Pandemic Impacts
What impact did pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions have on PR consultancies? Emily Styles canvassed some leading practitioners to find out
While the advertising sector in Ireland has been marked by consolidation over the past decade, not so in public relations. In fact last year two leading agencies broke free of their overseas ownership through MBOs.
Drury was owned by Omnicom for two decades and 2020 saw managing director Anne-Marie Curran and colleagues Billy Murphy, Sinead Birt and Paddy Hughes buy back the practice, which was established in 1989. “Under management ownership our team will be even more agile and innovative, exploiting the fast-moving evolution of communications consultancy,” says Curran. “The consequences of the pandemic have reinforced the critical role of effective communications for brands and businesses.
“What this crisis and indeed the past financial crisis has taught us is that the sector is exceptionally resilient and adaptable to changing circumstances,” Curran adds. “As the months of 2020 rolled on, our outlook improved, levels of uncertainty evaporated, we got on with the job remotely and had a great result for the year.”
Another MBO was effected by Siobhan Molloy, managing director of the Weber Shandwick office in Dublin, a consultancy originally established by Eileen Gleeson and others in 1989. The company has a net worth of €2m at the end of 2019, including balance sheet cash of €1.7m.
According to Molloy, a director of the business since 2003: “It is a win-win for me. Operating as an independent agency gives us additional opportunities and agility to develop our business in this market while remaining as the Irish partner to the international Weber Shandwick network. We have local autonomy for the business, whilst staying close to our expert colleagues across the Weber Shandwick world.
“To be able to make this change with the support and partnership of IPG and Weber Shandwick’s senior management team was terrific and reflects the progressive leadership of the company.”
Molloy adds that the Covid pandemic has reinforced the value of strategic communications. “Our advice and creative tactics were integral to our clients and their organisations, who continued to successfully operate as well as those deeply impacted by restrictions,” says Molloy. “For the latter, communications and public affairs were critical to stakeholder engagement, to inform and influence solutions to the difficulties and hardship faced.”
Owen Cullen Cullen Communications
The pandemic and associated restrictions caused an immediate global slowdown that pushed most business sectors, including PR, into survival mode. Apart from those lucky few whose clients thrived because they were in the ‘right’ business, most agencies saw a significant shrinking of activity and revenue, as clients postponed or cancelled events, campaigns, launches and other activity.
However, even as these cutbacks were taking place, consultancies found themselves busy as clients pressed the crisis button and required assistance with regard to communicating urgent health, safety and continuity messages to staff and customers.
Although all interactions were pushed online, busyness was a defining characteristic of the year. For ourselves, the pandemic caused some movement in our client roster as some opted to hit the pause button. Despite cutbacks, we have also had good new business wins, showing that companies recognise the value of PR.
Sharon Murphy Wilson Hartnell
In terms of business continuity, communications has fulfilled a critical function throughout the pandemic. Whilst the lockdown restrictions posed challenges for business in general, we were able to respond and develop solutions to overcome the challenges. Even amid the pandemic, there were plenty of opportunities, which perhaps required us to take more risks. Our strategic consulting work increased during this time, and being part of the Ogilvy and WPP networks was a real advantage for us and our clients.
Paul Allen Paul Allen & Associates
The pandemic afforded us the opportunity to launch our campaign, ‘We Say Crises Makes Reputation’. While many others in the industry may have dialled down, we sought out the new business opportunities that the pandemic created, resulting in several and high-profile public affairs campaigns. We developed and managed the ‘Irish For Biden’ campaign. The strapline was ‘Call a Cousin, Ring a Relative, Phone a Friend’, and as events have shown, it was a huge success.
Darren Hughes MediaConsult
In the midst of any crisis people look for certainty. Our response to lockdown was to assure clients that we were there with them for the long haul, and to make them relevant to the news agenda. We worked with many to see where they displayed Covid innovation within their field. Charities such as Debra Ireland highlighted people’s experience with isolation and we demonstrated the innovation shown by Ireland's local authorities. Despite a tougher business environment, we gained market share.
