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| Peter Harris |
This year, it became clear that the future of the public relations industry will be very different from its past. Momentum is shifting from PR conglomerates, which have dominated the industry for decades—growing ever bigger and more powerful—to independent, smaller specialist agencies. This is great news for clients who will reap the benefits.
A bold statement, but I've experienced both worlds. For more than 25 years, I worked at and ran some of the largest and most prestigious public relations firms, managing big teams in sprawling offices around the world. But for the past eight years, I’ve led my own agency, with clients in industries ranging from telco and tech to financial services, professional services and energy. Many are mid-cap and large-cap public companies, while others are startups that are changing the world.
I left Big PR because I believed it was possible to do more with less. I was tired of all the time I had to spend dealing with the red tape, operational obstacles and financial pressures tied to new business and profit margins. Most importantly, I was convinced that it would be possible to build a team of senior-level professionals and specialists who have phenomenal relationships and expertise and would deliver superior results—faster and at a fraction of the cost.
So, I founded The Harris Agency in 2017. In retrospect, it was a great time to take the plunge. Not only was our remote-work model built for COVID and this new world we’re in, but technology was also levelling the playing field for smaller PR firms by providing affordable tools for content creation, media monitoring and analytics. Cloud-based platforms were enabling small firms to provide services equal to those of big agencies.
We eagerly adopted all of it. At the same time, the media landscape was undergoing a significant transformation. Legacy media was shrinking while new forms of social media exploded in popularity. This fast-evolving environment called for small, creative, flexible teams—not the legions of “arms and legs” that large agencies offer.
Which brings us to 2025, an inflection point for the PR industry (and probably every industry). It became clear this year that the maturation of AI represents an unprecedented force multiplier for PR agencies. I've seen it in action at my own firm. A combination of seasoned pros and rising stars, our team has embraced AI with a purpose. We use it to research companies, industries and important issues as well as to develop insights and points of view. Unleashing the creativity of our team, AI perfectly complements the humanity and personal touch they bring to every account.
Those technological advances keep coming. The latest is Agentic AI, a type of artificial intelligence that can plan and act on its own with appropriate human guidance. In addition, we’re hearing more about Small Language Models, which are narrower and more specialized than large models and can run on inexpensive hardware. Together, Agentic AI and SLMs will serve as team members that automate many tasks so humans can focus on creating strategies and strengthening relationships with the most influential media, influencers and thought leaders in the world. This is something AI can't replicate.
Looking back on the past eight years, I'm proud of what we've accomplished. Our work has helped the most admired companies in the world win new business, bolster their reputation as thought leaders, position themselves as innovators, win major awards and navigate through sensitive issues. Moreover, to ensure that client budgets go towards talent—not real estate leases or other holding company costs—we've remained fully remote. No return to the office for us.
As successful as we have been, I'm even more optimistic about the future. I believe the coming years will be good ones for specialist agencies like ours that can integrate new technologies quickly and operate without the bureaucracy and overly hierarchical management structures emblematic of many large businesses.
Minimizing waste and maximizing results, the specialist PR agency is looking bigger every day.
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Peter Harris is Founder and CEO of The Harris Agency.
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