Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to Latte founder Dean Connelly about the PR recruitment market in 2024. 

The reason for analysing the recruitment market in PR is that it tends to reflect the confidence of the sector. If firms are recruiting, they are feeling confident, if they are not recruiting they tend to be more concerned about the future.

Latte is a PR recruiter in London and Sydney and Dean founded the firm in 2016.

Before we start, we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications. Early bird ticket prices are available until December 20th.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite. 

For some more perspective on the current PR recruitment market, take a look at this Linkedin discussion.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here’s a summary of what PRmoment founder Ben Smith and Dean discussed:

3 mins Dean outlines the current state of the PR recruitment market.

“We’re seeing more corporate and tech roles coming through but consumer is quiet.”

“The first half of the year for us in consumer was quite busy but it's seen a steady decline.”

6 mins Why the move to project income and shorter turnaround times on briefs has impacted the recruitment sector for full time employees.

9 mins Which sectors are up/down in PR recruitment currently?

“One consistent message is inconsistency.”

“Covid growth meant unrealistic financial targets were set.”

14 mins Dean runs us through his PR recruitment heat thermometer for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.

15 mins The most in demand jobs titles: Account manager to account director.

17 mins Which job titles are less in demand?

18 mins Dean outlines his talent trends of 2024 and predictions for 2025.

Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to Amy Dowling, head of markets communications at Tui about the PR pitch process from a client’s point of view.

We’ll cover the issue of client ghosting and discuss why it happens. Amy will also share her 11 step process of how to run a PR pitch. Finally, Amy will give her top tips for PR agencies on how to pitch better.

If you haven't heard already I’m pleased to say we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement event. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here’s a summary of what Amy and PRmoment founder discussed:

Amy recently ran a consumer PR pitch process which has been described by those involved as “robust, fair and on time.”

Amy explains why the pitch process is so important from the client’s perspective.

4 mins Amy talks us through her 11 stage pitch process.

1. Align stakeholders - What is your ultimate goal? What are your broad comms and business objectives?
2. When do you want the work to start? Work backwards from a timeline perspective. 
3. Define your budget - perhaps bronze, silver or gold alternatives.
4. Develop your long list of relevant agencies (Perhaps up 10-12 agencies)
5. Post initial agency approaches, research and understand any potential conflicts. Which may rule some agencies out.
6. Align with procurement: make sure they understand what you are looking for.
7. Chemistry or tissue session with the agencies on the long list. These agencies should have been sent a pre tissue pack in advance.
   
   After the chemistry session the long list is cut down to 4 agencies. All those who were not successful were given written feedback within a week.
   
   “Sometimes you don’t know what you don't want until it’s there. Or what you do want, until it’s in front of you.”
   
   
8. The brief for the pitch is issued. (Approx. 4 pages: Including budget, objectives, do’s, don'ts, context. insight, audience, business background etc)
9. Workshop briefing session feedback session: Agencies meet the PR lead for the brand and marketing teams to sense check and ask questions.
   
   4 weeks between the workshop and the pitch
   
   
10. Procurement submission for the agencies - DEI, business health etc. Procurement scores this documentation, which is in addition to and alongside the creative pitch process.
    
    “As a sector, if we could standardise the procurement form it would save agencies a lot of time.” Ben Smith
    
    
11. The pitch and a decision within 10 days. Feedback was given by telephone, again within 10 days.

It’s my twice yearly chat with W Communications founder and CEO Warren Johnson and today it’s our 2024 PR Agency Year in Review.

It’s been quite the year. Some have described it as the year that never was! But could it have been worse? And has PR the latter half of Q3 and into Q4 actually come good?

Warren founded W Communications in 2009. It now has global revenues of £20m and a headcount of 200, with 140 in London and 60 across the rest of the world.

Over the next half hour or so Warren and I will discuss the ups and downs of agency life over the last 12 months.

Before that, the breaking news is that the PRmoment Awards final entry deadline is the 17th January. Don’t miss the opportunity to create proof points of the quality of your agency’s work.

Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

2 mins Warren, on how has 2024 been for W.

“The dismantling of the retainer model accelerated this year.”

“We and the rest of the industry are having to re-tool into a more management consultancy style project based business”

“We’re seeing a greeter and greater appetite to buy more services from PR consultancy businesses.”

“It’s busy, I wouldn't say it's as profitable as it has been.”

