Collaboration and conflict between agencies and clients

Public relations agencies are an important part of the public relations industry, but their relations with client organizations are rarely studied. There is more literature and studies in agency-client relations in advertising than in public relations. This paper reviews literature and reports results of an empirical study into perceptions of public relations agencies and their clients on the reasons for their cooperation and sources of conflict between them. Results show that agencies misperceive reasons for which they are hired and the sources of conflict in the relationship. The paper offers several suggestions about how to tackle the problem: notwithstanding rebranding into consultancies and firms, public relations agencies-client relations should be studied as a particular example of a broader family of agency-client relations. Also agencies should study and strategically manage relations with their clients, while being realistic about client organization’s needs – sometimes they just need additional arms and legs

Public relations and the rise of hypermodern values: Exploring the profession in Europe

© 2018 This article raises the question of whether European public relations (PR) and communications professionals perceive a cultural transformation in the direction of hypermodernity, and if so, attempts to assess how this influences their organizations and their work. Questions were asked in the European Communication Monitor 2017, an annual survey among communications professionals, and 3387 respondents from 50 European countries filled in the questionnaire. The results indicate that European professionals recognize a cultural transformation in the direction of hyper consumption, hyper modernization and hyper narcissism that influences the communication between their organizations and their stakeholders. A cluster analysis shows that less than half of the respondents perceive a transformation of their organization in the direction of hypermodern characteristics and values. Organizations with post/hypermodern characteristics have superior communications departments compared to modern organizations. Post/hypermodern organizations and excellent communications departments also engage more often in societal debates than other types of organizations and departments

Public relations metrics: research and evaluation

Responding to the increasing need in academia and the public relations profession, this volume presents the current state of knowledge in public relations measurement and evaluation. The book brings together ideas and methods that can be used throughout the world, and scholars and practitioners from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa are represented

Key issues of public relations of Europe: findings from the European Communication Monitor 2007-2014

European Communication Monitor is the largest longitudinal research project in public relations practice in the world. Data collected annually from 2007 to 2014 show that practitioners perceive five issues as the most important for their work: linking business strategy and communication, coping with the digital evolution and social web, building and maintaining trust, dealing with the demand for more transparency and active audiences, and dealing with the speed and volume of information flow. Perception of the importance of various issues for the practice of public relations is largely dependent on the gender, geography (division between Northern and Western vs. Southern and Eastern Europe), and sector in which a practitioner works (corporate, government, NGO or agency). While gender and sectorial differences studied in academic public relations literature, divisions in public relations practice between North-Western and South-Eastern Europe are largely ignored. Temas clave de las relaciones públicas en Europa: Resultados del European Communication Monitor 2007-2014. El European Communication Monitor es el mayor proyecto de investigación longitudinal sobre la profesión de relaciones públicas en el mundo. Los datos recolectados anualmente entre 2007 y 2014 muestran que los profesionales perciben cinco temas como los más importantes para su trabajo: conectar las estrategias empresariales con las de comunicación, lidiar con la evolución digital y la web social, construir y mantener la confianza, lidiar con la demanda de una mayor transparencia y unas audiencias cada vez más activas y arreglárselas con la velocidad y el volumen del flujo de información. La percepción de la importancia de los diversos issues o temas clave para la práctica de las relaciones públicas está relacionada con el género, la procedencia geográfica (división entre países de Europa del norte, oeste, sur y este), y el sector en el que trabajen los profesionales (empresas privadas, sector público, ONGs o agencias). Mientras que las diferencias por género y sectores se han estudiado en la literatura académica de las relaciones públicas, las divisiones en la práctica de las relaciones públicas entre norte-oeste y sur-este de Europa han sido ampliamente ignoradas