I had the pleasure of participating in the ANA’s Annual Financial Management meeting, attended by procurement leaders, marketers, and agency CFOs, among others, last week. Upon arrival, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but reflecting now, I’m glad I went and here’s why. It further underscored why it’s a great time to work in public relations and how procurement may soon be an even more interested partner.

This meeting started off with a great presentation from Bob Liodice, president of the ANA, that shared with this audience some recent research findings on brand activation. According to the ANA research, brand activation, a chunk of the marketplace valued at about $595 billion is projected to grow 5-6% every year for the balance of the decade. Interestingly enough, five out of the six pillars of brand activation in this research were areas that public relations covers. They include:

  • Experiential
  • Content
  • Relationships
  • Influencer
  • Promotion
  • (Retail)

I found this particularly exciting and happy that the leaders of procurement were hearing this as well. What this tells me is that more clients within an organization will start to call upon agencies that practice public relations, as these areas are PR’s sweet spot. However PR firms must raise their hands with conviction when they ask ‘who can help?’ and be able to use the right vernacular to communicate with the clients that will be driving these areas. Now is the time. We must not hesitate to explain how much of this work is what we do in PR.

Another presentation that particularly struck me as instructive was Jeff Jones, CMO of Target. He spoke about the cultural divide between marketers and finance. He gave great advice for bridging the divide and five things for marketers to do, and five things for finance to do. Here are the five things for marketers to do:

  1. Demonstrate that you understand the business –I believe this is particularly important for PR agencies.We must speak the vernacular of the business and use the language of business metrics. Let’s collectively move beyond relying on impressions and focus on sales and market share.Some PR agencies do, however not nearly enough.If you haven’t hired talent to lead data and analytics in your PR firm, do so today.
  2. Stop hiding behind the long-term for brand building –Growing for tomorrow matters but short-term also is critically important for the business.Let’s help our clients manage the short term goals.
  3. Marketing has to teach & lead – When we feel resistance to what we are trying to do, teach.We must not hide behind, ‘they just don’t get it.’ Teach!Not everyone in marketing has grown up in their career understanding the thinking that goes into PR and how to measure it.
  4. Remember, it’s about the consumer (or your end customer) --The common place we all come from is serving the consumer/customer
  5. Be a true driver of growth – Help focus your efforts on creating preference, satisfaction and love for products and the company.That is the value marketers and PR professionals bring.

However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that there is still some tension between procurement professionals and the agency world. This was underscored by Michael Farmer, speaker and author of, Madison Avenue Manslaughter. Farmer came right out to the crowd and said he’s seen too much bullying from procurement toward agencies. He feels that procurement has created a lot of one-sided partnerships and created an agency business model of FPMJ, ie, ‘fewer people, more junior.’ With that, the crowd at the conference sat up a little straighter in their chairs and leaned in.

Farmer suggested that procurement is hurting the work coming out of agencies and that agencies will not fix themselves. He said that advertisers face choices and they include:

- continue the assault on agency economics?;

- bring operations in-house?;

- shift business to consulting firms?;

- work with smaller, focused agencies: or

- strengthen existing agencies? Recreate the partnerships!

The smartest of the above options is obviously to recreate the partnerships. With the transformation going on in the marketplace today, there is no better time to do so. One way to help with this is to upgrade the way agencies create their scopes of work. Transparency is king and alignment is golden. Complacency will get us nowhere.

I found the whole presentation fascinating as it is clear each part of the marketing discipline is caught in this struggle. If anything, PR agencies have a great chance to do well if we can teach and explain how we are contributing to the bottom line, in partnership with advertising, in-store and others. In order to do so, we must think differently and use the vernacular of business. Again, some PR agencies do, but not all.

Now is the time. Agencies practicing PR must raise their hands and let procurement and marketing clients know that what we do is what they are looking for. It’s not us versus advertising, in-store, digital etc. It’s us as modern day integrated communicators, well beyond what they may have known us for in the past.

Renee Wilson is president of the PR Council