WHAT CAN THE PR INDUSTRY LEARN FROM KUNG FU PANDA?

Ben ShipleyManaging Director, Spectrum Group

Comms Con 2017@benshipley

Why does the PR industry need to learn from anything, let alone an animated panda with sick martial arts skills?

Our clients are under more pressure than ever to show the

impact of their function at a business level

Competition for marketing budget is increasing at a faster

rate than the budgets themselves

PR agencies are lucky if they capture five percent of those

marketing dollars.

So, what can the PR industry learn from Kung Fu Panda?

If all that you do is what you

can, you will never be

more than what you are right

now

We all need to worry less about what “PR” is.

We all need to question whether the structures in our agencies hold us back from

change

Learning never stops.

Be curious about your clients, your learned colleagues and the shiny

new stuff

Embrace your forebears

“I’ve never found a satisfactoryphrase that describes what I do.”

Ivy Lee

“It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with her obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of her own.”

Bill Bernbach

“Leaders grasp nettles.”David Ogilvy

“The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.”

Edward Bernays

Be the Dragon Warrior

“PR builds brands, advertising maintains them”

Geoff Ross

Media, advertising and digital agencies are co-opting PR

language to explain the future of marketing

Consider how you work with the agencies that have

traditionally made up the mix, as well as the newer players in

the ecosystem

Create your own style

Creativity is more in demand now than it has ever been

Selling creativity is more difficult than dreaming it up

Find inner peace

Complexity does not equal value

Use impact as your guide

Master new techniques

Nobody likes a press release

As an industry we stuffed up social, let’s not do the same

with content.

Become a master of Chi

2017 will see spend on data-driven marketing across both B2B and B2C companies double.

Winterberry Research

A single unified measure of PR exists

, and it has existed all along

Take on the big guys and win

There has never been an easier time to compete on a

global stage

You need to invest in video.

Be nice, even when things get awkward

Search is the new long term memory.

We work in a small and well connected industry

Questions?

Thanks.

ben@spectrumgroup.is @benshipley