Public relations professionals around the world are feeling increasingly confident about the future of their organisations, according to PRCA’s latest Global Confidence Tracker. 275 members took part in a single-question study conducted by Question and Retain.

87% of ICCO members – drawn from a global pool of practitioners – said they were either confident or very confident about the future of their agency. This is the highest ICCO figure recorded since the tracker launched in April 2020.

Reasons for global confidence included the success of vaccination programmes, which many leaders feel has led to an increase in new projects. Numerous PR leaders also cited an increased demand for strategic advisory services, as well as greater investment in social media, as reasons for increased levels of confidence.

ICCO President Nitin Mnatri said:

“The Global Confidence Tracker is a timely and thoughtful initiative, and it gives us a reason to feel hopeful and positive. We are living through extraordinarily difficult times, and there are no easy solutions to the issues we face. But it is our job to carve a path forward and we have brilliantly reinvented ourselves so far, with digital acceleration serving as a key instrument of adaptability. This is our industry’s inflection point where divergent thinking and creative reshaping of PR strategies will become the hallmark of communications.”

PRCA Director General & ICCO Chief Executive Francis Ingham MPRCA said:

“Our latest Global Confidence Tracker, conducted by Question and Retain, has reaffirmed our overwhelming confidence that 2021 will be a year of resurgence for the PR industry. Significant challenges lay ahead, particularly as COVID-19 variants emerge around the world. But our industry now faces those challenges from a position of strength. Our data show that PR leaders globally are more confident now than at any stage of the pandemic, with digital investment and increased demand for strategic services fuelling confidence around the world. Having endured a torrid period, the industry’s foundations are sound, and its future is bright.”

Annabel Dunstan, Founder & CEO, Question and Retain:

“The Confidence Tracker is a simple one question Pulse Check and happily the trend we have observed is a positive one. It has been a smart move by the PRCA to track member confidence through these most extraordinary of times. The feedback we have gathered on their behalf has helped inform and shape events and communications to support members who have had to pivot and adapt rapidly to ensure their businesses survived and thrived.”