How do you sum up a yr like 2024? It was notable in so many uncommon methods.
It was the yr of elections, as round 60 international locations went to the polls.
Many of the incumbents misplaced the election or vital vote share, together with President Joe Biden’s Democrats in probably the most high-profile of all of the polls within the largest yr ever for elections.
Amongst democracies starting from the U.S. to the U.Ok., Australia, Japan, South Africa, Italy and Sri Lanka, 80% of incumbents misplaced or struggled.
We picked up on many of those points in our last podcast of the yr, with White Home communications director Ben LaBolt, which is nicely value trying out.
Additionally, you will be capable of hear from LaBolt at our high-profile annual PRDecoded convention in New York Metropolis on February 4, 10 days after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
With Elon Musk at present taking part in Rasputin to Trump’s Tsar Nicholas II (solely metaphorically, in fact), it is going to be fascinating — and a bit scary — to see the brand new administration’s financial and political methods play out in actuality.
Which of the insurance policies will prove merely to be sabre-rattling and which is able to come to fruition? What would be the impression of draconian new tariffs, each on relations with key allies and subsequent inflationary implications? How will the immigration crackdown truly work in follow?
Both means, enterprise leaders have clearly determined to interact with the President-elect in a means they actually didn’t throughout Trump’s first time period in 2016. Even “Tim Apple” joined Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago, following a stream of different large tech executives all the way down to Florida to pay pilgrimage.
One of many components LaBolt identified on this week’s podcast was how the proper had achieved a a lot better job of making a robust media ecosystem than the left, particularly in attracting a younger male demographic who look as much as the likes of Joe Rogan and others for his or her life view inspiration. He added that whereas the Democrats did nicely among the many 20 million Individuals who watch the nightly information on cable, there are 300 million others who by no means watch TV and devour content material in completely other ways.
Many PR professionals have been gradual to catch on to those traits and lists of influential right- and left-leaning streamers have been doing the rounds of businesses after the election as shoppers requested them to get their manufacturers and executives in entrance of those new audiences.
The largest story in advertising and marketing and promoting of the previous twenty years broke simply final week, as Omnicom introduced its intention to accumulate rival holding firm Interpublic Group, which might create a $25 billion behemoth if it passes regulatory and shareholder approval.
The 2 slightly glum leaders who led the announcement, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG boss Philippe Krakowsky, waxed lyrical in regards to the synergies of making a tech firm benefiting from the respective teams’ two main platforms — Omnicom’s Flywheel and Omni, and IPG’s Acxiom and Work together.
Job cuts and efficiencies are clearly on the horizon, and belts will clearly be tightened within the runup to the deal closure, anticipated to be within the early second half of 2025. IPG people will likely be questioning how they’ll ship on Omnicom’s notoriously excessive margin fee expectations.
On the PR entrance, IPG’s iconic corporations Weber and Golin are making ready for all times underneath the Omnicom PR Group umbrella. Excessive-profile CEOs together with Gail Heimann and John Saunders took their depart earlier than the acquisition was introduced – Susan Howe and JJ Carter will take up these management reins.
Weber and Golin have been among the many profitable performers as PR lastly broke by at Cannes in its eponymous Lions class and past. Golin received the PR Lions Grand Prix for Specsavers’ The Misheard Model, starring Rick Astley. Weber’s First Edible Mascot for Pop-Tarts received the Model Expertise & Activation Grand Prix, Edelman received a Titanium Lion for The Transfer to -15° for DP World and Ogilvy PR received the Social & Digital Grand Prix for Michael CeraVe.
It was nice to see and confirmed PR corporations competing face to face with promoting and artistic businesses and profitable, each within the PR Lions but additionally different high-profile classes. Now that the seal has been damaged, hopefully we will cancel the limitless navel gazing about how PR can’t win in its personal class at Cannes.
It additionally marked the rebirth of Ogilvy PR as an entity, which had already been registered on the PRWeek Awards in March, when the long-lasting WPP agency walked away with a giant bunch of wins. The legacy of founder David Ogilvy lives on and it was good to listen to from Ogilvy’s world CEO Devika Bulchandani on The PR Week podcast how his affect is infused throughout the fashionable company and PR and social leaders comparable to Charlotte Tansill.
One other huge company story in 2024, additionally at WPP, was BCW merging with Hill & Knowlton and rebranding as Burson underneath the management of Corey duBrowa. As you’ll count on in a course of like this, there’s nonetheless a major quantity of bedding-in happening and the newly branded entity has but to see the fruits of its construction in exhausting monetary progress. However WPP will likely be seeking to make some performs in 2025, particularly whether it is usurped because the world’s largest holding firm by Omnicom as the largest advertising and marketing providers firm on this planet.
Edelman shed greater than 300 staffers post-Thanksgiving, and stated goodbye to some actual bastions of the agency, comparable to Julie Biber. Learn the feedback on Biber’s LinkedIn submit saying her departure and also you understand what number of senior individuals’s careers within the trade she influenced. After a 9% income drop within the U.S. in 2023 and a projected 8% fall in 2024, CEO Richard Edelman will likely be searching for a bounceback subsequent yr, which in January marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the company’s Belief Barometer.
Alternatives are undoubtedly opening up for midsized businesses as expertise turns into disillusioned by the concentrate on tech, costcutting and squeezing additional margins on the holding firm corporations. The following six months will likely be a main alternative for them to use the consolidation and confusion.
The stunning homicide on a Manhattan avenue just a few weeks in the past of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson produced a rare response in some quarters, with 41% of younger individuals aged 18-29 saying they discovered the killing “acceptable,” in keeping with a survey by Emerson School Polling.
That response mirrored many popularity points for the medical insurance trade and different associated actions that firms in these sectors will likely be addressing as we communicate. However it additionally highlighted the significance of safety and security for executives, and never simply on the highest ranges of organizations. That’s why PRWeek has a session on spokesperson security at our annual PRDecoded convention in NYC on February 4.
The incident brought about insurance coverage firms to tug down govt bios from their web sites and rethink presences on social media. This anti-business sentiment will inform many comms crew’s methods round govt thought management and safety, and new playbooks are little question being written.
Dow Jones’ Ashok Sinha appeared on The PR Week podcast in March to mark the anniversary of Evan Gershkovich’s detainment in a Russian jail for doing his job as a journalist. On the time prospects for The Wall Avenue Journal reporter’s launch seemed grim. However one excessive level of 2024 was Gershkovich’s launch on the finish of July as a part of a bunch of prisoner swaps between the U.S., its allies and Russia. As free speech, freedom of the press and the security of journalists comes underneath rising assault, it was a uncommon second to have fun.
As we attain the top of the yr, I used to be unhappy to listen to of the passing of trade pioneer Barbara Hunter. One among my favourite recollections of 2024 was interviewing Barbara in August for an episode of The PR Week podcast. She was nonetheless sharp as a tack in her 90s and a real pioneer in PR and promoting, working an company on Madison Avenue on the peak of the Mad Males period, earlier than organising her eponymous company Hunter PR. I used to be so glad I acquired to speak along with her. RIP Barbara, and this is a bit celebration of a beautiful profession.
Subsequent yr goes to be one other extraordinary 12 months wherein PR professionals will likely be known as upon to ship extra worth than ever, usually with fewer sources. The company sector faces unprecedented upheaval, as Omnicom navigates regulatory approval and absorbs Interpublic, Burson tries to show the worth of its historic merger, and WPP considers a considerably remoted future.
PRWeek thanks you in your help in 2024 and we’ll be with you each step of the way in which subsequent yr as these extraordinary instances proceed. Completely satisfied Holidays!