AVE white paper: accepting a broke system is “surrender of the worst kind”

In response to Meltwater’s “Estimating the Real Value of Public Relations” white paper, the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) and International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) have issued a joint statement condemning the support it gives to so-called advertising value equivalence (AVE).

Francis Ingham MPRCA, PRCA Director General and ICCO Chief Executive, commented:

“We are astonished that any credible measurement and evaluation professional would make the case for AVEs. AVEs measure absolutely nothing other than the vanity of those reporting them. I had hoped that the evaluation community had condemned them to the rubbish bin of history years ago.”

“To say that clients are used to them is to miss the point utterly. Some clients are indeed – but more enlightened ones know how meaningless they are, and have embraced the proper analysis of outcomes instead. Yes, there is further work to be done here, but accepting a broken system simply because some people are used to it is surrender of the worst kind. “

“The author makes much of the “Manhattan Beach Principles”. Frankly, I’ve never heard of them, and I doubt that anybody in the industry has. The principles that I believe in are the AMEC Barcelona ones, refreshed only last year, and endorsed by the PRCA, ICCO and the 33 associations ICCO represents.”

“I trust that Meltwater will repudiate this bogus paper with immediate effect.”

 

Boilerplate

About PRCA

Who we are: Founded in 1969, the PRCA is the largest PR association in Europe, representing 18,000 people in agencies, in-house communications teams, and individuals. The PRCA promotes all aspects of public relations and internal communications work, helping teams and individuals maximise the value they deliver to clients and organisations.

What we do: The Association exists to raise standards in PR and communications, providing members with industry data, facilitating the sharing of communications best practice and creating networking opportunities.

How we do it and make a difference: All PRCA members are bound by a professional charter and codes of conduct, and benefit from exceptional training. The Association also works for the greater benefit of the industry, sharing best practice and lobbying on the industry’s behalf e.g. fighting the NLA’s digital licence.

Who we represent: The PRCA represents many of the major consultancies in the UK, and currently has more than 350 agency members from around the world, including the majority of the top 150 UK consultancies. We also represent over 250 in-house communications teams from multinationals, UK charities and leading UK public sector organisations.

 

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.

PR’s Brave New World

maxim behar picture

Maxim Behar, new president of International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) and author of books on communication strategies, shares with PROI Americas his perceptions about the way global PR industry is going – and the main trends for the future.

The World PR Report 2015 informs that the global PR industry grew 7% in 2014. Will This trend continue in 2015 – or the global outlook is more challenging now for PR agencies?

The trend for growth will definitely continue, even I would predict more than previous year, but the business is changing so fast that almost nobody can de- scribe nowadays what the term “PR industry” means. Imagine you have three circles, partly overlapped, depending of the countries, regions and markets. The first one logically is the classical, traditional PR, the second is for our “cousin” from advertising and the third one belongs to a business born some more than a decade ago – digital agencies. Now those three circles are uniting step by step, directly speak- ing even every single day they overlap each other and there is a big dispute which one will prevail. Some say advertising; I say PR. Vision is very, very important in the modern communications, but we, in PR business, are not only “masters of text”, but we are much more experience of earning media and we will much faster learn how to manage them.

In your opinion, what are the most important changes in the PR industry in 2015? Should we have deep- er changes in the near future?

The most important change since the very start of PR business more than century ago is already matter of fact. Initially the difference between the PR and advertising was very clear – PR earn media, advertising buys media. The change now is that first time in history all we own media. Yes, media is our property, to me, to you, to everyone. From that perspective the task now is not to earn media, but to manage them professionally on behalf of our clients. And this will be the main change in the next years – we must learn how to manage media, how to provide our mes- sages in the most convincing way, how to keep the “third party” independence, presenting our clients’ projects. In fact this is completely new area for the PR business, which together with the social media and digital marketing “secrets” our teams must learn every day, even every minute.

How do you see the integration of communication (marketing, PR and digital)?

It is happening already since couple of years and the ones in PR business who do not do it yet are really totally late. The integration is simple. Always in our business we have starting point (client’s task) and tar- gets (possible results). The everything else would be the tools reaching the results. Now it is true – we own media, but this is not enough. Using visuals, movies is crucial for presenting the messages to the audience, which means that we take significant part from the advertising business. On the other hand there some- thing else, which also makes our business unique these days. First time in the history in fact PR business is absolutely measurable – we can say exactly how many views, clicks, likes, shares, followers have our messages, we can follow exactly the age, regional and interests structure of the targeted audience. This means that we already took a piece of the traditional marketing business, and this is enormous change for us. So, all those business are already integrated. It is on us, the PR professionals to set the speed of further integration and to change the business further. And we can do it just one way – in our office  with our teams, on the brainstorming sessions, pitching and if for clients and with clients, changing our teams, involving new professions and skills into our office is not easy, I know. But otherwise the companies which are not changing with high speed will be simply out of the modern market.

