By Siddhartha Mukherjee
A few days back, we saw the acquisition of one of the largest home grown PR Firms by a global media and advertising giant. While talks of this PR firm’s buyout were doing the rounds since a couple of years now, what is interesting is that the final acquirer actually turned out to be an ad agency network (given that PR Global Firms had also shown interest to invest).
Given that ATL or Advertising has been the mainstay for most such networks, the growing ineffectiveness of this tool is forcing media agencies to showcase diversity and value additions. Building up internal value adds like PR Consultancy and Implementation skill sets renders them this benefit.
Going forward, it will be interesting to observe the following:
a) Financial & Growth benefits: It will be interesting to see the net additional growth benefit this PR Firm accrues under the aegis of a Media/Advertising Agency.
b) Changes in Work Culture & Ethics: Having operated as in independent entity for decades, it will be interesting to see how this PR Firm settles and merges within the work culture and ethics of this Media/Advertising giant.
c) Showcasing of PR prowess: Without generalising though, let us face it that the Advertising world doesnot really understand what the PR services actually do or the effort and planning involved in it. Needless to say, they feel the industry is all about liquor, killing negative stories and chasing journalists to publish news clips. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if this PR Firm is made to work with the advertising side of the business or will it be treated as a side business, showcased to the client as a cosmetic enhancement.
The future potential is in making the advertising and public relations stimulis work together for brand buidling. While Individual PR Firms have seldom got the opportunity to work together in partnership with their advertising cousins, the success of them as a part of Advertising Umbrella business depends on how the Parent perceives this business.
How well a traditional advertising and media agency understands the PR prowess and projects it to the client world will be part of the future observations.