Head to Head: Does the PR industry need more creatives?
In this series, Mumbrella invites the industry’s most senior PR professionals to share their opposing views on the industry’s biggest issues. This week, Edelman’s Jamil Bhatti goes head to head with Access-dgc’s CEO Nichola Patterson.
This week, debating whether or not the PR industry needs more creatives, Jamil Bhatti says creatives are no longer reserved for ad agencies and will put PR in an exciting place, while Nichola Patterson argues no, since creatives from outside the world of PR don’t understand what it takes to sell a story.
Yes, argues Jamil Bhatti, creative director, Edelman Australia:
Bhatti says creatives will “bolster our ranks” and put “us in exciting places”
PR agencies need ‘creatives’ (whatever that means). What is debatable is whether it needs ad agency ‘creatives’. The mistake many agencies make is assuming that creative needs to mean ad agency creative directors. Trying to advance creativity by bringing in practitioners from what is increasingly looking like a broken model is doomed to fail.
Creativity comes from many, many places. That is where the search should be. Don’t limit to agency portfolios.
One of the issues I have with Edelman and other agencies is that their recruiting strategy appears to be hiring direct from ad agencies. This could lead to a new play on an old phrase: Failed in Advertising, Try PR.