Page 35 - AdNews April 2020
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 www.adnews.com.au | April 2020 35
             has that expertise, and manage the project to ensure it is synchronised, rather than be a jack of all trades,” she says. “It always works out to be more efficient if you do this.”
The rise of the micro-influencer
“With the increased trust consumers have in the advice of friends and family over companies, it’s no wonder micro-influencers have higher engagement rates than macro-influencers, according to multiple studies,” says Lacey.
“This will no doubt continue into 2020. There is no denying that word of mouth and personal recommendations will trump any advertising or PR campaign, which is why we have seen success with the use of micro-inf luencers.
“However, the influencer is only one part of the PR equation. A good campaign is synchronised to ensure that the messaging in on point. Consistency will create authenticity and increase trust in a brand.”
Sweet spot
Richard Brett, CEO of opr agency, says the rate of change is enormous. “It’s harder and harder, and more exciting than ever before, as we find new ways to get our stories across to the audiences our clients care about,” he says.
“After the transition to social and digital, we are now really excited by the integration of sales enablement into earned campaigns that include earned, social content and performance marketing as well. We have now executed a few of these campaigns and it is a really interesting growth area.”
One of the most successful campaigns reached 3.8 million Australians with 9500 target customers visiting the campaign microsite with a 6.34% conversion to enquiry.
And corporate reputation work and purpose-led campaigns work are on the rise. Trust is crumbling everywhere and people are looking for the genuine message.
“...please don’t come to us with the PR brief, come to us with a business problem and let us look at how we can solve that with you and your partners through the lens of culture.”
Roberto Pace, managing
director, Eleven & FleishmanHillard at TBWA
“More employees, activists and investors are not only holding com- panies to higher standards when it comes to the environment, sourc- ing and employment practice, but with governments around the world failing to deal with some of the world’s biggest issues, we are seeing the growth of corporate rep- utation work,” says Brett.
“We are also seeing the demand for purpose-led campaigns that see companies work to solve global, national and community issues.”
PR is also growing in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment. “In an era of rapid transformation, we are also seeing CEOs realise the importance of a highly effective, people/employee-centric culture,” says Brett. “Our work in the employee experience, cul- ture-change and internal communi- cations area is growing.
“Clients want experienced prac- titioners who are deep experts in their industry or sector, not just generalists.
“We are also seeing the rise of more technical roles to supplement the traditional PR generalists. We are seeing agencies become more diversified with experts in strategy, data, creativity, content, trend pre- diction, influencer and sales enablement.”
PR and ad agencies together create a sweet spot.
“Studies clearly indicate that when both advertising and PR are used together, campaigns are most effective,” says Brett. “We would also argue that both have slightly different roles. Advertising is (despite the fragmentation of media con- sumption) still incredibly good at delivering awareness quickly, whereas PR can be more of slower build, but is much more effective at delivering credibility, authenticity, reputation and attitude change.”
He says the PR industry is grow- ing as the world becomes more earned-first and social. “It is also true to say that the Australian adver- tising agency as a whole is predicted to grow between now and 2023, but most of that growth is coming from internet media spend,” he says. “Creative advertising shops aren’t necessarily shrinking, but there are more headwinds as they navigate changing consumption.”
 












































































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