Starting next Wednesday, The Firm Voice will be changing its address, and its M.O. 

For the past two years, and for more than 70 issues, we have proudly delivered our readers content largely focused on industry best practices, in the form of this column, the "Best Practices" articles, and "My Opinion" pieces.  We're happy to say that this very useful content will live on in archives, accessible through firmvoice.com as well as links from our Web site.

The New Year has brought with it a new sense of optimism in the business and public relations worlds.  Companies are hiring more aggressively, albeit with increased "skill set" selectivity.  According to a Q4 Quick Survey, half of the Council of Public Relations Firms' members anticipate and increase of hiring activity in 2010.

So what are clients and PR firms saying about their "relationships" these days?

Last week, the Council co-sponsored the 6th annual Public Relations Leadership Forum with the Institute for Public Relations and Arthur Page Society, a program that brings together corporate and agency people for an intimate networking and educational experience.

I like the way 2010 has started. Business opportunities for public relations firms abound, and I am confident that firms will capitalize.

Recent survey data as well as discussions with dozens of Council members over the past several weeks has bolstered this opinion, which was also nicely re-enforced in The Economist two weeks ago.

Happy New Year!  The Council of PR Firms is planning a new look Firm Voice in 2010. Coming soon, you will see forward looking articles/blogs on emerging trends and other developments affecting the public relations industry, much like this piece.

With obesity now reaching epidemic proportions in America, calls are mounting for a crackdown on the advertising of "junk food" to kids. Food marketers such as McDonalds and General Mills have sought to pre-empt regulation by self-regulating through the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. That may not be enough. With an activist government now holding the reins in Washington, we at the Council are growing increasingly concerned that sweeping restrictions on how food can be marketed to young people may soon become a reality.

We've selected a holiday sampler of 10 PR-related articles, papers or trends that brought us cheer in 2009. Call it re-gifting if you like, but we feel these chestnuts are worth re-visiting...

Yesterday was my last day as Chair of the Council of Public Relations Firms. After two years serving in this position for the industry's trade association, I have passed the gavel to APCO's Margery Kraus.

And what a two-year span it has been: An economic meltdown, America elected its first African American president, and an ongoing global and digital revolution which continues to shape our industry's future.

The Council's recent Client Advisory Committee's fall meeting featured two exceptionally well-informed experts, both prominent in their respective fields, pollster, Scott Rasmussen and economist, David Wyss.

"We're entering a 'new normal' era of profound change that requires both top-down and down-up leadership," said keynote guest David Gergen during the annual Critical Issues Forum, sponsored by the Council of Public Relations Firms in New York City last week. "The American psyche has suffered serious bruises over the past ten years – from the technology bubble and 9/11- to the housing bubble, financial meltdown and a long series of corporate scandals...

As you are probably aware, 16 days ago the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had approved final revisions to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials (Guides).

In July, 80 percent of our members reported that new business pipelines were at least as strong, if not stronger than they were a year ago. This sentiment – an active pipeline – has also been the consensus at recent meetings in San Francisco, Boston and New York.

Of course, the pipeline is only a conduit, not the ultimate prize...

By Scott Chaikin, CEO, Dix & Eaton

A little preventive medicine could go a long way in keeping your business healthy in the months ahead.

The White House predicts that 20 to 40 percent of all Americans may develop H1N1 flu (also inaccurately referred to as swine flu) this season, and that 30,000 to 90,000 could die from it. While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a more conservative prognosis, it does expect H1N1 to hit more communities in the coming season than in the spring/summer 2009 outbreak.

Let's face it: Business has been challenging in 2009, particularly when compared to the strong growth we've seen over the past several years.  A global recession has forced many of our clients to tighten, and re-tighten, their budgetary belts. Here at Gibbs & Soell, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure that our clients receive outstanding service, partnering with them to develop and implement strategic programs that ultimately have a positive impact on their bottom line. We look to the Council for support of these efforts through its professional training initiatives, industry benchmarks, industry leadership forums and much, much more.

The news on the economy has slowly but surely become a little brighter over the past few months. Even more bullish have been recent forecasts for the public relations industry.

Two reports in particular published in the past month, one from Advertising Age (www.adage.com), the other from private equity firm, Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), portrayed public relations as one of the brightest lights in the media/marketing constellation.

Last month, the Council of Public Relations Firms (Council) and The Arthur W. Page Society hosted panel discussions in Chicago and New York City that featured the results of a recent FD/Forbes study, conducted in partnership the Council and the Association of Strategic Planning.

