By Amith Prabhu

Thanks to Tushar Panchal, a fellow traveler in the profession I discovered this fascinating manifesto on an interesting website last weekend. I thought it was worth dedicating an entire column to this cause. And letting the wider world know of this endeavor.

The manifesto starts with a war cry – “It is time to declare a war. A war on the empty message”. I reproduce from www.pirate.pr.co below:

This is a call to arms for all communication professionals against messaging sans-substance. Against the lame PR we are requested to perform. To oppose spin-doctoring and to loathe spamming. We be no lazy ones that send masses of meaningless buzz words. We stand against the fake bullshit that corporations ask us to swallow hook, line and sinker.

We be heading back to the core. Back to communicating with a purpose and messaging with meaning. Back to hustling honestly to be heard through the noise. We will listen to customers, have a conversation. To be ourselves, to let our passions drive our communication and to take no hostages. Yet have the spine to admit when we be wrong. We care about our craft and will defend it to the death. That’s what our pirate hearts beat for: the truth behind the message. We be going back to real communication, to PR driven by a purpose.

It then goes on to share eight steps to a meaningful message which it creatively calls the Code of Conduct for Pirates. A) Have a Purpose B) Make a Plan C) Focus on Resonance D) catch the Current E) Be Real F) Cover all Bases G) Start a Conversation and H) Collaborate

I found this one of the coolest thing for PR professionals in a long time. I hope each of us will be embrace it with passion and make it our individual war cry and code. The world of PR would be a better place.