The PR Explosion

I always find Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s (VSS) Communications Industry Forecast interesting reading, but the latest edition revealed an important shift in client spending that bodes well for the public relations industry. Here are some highlights:

• Client spending will rise by 55% to $8 billion in 2013 — $3 billion of which will be spent on word-of-mouth marketing, which includes social media outreach, as well as offline brand ambassador programs.

• Expenditures on PR and word-of-mouth increased by 7% — to $5.2 billion — in 2008 versus the prior year.

• In 2008, advertising represented the smallest share — at 24% — of the four major communication segments, the first time that has happened since the study began in 1986.

• From 2008 to 2013, VSS forecasts that traditional advertising will decline by another 3%, following a 11% decline over the past 2 years.

“Advertising is very expensive, and in tough times, companies demand greater ROI. Traditional advertising is not as measurable as the Internet or other forms of marketing communications,” said Jim Rutherfurd, EVP and managing director of VSS in a recent interview in PRWeek. “It is also part of a trend that started long ago that has seen companies move from mass media to more targeted communications.”


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