In recent years, a lot has changed in the playing field of public relations. It is important for communications or PR professionals to stay informed about this. That is why we at ANP Business have asked a number of leading PR agencies about these changes, how they deal with them and how they see the future for the profession.
We bundled the results in a report and have listed the most important insights for you. The following PR experts contributed to the research:
- Jos Govaart – managing director Coopr
- Leontine Smith – founder Smith Communications
- Matías Rodsevich – Founder PRLab
- Leonne van de Ven – owner of De Wolven
- Tamira van Woerden – owner of 2twintigPR
- Thijs Willekes – owner So PR
- Kim Vercammen – PR director The PR Bureau (HPB)
- Mark van Gemeren – account director Lubbers de Jong (LDJ)
- Marianne de Bruijn – owner De Bruijn PR
- Daniëlle Tamis – owner HvdM Public Relations
The 5 most important PR trends
A few insights stood out and were mentioned by several experts:
- The impact of AI technology on the profession is becoming increasingly clear. Production has become more of a co-creation with AI at many agencies and the added value of PR agencies is shifting to strategy. This trend also makes you think: what are the risks when it comes to the security of data input?
- The ever-increasing amount of AI-generated (weak) content forces choices in quality versus quantity. And as a result, authenticity and humanity are getting more focus in PR campaigns. This leads to, among other things, an increase in physical contact with target groups: on the street or during (press) events.
- Another important challenge lies in balancing what organizations want to say and what society wants to hear, especially when it comes to social themes. Because reputations are more vulnerable, subtrends are now emerging such as greenhushingWhere organizations keep their social activities to themselves for fear of negative reporting.
- The collaboration with clients is changing: clients are more demanding, deadlines are getting shorter and pitch requests are increasing. PR agencies have to anticipate developments even faster and clients are increasingly opting for guaranteed visibility.
- Data-driven PR continues to grow in importance, with the measurability of PR activities and earned media increasing through collaboration with (online) marketing and paid advertising.
1. Practical application of AI technology is (also) thought-provoking
Where AI was on the rise in 2023 and people were experimenting with all sorts of things, the impact of AI technology on the profession is becoming increasingly clear in 2024. Production has become more of a co-creation with AI at many agencies. The added value of PR agencies is shifting to strategy, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. This trend also makes you think: what are the risks when it comes to the security of data input in AI tools?
Mark van Gemeren of LDJ says: “By using AI tools correctly, we are able to produce many more stories and images. This enables clients to profile themselves in different channels for different target groups in the long term.” Kim Vercammen of HPB agrees: “It is expected that 90% of content will be generated by generative AI in 2025. Where we said in 2014: everyone becomes a creator, we now say: everyone is a generator.”
Jos Govaart of Coopr sees that the frequent use of AI techniques in the profession also entails risks: “Which prompts do you give to which tool, where does that (sensitive) data go? You get more closed environments and require different skills from employees. They have to work more as information analysts. We are now running a pilot in a protected data-secure environment in which we give large datasets to an AI bot, which enables us to quickly check information.”
2. AI drives demand for authenticity, creativity and quality
The ever-increasing amount of AI-generated, relatively weak content forces choices in quality versus quantity. And as a result, authenticity and humanity are getting more focus in PR campaigns. Both in text and image. This also leads to an increase in physical contact with target groups: on the street or during (press) events.
Mark van Gemeren says about this: “We see a growing rise of weak generated content. For many organizations, this means that they are making a strategic move if they opt for quality over quantity.” Matías Rodsevich also sees this in the tech sector where PRLab is mainly active. They deal with this differently: “In PR, we strive for an authentic approach. We avoid using AI to maintain our unique tone of voice.”
Kim Vercammen adds: “The demand for authenticity is growing among critical consumers, due to the increase in disinformation and the use of generative AI. That is why clear core values, authenticity, transparency and consistency in communication are crucial.”
