PR Needs Its Own Cannes

I mentioned last week that I was surprised that so many public relations people were enthusiastic about participating in the annual ad industry awards event at Cannes. For one thing, the event is opening itself up to PR people (not coincidentally) at a time when advertising is losing its central role in the marketing mix; for another, it is unlikely, because of its focus on marketing, ever to represent the breadth of what public relations people can bring to the corporate realm.

It would disingenuous, however, to ignore the one very obvious benefit of attending the event: the ability to mix and mingle with marketing thought leaders who represent--and help choose PR firms for--some of the most significant global brands. (Of course that benefit does not extend to the awards competition; Cannes does not allow clients to serve on the awards jury.)

But if PR people want a global forum at which they can mingle with clients, perhaps it's time to consider whether it might not be better to create their own than to piggyback on an existing event, the focus of which is far from conducive to the particular strengths of this industry. The time--with social media creating a larger and more central role for the PR discipline--could hardly be more propitious.

With its focus on advertising--and on creativity, as defined by advertising people, it is unlikely that Cannes will ever focus on the topics that are of most pressing concern to public relations people (and ought to be equally high on the agenda of marketing folks). Among them, off the top of my head:
• The growing convergence of brand marketing and corporate reputation;
• The need to harness employees as brand ambassadors;
• The need to protect brands from and during crisis;
• The use of social media to build consumer relationships rather than as another communication channel;
• The need to develop new metrics that emphasize engagement and advocacy over reach and frequency;

In other words, it's not difficult to imagine an agenda that addresses the most significant issues facing the PR and marketing communities, and would attract the most important corporate communications professionals as well as brand marketers.

The question is whether the PR industry has the confidence--at this time of unprecedented opportunity--to create such an event, or whether it will continue to ride the coat-tails of an ever-weaker ad industry.

The large agencies--they are the ones with the money and the motivation to make something like this happen, partnering with groups like the Arthur W. Page Society and the European Association of Communications Directors--need to ask themselves two questions: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"