At the conclusion of the second session, it was clear to us that the content of the discussion was so good, so relevant, that it was important for us to share it with our readers...

By Matt Soriano, Member Services Coordinator, Council of Public Relations Firms

Summertime for businesses means not only softball leagues, company picnics and "fun Fridays," but also a wave of fresh new professionals eager to trade their commencement gowns for business attire. 

The Council of Public Relations Firms hosted more than 100 aspiring PR professionals (from 14 different member firms) two weeks ago at our annual "Internfest."  Collectively, this group was smart, energetic and motivated. And fortunate...

Best practices, according to Wikipedia, reflect "the belief that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc."

The best-read articles in this publication pretty accurately reflect what's important to PR practitioners. And what The Firm Voice does best is showcase a wide variety of essential best practices from America's leading public relations firms...

As leading business strategist Gary Hamel once famously observed, "the real problem with strategy is that while we can all recognize a great one when we see it, no one really knows where it comes from."

While the U.S. is currently in the 19th month of the "Great Recession," a recovery is on the horizon, according to most economists. 

During the past year and a half, many PR firms have taken a hard look at their business models and processes as they dealt with belt-tightening clients, and increased competition for new business.  This makes perfect sense, considering the environment; but are there other things that need to be considered?

By Matt Shaw, Senior Vice President, Director of Communications, Council of Public Relations Firms

Whenever our members have gathered over the years, discussions that have revolved around new business — specifically, Request for Proposals (RFPs) — have provoked passionate "debate."

For many public relations firms, requests for information (RFIs) and RFPs are critical to their new business pipelines and overall success, so it is easy to understand the emotion...

In the May 6 issue, we covered part one of Creating Consumer Value: Public Relations and the New Brand Strategy, which focused on three of seven areas "in which companies have begun to squeeze out more value for consumers through marketing. In each of these areas, the public relations industry and dedicated PR agencies in particular are proving themselves uniquely equipped to spearhead corporate value-enhancing efforts."

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of PR Firms

This is part one of a two-part White Paper from the Council of Public Relations Firms. The second installment will be published in The Firm Voice on May 20th. This paper will be published in its entirety later this month and posted on www.prfirms.org.

Almost a decade after Al and Laura Ries boldly proclaimed the "fall of advertising," it's become painfully apparent that traditional advertising no longer works quite so well as it used to.ⁱ In fact, with social media and peer-to-peer influence starting to affect the fortunes of companies in obvious ways, commentators are now wondering whether marketing itself is obsolete, even whether "customer service" or "listening" is the "new marketing."ⁱ This isn't merely idle talk; marketers are increasingly shifting their dollars away from TV and other traditional mass media and toward options like online. They are also dabbling with increasing sophistication in social media vehicles like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

By Matt Shaw, Senior Vice President, Director of Communications, Council of Public Relations Firms

When we started discussing ways to celebrate our 10th anniversary last summer, we knew that, whatever the forum or format, we wanted the focus to be on the great digital work being done by our member firms.  From there it was an easy decision to host in-market workshops for the non-profit community, which has always been an important partner to our industry. In a survey of our members last fall, more than 90% of firms indicated that they had active non-profit clients...

In the March 24th issue, we published the first half of a paper under development called the "Rationale for Hiring a Public Relations Firm." Points 1-4 covered public relations firms' ability to offer clients:

1. Ever Ready service:
2. Objective expertise:
3. Digital know-how:
4. Stakeholder Engagement and Influence:

Here are points 5–9:

Over the past few months, we have received inquiries — from members and others — relating to the value of hiring a public relations firm at a time when client organizations are cutting back on spending.

Those conversations were the inspiration behind this column.

What follows is part one of a two-part column. This is not meant to be the last word on the benefits of working with a public relations firm, but rather a thought starter that can be shared with people who might need support in selling in the services of an outside public relations firm (e.g. clients, procurement, prospects, etc.) ...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

The hiring of public relations firms by companies receiving financial support from the government has recently been in the news. Some media are asking why these companies are using taxpayer money to retain outside public relations counsel.

Public relations firms are some of the highly specialized consultants helping clients through these tough times. Public relations firms provide valuable market intelligence, research, perspective, expertise in social media, additional manpower and specific industry depth and experience...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

Let me start off by saying that this is the most unpredictable year I can remember. Projecting how the year will go is beyond challenging, as it seems the ground beneath us shifts every day.