“We’re having to work harder than ever to maintain our strong margin.”

“You can often have clients bump a project with little or no notice and also no penalty and that’s a drag on margin. Until we get that fixed.”

“If you don’t know what the world looks like in 3 months, let alone 6, why would you plan for 9 months out.”

9 mins Why is retaining PR agency margins tougher than ever?

10 mins What are the implications of the move towards project based fees on the talent profile of PR agencies?

11 mins Is a retainer relationship ever better for the client?

“If you want to partner with an agency properly, then a retainer is always better.”

13 mins In which sectors is PR spend up/down? 

“Love a bit of B2B. No one is ever going to cut budgets driving CEO fame or lead gen.”

“Sport for us has been huge. Biggest growth area. Insatiable appetite for briefs coming in.”

“Travel has been strong."

“We’ve had some very good wins over the last 5 days. It’s been nice to go into Christmas with some wins under our belt."

17 mins Warren’s top tips for any independent PR agency CEOs out there on how to manage their businesses in this new project lead income, more agile business environment.

“Challenge every way of working. Make sure it’s match fit.”

“Agency bosses need to get out. Get into the office. Spend time with your staff IRL, go out and see clients.”

“PR agency owners are making money but not enjoying it.”

20 mins What talent trends have you seen this year? 

“Lots of big senior names have become available, particularly client side.”

“At a lower level there’s bound to be a slight reduction in grad level intake just because of the cost of bringing them in and the quite often poor quality of talent coming in. The costs versus talent quality is beginning to become imbalanced.”

23.30 mins Warren’s thoughts on the Omnicom, IPG merger. Historically these holding companies mergers happen because of the ad agencies and the PR firms either innocent bystanders, or potentially innocent victims, depending on how cynical you’re feeling at the time. Is this one the same?

“The PR agencies are a rounding error of that deal.”

25 mins Warren reflects on the busyness of PR’s 2024 pitching Golden Quarter.

27 mins How does Warren think PR will fair 2025?

Welcome to our review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins and mergers & acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in 2024.

If you haven't heard already I’m pleased to say we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement event. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open. The final entry deadline is on January 17th. Miss it and miss out!

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

JANUARY

Pitches

Iceland appointed Tangerine

Henkel appointed BCW/Burson

Ministry of Justice appointed Kindred

Airbnb  appointed The Romans.

M&A

Merger of BCW and H+K to become Burson and create a £1bn + agency.

Bully Pullpit Interactive acquired Boldt. 

FEBRUARY

Pitches

“This is often the hangover from the Golden Quarter Pitches that start to get announced.”

Bolt appointed Boldspace.

Burger King appointed The Academy.

British Gas appointed Smarts. 

M&A 

SEC Newgate acquired a 70% stake (over 5 years) in Athens HQ V+O Group.

Real Chemistry acquired Avant Healthcare -

Havas acquired Ledger Bennett. 

MARCH

Pitches

Pepsi appointed Hope & Glory.

“The first change for Pepsi in 14 years. This was a big big brief.”

Taco Bell appointed Earnies.

“You never forget your first win'

Pizza Express appointed Pretty Green. 

M&A

MHP acquired La Plage (creative content above the line agency). First acquisition for MHP since its acquisition by Next15.

W acquired Franses,

Havas appointed Wilderness

APRIL 

Pitches

William + Grant appointed Exposure.

Shark Ninja appointed  Burson

Tinder appointed The Academy

Carlsberg appointed Hope&Glory

EA appointed Premier.

M&A

Accenture bought Unlimited

“In my mind one of the smartest deals that was done this year.”

WPP announced that leading global investment firm KKR has made a growth investment in FGS Global.

“WPP has focused on releasing cash and consolidation and they’ve done that impeccably well.”

“The holding companies and the big private equity firms have all realised that scale is important.”

MAY

Pitches

EDF appointed Tin Man/Lucky Generals

“What we’ve seen in consumer PR is... the agencies who went into the year strongest, have come out even stronger.”

Reebok appointed Brand Nation.

Pringles appointed Mischief MHP.

Unilever appointed Golin

“Nothing beats the UK, no one comes close, in terms of strategic creativity.”

M&A

Pagefield sells to PPHC.

JUNE/JULY

PITCHES

Famous Grouse appointed Pretty Green.

B&Q appointed Romans.

Homebase appointed Aduro.

The Independent appointed W.