Daniëlle Tamis of HvdM adds: “That is why we are increasingly working on target group-oriented and on high-quality contact moments. We are increasingly seeking out target groups in both the planning and creative phases, but also in the execution of the PR program. For example, in the form of activation on the street and collaborations with key people who have good contact with the target group.” This trend is also noticeable at So PR, which is mainly active for lifestyle brands. Thijs Willekes: “Brands have a greater need to increase their credibility and realizing engagement with their target group. The importance of offline and physical activation, such as events and guerrilla marketing, is therefore increasing.”
3. Relationship between organizations and social themes more sharply focused
Another important challenge lies in balancing what organisations want to say and what society wants to hear, especially when it comes to social themes. Because reputations are more vulnerable, subtrends such as greenhushing are now emerging. Where organisations keep their social activities to themselves for fear of negative reporting. Clients also increasingly opt for paid, guaranteed visibility.
Mark van Gemeren: “The challenge for PR agencies is to balance between what organizations want to say and what society wants to hear. In a highly competitive landscape in which people and organizations become their own media. When it is so busy, how do you rise above the market?” Leontine Smith of Smith Communicatie also sees this: “Our challenge is to generate attention for good, social and less hard news in between all the big news that is constantly there.”
Kim Vercammen: “We see a new trend emerging in these politically turbulent times and sensational headlines in the media: greenhushing. This is where companies actively choose to remain silent about their sustainability practices for fear of backlasheven if they are authentic and inspiring. While almost 70% of consumers expect more proactivity from companies when it comes to social issues.”
Tamira van Woerden of 2twintigPR agrees: “The fear of reputational damage means that our clients are increasingly opting for guaranteed visibility in the short term, instead of investing in credible content via independent channels. We respond proactively to this by substantiating our strategic advice and creative concepts more strongly with data and insights.” Marianne de Bruijn of De Bruijn PR also sees an increase in guaranteed visibility: “We see that paid is increasingly becoming part of the total PR strategy to contribute to maintaining high-quality media.”
4. Changing relationship with clients
That this cooperation with clients is changing is also an interesting development. PR agencies see that clients are more demanding. There are increasingly shorter deadlines and pitch requests are increasing. PR agencies are becoming more strategic, have to anticipate developments even faster and clients are increasingly opting for guaranteed visibility.
Thijs Willekes sees that PR agencies are confronted with increasingly shorter deadlines, which makes it essential to switch quickly: “Everything has to be even closer to the ball. And we can switch very quickly. But for optimal results, time is sometimes the new gold.”
Leonne van de Ven of De Wolven also sees an increase in pitch requests that are becoming increasingly demanding: “We see that clients are increasingly writing a pitch for a strategy development or a study, which is actually not appropriate. And more and more often more than three agencies participate, while it is a considerable investment.”
And Jos Govaart adds: “The customer has to pay for something else, production work is becoming more of a co-creation with AI technology. The added value of agencies is now more at the strategic beginning and end of a project. Because maintaining relationships, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking are really still reserved for people.”
5. Measurability of PR efforts is increasing
It was mentioned before, the increase in the importance of data-driven PR. Where the measurability of PR activities and earned media increases through collaboration with (online) marketing and paid advertising.
Leonne van de Ven: “The collaboration between marketing, social media, PR and data analysis is increasing.” Daniëlle Tamis also sees this: “We see a growing importance of data analysis to make trends and developments visible and to interpret them. And the proven possibility of using PR to bring about behavioural change. Behavioural science is the basis of almost every PR strategy we create. The effect studies show that our campaigns actually ensure behavioural change, which makes our clients enthusiastic.”
Kim Vercammen concludes: “The rise of data-driven PR, based on your own research or existing sources, has a direct influence on the message, timing and distribution of your campaigns. This way you offer journalists relevant content and you prevent ‘waste’: from macro to micro influencers. Society is also increasingly looking for connection and authenticity and you can find that faster in smaller (niche) groups.”
Source: www.frankwatching.com
