The ICCO Board of Management met in Bratislava on 20 April last week to focus on its three business priorities for supporting members under the organisation’s President, Elise Mitchell.

Having undergone substantial expansion over the past two years, ICCO now speaks for some 2,500 PR agencies, in 55 countries, across six continents. Board members met together and also in working groups to review progress to date on the priorities and identify potential initiatives going forward.

The first of three priorities for members is to raise professional and ethical standards of the public relations industry. In October 2017, ICCO launched the Helsinki Declaration: ten modern, robust ethical principles that were created through dialogue and consensus with industry on a worldwide scale. The widespread commitment to the declaration is just the start, it will be the genuine embedding of these ten principles in agency life across various regions that will be that will lead to a greater level of consistency in ethical practice.

Since the declaration was launched, we have received official support from XX associations, direct members and industry bodies.  If your agency or organisation has not yet pledged commitment to the Helsinki Declaration, you can find what the principles are and more here. Please also get in touch with ICCO if you want support in embedding the principles further into your organisation’s culture.

The second priority is to support members in shaping the future of public relations, which is also the theme of the 2018 ICCO Global Summit. This directly relates to skills, talent, converging sectors, new technologies and positioning PR to take advantage of the great flux. As a profession, practitioners must work together to ensure PR takes a lead on issues like data privacy and fake news. Ensuring members have access to resources and specialist knowledge from outside of the PR world is essential in this endeavour.

The third priority is to increase visibility for the role and value of public relations, which will see ICCO bolster relationships with business groups, academia as well as our growing list of partnerships with complimentary groups across marketing, advertising and corporate communication.

“As a global organization, ICCO has a unique opportunity to provide diverse thought leadership on these priorities as well as best practices and tools to drive opportunity for our members and the industry overall,” said Mitchell.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive, ICCO, added “Our meeting in Bratislava showed the enormous progress we’ve made over recent years. At this time of change and discipline collision, now’s the time when ICCO can deliver most to our members and our industry -and that’s exactly what we intend doing.”

If you would like to understand more about the benefits of ICCO membership and how your agency is represented, either as a multinational or through your local association, please contact ICCO General Manager Rob Morbin, rob.morbin@iccopr.com.