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ICCO announces new Regional Presidents

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ICCO is pleased to announce that five Regional Presidents have been appointed, who will represent the recently formed Regional Boards covering Europe, Americas, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
 
The following candidates were elected by the ICCO Global Board of Management:
 
Europe: Juergen H. Gangoly, Managing Partner, The Skills Group; Vice President, Public Relations Verband Austria (PRVA)
 
Americas: Aaron Kwittken, Global Chairman & CEO, Kwittken; Board Director, PR Council
 
Middle East: Loretta Ahmed, CEO, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Grayling; Chairman, PRCA MENA
 
Africa: Bridget Von Holdt, Executive Director, Glasshouse Communication Management; representative of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA)
 
Asia Pacific: Nitin Mantri, CEO, Avian Media; President, Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI)
 
The Regional Presidents will join the Global Executive Committee, comprised of the Global President, Vice President, Treasurer, immediate Past President, the Regional Presidents, and the Chief Executive.
 
The new structure, announced at the Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford in September, aims to ensure that all regionals, organisations and individuals represented by ICCO can create and develop their own voice for the benefit of the regional and global PR and communications industry.
 
Commenting on the new structure, ICCO President Maxim Behar said: “All regions from now on will be represented in the ICCO Global Executive Committee. But not only that; elected Regional Presidents are great professional colleagues and widely known PR experts and we do believe that their input into ICCO’s management will be significant. We all look forward to working together to strengthen ICCO’s position as the largest global PR community.”
 
Juergen H. Gangoly, newly appointed Regional President – Europe said: “With ICCO’s new regional structure in Europe, we have the goal to further grow the organisation and make the voice of Europe’s PR industry even more heard by the public. We will intensify ICCO’s relations to European institutions and to partner organisations in the wider communications industry all over Europe. Supporting cross-border co-operation amongst our members from training and educational activities to business and information services will be part of ICCO’s working programme in Europe for the coming years.”
 
Aaron Kwittken, ICCO Regional President – Americas said: “I am looking forward to working with my colleagues around the world to better promote cross-border collaboration and conversation around a compelling point of view on our role in an increasingly digital world without agency borders.”
 
Loretta Ahmed, ICCO Regional President – Middle East said: ““As we continue to evolve our agencies and what we do on behalf of our clients, we must also do so with one eye on the rest of the world. That connection, especially for a region emerging as fast as the Middle East is critical. I’m honoured to be elected President for ICCO in the Middle East. Having lived in the region for four years I continue to see communications consultancies delivering world class campaigns and ICCO provides another platform for recognition on all that the Middle East PR sector is achieving.”
 
Bridget Von Holdt, ICCO Regional President – Africa said: “Africa tends to be the forgotten continent, yet is identified as a focal growth point for so many international companies. As the Regional President, I will use the ICCO platform to position Africa and the agencies represented on the continent as strategic partners, as innovative and of course as the experts within the region.”
 
Nitin Mantri, representing Asia Pacific as Regional President, said: “ICCO has been making giant strides in elevating the public relations profession, and now with the regional bodies there will be greater consistency in communications standards across the world. The aim would be to encourage discussions on the issues facing the industry and sharing the best practices across this region to elevate ICCO’s role in Global public relations.”
 
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, agencies and networks in 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

Don’t let storytelling become a fantasy

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Article by Petra Sammer, Chief Creative Officer at Ketchum Germany

Over the last few years, storytelling has become one of the most frequently used buzzwords in PR.  The accepted wisdom now seems to be that, the future of communications lies in storytelling – and PR owns that expertise.

PR claims it is home to exceptionally good storytellers for good reason.  Our industry is used to analysing complex situations and identifying the top line story – we know that every good story needs a reason to be told.  Our industry is used to assembling stories in ways that encourage sharing – we know that every good story has viral potential.  Our industry is used to recounting stories in ways that will grab attention – we know that every good story needs a universal connection with the reader.

But in saying this we easily forget both weaknesses of PR and the strengths of our advertising rivals – who also claim the storytelling mantle.  Advertising firms have long been trusted partners in developing the client’s “big idea.”  Their entire business workflow is geared to deliver film and imagery – just when the world is obsessed with YouTube and Instagram.  Advertisers know how to work with a palette of emotions.  They are immersed in audience data and culture.  They understand how edutainment makes messages sticky.