WRAP appointed Kindred.

National Grid appointed 9 agencies to a “Community Agency Framework” for next 3 years – Grayling, Cavendish, Lexington, Aecom, Arup, Camargue, Copper, grasshopper, JBP.

M&A

Publicis acquired Influential.

Havas - acquired a controlling stake in Klareco Communications.

Prime Weber Shandwick – MBO. 

AUG

PITCHES

Moet Hennessy appointed Earnies - wines and spirits division of LVMH.

Dept for Education appointed Four

Arla Foods -appointed City Press.  

Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.

This week we’re chatting to Heather Yaxley, managing consultant at Applause Consultancy about the long term, medium term and short term impacts of a corporate crisis on an organisation’s reputation.

Before that - the big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite. The final entry deadline is January 17th.

Thanks so much to our PRmoment Podcast partners The PRCA.

Here’s a summary of what Heather and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:

2 mins How well do firms tend to recover from a corporate crisis?

“80% of corporate crises don’t result in any problems at all.”

3 mins “Often the share price of an organisation impacted by a corporate crisis recovers very quickly.”

“It’s the cumulative effect of poor behaviour that can lead to the long term decline of an organisation.”

8 mins What are the business and communications KPIs that are impacted in a corporate crisis situation?

“There is something special about the right mindset to look at (crisis) situations.”

15 mins “You get people who cannot move on on from crisis”

“People ask: “Have you (as an organisation) learn your lessons?” The media and the public join the dots.”

15 mins Does it get to a point where you can’t turn it around?

17 mins What are the different categories of crisis?

18 mins How successful are current crisis response techniques?

24 mins Heather on why crisis communications response is a team sport.

A slightly different and shorter podcast today to briefly talk about Agency proof points, PR agency growth rates and The PRmoment Awards early entry deadline is this Friday 13 December

I've just finished some analysis of the top 100 agencies in the UK looking at the number of full-time employees they have. 

The source was LinkedIn, so it's not a foolproof measure, but it gives a decent indication of the employee hiring growth and decline of UK agencies.

One caveat would be that I can see there's an argument that bearing in mind the increase in project income, relative to retained income, PR firms may have increased their use of freelancers compared to full-time employees. 

A deeper dive analysis of these stats will be revealed over the coming weeks, but one top line stat is that of the 100 largest agencies in the UK, the average full-time employee growth over the last 12 months is 2.5%.

This, in a UK PR market that by and large seems to be picking up.

Whether FTE growth will follow the current gentle momentum to growth of the UK's PR sector, remains to be seen. 

I've asked a handful of people in the last month or so, if during this golden quarter, on a score of 1-10, if 5 was normal, where are we at at the moment from a new business/pitch busyness perspective.

PR agency CEOs and the like seem to put PR on a score of 5/6 currently. 

This time last year they'd put us PR's pitching busyness barometer at a score of 2/3. So relatively speaking, we're on the up.

From PRmoment's Linkedin analysis of the number of FTE of PR firms - there are some really interesting trends when it comes to the type of businesses that are growing or plateauing and I’ll be sharing that insight over the next few weeks.

Which leads me on to my point about the PRmoment Awards. 

Some agencies have grown their number of FTE's at 15%+ percent over the past 12 months. But not many. When it comes to your PRmoment Award entries it's an opportunity for you to shout about your work.

The vast majority of entries for The PRmoment Awards are campaign lead.

If you've got a compelling agency of the year story, then go for it. And as per my FTE analysis, it's a different marketplace now. Across the board, relatively growth rates have been suppressed compared to the post Covid boom. 

But much of the work I see coming out of UK PR firms is excellent. 

Clients are getting integrated work across multiple channels. They are getting good value. And they are getting better strategy and creativity than at any time since I started working in the sector. (2004 if you're interested!)

A number of PR agencies have reduced revenue, retained profits but they're still doing outstanding work and the PRmoment Awards can be your proof point of the quality of that work.

A PRmoment Award is a proof point of that work to clients. And proof points are really important for PR agencies and indeed in-house PR teams.  

If you're thinking of entering the PRmoment Awards, the early entry deadline is on the 13th of December, and the final entry deadline is on the 17th of January. 

If you are a regular listener of this podcast, and don't enter already, go on, take the jump and enter the awards - join many of your peers.

