Author: Jon Meakin, President, North America at Clarity PR.

What a year 2020 has been. The global pandemic has touched every person on the planet, one way or another, reminding us how connected we are – and how fragile.

The PR and Communications profession has had to respond to this radically changed world, and as always there have been hits and misses – for every successful public health campaign, there have been any number of tone-deaf corporate announcements or brand initiatives. Some brands have been as damaged by their ill-judged responses to COVID-19 as they have been by the virus itself. 

And the pandemic has affected those of us working within the profession, too. Many talented individuals have found themselves out of work as corporate comms teams and agencies alike have been forced to slash their budgets, shelve campaigns and lay off or furlough staff. Meanwhile, those left on the front lines of PR and communication have had to grapple with a media landscape whose every corner is suffused with COVID and the resultant economic impact. 

Those of us concerned with the measurement and evaluation of communication have had to have some difficult conversations. With so many corporate comms teams battening down the hatches, many organizations have had precious little to measure; and in the agency world, many of us have been forced to argue against having evaluation cut from the budget, and make the case that it is not just a ‘nice to have’, but essential, especially during times of crisis.

So yes, 2020 has changed everything. 

The Obstacle is the Way 

But, as Winston Churchill is first credited as saying, you never want to let a good crisis go to waste: This unique moment in time presents an opportunity for those of us concerned with demonstrating the value of PR, and of effective planning in particular. Put another way, in the words of the ancient stoic philosophy: The obstacle is the way. 

Think of it this way: If you are lost at sea, in uncharted waters, what do you need more than anything? A map. A navigation system. A means of charting a course that avoids the most treacherous waters and will deliver you safely to your destination. 

That’s what good planning is all about.

But, to extend the metaphor, the maps we have are largely useless. They are fine at showing us where we’ve been but the stars have realigned; we need new maps. 

In other words, if we accept that everything has changed, and that there is unlikely to be a ‘snapping back’ to how life was pre-pandemic, then using historical data to guide the future direction of our PR plans just won’t cut it. We need to undertake new research that takes account of the world as it is today, in 2020, and how it is likely to be in 2021; research into the behaviors and attitudes, fears and desires of our target audiences; into the way different forms of content are received and engaged with; into the types of story that are cutting through the COVID-laden media landscape. 

Maybe I’m just a PR optimist, but I see an enormous opportunity to create new maps, to show the way to clients and colleagues who are still all at sea. November is not only a time when communication professionals are busy planning for 2021, it is also Measurement Month, and as Chair of AMEC’s Agency Group I couldn’t think of a better time to be re-framing the conversation with clients about the impact of Comms, and how effective planning, measurement and evaluation is the means by which we go about proving the value. Let the message go out loud and clear from AMEC Agency members: It’s not a line item to be cut, it’s an essential investment. 

So yes, 2020 has changed everything. But it has also changed nothing. The need for PR and Comms to prove its value is as urgent now as it has ever been.