Sir Martin Sorrell declares PR is dead: PR pros respond
Sir Martin Sorrell
Credit where it’s due: Sir Martin Sorrell’s claim that public relations is dead in the modern world has, ironically, earned him a tidy chunk of media attention this week.
The advertising titan, now at the helm of S4 Capital, was debating Sarah Waddington, CEO of the global PR body the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday.
What was intended as a straight debate about the role of storytelling in modern communications quickly took a turn within two minutes when Sir Martin could not resist interrupting Waddington’s turn with: “There is no such thing as PR anymore.”
His era is long gone.
You can create a headline but does anyone read it? That YouTube video, for example, has 664 views.
…take one look at S4 Capital’s share price and you’ll see how his opinion is completely irrelevant these days.