--From Phillips Petroleum Company cover letter to the Video Case Study Series,1983

"We must strive to reach new levels of sophistication and ability in order to remain effective in dealing with the many issues of the day. At the same time,we are also responsible for the training of young public relations professionals and students who must be well-prepared to deal with the challenges of tomorrow."

Early uses of videotape and video-recording machines focused primarily on training and education. With commercial and personal uses still undecided by the courts, the ability to use video for training purposes began to take hold. By the early 1980's, video was well entrenched in corporate training seminars.

In 1983, the Philips Petroleum Company began using video in their college liason projects in place of the more costly visits by company personnel. The incidince provides a good look at how video began to change the way companies did business.

--From Public Relations Quarterly, Fall 1996 v41 n3 p21(4).

With apologies to Mr. Dickens, it was again the best of times and the worst of times. For many in the business world, the years between 1979 and 1983 marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. And for Phillips Petroleum Company, it was a time when its communications staff and public relations outreach programs seemed to be expanding exponentially, befitting the Oklahoma-based energy company's rank as the nation's 17th-largest manufacturing concern.

But in early December 1984, things abruptly changed: Corporate raider T. Boone Pickens rode in from West Texas and made a bid to take over a company that only a year earlier had celebrated its 66th birthday in part by publishing a lavish coffee-table book detailing the proud history of Phillips 66, its employees, its place in business and its responsibility to its headquarters community of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. By late December, with the help of a concerted internal and external public relations effort and invaluable assistance from outside constituencies, Pickens retreated...with almost $100 million for a few weeks' work. It appeared to be a nice Christmas present for the besieged company and its employees. But before Phillips management had time to assess damages and catch its breath, takeover specialist Carl Icahn stepped in and started the process anew.

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