Jack O'Dwyer (i contenuti del suo sito sono disponibili a pagamento), editore dell'omonima testata, commenta dal suo sito: come mai tanta spesa in pubblicità, sempre più alta, da parte delle aziende, e così bassa in Rp? Un articolo da segnalare e da leggere per la sua ricchezza di dati.Ecco in inglese il testo dell'editoriale:CONGLOMERATES STIFLING PR The advertising policies of the big ad agency-owned PR firms are a puzzlement to us because we wonder why these firms are spending so much on ads and so little on PR.IRS records show $44,000 in ads by the Council of PR Firms itself in 2004. Another $160,000 was spent in early 2005 by a group of 13 CPRF members under the CPRF banner in Advertising Age.In addition, we have tracked more than $300,000 in ads by 11 CPRF members in PR Week/U.S. since last November. That's a half million+ in paid ads.Could it be that the advertising culture of their parents has thoroughly permeated these PR units?The conglomerates, after seven years, have cut back on their commitment to the Council. Their initial goals included wresting control of the ranking of PR firms from the trade press (using the technique of requiring no proofs of fees beyond the signature of a CFO). Another goal was broadening the definition of PR to include paid ads and just about any activity a PR firm engaged in.Evidence of the pullback is the permanent reduction in maximum dues from $50,000 to $40,000 and the loss of two big members, both owned by WPP Group-GCI Group, whose last published figures were $151M in fees and 900 employees in 2001, and Cohn & Wolfe ($57M in fees and 410 employees).At least 80% of the $928,577 in dues collected by CPRF in 2004 came from ad conglomerate units. Neither the conglomerates nor their PR firms have a lot of money to toss around these days.The five holding companies have $12.4 billion in debt according to SEC filings $4.33B for WPP; $2.49B for Omnicom; $2.38B for Publicis; $2.27 for Interpublic, and $975M for Havas.Interpublic, owner of Weber Shandwick, Golin Harris and other PR firms, is teetering on financial oblivion. It just about made the Sept. 30 deadline for restating its results to avoid defaulting on its debt.Omnicom (Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli, Brodeur) took the $600 million Bank of America account from IPG but OMC's stock has fallen from the mid-$80's to $79 (Oct. 7). That puts it $28 below its high of $107 nearly six years ago (Dec. 17, 1999). OMC was once able to float interest-free convertible bonds, but not any more.As far as we can see, every penny is being pinched by their PR wings, from agency events to individual lunches with the press, memberships in PR groups and subscriptions to industry publications.Ketchum, for instance, cut its PRSA members from more than 80 in 2001 to about 30 in 2005.The smaller and midsize PR independents, who compete against these giants, are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel. They can verify their fee income and employment figures, something none of the big PR operations have been allowed to do since 2001. We don't expect these PR operations to return to our rankings because of the proofs we require. Also, many (including GCI ) have stopped publishing account lists. Their executives must put out accurate figures or face jail terms and fines under Sarbanes-Oxley.The independents are not laboring under a $12.4 billion debt and have many freedoms that the ad agency-owned PR units do not have. They have greater freedom in hiring and paying PR pros. They can give speeches, take reporters to lunch, hold press conferences, and subscribe to a variety of PR industry trade publications without someone from corporate h.q. blocking this.We have seen five PR publications die in the past several years including PR Reporter, a weekly that published since 1958; Reputation Management, the monthly magazine published six years by Paul Holmes; the printed Inside PR weekly newsletter published ten years by Holmes; PR Intelligence Report, published several years by Ragan Communications, and Ragan's PR Journal, a bi- monthly. PR Quarterly, a journal of independent thought by PR pros and academics, is 50 years old this year, limping along on one $735 ad per issue.Parola di Jack O'Dwyer