Using visuals, movies is crucial for presenting the messages to the audience

Which sectors you see significant growth in the near future?

Obviously the highest growth will be in the crisis management. No matter it would be financial, health- care or IT sector. In the past, during the era of traditional printed media we had 8-10 hours basically to solve crisis and also 1-2 hours to respond top a TV coverage in case of crisis for our client. Now we do not have even more that two minutes. Once the news – right or wrong, true or false, is on the social media, then we must know exactly how to respond and how to overcome it. It requires deep knowledge, professional training and understanding the modern media. And also – understanding the world we live in, the brains of new generation, their interests, feelings and moods.

In recent years, technological changes led PR agencies to reinvent its business. Do you think this process will be also a reality in 2016?

It is not “reinvention”. In fact this is entirely new business, which I doubt in 10 to 12 years will be called further Public Relations. Our business had been established more than 100 years ago, at that time the majority of the relations were “not-public” and some of the were “public”, so there was a need of professional to manage the public side of the events. Now… everything, everything, everything is public. Those changes will also bring to the change not only of of the description of our business and change of the need of our clients, but also will bring a new name of our profession. Two early to say what it would be… Social relations, effective relations… Who knows, life is changing so fast, everything in our business is so dynamic that next year for sure will bring to us much more surprises than we can expect.

We saw in 2014 a growth of conglomerate PR groups. How this scenario affects the independent PR agencies?

My vision is that the independent firms will continue to grow and the conglomerates as you say, or big international networks will feel huge difficulties. And the reason is very simple – the slow decision making process and the sometimes too big bureaucratic machine. Very often I say – nowadays worst decision is better than no decision. Independent agencies, very often small and medium sized, are much more and easy to adjust to the clients needs and also faster and more effective to cut expenses. The big networks of course have their chances only if the face huge and immediate changes of the decision making process, both internally and also towards the clients’ needs. What small independent agencies are missing in fact would be the capacity and also the experience. In the times of social media this advantages of the big networks – having much larger number of people and much bigger experience I would say are less important if they do not change according to the new media environment. And it is a know rule that changes in the big structures happen much slower and often unpredictable than in the small ones.

What attributes, in your opinion, must be pursued by PR agencies to better fit in the current scenario and face its challenges?

Including new business in the offices – more people responsible for visuals – graphic designers, web developers, social media experts, editors…even movie producers. All the world’s business is moving into effective visual messages and it is a trend which was very easy to predict even some years ago. Also – the educations started to be more and more important, I really do not mean the academical education which in many cases is absolutely slow in changes, but the self education of our employees – every day and every minute.

In your opinion, which industry has been developing an outstanding PR strategy?

Mainly if services, healthcare and pharmaceutical and also retail business. Obviously these are businesses mostly exposed to the crisis and that is why the need of very proactive and attractive PR strategies is absolutely crucial. But also – PR itself also need a lot of PR. Not so many people, even within our industry understand the changes in the business, and also do not under- stand that Public Relations is one of the fastest changing business in the world. By the way – this is now one of its greatest beauties.

Public Relations is one of the fastest changing business in the world  

How do you see the perspectives of PR industry for Americas?

Our business become more global than local. Americas, mainly Northern of course, are the moth- erland of Public Relations business and  always  will have a special role in its development. The English speaking world although becomes larger and larger every day and Europe and

Asia started being also very innovative, so Americas from that perspective must defend constantly its leading role in the public communications world.

Rio Olympics will, in your opinion, be a valuable opportunity for PR industry? Why?

Rio Olympics will not be a great opportunity; they will be really enormous one to promote the country and also its culture and history. Needless to say that sports has the most supporters and fans from any other area in our life. Use this unique chance to show the world how great and unbeatable is Brazil of creating history and spreading good and positive mes- sages globally.

How do you see the role of the PR professional in a increasingly digital world?

