Empathy and change in PR vital for future industry growth, says Chris Graves
The public relations industry has changed vastly in the past 35 years and this has had a dramatic impact especially in Asia, an expert and former media industry veteran said in Colombo. Ogilvy Public Relations Global Chairman Chris Graves said that he had witnessed the arrival of a few to hundreds of channels coming up and during that period the mission of the public relations industry has evolved to understanding how its impact would be on behaviour, economic, empathy and emotion of society.
He was in the country to attend the Ogilvy Public Relations 35th Global conference held in Negombo on “How we see the world changing most in relation to our business.” Mr. Graves joined Ogilvy PR after 23 years in business news including 18 years with Dow Jones & The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. For Ogilvy PR social marketing means a behaviour change for better life and its largest client was the US government in assisting to combat violence against women among other key issues, Mr. Graves said.
Speaking of the challenges of the social marketing sector he explained that in this respect, there needs to be importance levelled on research and planning and change of behaviour patterns. “That’s a kind of social science we grapple with,” he said. PR, the expert pointed out was not just about buzz or awareness but on how they could make a difference and not just what they say adding that “it’s important that our clients walk the talk.” On the other hand, he observed that the traditional media was constantly getting smaller and that hundreds of newspapers had just disappeared.
In terms of native advertising, Mr. Graves said that by 2018 the world would spend US$50 billion on this type of advertising. Native advertising is a type of advertising, usually online but feasible elsewhere, that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears in the form of an article or video with the intention of promoting a product while matching the form and style seen on the platform of the editorial staff.
In the media industry, it was stated that there still is a deep need for competence and relevance and what some are conforming is democratisation to expertise and competence of traditional media.