality, 'emotions' were not in fact the basis of relationships.
In my view, both are right. A lot has been written about relationships and a lot more will be, for sure. What was interesting to me, from the start, was this consideration that PR must become a lot more deeper, and professionals need to understand a lot more about a wider and deeper range of matters.
Yet, I would argue that tokens and emotions are very close to each other, and aren't all that different in kind. We nurture and exchange both and I wonder if the exchange in itself is not in fact the basis of relationships. But this discussion could go on forever.
Btw, what do you think?