VALUE RESET With hard times looming and budgets threatened, is it time to re-evaluate the value public relations brings to the table?
BY SAM BURNE JAMES
R and comms: a strategic discipline never more valuable than in this year of uncertainty? Or a peripheral function whose quaint, superfluous outputs make it ripe for redundancies? As the world enters a new phase of Covid-fueled economic turmoil, it’s a multi-million-dollar question. The crisis’ emergence certainly gave PR a chance to shine. “A few months after we went into lockdown, a lot of comms people were basically saying they’d ‘had a good crisis’; they were feeling the benefits of having to deal with this,” says Amy Lawson, Global Head of Comms at financial software firm Sage. “As time has gone on, it has become a bit more nuanced. Businesses are coming to terms with what this all really means. ‘Empty the office, it has to be done in 48 hours, go’ is a very different ask to totally rethinking your business.” “The pandemic has reminded everyone of how valuable good communication is at times of crisis and change,” agrees Armand David, a director at Brands2Life. “But my honest assessment is that most organisations have been too busy engaging with the practical implications of the pandemic,
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