DIPLOMA AS A PR TOOL IN THE BUSINESS SECTOR

Diploma is the visible sign of credentials, merit, entitlement, employed for centuries in a variety of contexts, from granting liberties and privileges, to being the compulsory document for moving up the educational or career paths. In the 210 century, more than ever, the diploma is both a document, and a symbol of status. Diploma awarding ceremonies are ritualistic events, appealing to the public attention and appraisal. This paper looks into the system of diplomas awarded in non-educational contexts, employed as PR tools in business. The author looks into a two decades experience of practices in developing, implementing and awarding diplomas in the case of Timisoara (Romania) Chamber of Commerce, by analyzing the decisions behind the institutionalization of diplomas, development of criteria for diploma awarding, and the typology of diplomas as documents, marking the performance and/or excellence in business. The study contributes, thus, to the literature on rankings and symbolic ways in which merit is certified in the business sector and opens a discussion on the contemporary tools in PR for business strategies. Diplomas bring recognition both to the awarding institution, and to the recipient. In most cases diplomas are displayed on showcases, websites or invoked in promotional materials of the recipients of awards, either in the form of reproducing the diploma, or the photo of the awarding ceremony. Practitioners and PR analysts can benefit from the results of the study by incorporating diplomas in their communication strategies, supplementing their toolbox of instruments to convey information and emotion regarding a company, regardless of its dimensions or area of activity.