PR on the other hand is still earning its right to handle the client’s “big idea” in a channel agnostic world.  Our business workflow is often geared to understand, unpick and create content using words and narratives.  We also use a very specific vocabulary from the world of rational hard news and train ourselves to describe our stories in certain restrictive formats.  In some cases we have almost become consultants like McKinsey, working to set methodologies that strip out subjectivity as if it were an evil.  Our industry is still learning to handle value and behaviour based audiences.  And most fundamentally we understand storytelling though the concept ofnews-storytelling – which is not the same as creative-storytelling.

So for me, if we are to truly to seize upon the potential to own a wider notion of storytelling, and transform our industry accordingly, we need to spend a little more time understanding what that really means.  PR must learn how to make people laugh and cry, every day.  PR must get comfortable with a balance of facts and emotion.  PR must focus its stories around heroes and encourage our clients to recognise the need for conflict in our work.  We must give equal thought to words and visual communication.

If we can do this, and some of the work of our industry proves we very much can, there are some truly wonderful and incredibly rewarding opportunities to be had.

For example, my firm, Ketchum was responsible for the origination and production of these films for Samsung and Häagen-Dazs.  We have been busy hiring producers, artists and camera operators.  We are beginning projects with visual turns and images instead of relying only on the written word.  We are helping CEOs and managers to tell their personal stories in the colourful language of day to day life.  We are connecting brands with creators like documentary filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock and Academy Award Winner, Morgan Neville.

PR cannot just claim creative storytelling as its natural right, we need to reengineer the way our organisations solve problems if we are to broaden our horizons.

 

ICCO announces new Innovation in Communications panel

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ICCO has announced at its annual Global PR Summit that it will be launching a new Innovation in Communications panel.

The panel will aim to engage and educate the international public relations and communications industry on innovative topics relating to its development. It will also prepare research into new practices and encourage the adoption of ground-breaking ideas and products. Finally, it will benchmark and develop best practice standards in communications and engagement.

The panel will be co-chaired by Russell Goldsmith, Founder, Audere Communications, and Elayne Phillips, Head of Civil Service Communications & Internal Communications, Prime Minister’s Office & Cabinet Office Communications.

The panel will be made up of the following members:

  • Richard Bagnall
  • Hanna Basha
  • Stuart Bruce
  • Dom Burch
  • Simon Collister
  • Russell Goldsmith (Co-Chairman)
  • Michelle Goodall
  • Joanna Halton
  • Gabrielle Laine-Peters
  • Rachel Miller
  • Adam Parker
  • Elayne Phillips (Co-Chairman)
  • Julio Roma
  • Andrew Smith
  • Paul Wilkinson

If you would like to find out more information about the panel, please contact Russell Goldsmith.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive, ICCO, said: “Innovation is key to good communications and is an essential part of a thriving PR industry. The panel will share best practice and innovative practices with the wider global PR and communications community. The industry is already at the forefront of innovation and the panel will serve to encourage a healthy debate on innovation.”

Russell Goldsmith, Founder, Audere Communications said: “It’s a genuine thrill to have another opportunity to work with the same forward thinking individuals who made up a large part of the CIPR’s Social Media Panel.  After our work in that team finished in December 2015, a number of us felt there was more value we could add and having spoken with colleagues and peers in the industry, across business and in the public sector, we felt it appropriate to re-launch the panel with a focus on innovation in products and practice across international communications.  We were therefore delighted that ICCO agreed to support us and give us a platform to achieve our objectives.”

Elayne Phillips, Head of Civil Service Communications & Internal Communications, Prime Minister’s Office & Cabinet Office Communications said: “Professional communicators from in-house teams, agencies and consultants, are facing similar global challenges – some of which can be solved with innovative communications.  As a group, we have always been proud to be progressive in our approach, challenge the status quo and offer new thinking, and we want to continue to push the boundaries.  So, get involved, follow us, contribute to discussions and join us at the heart of innovation in communications.”

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 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

ICCO and PRWeek launch World PR Report 2016

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The World PR Report 2016, published by ICCO and PRWeek, has today launched at the Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford.

The report, presented by Francis Ingham, Chief Executive, ICCO, is the annual analysis of the international public relations industry. The report includes a breakdown of the top 100 global agencies, market analysis from regional leaders, and a report on agency growth, opportunity, investment plans, and talent challenges.

The report revealed that agency heads are optimistic – on a scale of 1-10, the global average for optimism is 7. The most optimistic markets are the UK (8.1) and the Middle East (8.0). The least are Latin America (5.9) and Africa (6).

