Head to Head: Is PR trying to be everything to everyone?

With the definition of PR constantly evolving and the industry expanding its remit, is PR trying  too hard to be everything to everyone? Attention+Influence’s Simone Pipkorn says PR professionals are generalists and therefore they’re good at doing a lot of different things. However, Eleven’s Milliken says PR isn’t the media relations business anymore, it’s the culture business and therefore, is not everything to everyone.

Yes, argues Simone Pipkorn, managing partner, Attention+Influence:

The short answer’s yes.

PR professionals, by nature, are generalists. They take the brief, analyse environmental and audience insights, write the strategy, create the plan, execute and evaluate. It’s in our nature – and embedded into ways of working – that we own the client brief from end-to-end. It means we’ve become pretty good at a lot of things. It also made us adaptable.