Lessons from a lost PR legend

You haven’t heard of him, but you definitely know (and have tasted) Roy Park’s legacy

Flip on America’s Public Broadcasting Corporation and you might notice a quick nod to the Park Foundation. Programs like Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal and NOW all receive funding from this foundation.

If you know little or nothing about the foundation, don’t worry.

“There’s a strong history here with the foundation of being fairly anonymous,” executive director Jon Jensen said. The reason, he said, is philanthropists shouldn’t seek attention.

For a nonprofit ensconced in anonymity, it might come as a surprise to learn the late Roy Park, whose legacy built the foundation, was a master corporate communicator.

His understanding of audiences helped communicators in the late 1940s and ’50s develop the idea of branding. His forward thinking catapulted Duncan Hines into a household name for more than 50 years.

As the cliché goes, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Yeah, well, those who don’t learn from history are sometimes doomed not to repeat it.

Here’s what 21st century communicators can learn from Roy Park.

The birth of Duncan Hines