A historic summer for the PR profession

The summer of 2010 may be looked back on as rather significant in the development of public relations.  It has been a summer for Accords - for stating principles and definitions of PR practice.  First there was the Stockholm Accord which sought to define the practice of PR overall as part of the World Public Relations Forum.   This perhaps has not had the coverage it deserves but it is an important document on the role and value of PR within organisations and interpreting it in the language and issues facing today's global organisations.  It is a document for PR practitioners but also one which will be very helpful for other senior management professions and stakeholdes in understanding the role of PR.

This was followed in July by the Barcelona Declaration on measurement and evaluation.  The Declaration seeks to set down some broad principles for measurement and evaluation of PR and in particular the need from measuring outputs to outcomes.  It also fires a broadside at AVE, (Advertising Value Equivalents) which has been one of the key but generally discredited metrics used by practitioners in measuring outputs in the form of media coverage.  It also highlights the importance of measuring PR's impact on business results such as sales which as the Declaration highlights raises the issue of PR understanding the metrics used in marketing.  An interesting point which does highlight the interesting overlap between transactional relationships and stakeholder relationships which is at the heart of the marketing and PR ties.

Both are very interesting documents and statements which provide a useful point for practitioner, observers, students and academics.   They do show the growing confidence of the PR profession which the Stockholm Accords highlight and the need to articulate the progress they have made to the wider world.  Having briefly and enjoyably studied medieval history at A-Level, these Accords and Declaration by the PR world this summer, remind me somewhat of the great Councils and Edicts of the early Christian church as it sought to ensure that its authority and primacy of intepretation went unchallenged.  

Finally, and the subject of a future blog, it is entirely appropriate in such a summer that the University of Bournemouth has hosted the first International History of PR Conference.