When asked about their expectations of profitability, North America came in highest with a score of 7.2, followed by the UK at 7. Latin America came in lowest at 5.2.

Noted areas of growth include digital communications, corporate reputation, marketing communications, and public affairs. These growth areas vary by region, reflecting differing local priorities and differing levels of market maturity.

Commenting on the Report, Francis Ingham said: “The World PR Report is the definitive analysis of the global PR industry. It is only by understanding where we are and in what direction we are moving that we can continue to drive growth and invest in opportunities. We are thrilled to see that the industry is bright, and getting brighter.”

Danny Rogers, Editor-in-Chief, PRWeek, said: “We are very proud to present the World PR Report 2016; the best, and most contemporary, guide in existence to the PR industry across the globe. It has been produced by PRWeek, the pre-eminent source of news and analysis of the sector, and ICCO, the voice of PR consultancies around the world.

“As well as providing the definitive ranking of the world’s top 100 PR consultancies and further listings of local agencies, the World PR Report 2016 has asked this vast network of PR firms about the recent trends in their business, along with their forecasts for the year ahead. We look forward to the next year, and revisiting these rankings and indicators in a year’s time to gauge progress.”

Full analysis and commentary of each of the markets is available in the World PR Report, which will be published by PRWeek both online and in the magazine.

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 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

ICCO announces new regional structure

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ICCO is pleased to announce that it has launched a new regional structure for its organisation.

The new structure divides the world into five regions consisting of the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Each region will have its own Regional Board with an elected President. It is then these Regional Presidents who will go on to elect the Global President for ICCO, a position that is held for two years.

As well as being the voice of ICCO in their region, each Regional President will support its members by putting on a conference and awards each year which will be held in their region. This will result in ICCO having six conferences each year, as well as six international awards programmes.

The purpose of this change in structure is to ensure that all regions, organisations, and individuals represented by ICCO, can create and develop their own voice for the benefit of the regional and global PR and communications industry.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive, ICCO, Director General, PRCA, said: “Ensuring that ICCO members receive the best services has always been at the forefront of our goals. I believe that this new regional structure will ensure that every member can access the very best insight, resulting in both depth and breadth of knowledge. Crucially, this new structure will allow us both to service our greatly-increased number of members, and also to grow even further in the future.”

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 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com

Oxford summit to focus on the PR consultancy of the future

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The Global ICCO PR Summit takes place later this month (29 & 30 September) in Oxford, UK.

The event theme focuses on “creating the consultancy of the future”, with a particular emphasis on talent, inspiration and innovation. International industry leaders presenting at the event include Karen van Bergen, CEO, Omnicom Public Relations Group; Michelle Hutton, COO, Edelman Europe, Scott Kronick, President & CEO, Ogilvy PR Asia Pacific; Alex Aiken, Executive Director, Government Communications – UK Government; Ian Pearman, CEO, AMV BBDO; Pascal Beucler, Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP; and Andres Wittermann, Executive Vice President EMEA & APAC, LEWIS.

The conference will also see the launch of the much anticipated World PR Report 2016 which has been produced by ICCO and PRWeek.

Registration details and the full line-up are available on the ICCO Summit website.

ICCO Chief Executive Francis Ingham said: “If you work in PR and communications, then you need to be in Oxford on September 29th and 30th. We’ll have some of the industry’s biggest names there, drawn from right around the world, giving their analysis of where we now, and where we will be in the future. The ICCO summit is the pinnacle of the PR and comms conference season – if you’re serious about your profession, you’ll be there.”

Content marketing platform Passle is the event’s headline sponsor, and will be running a panel session discussing what brands, including the personal brands of staff, say about  agencies.

Passle co-founder Tom Elgar said: “We are delighted to sponsor the ICCO global summit. As the voice of public relations consultancies around the world the ICCO summit is the ideal place for Passle to showcase its platform that enables busy experts to demonstrate their knowledge and experience online. By creating timely, authentic commentary on news and trends Passle makes it easy for PR experts provide industry-leading analysis for their clients, prospects, employees and stakeholders.”

Previously the summit has been held in cities including Milan, New Delhi and Paris, and is the major annual event of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).

The event will take place at Macdonald Randolph Hotel, Oxford and will be co-chaired by David Gallagher of Omnicom, Nitin Mantri of Avian Media (India) and Andrey Barannikov, CEO, SPN Communications (Russia). It is also sponsored by Paprika, Capstone Hill Search, ePressPack, Conversis, Gorkana, Avian Media, Porter Novelli, 72 Point and OnePoll.

