What can be predicted about the growth of PR abroad?
Many of the top U.S. based PR firms, such as Ogilvy, FleishmanHillard, and Weber Shandwick, operate in dozens of markets overseas. According to FleishmanHillard, countries like Myanmar and Hong Kong are important markets to focus on for the future, citing political changes or possessing some of the largest global retailers. In addition, African nations are growing in their healthcare demands, which makes it more important for PR companies. Other agencies claim they don’t focus on one particular market, though still cite many possibilities of market dominance in the future.
PR markets of the future
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International PR firm Ogilvy Public Relations operates 85 offices across The Americas, EMEA and AsiaPac. Jennifer Risi, Managing Director of Ogilvy Media Influence and worldwide board member of Ogilvy Public Relations, said the agency believes it’s impractical to think of any single region to dominating the PR industry, though offered her thoughts on which areas of the world are growing fastest for PR right now.
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“When people think of the ‘Middle East,’ their minds typically think of political instability,” Risi said. “However, there is a growing middle class and a valuable consumer market and in fact, the Middle East/North Africa [MENA] region is growing at a tremendous rate with its PR industry estimated to be valued at $600 million-plus. Specifically, Dubai acts as a major global hub within the region, and other nations including Egypt, Morocco and Abu Dhai also perform well.”
Firms are focusing PR efforts wherever there are major markets worldwide. “For a long time, the industry looked to only China and Southeast Asia as its priority growth market,” said Risi. “However, with the recent economic slowdown in the region, South America — such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama — has become a fast growing region. Effective PR is helping multinational brands and investors continue to successfully grow in the region.”
In terms of industry sectors, Ogilvy believes that technology, consumer products and healthcare are showing the most growth around the world.
“The growth of healthcare is significant in Africa, Asia and Latin America,” said Risi. “Historically, healthcare practices have been smaller in these regions but aging populations have made this sector more important to PR agencies.”
Census forecasts emerging markets
Weber Shandwick operates in 78 cities across 34 countries, with a network extending to 126 cities in 81 countries.
“While we see the public relations industry continue to mature in developing markets, we are still seeing the most growth in major capitols in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America,” said Andy Polansky, CEO of Weber Shandwick.
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Polansky believes that multinational corporations are increasingly looking for support in various markets in Africa.
“Digital, social and content marketing are in demand around the globe. While these campaigns often involve multi-platform activation, mobile campaigns in particular are becoming more and more popular,” said Polansky.
Polansky believes there are some ways to forecast the PR hubs of the future with the middle class and population measures.
“We continue to see PR hubs remaining in key strategic media and financial centers, though high-population centers like Jakarta, and key cities in India, China and Brazil will take on hub status with a rising middle class,” said Polansky.
Firms look to Asia
“The center of global economic gravity is shifting toward Asia, and this shift is also reflected in the growth of PR in this market,” said Rachel Catanach, Senior Vice President, Senior Partner and Managing Director of FleishmanHillard Hong Kong.
FleishmanHillard, which holds more than 80 offices globally and 17 offices across our three brands in Asia Pacific (FleishmanHillard, BlueCurrent and Vox Global) has experienced significant growth in Asia Pacific. Greater China stands at 44 percent of the agency’s APAC revenue.
“Our consolidated Hong Kong operations (FH and BlueCurrent, including successful integration of sister agency Bernard Hodes Group), doubled in the last five years, ranking us at the top of the league table among global players in the market,” Catanach said. “Our three agencies in Tokyo drive 26 percent of APAC revenue, representing in total the largest non-Japanese owned PR conglomerate in Japan.”
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Fleishman believes the PR industry is under-penetrated in the ASEAN region, and this represents a real area of growth. With more than 600 million people, ASEAN’s potential market is larger than the European Union or North America.
“Markets such as Myanmar, which are opening up under new leadership, are providing opportunities for “fresh field” PR approaches using mobile, social and digital over other more traditional channels,” said Catanach. “In FleishmanHillard, our Southeast Asia offices have more than doubled in five years, and we expect this pace of growth to continue.”
Fleishman’s APAC network has built a specialized offering around reputation and risk management in the supply chain counseling companies, from brands to manufacturers, on how to use communications to build reputation, manage risk and assist them to better handle issues and crises.
"The practice is led from Hong Kong, which is home to the regional sourcing operations of some of the largest global retailers," said Catanach. “Fleishman believes the PR hubs of the future lie in the East, such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. "PR specialties are likely align around these regional centers of excellence, with Singapore focused on private banking, for example, and Hong Kong on other financial services such as investment banking and asset management."
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