The Future of Public Relations: It’s A Big, Inviting World Out There!

     

          

“Public relations is now arguably becoming a global profession.”

 

“F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said that ‘there are no second acts in American lives.’ For those of us in public relations, ‘encore careers’ abound – in public service and in service to our profession.”

 

Jay, thank you so much for that very kind introduction.

 

It’s in stark contrast with another I once received when asked to speak to a small church group in my town. The group traditionally presented a small honorarium to its monthly speaker – $10.

    

Being a great philanthropist, I told the master of ceremonies that I would gladly forego the honorarium. Whereupon he introduced me to the audience by saying, “John has graciously declined to accept our honorarium -- so now we have $20 to get a really good speaker for next month.”

 

Before I plunge into my subject today, a brief prologue: First, I am truly delighted – yes, honored – to be invited to participate in marking 70 years of FPRA advancing the public relations profession. The invitation from Joe Curry, an old friend; the logistics arranged by Seana Mincy; and, now, sharing the podium with Jay, another long-time associate, will make this a memorable day for me.

    

I’m well aware of the outstanding services of FPRA and its foundation -- such as your professional development, accreditation and certification programs; and the scholarships and internships you provide for public relations students. And educators from FPRA-affiliated universities have impressed me with their work on several commissions and councils on which we have jointly served.

     

I must also thank you for rising so early in the morning to listen – and, I hope, to respond – to what will be a rather personal report from one who has been engaged in, and therefore benefited from, public relations for several decades.

 

You’ve no doubt noticed that I’ve added a subhead to the assigned topic: “A Valedictory and a Vision.” So let me briefly explain.

    

“Valedictory” because I may not pass this way again. Not just because I’m getting long in the tooth, but because you may not choose to invite me ever again. You see, I’m here today not to comfort you but mainly to challenge you. More on that shortly.

      

“Vision” because after many years in this business – and having traveled the globe on public-relations-related projects recently -- I believe I have something of a perspective to share on where public relations is heading. It’s just one man’s personal view; so I’d like to gather your reactions in the Q-and-A period as well as in the subsequent Counselor’s Network Breakout Session.

 

End of prologue.

 

The subject this morning is “The Future Of Public Relations.” OK, it’s a rather ambitious topic, one that generates many points of view. So perhaps we enter where angels fear to tread. Economists, on the other hand, are taught, at the outset of their professional preparation. . .

    

“Don’t predict. But if you must, do so often.” Yes, change is constant.

     

Still, “futurists” say that the safest way to project the future is just to start with the present and project how current societal trends are likely to play out over a given period of time.

    

So here are three macro trends – let’s call them drivers of public relations growth – that I believe have, over the last several years, brought public relations to its current level of importance in society:

   

1. Many more kinds of organizations are adopting public relations as integral to their success. In the “old days”, it was mainly large corporations who saw the value of public relations. Now add nonprofits ( foundations, charities, educational institutions, “causes”); governments and the military; the professions (medicine and law and others as well); the increasingly influential nongovernment organizations (NGOs) on the local, national, regional and international levels; and, yes, even the media, as media owners and journalists try to explain the tectonic changes taking place in that space (analysts now say that 2008 may be the worst year for newspapers since the Depression).

 

2. Public relations professionals are now delivering a plethora of communications services. To traditional services such a media relations, we’ve added many nuances in corporate relations – where we are addressing not only investor and employee communications but also the now-exploding demand for “corporate social responsibility.” Issues and crisis communications are virtual staples in our repertoires; so, too, are public affairs and government relations and research and polling. In marketing communications, we now counsel not only on cause-related marketing but even on product placements in entertainment vehicles as well as celebrity endorsements. And, of course, we are becoming experts in the new communications technology and social media.

 

But you know all that. Perhaps I can challenge you a bit by dwelling somewhat on what I believe is the third – and perhaps the most exciting -- growth driver for public relations now and in the future. And it is a seminal trend that may be of special interest to FPRA members especially because of geography:

 

3. It is that public relations is now arguably becoming a global profession. Last year, I had a wonderful gig at Marquette University in Milwaukee. It was an opportunity to develop and teach a six-week course to senior and graduate public relations students. During my stay, the Marquette faculty asked me to speak to Milwaukee community leaders on a topic that, I believe, says a great deal about public relations going global.

      

The topic was “The Peripatetic Public Relations Professional – What I Saw and Heard in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany and Russia.”

     

Yes, public relations, in its many iterations, is thriving in all of those places – and many more. But don’t just take my word for it. Go to the Web site of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, www.globalpr.org, and you will see information relating to public relations professional societies in 63 nations with a combined membership of some 160,000.

     

Or visit the Web site of the Commission on Public Relations Education, www.commpred.org, where the commission’s recent recommendations on public relations curriculum are now available

not only in English but also in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. The Commission and the Global Alliance are now examining the possibility of developing global curriculum standards.

    

Or visit the Web sites of companies, large and small – and public relations counseling firms large and small -- and learn how much of their revenue and profit is now being generated abroad. (Ketchum now has six offices in China and one of our major growth drivers in Hong Kong, illustrating the fast-developing field of international investor relations, is counseling on initial public offerings for Chinese companies. Who would have thought?)

