The ICCO Confidence Tracker, conducted in partnership with Question and Retain, reveals 75% of PR leaders are confident or very confident about the future of their agency. This is up from 64% in October, when confidence remained the same as the figure from August. The total of confident or very confident respondents was 38% in April, when the tracker began.

The latest survey, conducted between 8th and 10th December, followed news of effective vaccinations, and the tracker demonstrates a shift in sentiment as we look to the New Year. Only 7% said they were not very confident about the future of their agency, the lowest yet.

Reasons for confidence centre around new projects beginning and clients releasing previously frozen budgets. The booming technology sector is frequently cited, along with an active finance sector, as well as climate and environment projects coming back onto the agenda strongly.

Many PR leaders also cite digitalisation as a reason for expected success. Supporting clients with virtual and digital transition projects and helping companies augment their message for stronger online campaigns.

Francis Ingham, ICCO Chief Executive said:

“This year the PR industry has shown itself to be one of the worlds’ most resilient -able to adapt to unexpected change very quickly. However, the disruption hit agency confidence hard in April. The confidence trackers run by ICCO and the PRCA have monitored the steady but slow uplift in confidence over the year, as uncertainty persisted. To finish the year with such a sharp increase following news of effective vaccinations is a huge boost and excellent news to close the year with.”