Just one word – leading! The Public Relations experts are the one who give the lights and proper messages already with the means of social media to billion.

maxim behar picture

We already took a piece of the traditional marketing business and this is enormous change for us people all over the world. Our role is very special in- deed. We are the one to spread the newest trends of all businesses and must keep this role for the future. This is the reason we should keep very high ethical and professional standards. The whole world is watching our business, many other businesses are learning from us and it says everything about Public Relations now. Amazingly good business, which require every professional globally to have as a start just one important quality: sparks in his or hers eyes. It means a lot of knowledge, it means ambitious and motivation for growth and innovations and creativity. The rest is easy!

Original Article from PROI

PR's Brave New World

maxim behar picture Maxim Behar, new president of International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) and author of books on communication strategies, shares with PROI Americas his perceptions about the way global PR industry is going – and the main trends for the future. The World PR Report 2015 informs that the global PR industry grew 7% in 2014. Will This trend continue in 2015 – or the global outlook is more challenging now for PR agencies? The trend for growth will definitely continue, even I would predict more than previous year, but the business is changing so fast that almost nobody can de- scribe nowadays what the term “PR industry” means. Imagine you have three circles, partly overlapped, depending of the countries, regions and markets. The first one logically is the classical, traditional PR, the second is for our “cousin” from advertising and the third one belongs to a business born some more than a decade ago – digital agencies. Now those three circles are uniting step by step, directly speak- ing even every single day they overlap each other and there is a big dispute which one will prevail. Some say advertising; I say PR. Vision is very, very important in the modern communications, but we, in PR business, are not only “masters of text”, but we are much more experience of earning media and we will much faster learn how to manage them. In your opinion, what are the most important changes in the PR industry in 2015? Should we have deep- er changes in the near future? The most important change since the very start of PR business more than century ago is already matter of fact. Initially the difference between the PR and advertising was very clear – PR earn media, advertising buys media. The change now is that first time in history all we own media. Yes, media is our property, to me, to you, to everyone. From that perspective the task now is not to earn media, but to manage them professionally on behalf of our clients. And this will be the main change in the next years – we must learn how to manage media, how to provide our mes- sages in the most convincing way, how to keep the “third party” independence, presenting our clients’ projects. In fact this is completely new area for the PR business, which together with the social media and digital marketing “secrets” our teams must learn every day, even every minute. How do you see the integration of communication (marketing, PR and digital)? It is happening already since couple of years and the ones in PR business who do not do it yet are really totally late. The integration is simple. Always in our business we have starting point (client’s task) and tar- gets (possible results). The everything else would be the tools reaching the results. Now it is true – we own media, but this is not enough. Using visuals, movies is crucial for presenting the messages to the audience, which means that we take significant part from the advertising business. On the other hand there some- thing else, which also makes our business unique these days. First time in the history in fact PR business is absolutely measurable – we can say exactly how many views, clicks, likes, shares, followers have our messages, we can follow exactly the age, regional and interests structure of the targeted audience. This means that we already took a piece of the traditional marketing business, and this is enormous change for us. So, all those business are already integrated. It is on us, the PR professionals to set the speed of further integration and to change the business further. And we can do it just one way – in our office  with our teams, on the brainstorming sessions, pitching and if for clients and with clients, changing our teams, involving new professions and skills into our office is not easy, I know. But otherwise the companies which are not changing with high speed will be simply out of the modern market.

