PROPOSE SUGGESTIONS ALREADY WELCOMED BY SOCIETY

The speaker of Russia's upper house Sergei Mironov made a proposal to amend the Constitution and allow one person to be president for three consecutive terms.
With one year left before the 2008 presidential elections, there has been broad speculation about President Vladimir Putin's possible reelection for a third term, considering his high popularity ratings. But Putin has repeatedly denied any possibility of running for a third term, saying he would never violate the Constitution.
However, it does not matter for Mironov, if Putin runs or not for a third term. What does matter, is that Mironov knows: any proposal to extend Putin's term in office would be welcomed by society considering the high presidential ratings. Mironov's proposal was a PR move designed to promote his party before the parliamentary elections due in December 2007.
The unbeatable PR move is a proposal certain to be welcomed by electoral society.

PRESENT YOURSELF AS OPEN-MINDED & TOLERANT

In January Pizza Patron (Dallas-based company) began accepting Mexican pesos.
The company's goal was to sell more pizza to its Latino customers. But the company's action attracted public attention. The promotion has been a boon to the company. In January and February sales were up more than 35% compared with the same period last year. The experiment in pesos was to end in February, but then the company extended it through April.
I am not arguing the controversy of using foreign currency in the United States. The very fact of using foreign currency points (in the public judgment) to some broad-mindedness.

So, the PR move for various social, ethnic, racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural groups / communities is to present your image to these groups as tolerant & broad-minded.

PR TIP: PUBLISH A TEST

In 2004 Google Labs published so called GLAT - Google Labs Aptitude Test.
Readers were asked to mail in their answers and promised that they would be contacted by Google if they scored well.
The declared reason was to attract high quality people into their ranks. Actually, it was a clever PR move which generated a lot of interest from it.
First, the public gets the idea that the company (= Google Labs, in this case) is hiring only very clever folks.
Second, the public gets the reminder that the company is on the map.
Third, you get much buzz, interest and involvement about this point. Public involvement is necessary for good PR. You may call it even 'viral marketing'.

The PR move for brains, intellectuals and know-it-all guys is to publish a test as if you were hiring folks.

PR TIP: AVOID "DUCK AND COVER"

A crisis stalled JetBlue Airways (JBLU) over nearly a week following a Feb. 14 ice storm in New York. Hundreds of passengers were stranded and flights canceled in the wake of the storm.
Not only JetBlue printed an apology to customers in a handful of U.S. newspapers but also the chief executive of JetBlue David Neeleman issued profuse public apologies on network television, on the video-sharing site YouTube, and on the JetBlue website. Most importantly, Neeleman looked and sounded sincere in all his public appearances.
Let us divide all the tenets of sound crisis management to three parts:
1. Before the crisis: Be prepared, know that all companies will have a crisis. Know your crisis team.
2. During the crisis: Run to it, avoid "duck and cover." Avoid saying "no comment." No vacuum.
3. After the crisis: Make a sacrifice, don't want to win it all.

(As you know, Duck and Cover was a method of protection against the effects of a nuclear war which the US government taught to generations of school children. Immediately after they saw a flash, they had to get on the ground and assume fetal position, lying face down and covering their heads with their hands.)

The good PR move to face a crisis is to run to it, to avoid "duck and cover".

ONCE MORE: PROMOTE YOURSELF AS ANIMAL-FRIENDLY (PR TIP)

In January 2007, the Mayor of the city of Saskatoon (Canada) Don Atchison expressed a desire to see a mounted police patrol (= officers on horseback), saying it would be beneficial and a great public relations move.

First, "In any city where I've seen a horse patrol, people have been drawn to the animals. You never see them running away," said Atchison.
Second, positioning officers at such a height above large crowds improves their safety and gives them a clear view of what's going on. The horse can go where a patrol car can't and can move faster than an officer on foot.

So, once more we see the PR move to present one's image as animal-friendly. Wish to make the public feel good towards you? Present yourself connected to an animal.