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By: Steven Coulombe
Major: Junior
Duluth, GA
“There is nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot” – Scott Adams

For Mr. Scott Williamson “any day in Athens is a good day.”  Williamson, a Grady graduate and the Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at the Coca-Cola Company, came to the PRSSA meeting yesterday to speak on the complexities of corporate public relations and, specifically, the steps taken by the Coca-Cola Company to ensure a consistent brand identity across many different communication forums and outlets. Williamson also discussed the Coke summer internship offered every year to two lucky Grady students. Carly Nash, Colleen Murphy and Daniel Youman, last summer’s interns, also talked of their experiences and all that they learned from the program.

Williamson made the point that every day people make decisions about what they’re going to drink.  Coke then, is a potential candidate that, every day, runs for the office of your drink of choice. The question is then how does Coke go about separating itself? The answer is a 360-degree approach to public affairs. 

The 360-degree model says there isn’t one avenue of public affairs/relations that is more important than another or that there is one avenue that effectively reaches all invested or interested publics.  Coke has many facets to its business including, but not limited to, government affairs, community affairs, internal affairs, business affairs and the mass media. Each of these branches needs specific, specialized attention. There is no one stop shop, no one press release that will get the job done.
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