PR's new upper hand

In the past couple of years we have witnessed a dramatic shift in the way we do business. Budgets have moved, ideas about communications have been flipped on their head and the financial crisis has accelerated these changes at an alarming rate.On top of this, the rise and rise of social media has thrown the industry into a tailspin and turned the balance of power to consumers. But how has the industry changed and who is winning in this new landscape?Last month, I was invited to host a debate about the changing face of advertising and PR, to decide which industry holds the upper hand in terms of consumer influence. The event, hosted by the Hong Kong PR Network, asked the question: Has PR overtaken advertising as the most powerful medium for influencing the consumer?On the face of it, the answer was clear. If today’s new mantra is geared towards influencing conversations and managing reputations, then public relations, it seems, has the upper hand.Throughout the turmoil of 2009, we saw the PR industry find growth at a time when ad budgets were being squeezed. Many argue PR is more measurable than lofty notions of brand recognition. Last year the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival tipped its hat to the PR industry for the first time in its 56-year history, awarding two of its coveted Lions to the hugely successful “Best Job in the World” campaign – a campaign driven by public and media relations.But advertising, like PR, has also changed and many of the old ideas about the advertising business model have been forgotten. Advertising today is all about integration and it’s not often that major campaigns are created in silos.But where does all this leave the marketing community? Confused, floundering and looking for answers? In short, yes.Speaking at Account Planning Group’s “Big Ideas” event in Sydney last month, Geoff Ross, a former manager of DDB New Zealand and founder of the hugely successful 42 Below vodka brand, grabbed headlines when he said marketing had fallen into a quagmire of learning and pre-testing that costs a lot of money, but often resulted in zero impact. Clients, he said, had become risk-averse and were afraid to embrace big ideas.He argued that 42 Below was successful because its irreverent brand of marketing turned typical concepts on their head. It also made him hugely wealthy after Bacardi acquired 42 Below for $138 million.Because companies can interact directly with customers, they must reorganise the way they build brands. While locally we’re seeing signs of this happening, what is clear is that there is still a long way to go.