At the 2026 Meltwater Summit, Dara Busch, CEO of Havas PR, sat down with PRNEWS to discussed the evolving PR industry and the work her agency is doing across earned media, experiential, social and influencer programs. She highlighted how PR has shifted from a siloed discipline into a multi-channel ecosystem, with clients increasingly seeking integrated programs that combine earned, social, and influencer strategies to tell cohesive brand stories.
Bush emphasized that data and analytics have moved from being a "nice to have" to a baseline expectation in the industry, with metrics like share of voice and audience engagement now taking priority over sheer volume of impressions. She noted that client sophistication varies widely—from brands well-versed in AI-powered search to small businesses simply hoping for a Today Show segment—and that building flexible teams to meet those varying needs is key.
Watch the full interview to hear why Busch believes the industry is a moving target.
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.
Transcript:
Nicole Schuman: We are here with Dara Busch, CEO of Havas PR North America. Thank you for joining us today.
Dara Busch: Thank you for having me.
Schuman: All right. As you know there are many branches of Havas.
Busch: Yes.
Schuman: So just curious to start out, what is your branch working on? What kind of work are you guys doing?
Busch: So at Havas PR we have two agencies. One is Formula, which was an acquisition about 15 years ago, and they work on everything from corporate technology, consumer brands, a little bit of everything, and some social. And we have an experiential agency called Street that's built into and was born out of Havas Formula. And then we have Red, which is part of a global network. Havas Red really works in this merged media system where it's really a multi-channel ecosystem where we combine earned, social, and influencer to create really multifaceted programs for clients that move the needle.
Schuman: Great. And you know there have been a lot of large agencies in the news lately.
Busch: Yes.
Schuman: But I'm curious, what kind of trends are you seeing on the agency front right now? What kind of work are your clients looking for?
Busch: It's so interesting. It is a moving target and I don't even think that you can—as soon as you think you've figured it out, you haven't. Earned is really having a glow up, for lack of a better way to describe it. I think that with AI and the way that earned powers AI, we're in a really interesting space because we have brands and clients that are coming in for real old-fashioned earned media programs. And when you look at technology, you're supposed to know technology. When we look at our teams, I think 90% is a number—90% of PR practitioners use data and analytics to create campaigns. And so things that were nice goals to work towards are now very much expected. Earned and PR is not just about earned anymore. It's about social and influencer all woven together. And clients are coming to us for these multifaceted programs so that we can tell a story across multiple channels. And it's really interesting — for the first time ever, it's not about "what's the circulation" or "I had nine gazillion billion trillion views." It's about who saw it. And now you can really track what we're doing and how it affects growth and revenue. PR is in a really interesting space right now because we are looked at as a growth mechanism for brands, and it's really cool and different.
Schuman: Does it seem like your clients are very knowledgeable—like, "Oh, AI search, so we need earned media"—or do you find yourself more educating them on earned media and the benefits of appearing in AI search?
Busch: I would say D, all of the above. Some clients really understand the value of AI, of data, of insights— using a tool like Meltwater to really dive in and understand consumer behaviors. But when you look at some clients, they don't have a clue and they're just sort of mom-and-pop businesses that have done really well and they would love to see themselves on the Today Show, and that's okay too. One of the things that we do is build teams that can scale up and down depending on what those clients' needs are. What we're also seeing a lot of, especially at Havas, is multi-agency briefs where we're working with advertising agencies within Havas, working with branding firms—these multi-agency programs, which is neat and fun because we can see how the sausage is made when those advertisements are being created. But then how do we use PR as a lever to generate some buzz around what they're doing and what their message is?
Schuman: Yeah, that's great. I know you mentioned data is a huge tool for any PR person. What do you think is the top insight that most PR people are looking at right now?
Busch: Well, I would say it again depends on the industry and the brand. Share of voice, I think, is something that used to be about volume—but it's not about volume anymore. For every placement, every post, or every creator partnership that comes to life, it's not necessarily about how many eyeballs it's about how good those eyeballs are, and what that message says, and how does it resonate. Looking at share of voice and engagement is key—how are people engaging? We're tapping into real audiences in real time that are going to become brand loyalists, brand fans. And so that data and how we use it and how it comes to life is certainly an area that we look at.
Schuman: Great. Yeah, it seems like share of voice is kind of a conglomeration of a bunch of different tactics. And it's different whether that's in earned, or an influencer campaign—it has different meanings depending on different verticals.
And finally, last question. What do you think is going to be your top takeaway from the summit for communicators?
Busch: I think this is a moving target and if anybody in the world of PR thinks that they know what is next— hold on, because we're just starting to understand where insights and analytics can take us. I think we need to educate ourselves. Everybody needs to. I want to go back and create a glossary of all the terms and share it on our intranet so that everybody knows what all these different terms mean. I think there's a lot of folks that really know it well and there's a lot of folks who don't, and unless you learn and you're a sponge, you are going to be left behind. There are so many tools at your fingertips every day. Meltwater is evolving and growing and creating new things, and if you're not on the front lines understanding them and using each of the different platforms and tools, you're going to be left behind.
Schuman: Yeah, that's great. Well, thank you so much for your time.
Busch: Thanks for having me. Thank you.