PR, marcomms, recruitment and all the bits in between

Market trends

Our latest analysis of new assignments coming onto the market has highlighted a definite dip in the in-house sector, with as many as 40% less roles now available than at this time last year. So is this the beginning of the long-promised collapse which will have us all living in tents and surviving on out-of date Pot Noodles by the end of the year? Well perhaps not. Instead this phenomenon seems to be part of a ‘correction’ to the spike in demand we saw from in-house departments in the first half of 2007. At the time the accepted wisdom was that PR should be pulled in-house wherever possible so that costs could be kept under tight control and ROI monitored more closely. Ironically the nervousness engendered by our old friend the credit crunch has actually caused the opposite effect. Many organisations now take the view that headcounts should be kept down to a minimum and PR support is best farmed out to an agency where it can be turned up or down depending on the circumstances of the market. So not so much a downturn as a u-turn. Watch this space for the next big thing in in-house strategy.

….and the disappearing job

Although some commentators have highlighted Boris Johnson’s victory in the London electoral race as a masterpiece of media management (mainly by getting him to keep as quiet as possible during the campaign) it seems that the capital’s new mayor will not be showing much gratitude to the marcomms profession in his new role. Although he has appointed former BBC correspondent (and very short-term Fleishmann-Hillard consultant) Guto Harri, as his new director of communications, he is also planning to axe up to a fifth of marketing and PR jobs within the GLA. Biting the hand that feeds perhaps?

 

 

The most difficult job

We all have different ideas about what would be the most difficult job, but according to The Times, it is currently held by a certain Katharine Witty. Those of you who spent the early months of the year asleep may have missed the (hopefully) final instalment in the ‘who killed Diana?’ saga, where at the bargain price of £7 million worth of tax payers money we got to find out that it was an accident after all (bargain). Featuring prominently in the background of these events was said Ms Witty who is Mohammed Al Fayed’s official spokesperson. Given the nature of some of Mr Al Fayed’s public pronouncements (suggesting the Duke of Edinburgh was a closet Nazi and related to Frankenstein, for example), it’s perhaps not surprising that Max Clifford described the role as ‘challenging, very difficult’ and as The Times puts out, he is a man who should know as he represents Kerry Katona. A graduate of well-known hot house, St Paul’s school and Oxford, Ms Witty cut her teeth in local newspapers before moving to the BBC and then Sky as royal correspondent. Sounds like an excellent CV and when she’s ready to move on we’d be  more than pleased to hear from her.