Veteran public relations practitioner Al Golin was inducted into the Arthur W. Page Society's Hall of Fame during the Society’s annual awards luncheon today at the Westfield Marriott Conference Center.

Golin became the 20th member of the Hall of Fame, which honors practitioners for career achievements and outstanding contributions to the profession. The chairman of Chicago-based GolinHarris, Golin has had an award-winning career spanning close to 50 years.

At the luncheon, one of the pioneers in international public relations, John Reed, was also honored with the Society’s Distinguished Service Award.

In Accepting his Hall of Fame designation, Golin observed that early in his career he came to the realization that trust was the most important ingredient in building awareness and credibility for a client. Two factors central to every business, he said, are “one: ethical, honest, responsible business practices, including executive behavior, and two: how a company treats its employees. These are essential to trust internally and externally; people want to do business with and work for a company they trust.”

Golin authored a book, Trust or Consequences, which describes “trust strategies” that were used at McDonald’s, Toyota and other companies his firm represented.

In accepting his award, which recognizes his role in the development of international public relations, Reed said, “My definition of public relations is ‘organized, ethical persuasion,’ and to me international PR means we do it some place else − persuading people of cultures, languages, religions, ethnicities different from our own.” He added that the first role of international PR is “get local help.”

The extension of PR around the globe, Reed said, was the result of different industries learning to use public relations in lockstep with their global expansion. This expansion, he said, was largely an American development that resulted in PR practices being established in assorted places. American universities have also played an important role in the development of international PR.

“We are now engaged in a great global war,” Reed said. He called on the Arthur Page Society membership to take steps to render sensible, effective advice to the government on the creation of a sound international public relations policy. “The United States needs a vigorous program,” he said, “to persuade others of the need to destroy the worldwide terrorism network and “the benefits that will accrue from our success in this global war.”

Also as part of the awards program, Reuters was presented the Page Principles Award for the communications strategy that it used in rebuilding its corporate reputation after the dot-com bust and a deep downturn in Reuters’ core financial businesses.

A merit award was presented to MassMutual Financial Group for its LifeBridge Free Life Insurance program that involved giving away $1 billion in term life insurance coverage to lower-income families.

Luncheon participants also found at their tables copies of a printed tribute to George Hammond, an early pioneer, who died in December at age 96. While Arthur W. Page set high standards working within a large corporation, Hammond established similar principles in an agency setting. As chairman of Carl Byoir & Associates, Hammond inspired confidence among CEOs of the firm’s client companies and admiration from the practitioners who worked for him and learned from him.