Specialist? Not any more, we can do anything

A couple of years back most PR agencies were all carving themselves out solid credentials within a specialised niche that they could call home. Even the full service big guns were now called “multi sector specialists.” From financial services, to CSR to Corporate, if it didn’t fit into the agency’s “box” then it would often get referred on. Oh how times have changed. These days you won’t find too many agencies calling the PR bloke from down the road because they haven’t got the time to do the work. No. Now the rule of thumb is take the work and work out the details later. The reasons for this are of course varied. First of all the recession has meant that many agencies have over capacity, so they are keen to take on any work, even if it is outside of their normal sphere. Secondly, the rush for digital means that many agencies are marketing themselves as digital specialists and if they are pitching for a digital campaign, arguably any digital credentials can be used to show a decent grasp of online media. Therefore, all of a sudden sector knowledge is less relevant. (Not sure I agree but...) The third factor is that strategically, it seems that we are going through a trend of multi skilling, rather than niche skilling. Please excuse my corporate speak, but it seems to me that the management consultants (as is their way) have changed tack in recent years. These days’ the advice is that companies should have multiple revenue streams and multi skilled people. Presumably at some point we’ll go back to the need for companies to redefine their corporate identities and return to their core practices. But my guess is that this will be after the recession! Whether the PR bloke from down the road will still be in business at this point is debatable, but I imagine if he’s not, someone will.