Client budgets are more fluid than ever before, so getting commitments for sustained PR programs is difficult. RFPs are getting issued — and have picked up, in fact, from the 4th quarter — but they are frequently getting stuck in neutral.

By Matt Shaw, Senior Vice President, Director of Communications, Council of Public Relations Firms

The view from the 38th floor of the Empire State Building did not distract from the sharp, oftentimes expansive, views being shared at last week's NYC breakfast roundtable.

Twenty-seven agency executives turned out for the Council's first member roundtable of the year, hosted by Taylor at their New York City headquarters...

By Matt Shaw, Senior Vice President, Director of Communications, Council of Public Relations Firms

Looking down the barrel of a tough 2009, Firm Voice readers predicted that their biggest challenges this year would be: 1.) Building new business, 2.) Retaining client relationships, and 3.) Building your brand, according to our recent Reader survey.

The Council has a few additional surveys in the field right now that will drill down deeper into the current business environment, and will likely confirm these basic themes.

By Matt Shaw, Senior Vice President, Director of Communications, Council of Public Relations Firms

I'm always interested to see what the most viewed or emailed stories are on web sites like nytimes.com, cnn.com, prweek.com or wsj.com. It's a revealing snapshot of what people care about at a given moment in time.

In a similar vein, but with a much larger window, we compiled a list of the 10 most-read Firm Voice articles since we launched last March (41 issues). In this case, ranking is based on the number of click-thrus made from the weekly Firm Voice email...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

I've heard members say over the years that tough times always help them sharpen their focus on business.

This is one of those years. I too am an optimist, and I can't help but remind Council members that the opportunity to advance relationships with current and prospective clients remains strong, as is the need to adhere to your firm's strategic plan.

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

The Council of Public Relations Firms will once again partner with the Arthur W. Page Society and the Institute for Public Relations to present the Public Relations Leadership Forum, an intense seminar for high-performing managers at public relations firms, and Global 1000 corporate communications professionals whose primary responsibilities include working with public relations agencies.

This two-day program takes place on February 4-6, 2009 at the Atlanta Airport Marriott.

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

The Council and its members are currently running a series of six digital workshops for non-profits as part of our 10th anniversary. I moderated the first workshop, held in Los Angeles last week, which featured digital experts from member firms The Rogers Group, PainePR, Burson-Marsteller and Ketchum.

As noted in Paul Taaffe's interview this week, '09 is going to be a challenging year, but our industry's embrace of digital, our strategic know-how and delivery of digital programs, will be key to our growth as an industry.

By Matt Marcus, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, contributing reporter

A collection of top communications professionals assembled in New York last month for the Council's Client Advisory Committee fall meeting, to discuss and debate the lessons learned from the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Moderated by Peter Campisi (Weber Shandwick), the panel discussion featured guest speakers Jack Daly (SVP, Communications, McDonald's), Gordon Kane (founder, Victory Sports Marketing; former Director of Marketing and Brand Development for the USOC and VP of Olympic Properties), and Erin Weinberg (Managing Partner, Taylor).

Olympic Growth

The Council of Public Relations Firms' Client Advisory Committee gathered last month to discuss the historic presidential election of '08 and its impact on business, with extra attention paid to the credit crisis and energy.

Rasmussen Reports on the Election...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

I recently attended the Institute for Public Relations' (IPR) annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner in New York. The headliner that night was Sir Martin Sorrell, Group CEO of WPP. Sir Martin has always had strong opinions on business trends in general and where our industry is heading, specifically, and that night was no different.

Here are some of the most memorable quotes from his speech...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

Retaining your best people will be vital in the coming months. Clients will demand it; your firm's prosperity depends on it.

So what are you doing about it?

The Council is currently offering a webinar series for its members in partnership with Deloitte Consulting on important new workforce planning and compensation trends...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

Paul Holmes, editor of the Holmes Report (http://holmesreport.com/), spoke at our recent 10th anniversary dinner celebration at the Bryant Park Grill in New York City. More than 100 members were on hand to hear Paul's always-informed take on the PR business — where it's come from and where it's heading.

Here are some highlights from Paul's remarks:

Globally, 2008 should be the best year in the history of the public relations business, and the outlook for 2009 is pretty good as well. Here's why:

By Matt Shaw, Vice President, Council of Public Relations Firms

"Not only will PR firms survive, I believe the entire profession today is looking at the biggest opportunity to grow both their influence and size since Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays founded modern public relations nearly 100 years ago," said keynote speaker David D'Alessandro...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

Despite the current turbulent economic conditions, the public relations industry looks like it will expand in 2008.

