Where is Pinoy PR headed?
At the recently concluded Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) conference held in Edsa Shangri-La, this writer was invited to join a panel discussion to share some thoughts on the Pinoy PR practice — yesterday, today and tomorrow. Also in the dialogue were Max Edralin and Charlie Agatep, two illustrious names in the Philippine PR industry, and we each gave our points of view on the assigned topic. As expected there were a number of views that ran contrary — the most conspicuous of which are the manifold challenges that face the Filipino PR professional today; challenges that put PR’s credibility and integrity on the defensive. After more than 40 years, the question remained: Where exactly is Pinoy PR? The collective observations generated from the dialogue are summarized below.
1. PR is recklessly called the “dark art” practiced by partying PR men and women at expensive watering holes or golf courses, or it is “under the table” and “ATM-based dealings” entered into by PR people with huge relationship-building funds. Still others describe it as organized lying, “envelopmental” communications or spin doctoring. These are unmerited and unfair labels indeed for a career that hinges largely on speaking out and speaking true.
2. There is no PR industry body to provide data on PR expenditures, billings and rankings of PR agencies, or consultancies and corporate communications offices that can provide an indicative figure on how much the PR business spends annually. There is a burgeoning number of PR Associations — PRSP, International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Public Relations Organizations of the Philippines (PROP), International PR Association (IPRA), the membership of which is divided between corporate practitioners and independent, freelance consultancies and PR agencies. Even so, nobody knows the collective expenditures of all activities labeled “PR.”
3. PRSP has arrested its internal problems, although the court case among the involved personalities in the PRSP rift continues. IABC and the other PR groups, on the other hand, show active presence in the country, aggressively recruiting members and staging events that bring PR professionals together for training and social interactions.
4. One-man shows and “lean and mean” PR outfits with “specialized” services are rapidly increasing, giving themselves fancy names or titles like image accelerators, media relations specialists, experience marketers. PR multinational companies, though, have a token presence, the most visible of which are Fleishman & Hillard (Cosette Romero) and Shandwick Weber (Mike Toledo). International PR agency names such as Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Edelman are being missed in the Philippine PR landscape. Advertising agencies with PR services — Ogilvy & Mather,
5. The PR industry’s challenges have expanded through the years, foremost of which is the lack of qualified professionals who can deliver the demanding requirements of PR with aplomb. There is also the unavailability of more sophisticated measurement and evaluation systems that can demonstrate the substantive contribution of PR in achieving an organization’s short-term and long-term goals. Added to the list are the absence of a culture of research among PR practitioners and PR organizations, and the low appreciation of the role of PR in the world of business, government service and non-profit groups.
6. PR continues to face a credibility crisis. It stems from a significant gap between theory and practice in the profession, where issues of identity, ethics and competence are undermining its standing. Indeed, the lack of respect for the PR profession is a critical challenge, particularly in view of the climate of distrust in which practitioners are operating.
7. Despite its strategic function, PR continues to be perceived as simply publicity. So long as PR agency clients or company CEOs assume that media relations is all that PR people do, practitioners will be limited in their ability to provide comprehensive services. For people working in PR agencies, generating earned space and time is one of the most common client demands, and is often the key determinant of a practitioner’s effectiveness.
8. Some members of the news media, no matter how starved they are for stories, remain reasonably unconvinced of the newsworthiness of leads and leaks coming from PR’s media relations offices. Sad to say, and in many instances, they hardly ever view PR people as equal partners in what should otherwise be a mutually advantageous affiliation.
9. Knee-jerk handling of crisis has also become associated with PR. This is brought to bear by several widely reported PR disasters that have likewise reinforced PR’s reputation as the art of “sweeping the dirt under the rug.” This negative view is often aggravated by the actuations of some practitioners who, wittingly or unwittingly, publicly brag about what they can accomplish and how well they can spin or turn things around. In the eyes of some communicators, PR is almost solely linked with after-the-fact damage control, and this tag casts doubt on the integrity of clients as well as on practitioners.
10. PR people need to establish a strong professional persona, which should embody as well as promote the more positive face of the PR discipline. A communications campaign on behalf of the PR profession itself could be considered — something like a PR-for-PR program that will tell the story of PR and make the targeted publics appreciate its importance.
11. A good accreditation system can erase some competency questions on PR. To eliminate the doubt, it should become mandatory, and appropriate educational qualifications should be secured by practitioners and demanded by employers. Corollarily, reform in the PR education system could be initiated to teach standards of practice (including ethics) as well as valid and reliable research and evaluation techniques while enforcing professional standards of proficiency in written and verbal communication skills.
12. Synergy and integration could be critical. Strictly consider that when all product and corporate messages are strategically coordinated, the effect is greater, when advertising, sales promotions, PR and other implements are planned as stand-alone executions. Sometimes the individual platforms compete for budget and impact and may even have inconsistent messages.
13. Consider specialization in practice. The
14. The need for a PR Board is urgent. If there is an Advertising Board that looks over the advertising industry, there should also be a PR Board that can help chart the course for the practice, such as defining the general principles and ethical standards for the trade, and outlining the implementing rules and regulations of the profession.
PR — yesterday, today and tomorrow — is anchored on one universal principle: It should at all times be based on great performance that brings great results. On this, the panel and the audience at the conference agreed.
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E-mail bongo@vasia.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions and suggestions. Thank you for communicating.
