The world is a buzz talking about Britain’s Got Talent’s unexpected ‘diva,’ Susan Doyle. She has become such an internet hit that Hollywood star Demi Moore has been Twittering about her.

The incredible clip of her wowing a cynical audience and skeptical judging panel received astronomical hits on Youtube- a whopping 50 million views and counting by this morning. Doyle has not only been featured all over the UK press, but is causing international interest, particularly in the US- Oprah Winfrey has invited her to appear on her show. Yesterday, PR Week reported that Doyle hired DADA PR to handle the media frenzy.

Doyle gives new meaning to the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ So does image really matter?  In my opinion- yes- in varying degrees. One may claim that it’s superficial and shallow, but let’s face it: humans are very visual beings. That’s the reason why the audience was so unreceptive to Doyle when she walked on stage. But her raw talent and down to earth, lovable personality won her a huge fan base- she created her own image and made a great first impression. So it does go beyond looks…

In the business world, if you walk in the door and don’t look your best, your client may not get past that, no matter how great your presentation is. Making a good first impression definitely gets your foot in the door. In the public relations industry, where one acts as a representative of a company or individual, image can not be stressed enough. Numerous companies have cropped up that help executives shape their image.  However, a line should be drawn- when the pursuit of a ‘perfect’ image becomes a detrimental obsession, something needs to give. The key to a healthy outlook is – confidence. It’s surprising how many people take it for granted. Without sounding like a self help article, without confidence you won’t be able to be an effective communicator. Again, another line must be drawn- there is a thin line between confidence and arrogance, so watch it. Here are a few tips on confidence from the Flacker PR blog:

- You have to always be “on.” You must always be ready to sell a client or the company you work for to a  key public or journalist. Anyone with a few months of PR experience has had that call from a journalist when you least expect it. If you’re confident, you can often seal the deal on a key mention or story.

- We have to be able to bounce back. PR pros get rejected a lot. Even worse we get ignored. It’s like the worst nightmare of every adolescent boy at his first school dance. If we don’t believe in ourselves and the companies we represent, we are dead in the water before we even start.

- We take a lot of risks. If you think about it, a journalist who passes on a story will likely find another story and not think twice about ignoring your e-mail or rejecting your phone pitch. I can’t think of a time when a reporter called after rejecting an idea and said, “I wish I would have written about that.”

However, young PR pros are often perceived as arrogant, rather than confident because of their lack of experience.

While not completely avoidable, there are a few strategies to combat being perceived as arrogant:

- Ask Elders Questions. A good way to show humility is to ask questions. Even if you think you know the answer, asking elders will show them that you don’t think you know everything.

- Point out Tips. After you’ve gotten some advice from elders, remember to point out their advice when you use it and it works. For example, “Thanks John for those tips last week. When I was reaching out to that blogger I told you about, I framed that story idea like you suggested and it worked. Thanks for the help.” You did a good job for the client, the person that gave you the advice feels respected and you don’t look arrogant.

- Pay Attention. You should attend every professional development session, take notes when others are giving advice and ask for opportunities to observe others doing their work. Ask to sit-in when a senior account team member is pitching media or sit-in on a planning meeting, even if it is after normal work hours.

For reasons foreign to most journalists, young graduates still flock to PR. It is among their top three favourite professions, according to the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), which estimates that 48,000 people work in it. It doesn’t stop there- growing numbers of people are switching jobs into PR. In the last 2 years, there has seen a rapid growth in PR with the number of journalists taking a dive.

After years of watching the hit TV series, Sex and the City, and idolizing the publicist- Samantha Jones, I can understand the attraction. Samantha owns her own Public Relations company, and schmoozes with the who’s who New York City. She is privy to all the best hot spots in the city and has a phonebook overflowing with names and numbers of the crème de la crème of New York’s elite. Ooh la la!

Everyone ‘knows’ about PR – and that it seems to consist mainly of going to parties and having your photo taken, like Meg Gallagher – but it’s not all parties and glamour, dahling! In fact, PR can be a glitz-free zone – hard work, with regular rejection sewn in. The mainstream perception propagated by Ab Fab and Peter Mandelson, do a disservice to the other part of the industry, which is really about a lot of toil and honesty.

The growth of the industry comes as no surprise with PRs now sitting on the board of directors, demonstrating that these communicators make a real impact. Once scarce PR education(now offered at diploma, Bachelors and Masters level) has become valuable asserting PR as a strategic tool and management function.

The increasing power of the media through Web 2.0 has led to understanding of the link between reputation, success and survival. Today, PR is finally recognised as a career that will offer bona fide responsibility and significance.

The public’s obsession with celebrities seems to know no bounds.

Entertainment industry publications b.k.a tabloids such as the National Enquirer in the US and OK! in the UK, keep churning out the latest and greatest about the hottest celebrities around. TV channels solely dedicated to this, such as the popular E!, record consistently high ratings. International celebrity focused sites such as TMZ and People have users logging on daily for up-to-the-minute gossip.

A variety of these publications use exclamation marks on their covers to describe the divorces, pregnancies, affairs, eating disorders and assorted depravities of the same small group of celebrities. The modus operandi for cramming content into these publications has been standardised: spotting cellulite, tracking breast augmentation and all around liposuction…a scuffle for scoops bought from gossipy stylists, bouncers and choreographers and a bit of slavish grovelling in the “exclusive interview.”

I believe that the UK’s interest in celebrities began as a pleasurable pastime, but steadily grew into a detrimental fixation. The internet, and in particular the emergence of user-generated content like blogs, MySpace and YouTube – generally characterised as Web 2.0 – has taken that curiosity to a whole new level.

Web 2.0 is not only feeding an unhealthy obsession with celebrity, but it has provided a whole new platform for the creation of celebrities. A good example is Paris Hilton, who had no more claim to fame than inherited wealth. She came to global attention with the appearance of her sex tape on the internet.

Web developers are taking advantage of this obsession, by launching platforms such as YoBusted. On this website, users can pretend to be as famous and glamorous as celebrities by uploading candid pictures and video of their wanna-be ‘fast paced’ lifestyle. Days later, they can type their name in any major search engine (i.e., Google Yahoo, etc.), and the party pictures and videos will show up at the top of the search engine results for the world to see. In a launch press release the YoBusted.com’s President explains, “What TMZ and US Magazine are to Hollywood, we are to the rest of us. Think your professor, boss or classmate is a straight-edge? He’s probably a wild cat too, just check YoBusted.com!”

We live in a celebrity obsessed age- so much so that there is even a term for it. Celebrity worship syndrome was first identified as an addictive disorder in 2003. In a media saturated environment, research shows as many as 10% of the public are developing unhealthy obsessions with celebrities which can lead to depression, anxiety and psychosis. Psychologists term this condition as celebrity worship syndrome – or, even worse, celebrity erotomania, a delusion that a star is in love with you.

I believe the focus of the arts and entertainment business should be on the work that these famous athletes, actors and musicians produce, not what they do in their private life. In my opinion, it is much more interesting and relevant to learn about an upcoming movie or album from a celebrity rather than speculation about a secret lover or a drug addiction. Problems and flaws are their own business and the personal lives of celebrities should not be constantly invaded.

But in the end, despite my moral qualms on the matter, this situation is not likely to change. The media are simply meeting a persistent and (sadly) growing demand.