This month in PR (April 2025)

The past, present and future of public relations

Here’s a highly selective narrative weaving together some highlights from this month’s content shared on social media, news sites and newsletters.

It allows me to try out an untested thesis: that the past forty years has been the golden age of public relations.

But don’t listen to me. I’ve taken my timespan from a personal post by Matthew Freud reflecting on the 40 years of Freud Communications. It’s a very human timespan, as reflected in the school song and title of an Alan Bennett play ‘Forty Years On’. Consider this: if you started a business at 25 and you ran it for 40 years you will have reached what was long considered normal retirement age for men. So this period spans one person’s most productive working years.

‘In my experience, a founder’s boss is the employer from hell.  Gruelling, relentless and utterly unconcerned at the heavy personal cost that the job demands’ writes Freud.

‘Boundaries?   What boundaries are possible when your boss is with you for every waking moment of your day and guides your dreams in the cruellest way imaginable?

‘And the clincher, you can’t quit.’

The founder’s boss is of course themself. They may stand to make the most money if and when the business is sold (Freud notably sold his before later buying it back), but they’re also responsible for raising money, paying the salaries of others, bringing in the fees, and taking charge when things go wrong. It’s an added responsibility when the business bears your name.

I shouldn’t have mentioned retirement. Freud continues:

‘But for me, retirement is a way off so tomorrow I begin my fifth decade of pretending to be the boss while my real employer continues to crack the whip.’

What about the golden age thesis? It’s exemplified by Matthew Freud straddling the mass media age, the emergence of the internet and social media and now the advent of AI. He’s worked with celebrities and politicians and is not easy to pigeonhole. I’m sure I’ve heard him described as Zelig-like.

Nor is public relations easy to pigeonhole. It has origins in publicity stunts and in propaganda. Specialists work with politicians, with employees, with analysts and with journalists. The best of us bring it all together and can offer a high-level advisory service.

No era exemplifies this better than the era spanning Margaret Thatcher’s privatisations, the adoption of the internet, social media and smartphones and the advent of AI, the time when public relations moved closer to marketing without being completely subsumed and survived the arrival of digital contenders.

Another person looking back is Jenni Field, though hers is a ten year timespan and her focus is on internal communication. Here’s her narrative:

‘Engaging employees around purpose, strategy, and values has consistently remained the top priority throughout the decade. What’s changed is how we approach it. In the early years (2016-2018), internal communication was still fighting for recognition. It was largely seen as a support function rather than a strategic enabler (and for some this fight is still ongoing).

‘Then came 2020-2022, and everything changed. During this period, ‘Culture & Belonging’ briefly topped the priority list as the pandemic elevated internal communication overnight. Suddenly, communicators became trusted advisors to leadership and integral to crisis management.

‘Fast forward to 2024-2025, and we’re seeing strategic alignment return as the primary focus, but with internal communication’s scope expanded beyond traditional messaging to encompass the entire employee experience. The long-term shift is clear – we’re moving from tactical delivery to strategic influence – but there is still a way to go for recognition and resourcing.’

But what’s next? Let’s consider what’s happening right now through the eyes of Jim Donaldson, another person with a long and distinguished consultancy background.

He believes he’s identified a tectonic shift (and it’s not AI).

‘PR is not the trendy industry any longer’

He argues that it’s hard to recruit people: the ‘work hard, play hard’ culture of the past is no longer acceptable (indeed, it’s hard to have a workplace culture when you’ve only ever known remote working). In short, ‘PR is not the trendy industry any longer’.

Then there’s the challenge of meeting client demands while adapting to a changing business model. ‘Retainers are ebbing away towards projects, making it more challenging to staff the work too.’

In retrospect, it does look like a golden age when you could hire and work with talented people in a shared environment with guaranteed monthly retainers and abundant new business prospects.

Donaldson is being realistic rather than pessimistic. He can see a way forward. He advocates focusing on culture to make work a fun place once again; and recommends becoming a specialist rather than a generalist.

If the mood may seem gloomy from a UK perspective, then it’s helpful to take a global view. PR may no longer be a trendy industry in London, but it still has a cachet elsewhere as other countries and companies seek to quickly learn the lessons of the recent past.

CIPR president-elect Farzana Baduel shares a sunny photo story account of attending the Narrrative PR Summit in Egypt.

‘What struck me most was the clarity with which Egypt’s leadership understands the strategic value of public relations — not simply as a communications tool, but as a potent form of soft power. Storytelling is recognised here not just as narrative, but as national asset — enhancing tourism, stimulating trade, attracting foreign direct investment, and activating cultural diplomacy.’

That’s a positive account of the power and the potential of public relations globally.

But let’s end closer to home by peering into a more opaque area of practice. Lobbying.

‘Policy makers should not be paid to lobby’ is the key phrase in Gabe Winn‘s LinkedIn post.

The CIPR has been campaigning for a change to the legislation governing lobbying, and this month released a hard-hitting report No Rules Britannia that compared Westminster’s rules to those in other national assemblies.

‘The CIPR is advocating for lobbying laws that reflect the reality of lobbying activity in Westminster. Rebuilding public trust must be a priority and strengthening our lobbying regulations is a vital step towards achieving that goal,’ writes CEO Alastair McCapra.

That’s as far ahead as I look right now. All public relations is about the future since it seeks to change something – usually awareness, attitude or behaviour. Sometimes it seeks a change in the law.