@FIRST_LIGHT

I needed to weigh in on this as both a Drupal Engineer and someone trained in public relations.

Good PR is about engaging groups of people that are of interest to your organization in ways that are meaningful to both your group and also the targeted group. If the interactions aren't meaningful, they will fail. The best campaigns are of a grassroots nature and promote the type of 'let the community promote it.' activities some of the detractors have written about.

There is no marketing activity closer in alignment to open source principles than public relations. This is primarily because of the openness in communications, the collaborative nature of the conversations, and the symbiotic relationship created between the two groups. When it's done right, of course.

I think the closest comparison of what Jeff's writing about here could be with the Mozilla Foundation and the work they've done with GetFirefox campaign. The foundation, also repsonsible for promoting the software, has used professional services in getting their message to the right people (their PR firm of record in the US is Outcast Communications).

I think there's PR work that should be done by the association, and then there's work that needs to be done by each corporate entity that hangs out their Drupal shingle. The efforts should complement and learn from each other. It might, however, take time to determine where those particular divisions might lie.