Is the PR industry in need of a re-brand?
While the discipline and skills involved in public relations has evolved the name has not. Miranda Ward spoke to leading PR professionals on their take on the current state of the PR industry about whether the industry needs a new name for the new approach.
For Stuart Gregor, the founder and director of Liquid Ideas, the “discipline itself has changed and evolved” while the name – public relations – has not.
Gregor
“We’ve been tossing around how we would refer to ourselves as an agency and we’re saying are we a creative influence agency?
really interesting article, thanks.
As a journo who started in PR, after majoring in the field (Bach. Comms – PR) some years ago, I agree that PR does need to reposition itself, though changing the name ‘public relations’ is not the way to do it.
It’s ironic that PR itself doesn’t run a better campaign on itself!
I think the proliferation of agencies has definitely hurt the ‘brand’ of PR. So many of them are simply press agents…the real business of PR is about the ideal of two way symmetrical communication between an organisation and its audience (the ‘public’ in public relations – from the old Grunig model) and the only practitioners who come even close are the in-house professionals. I haven’t seen many (any) agencies doing this – it’s simply all about the column inches for your client.
Sure, agencies have a place – but the real torchbearers for PR are the in-house specialists. That’s where the real business of public relations is being practiced.
An interesting piece and I found myself nodding in agreement with Glen’s comment.
I think part of the problem is that public relations has been rebranding itself non-stop since it became a dirty word somewhere in the 1980s and we started calling it different names. Add to the mix that there are some 400+ definitions of PR and counting, it’s little wonder few people outside the industry understand what PRs really do.
Grunig’s definition sums it up nicely, so perhaps all we need to is to run a better campaign to communicate what PR is (and what it isn’t).