For more information on attendance and sponsorship, please contact Charlene Corrin, General Manager, ICCO: info@iccopr.com

World PR Report launches next month – preview

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The World PR Report published by ICCO and PRWeek will be launched at the Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford, United Kingdom on 29-30 September.

The report is the annual analysis of the international public relations industry including a breakdown of the top 100 global agencies, market analysis from regional leaders, and a report on agency growth and opportunity, investment plans and talent challenges.

Commenting on the talent challenges in the Asia Pacific market, Lynne Anne Davis, President – Asia Pacific at FleishmanHillard said:

“PR’s massive transformation as an integrated, socially-centric industry was enabled by the introduction of non-traditional roles and expertise from other industries. That must never stop in order to continuously innovate, expand influence and supple the rising demand for PR services – especially in Asia where local companies are aggressively disrupting categories, exporting brands abroad and creating new spaces.”

Colin Byrne, Weber Shandwick’s UK & EMEA CEO comments on strong growth in the market, but also the challenges ahead:

“Macro-economic issues include economic downturn in BRIC and other emerging markets, security and political issues, the uncertainties around the US election and, yes, Brexit and associated recession warnings, are challenges for us and our clients.”

Loretta Ahmed, Grayling’s CEO of Middle East Africa & Turkey analyses the developing markets of the Middle East and Africa:

“Less risk averse than many parts of the world, the Middle East is coming of age and it is good to see more and more world-class work emanating from the region and being recognised in global award schemes.”

“In Africa in particular, communications professionals are able to achieve CEO level client access at a far greater frequency than in other markets – while this comes with a far greater ability to influence decision-making it also creates the need for strategic communicators to feature heavily in the team mix – a challenge for agency heads looking to field local teams.”

Commenting on trends in the European PR industry, Pascal Beucler, Chief Strategy Officer at MSLGROUP said:

“Another trend we can see everywhere in Europe is the need for more integration, particularly for big, global clients: wasting energy, time and money because of having too many people from different networks/holdings around the table is really something they don’t want anymore. They say they want one team, as diverse as possible but belonging to the same P&L and led by one single, global manager. Such alignment allows better, faster, clearer decisions and action plans.”

Full analysis and commentary of each of the markets is available in the World PR Report, launched at the Summit, and subsequently published by PRWeek online and in hard copy.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive of ICCO and Director General of PRCA UK & MENA will be presenting the findings at the Summit, and copies will be shared with attending delegates.

 

For more information on the Global ICCO PR Summit visit www.iccosummit.org

ICCO Summit 2016 to be held in Oxford, United Kingdom

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The PRCA is pleased to announce that this year’s ICCO (International Communications Consultancy Organisation) Summit will be taking place in Oxford, United Kingdom, between 29-30th September.

The ICCO Summit is a unique event that brings together senior practitioners from public relations consultancies around the world. With insightful talks, thought-provoking panel discussions, and lively networking drinks, the two-day event is a must for those wishing to engage with some of the most influential professionals in the industry.

Maxim Behar, President, ICCO, said: “Everyone in ICCO is looking forward to another successful Global Summit, taking place this time in Oxford. Oxford is a symbolic place for academia and knowledge and we will undoubtedly bring the best PR practitioners from all over the world. Many have noted that one of the most important issues in our industry recently is the convergence between advertising, PR and digital media, and we believe that this will be among the main topics of the Global Summit.

Francis Ingham MPRCA, Chief Executive, ICCO, said: “It is with absolute pleasure that we announce that the ICCO Summit 2016 is taking place in a location of such a high global standing. The Summit will, as always, bring together some of the biggest names from the global PR industry in a vibrant and exciting environment, and we will be tackling several of the biggest issues our industry faces.”

 

About PRCA

Who we are: Founded in 1969, the PRCA is a UK-based PR membership body, operating in 45 countries around the world. We represent in excess of 20,000 people across the whole range of the PR industry. 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 currently has more than 350 agency members; over 250 in-house communications teams from multinationals, charities and leading public sector organisations; and thousands of individual members.

http://www.prca.org.uk/

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 representing 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.

http://www.iccopr.com/

The Swedish model – How to turn rookies into Cannes winners

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Written by: Joseph Borenstein, Cohn & Wolfe Sweden Print@J_Borenstein
Linnéa Rinäs, Cohn & Wolfe Sweden Print@linnearinas

We were invited to the ICCO Global Summit 2015 to talk about our winning campaign from Cannes Young Lions this summer. However, since talking about one single campaign for 30 minutes gets kind of dull, we decided to  broaden the theme and name our seminar “The Swedish model – How to turn rookies into Cannes Winners”.