    

Why is all this global change – and much more – happening in public relations?

    

Pardon the cliché (there’s often a nugget of truth in a cliché) but it is a whole new world out there. And it’s a world that more than ever needs effective communications – two way communications to build mutual understanding and cooperation on many levels for many purposes, large and small. And that’s our turf, folks!

     

I’m going to quickly present five macro global and international developments that will influence the future of global society, America’s stake in it – and, even closer to the bull’s-eye – public relations’ central role in this evolution.

      

But two quick caveats:

 

First, I’m not smart enough to suggest how these developments will affect you and your organizations. But I know that you, challenged to consider them, will figure that out.

 

Second, this will only be a shorthand checklist. Each development could generate a book, an academic study or a conference. In fact, they have, many times over. Perhaps we can examine some of these developments in a bit more depth later.

 

1. The seminal development, from which many of the others grow, is this: It may be painful to admit, but there is a new world order evolving and America must adjust accordingly. More to the point this morning, American organizations – the companies, nonprofits and other organizations we serve – must adjust accordingly.

       

About 20 years ago, a senior State Department officer wrote, “Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

       

Thank heavens we seem to be well on that track, at least in the traditional sense of wars between nations. But we all know that you have to be careful what you wish for – “the unintended consequences syndrome.” We are now wrestling with resulting issues in trade, capital flows, immigration patterns and “outsourcing.”

 

    

For a moment, take just one of those issues – energy – and the mind virtually boggles. Sure, we’re heading toward a new mix of energy sources. Boone Pickens is said to be investing $10 billion in wind farms. And some day we may retire the term “alternative energy” in favor of just . . . ”energy.” But for the next decade or two, our reliance on oil and gas will make us largely dependent on countries such as Venezuela, Russia and several Mideast producers.

      

Did you know that ExxonMobil ranks 14th in the world in proven reserves of barrels of oil equivalent – and that the 13 companies that outrank Exxon-Mobil all belong to governments -- some of those governments not always friendly to America?

 

3. New media: “Strike the phrase “new media” from your vocabulary,” my Ketchum colleague Barri Rafferty advises. “New media” and” old media” are converging into simply . . . ”media. The emerging intersection of the Internet and “media” means that what was offline is now online, what’s online gets printed and entirely new outlets such as Twitter and iPhone are making YouTube and MySpace seem old school.

 

(Thankfully, Joe Hice of the University of Florida will speak about this here tomorrow morning when he addresses how such media are “changing the face of public relations.”)

 

4. Partnering: “Strange Bedfellows” in Win-Win scenarios will proliferate. “Sovereign Funds” investing in U.S. equities. Companies cooperating with selected environmental NGOs on sustainability. American universities opening branches in what would once have been thought of as “exotic” countries. These are just a few examples of how even well-established institutions can no longer “go it alone” in a multidimensional world.

 

          

Think Scott McClellan vs. Jerry Ter Horst (President Ford’s press secretary who resigned over the pardon of Richard Nixon).

 

To illustrate how these trends are playing out, here are a few headlines “ripped from leading newspapers” (true confession: carefully clipped, mostly from The New York Times):

My 40 minutes of fame here this morning are fast running out, but I must issue one more challenge to you before I get the hook.

    

It relates to the personal -- to each of us not only as public relations professionals, but also as citizens. What do all of these important changes mean to you and me individually?

    

I think the answer is that no matter where we are in our career cycle, there is now a pressing need – and justification -- for public relations people to be visible and active in the public discourse. And I mean beyond our duties to our employers.

    

After all, where is it written that some of the most informed, articulate and responsible professionals in America should not be heard and seen in the marketplace of ideas?

     

Where is that stone tablet that says “thou shall not, as a citizen, help influence public policy for the public good”?

    

There is a growing zeitgeist in this country – among young and old – to contribute to the common good, to advance the social agenda.

    

Many young people are making that commitment. So are a good number of retiring boomers.

    

And for those of us who are (be careful here, John) . . . “more senior,” I contend that F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said ‘there are no second acts in America life.” For those of us in public relations, “encore careers” abound – in public service and in service to our profession.

 

There are many ways for us to do this, and I’m sure that many here this morning are already involved in such activities. Here are a few:

You, no doubt, can add to that list, but let me offer a sidebar story to illustrate this last point: Two weeks ago, Charles Wick, who was director of U.S.I.A. during the Regan administration, died at age 90. In 1987, Wick asked an icon of our business, Harold Burson, to create a “ U.S.I.A. private-sector public relations advisory committee.” When this committee, consisting of about 15 of us was in place, Charlie and Harold instituted outreach to communicators in the Soviet Union and we had a “home-and-home” series of meeting in Moscow and Washington, D.C. It was the time of “glasnost” and “perestroika” in the U.S.S.R. and I believe that we contributed to that.

       

It was about the proudest activity I’ve ever had as a public relations professional.

 

Add all of this up – society’s growing need for what public relations professionals can contribute through their organizations and as individuals – and, personally, I come to one conclusion:

 

I wish I were starting all over again in public relations!

      

Thank you.