Future of PR: How SG agencies are rewriting the press playbook for 2026

As PR teams gear up for 2026, the Asia Pacific region is emerging not just as a hotbed of creative storytelling, but as the fastest‑growing frontier for strategic communications. That growth is underpinned by a clear shift in client priorities: according to the ICCO World PR Report 2024–2025, 40% of PR professionals in Asia Pacific expect to increase investment in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) communications, while 31% are prioritising strategic consulting, and 29% are focused on influencer communication. Talent remains a challenge, senior skills scored around 60%, signaling room for investment, yet ethics shine, with practitioners rating industry integrity at 69%.

Looking ahead to 2026, the game is no longer just about campaigns or coverage. It’s about blending human insight with AI, navigating geopolitics and culture, and building trust that lasts.

Below, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke with PR professionals across the region to hear how they plan to tackle these shifts and what they see as the industry’s top priorities next year.

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Delicia Tan, CEO for Edelman Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan

The next chapter in integrated communications isn’t about chasing every new technology development, it’s about making innovation serve authenticity. As AI becomes a daily partner in how people search, consume, and engage, our task as communicators is to make sure it strengthens trust, not replaces it.

At Edelman, we see this future as a blend of intelligence, integrity, and experience. AI gives us new ways to predict sentiment, personalise stories, and measure impact in real time. But tools alone don’t build connection. It’s the human judgment, that turns data into meaning.

That’s why we will continue investing in our people. We’re developing advisors who can connect culture, technology, and creativity; who can use AI to move faster without losing empathy. At the end of the day, progress isn’t about automation, it’s about amplification: using technology to scale human insight and action.

Our focus is on authenticity at scale. We’re helping brands prove who they are through consistent, transparent communication—aligning what they say, what they do, and what others say about them. In a fragmented world, that alignment builds the trust every organisation needs to grow.

The future of integrated communications belongs to teams that bring strategy, storytelling, and systems together. People who can bridge human and machine intelligence to create connection that lasts.

Because even in an AI-driven world, authenticity is still the most advanced form of intelligence we have.

Mei Lee, managing director, FleishmanHillard Singapore

A major transformation in PR is the integration of advanced AI and data-driven insights, which evolves our role from just reputation management to delivering intelligence-led counsel that can help organisations anticipate risks, foster innovation, and validate real business impact.

Led by global CEO JJ Carter, FleishmanHillard has been accelerating this shift by building consulting-led teams, advancing AI adoption and evolving capabilities to become trusted advisors to clients at the highest levels.

In 2026, we will continue to leverage OmniAI, Omnicom’s in-house AI platform to boost efficiency and effectiveness, while delivering innovative client solutions – such as FH Fusion, a first-of-its-kind communications that combines a full range of AI models, institutional knowledge and a proprietary data toolset. Already in use by over 1,500 strategists globally – it directly enhances client deliveries such as crisis response, stakeholder messaging and media intelligence. TRUE Global Intelligence, our data and insights team, is leading strong growth through these tech-enabled offerings.

For FleishmanHillard in Singapore, our 2026 focus is to continuously support our global transformation into a strategic business and communications consultancy, linking communications directly to shareholder value creation, and embedding innovation and measurable impact into every client engagement.

Joseph Barratt, CEO, Mutant

In 2026, I think the next major shift won’t be AI itself, but the way brands approach regional work. We are seeing growing frustration with managing multiple agencies across different markets or paying global-network prices for work that doesn’t translate. More clients want Southeast Asia to operate as one region – a single strategic direction supported by strong local execution.

Agencies that can deliver shared insight, integrated planning, and coordinated delivery across borders will have a real advantage.

AI will support this, but it won’t replace what we do. It’s a tool that raises the bar by improving audience insight, performance measurement, and collaboration across markets. Its value is in helping us work smarter and deepen regional understanding, not in acting as a substitute for strategic thinking.

We’re budgeting cautiously but deliberately for 2026, channelling spend into people, training, and regional structures rather than experiments that don’t tie back to client outcomes. We’re still forecasting growth, but modest and realistic given longer decision cycles.

My priority for 2026 is to keep moving Mutant up the value chain by owning more regional mandates and tying our work clearly to business outcomes. If we get that right, the technology will simply help us move faster.

Jacob Puthenparambil, founder and CEO, Redhill

2026 will be the year PR evolves from managing perception to decoding reality. The next wave is strategic intelligence — where communications merges with data, behaviour, and foresight. At Redhill, we’re moving beyond content creation to reputation prediction: using AI, sentiment analytics, and behavioural mapping to see around corners and prepare leaders before issues surface.

Our focus is on building an integrated Reputation OS — a system that fuses human judgment with machine insight to guide decisions in real time. Budgets are shifting toward technology, security, and leadership capability, not media spend.

The single priority for us is resilience — helping organisations earn, protect, and sustain trust in an age of volatility and misinformation.

The PR firm of the future won’t just tell stories; it will provide clarity, direction, and courage in a world of noise.

Carolyn Devanayagam, EVP, head of corporate, APAC, Weber Shandwick

The PR industry’s next major shift will be driven by the collision of geopolitics and culture, a reality already affecting organisations with a regional presence in APAC. Nearly half of Southeast Asian business leaders cite geopolitical instability as their biggest growth risk, yet few believe their communications functions are equipped for this environment. Communicators can no longer treat messaging as separate from the political, social, and cultural forces shaping markets, employee sentiment, and stakeholder expectations.

The role now demands sharper judgment, cultural fluency, and the ability to guide leaders through a permanently politicised landscape.

As we move into 2026, AI and analytics will remain essential, but their value depends on how they are applied within APAC’s diverse cultural and regulatory contexts. Technology accelerates insight, but it cannot replace the nuance required to interpret shifting norms or anticipate flashpoints. Investment is shifting from one-off campaigns toward deeper advisory capabilities, including geopolitical insight, cultural intelligence, scenario modeling, and trust-building.

Looking ahead, my primary focus will be strengthening leadership resilience and credibility for organisations operating and growing across APAC, whether they are multinationals, regional headquarters, or globally scaling companies. Employees and stakeholders expect authenticity and transparency, and leaders must communicate with clarity and consistency as brands become increasingly intertwined with political and societal issues.

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