In many markets, the PR business is very hierarchical and it takes many years for a junior consultant to even meet the client. Not to mention taking own initiatives, like pitching on a new client or managing a big account. For us, that has never been an issue. Our CEO has never been afraid of letting us try, letting us fail, and letting us succeed.

We therefore decided to share with the audience a few Swedish-inspired tips for how they themselves can turn their rookies into Cannes Winners:

  • Throw away the titles! We would never have won our awards if we would have been stuck in the blogger-email, journalist-calling, social media-copy-trap for 2 years. Which is easy if you’re bound by titles and official work descriptions. In Sweden, we dropped a lot of the formal structures at companies in the 70’s, and we sure don’t miss them. What junior consultants may lack in experience, they compensate with in curiosity – let them not only be part of creative processes, but sometimes even lead them!
  • Mix & Match! A wannabe engineer with a political junkie. A sports geek and a fashionista. Unexpected combinations of people can be pretty awesome!
  • Enable us! Our boss sometimes say that the least she can do is to not stand in our way. That might sound harsh, but I’d say it’s crucial to believe and trust in your younger team members. They want do things differently than you? Explore a whole new way of doing PR? Let them try! They might fail from time to time, but so what? That’s how people learn and grow, both as individuals and as businesses. And that’s how you get to keep your talent past the famous 3-year “I quit”.
  • Let us have fun! It’s been proved that millennials want a fun and social workplace, and that doesn’t mean we’re slackers. One of the reasons we work at Cohn & Wolfe is that it is hard to imagine a more fun place to be. Our colleagues are the goofiest, funnest and sweetest people we’ve ever met, and sometimes our open floor plan feels more like a schoolyard than an office. Does that mean we win less new clients, score less coverage, or are less productive? On the contrary. It just means we have fun along the way.

We came to Milan not only to tell the story of how we won Cannes Young Lions, but also to encourage agency leaders  to nurture and take care of the talent they have within their agencies. Because we’re pretty sure that every single agency has the potential of winning a Young PR Lion  – by just following our tips.

Next year, we’re going be too old to compete in Cannes Young Lions, but we’ll be standing on the side, cheering for the next generation of Cohn & Wolfers to get their chance to shine. And we’re looking forward to seeing not only all agency leaders from the ICCO Summit, but their junior PR-talents as well.

See you in Cannes!

Eight things you need to know from the ICCO Global Summit in Milan

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Written by: Tanya Hughes

Print@TanyaTalkPR

Over 150 communications and PR leaders from all around the world gathered in Milan last week to attend the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) Global Summit. This year’s theme was “Food For Thought” and explored how consultancies and communicators are surviving and thriving in our changing world. SERMO president, Tanya Hughes, joined the heads of some of the biggest independent agency networks for the “Going Global 2.0″ panel discussion. Here are her top eight take outs from the conference on the state of the global PR industry:

1

The two biggest drivers of change in the PR industry are the rise of social media and PR’s increased presence at Cannes Lions – the world authority on creativity in communication, still dominated by ad agencies, but changing fast.

2

AVEs RIP! PR must deliver business results. Ask yourself if your account teams know the share price of their clients.

3

Corporate and brand reputation are now indivisible – marketing and communications are converging. It’s estimated that 60% of market value can be attributed to reputation.

4

And the CEO’s reputation matters. Successful CEOs must now fulfil a public engagement mandate. For PR agencies too, the CEO must embody the brand.

5

Agencies need to restructure to attract young talent – millennials are demanding: they want best possible technology, equality and diversity, customisation, rewards beyond salary, mentoring, a ‘noble’ purpose, recognition access to leadership and empowerment.

6

Over 400 hours of video are uploaded per minute on to YouTube. To have stand out your content needs to appeal to a community (spark and be part of a conversation), engage (hit on a passion point) and have authentic value (entertainment, inspiration, education).

7

Video series are a big trend on YouTube.

8

PR agencies give 20% of their work away. They like to be liked, but the more they give clients, the more they’ll want. That means Fridays are free!

Click here to read more on SERMO

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