It's also probably worth mentioning at this point that we offer an excellent feedback loop for anyone who doesn't make the shortlist. More details about how this works can be viewed on the PRmoment Awards microsite - but I'd argue this functionality alone makes entering the PRmoment Awards a uniquely useful benchmarking exercise for the quality of your work

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re going to be discussing whether the cost of technology made it harder than ever to start up a PR firm? Or are the barriers to entry at an all time low?

One of the things many of us really love about the PR sector is its dynamism. Do great work and you can fly. This dynamism has been fuelled over many years by a constant stream of new entrants to the PR agency market.

But is this dynamism now threatened? Does the cost of technology, for so long an enabler of agency start ups, now mean that to access the full set of technology and tools you need to service clients, the era of low barrier to entry to the PR agency market is drawing to a close.

Or has the continuous development of tech and software meant that the costs continue to fall?

On the show today to have this debate we have 2 agency founders. Carrie Jones and Archana Jain.

Carrie is the CEO at JPA Health, an independent healthcare communications firm in America. She founded the firm in 2007. It now has 150 full time employees and has taken minority PE investment. Carrie believes that the cost of technology and software has meant that it has become prohibitively expensive for new PR agencies to start up.

Archana is the managing director of PR Pundit Havas Red in India, one of India's leading consumer PR firms. Archana founded PR Pundit in 1998 before selling the firm to Havas Red last year.

Archana believes that technology has made the cost of starting your own PR business cheaper than ever.

Can they both be right?

Before we start, we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications. Early bird ticket prices are available until December 20th. You can attend face to face in London or virtually from anywhere in the world.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite. The early bird entry deadline is December 13th.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here is a a summary of what Archana Jane and Carrie Jones discuss:

5 mins Carrie and Archana talk briefly about their career stories and how they launched their firms.

9 mins Archana Jain on why she believes that technology means that it is currently easier than ever for independent founders to start their own firms.

“It’s never been easier to set up an enterprise in India.”

14.30 mins Carrie on why she thinks it’s now prohibitively expensive for PR founders to start their own firms now.

“Tools are off the shelf solutions that are available to everyone. They don’t give you a competitive advantage.”

“In the US market in order to be competitive with the big agencies, you need Google Cloud partnerships, you need access to big data. Off the shelf AI and generative AI solutions is not enough. It needs to be a proprietary closed database supplemented and trained by a data scientist.”

“The data and compliance standards required in a multi market have a different complexity.”

“The level of compliance, the level of large data purchases, the level of expertise to tweak, modify all of the data solutions. For me it’s never been harder and it's super, super expensive”

26 mins Carrie and Archana talk though the PR tools markets in the US and India.

Welcome to our review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins and mergers & acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in November 2024.

Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.

Andrew launched Andrew Bloch & Associates in 2020.

If you haven't heard already I’m pleased to say we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement event. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

3 mins Andrew on the current state of the PR market. How does the golden quarter compare to previous years.

“Measurement is more critical than it ever has been.”

PITCHES

 DFS appoint Red Consultancy and PR First. Teneo continues to work on financial comms.

“Everyone loves a retail client.”

Simply Business appoint Golin.

 Danone appoint Freuds.

“This is a whopper… a fame making brief.”

“The best agencies have had very good years organically (growth.)”

 Pret A Manger appoint Frank. Headland continues looks after corporate pr

 Levis appoint Burson – corp reputation brief  across the EU. 

 Stanley 1913 appoint The Romans – pr and influencer for drinkware brand (best known for Stanley cups – the quencher) UK, France, Germany, Netherlands. Product launches, brand partnerships.  Apply creative with local relevance.

 PG Tips appoint The Romans – retained pr and social- engaging tea lovers across UK. PG Tips now part of Liptons (formerly Unilever) Rebrand – new blends, packaging etc. previously a project client. Digital and social now a third of all biz for Romans.

 Cayman Islands Tourism Dept appoint Allison.

 Essity appoint PR Agency One.  B2B comms brief to raise the profile of the group and reinforce position as industry and category leader across brands.

 Fed Olsen Cruises appoint The Academy – consumer pr. Targeting new and existing passengers. Previously in-house.

Tui (First Choice/Marella Cruises) appoint Ogilvy for a long term comms strategy and earned first activation. First Choice merged with TUI in 2007.

Nest, the UK Government backed pension scheme, appoint H+K (now part of Burson) – Corporate reputational support services. Also work with Blurred to help promote purpose PR strategy.