Projecting how the PR industry will perform next year, where the economy’s dark clouds loom large, is proving more difficult.

In a quick survey conducted October 1-10, we asked our members to respond to several questions related to financial performance. The following highlights reflect the aggregated data submitted online by 61 firms.

10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Welcome, opening remarks and video introduction

10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Keynote address by David D’Alessandro, former CEO, John Hancock Financial Services

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. A Socratic debate among agency and client leaders will provide the audience with a glimpse into the pivotal discussions that take place behind closed doors. Moderated by Len Schlesinger, president, Babson College; former COO, Limited Brands

Featured speakers include:

• Jack Bergen, SVP, Corporate Affairs and Marketing, Siemens Corporation
• Harris Diamond, CEO, Weber Shandwick
• John Onoda, Sr. Consultant, Fleishman Hillard; formerly head of comms, GM
• Jim Sluzewski, VP, Corporate Communications & External Affairs, Macy's, Inc.

12:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch/Interview: Jeff Hayzlett, Chief Business Development Officer, Eastman Kodak Company interviewed by The Wall Street Journal's Suzanne Vranica

The meltdown on Wall Street has sent shockwaves around the world, hammering an already bruised global economy. In the world of public relations firms, we absorb hits the same way we experience success — through our clients.

Therefore, we want to use this PR Matters column as a forum for our readers to share their observations about this historic and tumultuous moment and what impact it is having on your business and PR activities in general. Click on the comments button at the end of this column, or send your ideas directly to Kathy Cripps at (kcripps@prfirms.org).

By Matt Shaw

What will the public relations firm of the future look like?

This was one of the more provocative questions posed during the recent "Public Relations Leadership Forum", co-sponsored by the Council, the Institute for Public Relations and the Arthur W. Page Society.

Attendees to the San Francisco event were equally divided between PR firms pros and corporate communicators. They came from all over the country as well as from Poland and Turkey...

Ten years ago, in the fall of 1998, 39 firms came together to create the Council of Public Relations Firms.

As a former owner of a healthcare public relations firm and a founding Council Board member, it gives me great satisfaction to celebrate the 10th anniversary with our 100-plus member firms and the many thousands of employees they represent. This is a time to celebrate, which we will. In addition, to commemorating this milestone, we will be rolling out member-led workshops for non-profit organizations in several U.S. markets starting later this fall and continuing through the first quarter of '09.

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

What are you hearing about the economy? How are PR firms doing? Will they make their numbers? The economy and its uncertain trajectory is part of almost every business conversation these days. The media certainly feeds this appetite by reporting many variations on the same theme ("Staycations" anyone?).

I'll start by reporting that the PR firm business through the end of the second quarter was quite healthy, and there continues to be considerable momentum in the industry...

When it comes to the profession of public relations—the business models, traditions and assumptions — what is the most dangerous idea?

Dangerous ideas challenge popular conceptions and, if true, threaten to cause major shifts in what people do and how they think.

On October 23, 2008, the Council will probe this provocative notion at this year's Critical Issues Forum, which will also commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Council...

By Kathy Cripps, President, Council of Public Relations Firms

In a service-focused environment such as a public relations firm, understanding all the issues connected with clients is of paramount importance. But with so much bandwidth occupied with the daily demands of client activities, agencies may not always have time to consider all the tangential issues, many of which originate in Washington, D.C., that may impact the PR business.

By Melinda Zurich, Member Services Coordinator, Council of Public Relations Firms

People refer to them as Gen Y-ers, Millennials or digital natives. They are the generation that grew up on the Internet. They have computer and online skills that far exceed any other generation before it. They use online social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, and Twitter everyday to connect with their peer groups, and to chronicle their lives in the world's biggest fishbowl...

A week ago Tuesday — at 3:15 a.m. Eastern Time, to be precise — Willie Randolph was fired as manager of the New York Mets after months of speculation and much twisting in the wind. Was he ultimately to blame for the team's lackluster performance? It's hard to know that, but the overwhelming consensus was that management handled his termination poorly.

When you run Procter & Gamble (P&G), lots of people take note of what you do. When A.G. Lafley took over as CEO in June 2000, he admits in his new book "The Game-Changer," that "P&G was struggling." Business was performing "below expectation."