It’s never been more important for the PR industry to understand real business processes and pressures, rather than spouting soft takes and spinning ‘perfect world’ scenarios.
As the short-lived tenure of British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, starkly demonstrated, there’s a huge gulf between rhetoric and reality. A person can passionately believe their way is the right way, but if you don’t have the persuasive power (or indeed facts) to carry the world with you, it won’t end well.
And it’s not just politicians that could do with a hard dose of reality. There has been a recent outbreak of PR agencies painting ‘perfect world’ scenarios to prospective clients on social media, which instead show how painfully out of touch they are with the challenges faced by most brands – especially in the consumer electronics sector. Loftily proclaiming how an ideal launch should run with zero acknowledgement of the unprecedented times we’re living through is naïve at best and damaging at worst.
Notions of immovable, set piece launch strategies were idealistic even before the COVID pandemic upended the world, exacerbating existing component shortages and disrupting global supply chains. Inflationary pressures, energy prices, the Ukraine conflict and much more have fed into a perfect storm of uncertainty for brands.
Even the biggest brands with the deepest pockets have been affected, with products from cars to phones canned because they simply weren’t viable to make. If Apple, Samsung and Tesla are struggling to get launches off the ground, imagine what it’s like for the average brand before you muse about product roadmap choices.
The ‘permacrisis’ is squeezing retailers, too – and that pressure gets passed onto brands, who are expected to provide bigger margins, more marketing support and extra guarantees around stock availability. Remember that PR sages, the next time you’re querying why brand x isn’t in retailer y, or why a company is prioritising consumer-facing assets.
PR professionals need to be adaptable and fast-thinking, able to deliver the best possible support even when strategies changes. Here at Little Red Rooster, we’ve got several team members, including myself, who’ve worked in-house at brands and seen the myriad ways the how, what, where and when of communications need to change to best meet business needs.
Our wider advice to PRs would be to educate yourself. Don’t just scan the media for client coverage; dive into the business press and any specialist journals to thoroughly understand your industry. Read the annual reports and financial filings of the brands you work with, brands you want to work with and brands your clients compete with. Understand their commercial and operating priorities and pressures, and always consider the global picture, not just local concerns.
And armed with all that knowledge… expect the unexpected. From extreme weather to industrial action, events can conspire to make product roadmaps as reliable as politicians’ promises.
PR professionals should still advise brands on best practice, but that advice needs to be tailored, not generic pronouncements demonstrating as much understanding as ‘let them eat cake’. As the aphorism runs: “Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think.”