Using visuals, movies is crucial for presenting the messages to the audience

Which sectors you see significant growth in the near future? Obviously the highest growth will be in the crisis management. No matter it would be financial, health- care or IT sector. In the past, during the era of traditional printed media we had 8-10 hours basically to solve crisis and also 1-2 hours to respond top a TV coverage in case of crisis for our client. Now we do not have even more that two minutes. Once the news – right or wrong, true or false, is on the social media, then we must know exactly how to respond and how to overcome it. It requires deep knowledge, professional training and understanding the modern media. And also – understanding the world we live in, the brains of new generation, their interests, feelings and moods. In recent years, technological changes led PR agencies to reinvent its business. Do you think this process will be also a reality in 2016? It is not “reinvention”. In fact this is entirely new business, which I doubt in 10 to 12 years will be called further Public Relations. Our business had been established more than 100 years ago, at that time the majority of the relations were “not-public” and some of the were “public”, so there was a need of professional to manage the public side of the events. Now… everything, everything, everything is public. Those changes will also bring to the change not only of of the description of our business and change of the need of our clients, but also will bring a new name of our profession. Two early to say what it would be… Social relations, effective relations… Who knows, life is changing so fast, everything in our business is so dynamic that next year for sure will bring to us much more surprises than we can expect. We saw in 2014 a growth of conglomerate PR groups. How this scenario affects the independent PR agencies? My vision is that the independent firms will continue to grow and the conglomerates as you say, or big international networks will feel huge difficulties. And the reason is very simple – the slow decision making process and the sometimes too big bureaucratic machine. Very often I say – nowadays worst decision is better than no decision. Independent agencies, very often small and medium sized, are much more and easy to adjust to the clients needs and also faster and more effective to cut expenses. The big networks of course have their chances only if the face huge and immediate changes of the decision making process, both internally and also towards the clients’ needs. What small independent agencies are missing in fact would be the capacity and also the experience. In the times of social media this advantages of the big networks – having much larger number of people and much bigger experience I would say are less important if they do not change according to the new media environment. And it is a know rule that changes in the big structures happen much slower and often unpredictable than in the small ones. What attributes, in your opinion, must be pursued by PR agencies to better fit in the current scenario and face its challenges? Including new business in the offices – more people responsible for visuals – graphic designers, web developers, social media experts, editors…even movie producers. All the world’s business is moving into effective visual messages and it is a trend which was very easy to predict even some years ago. Also – the educations started to be more and more important, I really do not mean the academical education which in many cases is absolutely slow in changes, but the self education of our employees – every day and every minute. In your opinion, which industry has been developing an outstanding PR strategy? Mainly if services, healthcare and pharmaceutical and also retail business. Obviously these are businesses mostly exposed to the crisis and that is why the need of very proactive and attractive PR strategies is absolutely crucial. But also – PR itself also need a lot of PR. Not so many people, even within our industry understand the changes in the business, and also do not under- stand that Public Relations is one of the fastest changing business in the world. By the way – this is now one of its greatest beauties.

Public Relations is one of the fastest changing business in the world  

How do you see the perspectives of PR industry for Americas? Our business become more global than local. Americas, mainly Northern of course, are the moth- erland of Public Relations business and  always  will have a special role in its development. The English speaking world although becomes larger and larger every day and Europe and Asia started being also very innovative, so Americas from that perspective must defend constantly its leading role in the public communications world. Rio Olympics will, in your opinion, be a valuable opportunity for PR industry? Why? Rio Olympics will not be a great opportunity; they will be really enormous one to promote the country and also its culture and history. Needless to say that sports has the most supporters and fans from any other area in our life. Use this unique chance to show the world how great and unbeatable is Brazil of creating history and spreading good and positive mes- sages globally. How do you see the role of the PR professional in a increasingly digital world? Just one word – leading! The Public Relations experts are the one who give the lights and proper messages already with the means of social media to billion. maxim behar picture We already took a piece of the traditional marketing business and this is enormous change for us people all over the world. Our role is very special in- deed. We are the one to spread the newest trends of all businesses and must keep this role for the future. This is the reason we should keep very high ethical and professional standards. The whole world is watching our business, many other businesses are learning from us and it says everything about Public Relations now. Amazingly good business, which require every professional globally to have as a start just one important quality: sparks in his or hers eyes. It means a lot of knowledge, it means ambitious and motivation for growth and innovations and creativity. The rest is easy! Original Article from PROI

Renee Wilson named PR Council President

NEW YORK – December 3, 2015 – The PR Council, the trade association representing the US public relations agency industry, has selected Renee Wilson as its new president. Wilson will succeed Kathy Cripps, who is stepping down after serving as the association’s president since 2002.

Wilson joins the PR Council from MSLGroup, where she currently serves as Chief Client Officer. Formerly, she led MSLGROUP in North America as its President and as a member of the agency’s global management board. She served twice on the PR jury for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, including as its president in 2014. Prior to MSLGroup, she worked for eight years at Hill & Knowlton.

“We are thrilled to get such a high-caliber leader who will represent our industry so well across so many fronts,” said Christopher Graves, chair of the PR Council. “I worked with Renee firsthand in Cannes,” Graves added, “and experienced her ability to convene rivals and competitors, while articulating a firm, clear and considered point of view.”

Wilson brings decades of agency experience and deep understanding of both internal and external, operational and client issues, something PR Council members said is crucial to have in their industry leadership.

Wilson is a regularly featured speaker at various international conferences and most recently presented at the United Nations International Women’s Day Conference and the SxSw Social Good Hub, 2015. She serves on the leadership council for the Young Women’s Leadership Network and is a member of the NY Women in Communications.

