Public Relations in 2006

Every year, the PRSA Chicago board honors one leader in the PR industry that has had a big effect on change for the year.

Last night’s honoree was Ketchum CEO, Ray Kotcher.  A very nice man who has ties to Chicago, he spoke about this year’s major changes.

The seven headlines he discussed were:

1.       New media

2.       The pace of globalization of the PR business

3.       The extraordinary volatility in the world and the role that PR and corporate social responsibility can play in beginning to address some of these issues

4.       The year of employee engagement

5.       Recruiting and retaining talent

6.       PR measurement clearly showing strong return-on-investment

7.       The extraordinary relevance of public relations as compared to other communications disciplines   

Additionally he discussed the very nature of ethics in our profession and how important it is, especially now in the day and age of social media relations and corporate social responsibility. 

We couldn’t agree more.