Uni of Warwick appoint Shook

This month's round up of M&A activity:

“This has been a boom month for the PR M&A sector.”

Croud sell majority stake to ECI (PE) – Croud is a full service marketing company. Croud is estimated to be worth £180M+. Fee income of £23.5M.

“Croud is one to watch for sure.”

Coolr sell minority share to Growth Capital Partners (GCP.) Founded in 2017 by Adam Clyne. 120 full time employees (FTEs.) This acquisition will help deepen service offering and scale quicker including international expansion in the

Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to co-founders of CommsClarity Paul Hender and Richard Bagnall.

These 2 are stalwarts of the PR measurement and evaluation game. They’ve worked together on and off at the likes of Metrica, Cision and Carma for the last over 30 years!

And today on the show they are going to be chatting about what is the data opportunity for PR firms?

Fittingly given today's podcast’s theme we’ve just launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

3 mins Why is it an interesting and important time for the intersection of data and PR?

“There's a perfect storm of the need to use data better in PR.”

“There is an increasing cynicism about last click attribution.”

“There is this extraordinary evolution revolution of the the media”

“AI is disrupting the media analysis place.”

“Brands are going to live and die on this.”

“People are taking all these data points and throwing them at the wall and hoping some of the mud sticks.”

8 mins Over the last 10 years many of the legacy media monitoring firms attempted to build something resembling a one stop shop for data. How successful have they tended to be in that strategy? 

“What evaluation isn't is templated counting amounts of easy to capture data points.”

14 mins There are so many PR tools now. Indeed many of them are not specific tools to PR. How can PR folks navigate that media monitoring, social listening, audience integration, misinformation and emotion tool market?

Editors note: Golin’s Jonny Bentwood will present his PR Tools Review at PRmoment PR Masterclass in February. (Masterclass 4)

19 mins Has the number of PR tools and media intelligence being bought increased? And is that investment being spent wisely?

20.30 mins How big do agencies tend to be before they bring in either a head of analytics or an analytic team?

“Every agency needs to be able to talk with confidence about data and analytics and the value of its work - and if it can't do that it doesn't have a very bright future.”

22 mins What are PR firms doing with their data? What does good data use by a PR firm look like?

26 mins Should PR firms buy data tools or build them?

30 mins Why the problem of PR people becoming overwhelmed in data is huge.

32 mins PR’s integration of data challenge: How are we doing? With a nod to AMEC’s Integrated Evaluation Framework. 

“The whole concept of absolutism has to go out the window. You can’t just chuck out data points. That’s where derision happens.”

37 mins Data storytelling is one of PRs words of the moment. How does that compare with the reality that PR remains in many ways an art form?

Today on the PRmoment Podcast we’re talking to Paul McEntee, founder of Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons is a £1.2 million income independent consumer PR firm in London. It has 13 employees and clients include Beavertown Group, Disney and Greggs.

It's another one of our birthday shows -  this year marks 10 years of Here Be Dragons.

The big news is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite.

Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

3 mins Paul reflects on 10 years of Here Be Dragons and how it's been as a solo founder.

“Always trust your gut but don’t always act impulsively on it.”

“Knee jerk reactions from a solo founder never normally end well!”

“As the business grows you need to learn to step away.”

7 mins What has been Here Be Dragons growth path over the past 10 years.

7.30 mins Why did Paul launch his own PR business?

“I didn’t mean to start an agency. I just wanted to leave (the big agency environment)…It became this machine that I couldn't really stop, so I went with it."

9 mins Paul talks about the advantage of being an independent business without investors.

12 mins Paul talks about the importance of celebrating milestones in business, including Here Be Dragons' 10 year anniversary.

“It’s a reflective moment, you’ve earned that.”

16 mins Is Here Be Dragons the latest firm to make the jump into that gang of consumer PR agencies who do a surprisingly high proportion of the most high profile consumer PR work?

“It’s a harder club to join than to stay in.” Ben Smith

18 mins What is Here Be Dragons genre of creative work?

20 mins Paul talks about how and why he’s created his personal brand on LinkedIn and other channels.

“We try to paint a picture of personality.”

23 mins Paul talks about his employee programme The Dragons Club.

26 mins Paul talks about his future plans for Here Be Dragons.

32 mins Who’s in Paul’s PR Top Trumps: his most respected PR dream team?

“That man is a media operator like no other.”