Frankly, if you read any recent PR industry reports and follow the incessant social media chatter, we PR agencies may as well pack up our bags and go home. Everyone wants a piece of our pie – from the suave management consultancies and the slick media and advertising types to the number-crunching research analysts and the achingly trendy social media agencies. The death of the traditional PR agency is nigh. We’re all doomed. Or so we should believe…
It was against this somewhat challenging backdrop that the recent PRCA National Conference attempted to sort the hype from the reality around the small topic of ‘The Future of PR’ – focusing on The Economics of Reputation (more of this one in Part 2 of this blog) and The Future of the PR Agency.
Ably led by the current PRCA chair, the redoubtable Alison Clarke, the day at BAFTA brought together a who’s who of communications hitters from the corporate, government and agency worlds – including Stephen Doherty from Barclays, Ian Wright from Diageo, Alex Aiken, the government comms chief, Drew Benvie from Battenhall and Colin Byrne from Weber Shandwick. We also heard the academic viewpoint from Yuri Mishina of Imperial College and Paul Willis of Leeds Business School, and some interesting panel debates led by Tony Langham of Lansons and Danny Whatmough from Ketchum – commenting on some recent YouGov/PR Council-led research findings.
Where art meets science
Following an interesting session on The Economics of Reputation, the afternoon saw the focus neatly segue into the Future of the PR Agency – what that could, should and would look like, what clients want and what skills and resources we need as PR agencies (or whatever we’re going to be called!) No mean task then!
All agreed it would look different, with Weber Shandwick’s Colin Byrne highlighting that PR needs to focus on ‘where art meets science’, reflecting the need for better data analysis, insights and evaluation in the PR industry. ‘In PR we’re traditionally good at art, less so at science. We need to even up that balance,’ he said. This view was echoed by Antony Mayfield of Brilliant Noise who said PR agencies need to have more data people and apps developers on their teams to support, supplement and add ROI to PR campaigns.
Social media is clearly a big driver of change in the PR industry, and panellists and presenters agreed we need to embrace it, not fight it. Drew Benvie of Battenhall highlighted the need for agencies to move from a tacked-on or standalone social media offering to a T-shaped ‘digital everywhere’ model, where all account handlers have depth in digital. Rather than being the death of PR, by owning the content, and knowing where to place it, PR agencies should be well placed to drive social media.
The speakers agreed that the challenge will be building the right teams, with the right skill-sets, to deliver what the client wants. But, as we all know, this is complicated as clients are often not joined up internally. It’s our job as PR professionals to help break down these functional silos, look at the whole customer journey and organise communications around it. That’s the only way to build a more integrated approach.
The future’s bright. The future’s different.
Broadly everyone agreed that the role of the PR agency will need to adapt to offer more integrated skills and communications services. There will be less distinction between above and below-the-line marketing, more like a thin, blurred line.
The death of the PR agency? No. An evolution? Yes. One size fits all? No. Much depends on the size, specialism and type of agency and what the client wants. Apart from the big boys, most agencies can’t go out and hire a big data director or creative head. As agencies, we each have to work out what we stand for. We have to work smartly. We have to decide where we need to partner and what we need to outsource. Ultimately, it comes down to an open and honest client-agency relationship.
So we’re not in as bad a shape as the doom-mongers might say. Storytelling and content generation – staples of the PR diet – will be front and centre in managing corporate reputations and engaging stakeholders. It’s up to us to make use of new technologies and channels to control how, where and when to tell that story, whether that’s under the guise of public relations or some other new-fangled moniker. Bottom line…be watchful and don’t be complacent. But above all, use your common sense, keep calm and carry on.
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