It’s time for PR to get over its inferiority complex and for clients to stop sticking outdated labels on the agencies they use, says Marshall Manson, director of digital, at Edelman

Much has been discussed and written about the changing communications landscape, and the implications for the marketing and communications profession.

At panel discussions, in trade publications, on Twitter, and over drinks, we endlessly debate the future of our profession and how we will be impacted by the shifting sands.

The questions abound: What does PR look like in a world without newspapers? Who should be responsible for social media engagement – PR firms or advertising firms or someone else in the agency mix? What happens to advertising when viewing shifts from the TV to a laptop screen?

We are nothing if not introspective. But while we pretend that our discussions are about substance, much of what we argue about is really about labels.

Surprisingly, it turns out that PR people are even better at labelling things than ad guys. It also turns out that the PR industry has a bit of an inferiority complex.
After decades of working with smaller budgets than our colleagues in advertising (and occasionally believing that we accomplished more with our smaller slice of the pie), too often we feel like the uncle who year after year at Christmas dinner is banished to the children’s table.  It’s time that PR – both client-side and within agencies – got over its inferiority complex.

Today, PR is no longer on the outside looking in. We’re in the boardroom. And thanks to the digital world, and social media in particular, we’re at the table with the CMO when the big strategies are being shaped.  But there’s still the matter of labels, and labels are important.

Many clients still buy marketing and communications services based on an ageing and increasingly obsolete model that’s really just a box-ticking exercise. Lead agency – check. Creative agency – check. Media buyer – check. Digital firm – check. PR guys – check. CRM – check.  These labels don’t really work any more, but they’re still routinely driving budgets and shaping pitch lists.  That has to change.

Having said that, calling for change is easy. Making change happen is much more difficult. And in this case, the question is whether clients will adapt themselves to a new model and the degree to which agencies can push them to do so.

Recent changes at Diageo and others suggest that some clients are catching on, and reshaping their agency models to allow greater flexibility and freedom for agencies to excel in whatever areas they have strengths, regardless of labelling.
These forward-thinking companies have recognized that embracing a post-label model delivers cost efficiencies for their businesses, more interesting and effective ideas, and ultimately, better results.

Moving towards a post-label world might sound daunting, but after a decade of continuous reinvention, our industry should be well prepared for taking one more step.

Marshall Manson is director of digital, EMEA at Edelman.