A committee composed of PR Council Board members led the six-month search process: Chris Graves (Ogilvy PR), Dave Senay (FleishmanHillard), Matt Harrington (Edelman), Maureen Lippe (Lippe Taylor) and Renzi Stone (Saxum). They worked closely with executive recruiter Donna Renella to identify and interview more than 100 potential candidates. “The search committee pursued candidates with an array of experiences, geographies, gender and ethnic backgrounds,” according to Kathy Cripps. We are very pleased with the selection of Renee as the incoming president; she’ll do a great job.”

Wilson will join the PR Council in mid-January.

The PR Council is a trade association designed to connect the present and next generation of PR professionals, industry innovators and business leaders through education, events and industry resources.

Article from PR Council

PRWeek and ICCO announce strategic partnership to benefit global industry

ICCO AND PR WEEK

Following the partnership announced last year between PRWeek and the PRCA, PRWeek has formed a strategic alliance with the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO)

PRWeek and ICCO – the global organisation that covers the national trade association of more than 32 countries across the globe – will work together on cross promotion of key global events as well as  joint content and commercial initiatives. With offices in London, New York and Singapore, PRWeek is the leading global media brand covering PR and marketing communications.

The two will collaborate on the ICCO World PR Report and ICCO will become a partner of PRWeek’s global Powerbook, some smaller events and content products to the ICCO membership.

ICCO members will be able to benefit from discounted attendance at PRWeek events as well as preferential subscription packages whilst the two bodies will also be launching a series of global round table events. “We are proud to partner with ICCO on projects that underscore the power and growth of this important market”, said Julia Hood, global brand director of PRWeek.

PRWeekjobs, already the leading recruitment destination in the communications industry will shortly power a jobs portal on the ICCO site and provide  ICCO members with the latest jobs and career advice

Francis Ingham, ICCO Chief Executive, said: “I’m very pleased to be announcing this strategic partnership between ICCO and the leading global brand for PR insight, PRWeek. With a busy schedule of activities ahead of us, this promises to be a very fruitful relationship, and something that is sure to benefit the global PR industry.”

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent over 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

Five global industry leaders to receive ICCO Hall of Fame recognition

 London 27 November 2015: Five global industry leaders have been chosen to join the International Communications Consultancy Organisation’s (ICCO) International Hall of Fame.

Introduced in 2003, ICCO’s Hall of Fame represents an exclusive recognition of the exceptional progress its members have made towards the internationalisation of the public relations industry.

The inductees are Kathy Cripps, former President, PR Council; Ray Kotcher, Senior Partner and Chairman, Ketchum; Barry Leggetter, CEO, AMEC; Richard Houghton, past ICCO President and Agency Doctor; and Arun Sudhaman, Editor-In Chief, Holmes Report.

These people have enhanced the discipline and expanded the scope of public relations activity globally.

The group was inducted into the Hall of Fame following the official announcement at the inaugural ICCO Global Awards in London on 26th November.

ICCO President Maxim Behar said:

“Congratulations to my colleagues and friends who absolutely deserve the recognition of the ICCO Executive Committee. They are all excellent professionals and have made a memorable input into ICCO development. We expect further cooperation with them and the companies they represent for the benefit of PR globally.”

ICCO Chief Executive Francis Ingham said:

“I’d like to send my warm congratulations to these five industry experts – they are all leading lights in global PR and deserve this acknowledgement.”

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

Inaugural ICCO Global Awards 2015 recognise consultancy and individual PR excellence

London 27th November 2015: The ICCO Global Awards 2015 saw leading agencies, and individuals from across 6 continents win accolades for effectiveness in PR and communications.

Leading PR practitioners from across the globe attended the ICCO Global Awards 2015 at the Park Plaza Hotel, Riverbank on the evening of Thursday 26th November, hosted by BBC personality Helen Fospero. Top consultancies, individuals, and networks all competed for awards in 18 categories.

The winners for Independent Consultancy of Year include: Interel Group for the EMEA region, Avian Media for the APAC region and Imagem Corporativa in the Americas.

Christopher Onderstall of FleishmanHillard won the award for Rising Star of the Year while Nitin Mantri of Avian Media was awarded PR Leader of the Year.

Ketchum walked away with the award for Regional Network of the Year in the Americas, Weber Shandwick in APAC and TRACCS in EMEA.

David Gallagher, CEO of Ketchum Europe and ICCO Jury President said: “We believe that effectiveness is the one true and equal parameter we can all be measured by. We wanted to recognise not just the obvious, loudest campaigns but the smartest, most elegant, and highest value work our industry has to offer. Congratulations to all the winners.”

