On this week's podcast we’re talking to Scott Wilson, President Europe & Africa at BCW Global.
Scott joined BCW in 2010 having previously been at Porter Novelli and Weber Shandwick.
He currently leads BCW across Europe and Africa and today we’re going to chat about PR trends post COVID, including what PR clients are currently buying, the resurgence of corporate PR and whether there's a tension between integrated communications and the benefits of skill specialisation in public relations.
It’s the return of the champion to the PRmoment Podcast—Scott’s first podcast he did with us remains our most listened to podcast ever!
Do make sure you’ve taken a look at the PRCA’s National Conference which is a face to face event and you can also watch it on a livestream if you prefer.
It’s a full day conference in London on 8 July exploring communication and influence in a post-pandemic world. Speakers include communications leaders from the likes of Google and IKEA, as well as big names including Alastair Campbell and Sophie Morgan.
Tickets available on the PRCA website
If you haven't entered yet and you specialise in creative public relations work, the final deadline for The Creative Moment Awards is 8 July.
Here’s a summary of what Scott and I discussed:
2 mins As of now, which parts of PR are growing and which bits are still a bit slow?
2.30 mins How ESG and purpose are seeing a lot of investment currently, alongside business transformation, especially when related to employee engagement and employee brand.
3.30 mins How BCW sees clear evidence that brand marketing spend is ”coming back”.
5.30 mins What type of ESG work is BCW working on?
7.00 mins Why COVID was the catalyst to increasing PRs importance to organisations.
14 mins Is the renaissance of corporate counsel permanent?
16 mins Do clients see earned media as more valuable than ever?
18.30 mins Thinking about the path to integration, which agencies do you think will win?
20.30 mins How the challenge for the holding companies “is to be able to deliver quality at scale” but also have “passionate specialists” within their businesses.
25.30 mins How will the look, feel and skill-set of PR firms post-COVID be different to pre-COVID?
26.30 mins Why Scott is concerned about the level of demand for PR talent at the moment - “talent wars are fierce right now!”
29.30 mins To what extent have most PR firms already lost office capacity, meaning that people working 5 days a week in the office is now impossible because the office capacity is no longer there?
32 mins When assessing the hybrid working policy, what are the factors in that decision-making process?
36 mins The merger of Burson and Cohn & Wolfe to form BCW was 3 years ago. Looking back, what were the lessons on how to merge a big global PR firm successfully?
40 mins Globally, how have different regions fared since the start of COVID? And what growth trends does Scott predict for the next 12 months?
Kind regards,