Bigger picture: PR in pole position to ride turbulence.

One of my pet hates as a former BBC and Sky News journalist are headlines – particularly those which scream at us from the front pages – which spell out the glaringly obvious. This week’s PR Week is no exception. Dominating the front page is WPP CEO Martin Sorrell who ‘forecasts tough few quarters for industry’. Having predicted earlier this year that PR was ‘well placed’ for a challenging 2009, Sorrell’s U turn was sparked by a quarterly 6.1 slump in revenues compared with the previous year. As a respected economic forecaster, surely he should have seen this dip coming, particularly when the recession’s global maelstrom was heading our way 12 months ago. Leaving Sorrell’s pessimism aside, there’s some great industry news to celebrate. Although fee income for 13 of the top 20 PR agencies may have stagnated or gone backwards in 2008, average growth across the biggest 150 was an acceptable 10%. At Quest (not yet in the top 150 but ambitious to be there – watch this space!), we achieved 20% growth  and welcome the vision of the director general Francis Ingham of the PRCA that PR is in ‘pole position’ to weather the economic slump. Now that’s an upbeat and inspiring headline to keep us buzzed!