PR industry ‘coping better’ with recession

Posted in PR

A trio of recent surveys seem to indicate that the PR industry is coping better with the (now-ex) recession than other marketing sectors, as reported in PR Week.

The latest IPA / BDO Bellwether survey revealed that whilst overall marketing spend fell by 7.2% during Q4 2009, the ‘all other’ category, into which PR fits, saw just a 4% budget decline. Budget cuts were also the slowest since Q1 2008.

Kingston Smith W1’s Financial Performance of Marketing Services Companies Annual Survey also expected PR agencies to survive the recession better than other marketing sectors.

The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) Trends Barometer for the last quarter in 2009 reports that 62.5% of respondents (from the top 40 agencies) reported feeling more optimistic for their consultancies, while 43.7% saw client budget increase during the quarter.