Francis Ingham, ICCO Chief Executive, said: “I would like to congratulate the winners, and indeed all of those shortlisted. We are delighted that our inaugural awards have been such a success, celebrating outstanding PR professionalism from around the world. PR is great shape on every continent, and ICCO is proud to help showcase that fact.”

The full list of winners is below:

Regional Network of the Year Award:      

EMEA: TRACCS

APAC: Weber Shandwick

AMERICAS: Ketchum

 

Independent Consultancy of the Year Award:

EMEA: Interel Group

APAC: Avian Media

AMERICAS: Imagem Corporativa

 

World’s Best PR Campaigns Award:        

Media Relations: Hill + Knowlton Strategies

Consumer: Burson-Marsteller

Digital and New Media: MSL Group

B2B: NetProfile

CSR: The Skills Group

Not for profit: CROS

Technology: MSL Group

Crisis & issues: CROS

Broadcast: Lansons

Healthcare: FleishmanHillard

 

Rising Star of the Year Award:

Christopher Onderstall, FleishmanHillard

 

PR Leader of the Year Award:

Nitin Mantri, Avian Media

 

ICCO Hall of Fame:

Arun Sudhaman, The Holmes Report

Kathy Cripps, PR Council

Ray Kotcher, Ketchum

Richard Houghton, Agency Doctor

Barry Leggetter, AMEC

 

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

 

Press Contact

Binta Kristin Hammerich
ICCO General Manager
binta.hammerich@iccopr.com

 

Paris: Letter from the ICCO President

To my dear friends in Syntec Conseil en Relations Publics,

Please accept our deep sorrow and condolences on the tragic events in Paris.

All ICCO Board members, all PR experts, advisors and professionals in the world are with you at this difficult for democracy.

We do express our deep condemnation of all kinds of terror, and reaffirm our belief that people all around the world will join us in this.

This is an attack not only on Paris and not only on France, but also on our democratic values; on the right to live free and creatively; to advance the progress of humanity.

Our business – public relations – has a very special role in building and maintaining those democratic values. With our message, with our creative job and pro-active ideas we touch the hearts and brains of billions of people. That’s why we do have enormous power and thousands of tools to convince humanity of its right to live freely and independently.

Be sure that in ICCO we will use all means, influence and authority we have publicly to condemn terrorism, and to explain how strong and convinced we are defending the democratic values of our societies.

Please, convey again to all of our friends in France our deep sorrow at the events in Paris, and assure them that all ICCO members are with them in this unbelievably challenging time for all lovers of democracy around the world.

Sincerely,

Maxim

Maxim Behar
ICCO President

Priorities and Challenges for the PR Industry – an interview with the new ICCO President – Maxim Behar

Written by: Philippe Borremans

This week I am talking to Maxim Behar, the brand new President of ICCO – The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).

Maxim  and I met for the first time a couple of years ago in Davos at theWorld Communications Forum – one of the most international PR conferences I have ever had the pleasure to attend. (PS: you can already register for the next edition here.)

The ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. It comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe: from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. Collectively, these associations represent over 2,500 PR firms.

Maxim  and I talk about the changing landscape in the PR industry but also how agency clients are changing and requesting new types of support and advise.

We further discuss the priorities and challenges of the PR industry, how ICCO is tackling these and how communications is different (or similar) inBulgaria to the rest Europe.

ICCO welcomes AssoCom as associate member in 2016, full member in 2017

London, 10 November 2015 – ICCO is pleased to welcome AssoCom as an associate member from 1st January 2016, becoming a full member on 1st January 2017.

The decision was approved on 10th October at the ICCO Board Meeting in Milan.

Francis Ingham, ICCO Chief Executive, said:

“I am delighted that ICCO has gained even further representation in Italy. We applaud AssoCom and Assorel for working together so constructively.”

Marco Testa, President of AssoCom, said:

“We are very pleased to have been accepted as a member association of ICCO. Our association is changing as a result of the entry this year of many PR agencies under the auspices of PR Hub. We are entering a new era, led by client needs, in which there is an increased focus on integrated communications. We look forward to a collaborative relationship with Assorel and all the other international associations belonging to ICCO.”

Alessandro Pavesi , Assorel President, said:

“Changes introduced in all countries by the ICCO Bylaws open a wider element of the marketing industry and a new phase in the history of ICCO. We will support the New President, Maxim Behar, and Executive Committee in the development of the new ICCO organisational model.” 

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

Press Contact

Binta Kristin Hammerich
ICCO General Manager
binta.hammerich@iccopr.com