The Future of PR

Brendan Hodgson's late night glimpse into the future of PR manages to be simultaneously sensible and insightful.

He doesn't quite address the nagging question I have, though. What are PR consultancies for? What service do they provide that cannot be delivered by marketing managers, in-house PR teams, HR directors, legal advisers, management consultants and the others encroaching on the vital sphere of communications.

Surely the answer isn't outsourced media relations. Not even in 2005. His answer appears to be to act as consultants to chief communications officers. Possibly.

Comments

[Richard Bailey]

I now see that Mike Manuel has been thinking along similar lines (and he's further on in the journey) at http://www.mediaguerilla.com/media_guerrilla/2005/11/new_school_pr_t.html

[David Phillips]

Well... This looks to me like ill thought through dribblings of a PR spinmiester.
I sense a role delivering PR services with the milk and papers in the morning.
Is that where PR consultancy is heading?
Wow!

[Mike Manuel]

Further along, maybe, but the journy's far from over. There's a lot of people thinking about this new models (David Phillips is clearly one of them), and the discussion needs to continue.

[David Phillips]

Perhaps setting the agenda for what Mike calls PR 2.0 is essential. Its basic good practice. The jump to PR 3.0 from there is a bit more difficult because PR people will need to think in relationship management terms. That's not so hard.