The debate, hosted by the Public Relations Institute of SA (PRISA), in association with Bizcommunity.com, called into question the current system of measurement for media exposure used by PR consultants in South Africa.
The lack of any industry benchmark or standard in this area has led to unscrupulous behaviour by some agencies which present results based on AVEs (a measurement based on the advertising value of the media space) multiplied by as much as 10 or 12 when most consultants would use an AVE multiplied by three. PRISA has made it clear in the past that the organisation would prefer the PR industry not to use AVEs, but if they really have to, not to multiply by any factor. According to PRISA, the measurement should happen against set objectives to ensure the correct message reaches the correct audience through the correct medium - and then the impact on the audience assessed.
The panel consisted of: Nick Cairns, ABSA; Dante Moshile, IDC and PRISA board member; Brian Berkman, PR-Net; Oresti Patricous, Ornico; Tonya Kourie, Jisani Digitrack; Mike Leahy, IBIS; and Samantha Koenderman, Flying Solo. Invited guests included: Peter Mann of Meropa; Dr Ivan May, CHOC; Simon Dabbs, Newsclip; Simone Appelton, Headlines; Margaret Moscadi, PRISA and was attended by a significant number of senior members of the public relations community in South Africa - over 60 in total. The forum was chaired by Bizcommunity.com editor, Louise Marsland.
The debate was held at the FCB auditorium in Sandton, Johannesburg and sponsors included Siemans (for the stationary), FCB (for the venue) and the Westcliff Hotel for the prize draw.
The panel members pointed out that current systems are arbitrary, have no basis in research and have never been set as an industry standard. It also raises the old issue of whether negative publicity should also be multiplied by three.
A clear division among delegates emerged, with those who want an industry benchmark established on one side and those who believe that measurement in this arena is really used only to justify fees, on the other.
Forum chair, Louise Marsland, stressed at the start that the forum was not just another talk shop, but wanted to achieve a clear outcome for the way forward to establish industry wide standards and benchmark best practice, taking cognizance of international trends.
Panel member and Flying Solo creator, Samantha Koenderman says: "To measure something you have to have tangible objectives and many clients don't have clear objectives and agencies don't demand them. We need to establish tangible objectives with clients at the outset so that we can be held accountable in this way.
"Measuring with AVEs is not relevant because an IT client will certainly not weight an article in the Star as much as one in Brainstorm (an IT publication), for example."
Panel members also felt that measurement needed to include, inter alia, content analysis.
Panel member Brian Berkman, founder of the PR peer network PR-Net, believes the question of measurement is all about bottom line: "If we're not seen to be working for the client, we're out of business and that's why we feel the need for a measurement. If we have to use AVEs, it should be a straight figure, not multiplied, and we simply explain to the client that this is how much we would have paid for that space.
"If we use this as a benchmark, it's not necessarily accurate, but at least we'll have an industry standard."
Many of the delegates agreed with this sentiment, but Nick Cairns from ABSA is adamant that PR consultants don't need to declare a value of their worth: "The client should sense the value of it already. We should think like board members - if the share price goes down, then that's your responsibility; that's everyone's measurement."
Ivan May of CHOC agrees in part: "PR is simply not taken seriously. We need to be in the boardroom next to the CEO."
But he believes that quantitative measures and return on investment figures are needed for PR to be taken seriously: "We need to elevate our standards and link to an organization like the chartered accountants institute. They are measuring goodwill for the balance sheets; surely they can find a formula to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns."
Veteran PR consultant Peter Mann reluctantly agreed to the suggestion of AVEs with no multiples: "Multiples is simply 'making PR by the kilogram'.
"But if we're in the business of changing minds, then how does the measurement impact on our objectives? It simply doesn't. We've got to get to a system where we let our clients measure us individually be asking 'was this in the strategy?' and 'did we achieve our objectives?'; 'did it sell anything?'"
PRISA provided a real kicker with research which revealed that in the USA up to 62% of the top public relations professionals sit on their employers boards, 43% in the UK and only between 2 and 5% here...
Although far from resolved, PRISA was given a mandate to take up the issue within the industry, with most delegates agreeing that the need for an industry standard was paramount.
Bizcommunity,com editor, Louise Marsland will give an in depth report on the issue on Monday, 11 July 2005.
