Optimism and fear: AI and the PR sector

As Chair of the CIPR's AI in PR Panel, I make no apologies for leading this week on the just published “AI and Big Data Readiness Report: Assessing the Public Relations Profession’s Preparedness for an AI Future ”.

This is the largest scale attempt to date to understand where the PR sector globally stands on the opportunities and threats presented by AI.  AI is already impacting every aspect of PR, from strategic planning to writing content. So I don’t believe it is an exaggeration to say that anyone who wants to have a valued and meaningful career in PR in the coming years should pay great attention to the implications and recommendations from this report.

So what does it tell us?

It finds a significant number of PR practitioners worldwide have limited knowledge of AI and lack confidence in using it (43.2%), compared with only a small number who feel “very comfortable” (13.9%). However, practitioners are optimistic and have an eagerness to learn. Their challenge is that they don't know what they need to know and they don’t know where to start. 

Other findings include:

• 41.5% of respondents claim to understand what AI as a technology means but do not consider themselves technical.
• Over one-in-three (38.9%) PR practitioners feel ‘excited’ about AI, compared to just 3.9% who feel ‘overwhelmed’
• 30% of practitioners are familiar with AI technology but don’t feel confident applying their knowledge to their role.
• One in five practitioners (20.7%) feel very comfortable using data and analytics in their role, compared to just 8.2% of those who feel the same about AI.
• Around one in five practitioners are familiar with the relevance of both AI and Big Data to the communications profession.

There is clearly a mix of optimism and fear in the PR industry about AI. Excitement at the potential and possibilities – and concern that the role of the practitioner will be eroded. But knowing where to start and a lack of time, training and skills seems to be putting a brake on progress. However, doing nothing is not an option either.

Advertising Value Equivalence (AVE) – the PR metric that refuses to die

Another excellent global PR survey that came out last week was the 2021-2022 ICCO World PR Report.

Lots of great insight into the state of PR worldwide.

However, one finding stood out as particularly disappointing. Namely, the continuing prevalence of AVE (Advertising Value Equivalence) as a PR evaluation metric.

According to Richard Bagnall, CEO, Europe and the Americas at Carma and Chairman of AMEC : "A shocking 52% of ICCO’s survey respondents state that they use AVE as a metric, despite all the education work that has been done in the industry by the likes of AMEC, the PRCA and ICCO to eradicate its use. Since 2010’s Barcelona Principles, AVE has been globally acknowledged as an ‘invalid metric’ that is not worth the paper it is written on. For a sector that knows how important ethical behaviour is, its continued widespread use in PR agencies is simply not good enough."

The ICCO report also found that the top three metrics cited as being provided to clients by PR firms were ‘media clippings’, ‘engagement metrics’ and ‘AVE’s."

In a previous newsletter I talked about a recent Muck Rack survey in the US that found similar results. I know some people have suggested that this particular piece of research was unrepresentative of the wider PR industry. Sadly, the ICCO’s global survey suggests it wasn’t.

In general, the assumption for some time has been that media coverage volume and AVEs were virtually dead as PR measurement and evaluation metrics. However, I know from my own experience of PR measurement workshop attendees that using these numbers was far from extinct. As I've said elsewhere, there is still much work to be done in raising the overall bar for PR measurement and evaluation across industry globally.

Ageism in PR

More than one in three women working in UK comms have experienced ageism. And more than half of women under 50 admit they didn't see a future in the part of the industry they worked in.

That's according to new data commissioned by Women in PR (WIPR) as it launches a competition to recognise 45 outstanding female PR professionals aged over 45.

PR isn’t the only sector to suffer from ageism (advertising and marketing are equally culpable in this regard). But the continuing bias against older practitioners seems both ethically and practically preposterous. The industry is shooting itself in the foot by failing to capitalise on the value of experienced professionals – and creating an environment that suggests, even to younger PR employees, that this is not an industry capable of providing a sustainable long term career.

27 PR software vendors worth paying attention to

The PR software industry was worth $4.8 billion in 2020, up 6.66% over the prior year, according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting, a research firm.  And Business Insider this week published a good list of the top vendors in the sector.

I was aware of most of them (eg Propel, Vuelio, Signal AI, etc) - but a few I wasn't (Blackbird.ai, The Marque, etc). Interestingly, PR shops Edelman and Real Chemistry are also included on the basis they are building their own proprietary tool stacks.

Many of these vendors claim to use AI - though to what extent AI really is being deployed is open to debate. Nevertheless, as the above cited AI in PR Panel research has shown, these are the kinds of tools and technologies that PR professionals need to investigate now to understand how they can be used to augment rather than replace the role of the PR practitioner.

 Nick Clegg at Facebook

If you were compiling a list of the most influential in-house PR and communications people in the world, Nick Clegg, Vice President of Global Affairs at Facebook, would probably be near or at the top of it.

This Business Insider article provides some interesting insight into how he ended up in his current role – and what influence he wields as the most senior PR voice in the business.

“Radical candour”: what your colleagues really mean

“Radical candour” is the idea that bracing honesty is the best way to run a business: no one dances around the truth, and swifter feedback improves performance.

A recent Economist article suggests that “people rarely say what they mean, but hope that their meaning is nonetheless clear.”

Some choice examples are provided which will no doubt ring true with many PR readers:

“It’s great to have started this conversation”

Ostensible meaning: We’ve raised an important issue here

Actual meaning: We’ve made absolutely no progress

“I wanted to keep you in the loop”

Ostensible meaning: I am informing you of something minor

Actual meaning: I should have told you this weeks ago

“Do you have five minutes?”

Ostensible meaning: I have something trivial to say

Actual meaning: You are in deep, deep trouble

“Let’s handle this asynchronously”

Ostensible meaning: We’ll each work on this task in our own time

Actual meaning: I have to go to my Pilates class now

As The Economist says: "There is an awful lot to be said for coded communication. Work is where people learn to manage social interactions, not define them out of existence. Transparency doesn’t necessarily travel well across borders. And perpetual bluntness is draining; humans constantly finesse and massage the messages they send in order to avoid open conflict. Radical candour is associated with firms that pay very well. That may be because this approach leads to greater success. It may be because otherwise most people wouldn’t put up with it."

 That’s it for issue #4. This newsletter is clearly a work in progress. So all feedback is gratefully received. Please do let me know what you think in the comments. I’m all ears for ideas and suggestions as to what to cover.

Thanks again for reading - and subscribing. Until next week.