International Public Relations Network (IPRN) business survey results 2024

The majority of respondents (70%) also indicated a positive business growth perspective for 2024.

Never has the expression ‘fast-paced, ever-changing world’ been more relevant. The increased access to AI, the exponential growth of technology for day-to-day living, global political volatility, and more, have led to a ‘new normal world’ that requires agility and innovation on both personal and business levels.

To understand how the communications industry is adapting, the International Public Relations Network (IPRN) conducted an online, internal survey among its members between the 22 December 2023 and 10 January 2024. The second part of the survey was specifically designed to address the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in public relations.

“Due to economic and social uncertainty, building trust and maintaining long-lasting and valuable relationships is more vital than ever,” says Rodrigo Viana de Freitas, president, IPRN. “We must continue to invest in areas that contribute to our clients’ businesses, while building and sustaining our own. This is why AI is so important. It can be a powerful tool, especially in routine tasks such as media monitoring and social media management. It's a tool that creates space and time in our daily task management, thus freeing PR professionals to focus on more strategic decision-making and planning. Thanks to our members, we now have a clearer view of the PR challenges and opportunities driven by AI for the future.”

Major findings:

• IPRN PR agency members are optimistic regarding business in 2024, with 70% pointing out a business growth perspective and 30% a maintenance of the current status quo.
  
• To tackle the previous issues and other impacts on communication, such as AI - 22% consider strategic communication and PR consulting as the major growth opportunities, followed by 20% on crisis and change management, 16% on social media and digital communications and 10% on media relations.
  
• The major industry sector opportunities lie in technology (19%), government affairs and public sector (17%), energy and utilities (16%), financial (9%), health and wellness (8%) and real estate, travel and tourism, hospitality and aviation (all 8%).
  
• Among the main areas that respondents expect to invest in during 2024 are staff training and retention (19%), measurement and analytics (17%), management tools and owned communication and marketing (12%), both creativity and multimedia content production (11%), technology and digital production (10%) and finally consumer insights (7%).
  
• The majority, a staggering 83%, pointed out that AI is part of business, with only 17% stating that they do not make use of any AI tools.
  
• Further, with reference to the use of AI, respondents indicated it is mostly utilised for content creation (31%), social media management (21%), media monitoring (19%) and data analytics (16%).
  
• Among the main benefits of AI, with reference to PR activities, respondents prioritize an increase in efficiency (26%), support in research (23%), reduction of staff workload (20%), and copywriting and a good source of creativity (13%).
  
• 83% of respondents believe that AI is here to stay with only 17% unsure about the future of AI in PR.
  
• The biggest challenges of AI in the PR industry are intellectual property issues (26%), an increase in fake news (24%), a lack of trust in social media and its content (14%) as well as content overload (13%).

The respondent countries included Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the USA.

“The global survey results closely echo what we are implementing in South Africa,” says Nicole Capper, MD of MANGO-OMC, and executive council member of the IPRN. “We have been integrating AI into our work systems to streamline processes and assist in content creation, but with strict parameters that disallow AI copy generation or detailed research to replace human effort. There are a multitude of AI tools that benefit human intelligence and skill but should not be intended to replace the value of decades of human experience. In terms of growth in communications, we are experiencing many of the same growth areas – with consulting and stakeholder engagement being two of the growth areas for our agency. It is an interesting time to be part of the communications industry as we all navigate new communications territory. Membership of the IPRN is of great value to us as we are able to share best practice models with over 50 owner-lead agencies around the globe.”

About IPRN

The International Public Relations Network is an international network of independently owned and operated public relations and communications agencies with around 50 members in more than 100 major cities and more than 30 countries around the world, in five continents. It represents all sectors of the industry and represents a cumulative turnover of around 150 million dollars, with more than 1,000 employees and 4,000 clients among the different agencies.