Corporate PR budgets for 1997 are up over last year, with monies being earmarked for PR Web ventures, projects headed by consultants and strategic communications programs.
But although budgets have jumped slightly, PR staffs won't grow significantly. This is primarily due corporations turning agencies to head special projects, according to interviews with industry executives.
By the far the most pressing concern for corporate PR departments, according to those interviewed by PR NEWS, is the need to establish a solid presence on the Internet.
"We're a company which addresses the needs of our customers and our customers have moved to a new place for information," said Richard Quinn, manager of the PR office for Kodak Office Imaging Division, which was recently sold to Danka Business Systems PLS, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based supplier of automated office equipment and related services. That division will formally become part of Danka this week. "We have to meet our customers' needs and move with them (to the Internet)."
Of Quinn's requested (not finalized) 25 percent budget increase over the division's approximate $200,000 PR allocations for 1996, a majority will go toward establishing an informational Web site, which will likely be bidded out for upkeep. Establishing a deal with an outside company speaks of the recent trend for corporate PR people to turn for guidance from the burgeoning number of PR agencies cropping up nationwide.
Quinn said developing an online PR site is consistent with other recent corporate trends - among those finding ways to measure PR tactics. The Web, through elements such as hits and visits, provides PR execs with tangible ways to gauge what information is reaching their audiences, primarily customers and the media.
"The trend in PR is a greater application of information and data and making adjustments to extract more value from the information that comes across your desk," Quinn said.
Divvying out more dollars to PR departments appears to be a shift that's gaining momentum in other corporations as well. Houston-based PanEnergy Corp.'s Vice President of Public Affairs Jim Hart said his 2 percent 1997 PR budget jump - out of an approximate $13.5 million budget - is the first time in three years that the budget for his 56-person division has grown.
Hart said the increase reflects several major shifts within the past few years -primarily funds being allocated for PR Web sites, higher salaries and more monies for outsourcing. (With the help of an outside consultant, PanEnergy Corp. is expecting to launch its Web site next month.)
"Outsourcing surfaced about 10 years ago, but it's only been in the past five years that it's become a trend," Hart said. "It's a reflection of how the business world has evolved into a global, competitive market."
Although Hart said the mood of corporations now is to turn over more PR funds for Internet-and agency-related deals, he did say that cuts - or allocations that haven't grown - have surfaced in several key areas through the latter part of this dcade.
Those changes include little, if any, growth for in-house PR staffs (of the three PR staffers PanEnergy lost in the past few years, only one was filled in-house); a decrease in travel costs because of an increased reliance on teleconferencing; and the push to drive down costs for projects such as annual reports by seeking more competitive bids. For instance, Hart said he was able to reduce costs from $4.15 per annual report to $3.35, over a three-year-period, by going to a company outside of the Houston region.
"We are relying more and more on outside help than we were four or five years ago," agreed Jay Amestoy, who is vice president of corporate affairs and communications for Mazda Motor of America Inc., based in Irvine, Calif.
In fact, Amestoy's in-house PR department, which handles corporate relations, crisis communications, community relations, dealer relations and newsletters, is only five people strong.
Part of that is because the company "relies heavily" on outside assistance from PR agency Hill & Knowlton by working with staffers at the PR firm's locations in Irvine, Los Angeles, Detroit and Washington, D.C.
And Amestoy also said his budget increase represents the first time in two years that PR allocations have grown. It's even up slightly over advertising which long has been viewed by corporate leaders as a crucial part of business.
"This budget (which has yet to be finalized does mark a healthy turn," said Amestoy. "And it marks management's understanding of the value of PR and the need to allocate more monies."
"PR people today are concentrating on objectives and strategies more than they ever have," Amestoy added. "Those of us in PR are looking three years down the road and are becoming more analytical about our PR approaches.... We're even borrowing research from marketing people."
Part of that logic, Amestoy added, includes prompting corporations to use the World Wide Web as an important PR tool. In fact, Mazda's nearly 25 percent 1997 PR budget jump (over last year) factors in having an online presence. Mazda is developing a virtual press room - where journalists can get product information, press releases and, if needed, up-to-date news in case of a crisis - as part of its corporate Web site.
The room, which will be housed at http://www.mazda.usa.com, will be up and running during the first half of 1997.
Amestoy said the PR department's recommendation that the site, a joint marketing/PR effort, have a press room is in line with turns the PR industry has taken in recent years.
Those changes include the integration of marketing/merchandising and PR. They also indicate that upper management views the PR role as a viable and effective way to promote brand awareness and corporate philosophies.
"Virtually everything that is done today has a PR component," said.
"Corporate America is cutting costs and we in the PR profession are relying more on outside expertise," said Quinn. "We haven't had any significant growth in our PR staff through the years but we have become more efficient in the ways we use outside resources."
(Richard Quinn, 716/726-6675; Mazda, Jay Amestoy, 714/727-6443; PanEnergy Corp., Jim Hart, 713/627-5400)