Jonathan Healy Healy Communications
Covid-19 created a very challenging environment for the companies we support. We ended up with a two-tier structure: organisations that were significantly impacted and those for whom it was business as usual. The importance of effective communication was never more evident, and our broad media experience helped deliver that message at what was a very noisy time. We have some new clients whom we have yet to meet in person, but hopefully that can be put to rights in 2021.
Pat Walsh Murray Group
The pandemic brought uncertainty, which was unsettling at times but also presented an opportunity to get even closer to our clients at an existential tim e for many of them, and one when communication plays such a critical role.
As a full-service agency working across diverse sec tors and organisations we were somewhat protected, as reduced activity in some areas was offset by very intensive communication and stakeholder activity in others, not least for clients engaged in capital raising and business transformation initiatives.
Kerryann Conway The Hive Agency
Obviously the impact of the pandemic has been huge for every sector, with each feeling its way to see what is and is not possible within the fluctuating guidelines. I think sensibility and consumer data insights have been the difference between producing tone-deaf campaigns and world-class, best-practice PR campaigns.
Jonathan Neilan FTI Consulting
2020 was a year of mixed fortunes for clients. Some clients, such as those in pharma, life sciences and business services, had standout years. Others in more direc tly affected sectors had to manage the adverse effect of being largely shut down overnight. This brought challenges in terms of workforce engagement, shareholder communication and business continuity considerations.
What was consistent with all of our client engagements, was the need for effective communication in a new environment. Whether it was internal communications, communicating to investors, the media or other key stakeholders, clients were very aware of the importance of maintaining clear communications during this time.
Michael O’Keeffe Teneo
As all our worlds became smaller and we transitioned to working from home, our clients needed us as independent, external sounding boards more than ever before. It was lost on no-one in Irish business that staying connected, and communicating clearly and purposefully with all stakeholders, is at the heart of any success f ul strategy.
Some parts of the business were busier than ever, such as crisis management, government affairs, organisational design and digital content creation. Others were impacted by exposure to sectors such as sport and hospitality. As we have Ireland’s largest sports and sponsorship practice, we could see up close th e issues facing that par ticular industry, which has thankfully recovered somewhat.
Jim Devlin Cunningham Devlin
Opportunities to meet clients and other stakeholders at events were clearly off the table when the pandemic struck. We provide conference PR support for a number of trade unions. These events went online and were conducted very well, with plenty of debate and engagement with members. Consultation support for clients engaged in infrastructure and real estate developments have also gone online.
James McCann ClearStory International
One of the most fascinating aspec ts of this period was the ability to almost look through time. The sudden impact of lockdown and restrictions first came into effect in Southeast Asia. The conversations we were having with clients on that side of the world were almost polar opposite to those in Europe and North America, where there was still some denial about what was about to happen.
In the run-up to the first lockdown there was a great degree of uncertainty around how clients would respond to the challenge, and how our team would need to adapt. The first four weeks were by far the most dif ficult, with some clients in the travel tech and events space struggling to find their feet as the lockdowns took hold across Europe and Southeast Asia. However, the technology sector as a whole held up well and we noticed a sharp rebound by Q3, as clients pivoted their business models and new prospects came on board.
Roisin O’Hea O’Hea PR
Like most consultancies we had plans in place for client launches and events from April 2020 onwards, usually our busiest time for this type of work, and these were either postponed or went virtual. We’ve been working virtually for over ten months now. PR consultants spend a lot of their time on email and phone in normal times, so we are just spending more time on both. However, we look forward to physical launches and events later this year, as I believe most people miss the face-to-face interactions.
Paul Hayes Beachhut PR
I think the PR industry came into its own during Covid, as trusted sources became all the more vital for survival in a scary time. It was a tough time for our clients in the travel tech space, and others that were primarily consumer facing such as fashion tech. Mainly it was a very busy time, as PR became the main communication focus in a fast-changing environment. Founders who I work with had communication challenges internally and externally as the world pivoted on its axis.
