PR In Canada

Caught an intersting article on The Economist entitled “Public relations in the recession: Good news” and here are a few highlights that caught my attention:

• The recession has increased corporate demand for PR, analysts say, and enhanced the industry’s status. “We used to be the tail on the dog,” says Richard Edelman, the boss of Edelman, the world’s biggest independent PR firm. But now, he continues, PR is “the organising principle” behind many business decisions.
• According to data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private-equity firm, spending on public relations in America grew by more than 4% in 2008 and nearly 3% in 2009 to $3.7 billion.
• Moreover, PR firms are beginning to encroach on territory that used to be the domain of advertising firms, a sign of their increasing clout. They used chiefly to pitch story ideas to media outlets and try to get their clients mentioned in newspapers. Now they also dream up and orchestrate live events, web launches and the like.
• The withering of many traditional media outlets has left fewer journalists from fewer firms covering business.

Overall many of the firms that we spoke to in 2009 still have healthy grow considering the impact of the recession, and many did find new revenue streams as they embraced social media.  The tools available to pr professionals continue to get better everyday and 2010 does look to be a promising year.

How does 2010 look to you?

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