Eimear Hurley Carr Communications
Overall, I think the industry has responded incredibly well to the impacts of lockdowns and associated restrictions. There is a greater focus on areas like internal communications and stakeholder engagement. The need for factual, unambiguous information in order to create awareness and build trust has never been more critical.
What we found challenging in the early days of lockdown was the need for everything to be filtered through the prism of Covid. Our role as communicators was to find ways to work within the immediate focus on a global and urgent emergency, and remind people that longer-term challenges like climate change, housing and Brexit still require attention.
Within our own business, the biggest impact was working from home. I think this has actually improved our relationships with clients and each other - there’s a shared sense of we’re all working through this together.
David Coyle Thinkhouse
Thinkhouse has been fortunate in that many of our brands are in the FMCG sector, and these brands stayed active throughout 2020 and into 2021. We continue to win new business during the pandemic, such as the global social and digital business for Jameson, and added new brands like Benecol, Coty, Nomad Foods and IMMA.
Our full service offering across our insights, strategy, creative, digital, PR and events teams has proved a successful model. Many of our brands have extended our responsibility to include more of our services as their need for flexibility, creativity, consistency and speed grows.
David O’Brien Relevant PR
2020 was not a time for waffle. Our motto for ourselves and our client communications was ‘Be Relevant, Be Useful’. It is an approach that enabled us to win new brands, and really leverage the talent and expertise of our clients by promoting their skills and data-driven insights, in a manner that was both helpful and informative.
Nigel Heneghan Heneghan
There was a swift and positive response by the public relations sector as it calibrated quickly to ensure the market was well served. Our team responded well and outputs and outcomes continued to be of a consistently high standard. The biggest issue for us during the pandemic has been rent.
Ann-Marie O'Sullivan AM O'Sullivan PR
The most significant impact of Covid-19 was on consultancies that specialise in hospitality and travel, and in general, there was an immediate impact on photocalls and live events which has continued. For our agency, the main impact was the overnight move to working from home. Although we have invested in revamping the office in preparation for a return, we have followed the government advice and have not returned to the office since March 2020.
The cost of hiring a PR agency or consultant depends on a variety of factors including campaign objectives, strategy and execution, as well as other variables such as whether the agency is retained on a project basis or for an ongoing period of time.
The representative body for PR firms in Ireland is the Public Relations
Consultants Association. Member firms have been audited and verified by the Consultancy Management Standard, Ireland’s only management standard specifically designed for communications consultancies. These standards include demonstrable outcomes and excellence in service delivery.
In general, member firms of PRCA Ireland are willing to answer an initial brief and present their credentials free of charge. A fee may be charged if specific creative proposals are requested. This is often treated as a ‘rejection fee’, payable only if the submitting agency is unsuccessful with their proposal.
FEE STRUCTURES
● Most agencies prefer the Retainer model, which is an agreed monthly/ quarterly fee, payable in advance for an agreed schedule of activity. Retainers would generally be agreed for contracts of six months or more.
● Retainer plus Hours is where agency time exceeds the terms of the retainer. An additional hourly charge is levied and invoiced, normally on a monthly basis.
● For any activity that falls outside the agreed schedule (Retainer), an additional specific Project Fee is agreed between client and agency. For non-retained clients, PRCA members also facilitate a once-off fee for a specific activity.
● Hourly Charges are fees based entirely on time spent by the consultancy and invoiced typically on a monthly basis. A higher rate would apply to time spent by senior management compared to junior staff.
● In-house Charges incurred by the consultancy are also invoiced to the client. This spans photocopying, telephone, postage, travel, office facilities, stationery etc.
● The consultancy may offer Specialist In-house Services such as design, media monitoring, photography, research, AV production etc.
Fees for additional services should be agreed in advance.