At this time each year we ask PR pros about their predictions for the coming 12 months. Predicting isn't easy. As that well-known PR pro Yogi Berra said, "It's tough to make predictions. Especially about the future."
In addition, to lighten our predictors' load we also include an easier question, though one that's insightful. Anton Chekhov wrote, “... when I would feel a desire to understand someone, or myself, I would take into consideration not actions, in which everything is relative, but wishes. Tell me what you want and I'll tell you who you are.”
Accordingly, for 2023, our extra question for predictors was: 'What is your 2023 PR-related wish?'
Fortunately, nearly all of them responded. Some wishes centered on the predictor's company. Others went wide, with wishes for the PR industry and the globe. Some predictors wished for progress on DEI and other social issues. A few predictors gave PR's media partners some love. Yet several offered not-so-veiled shots, against media companies, social media and the world's wealthiest person.
One predictor's wish, though, includes what the PRNEWS team wants for all its readers, sources, sponsors, their families and friends in 2023. It leads this brief list of wishes:
Angela K. Chitkara
Founder, World in 2020+ Project; Founder and CEO, US-India Corridor LLC
My PR-related wish for 2023 is to find time and space for reflection.
Wishes for the PR Industry
Roger Bolton
President, Page
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that the global economic headwinds will gradually subside and that strategic communication functions will get the funding they request to invest in badly needed new skills and capabilities.
Steve Cody
Founder and CEO, Peppercomm
My PR related wish for 2023 is that two major trade pubs recognize and award the thousands of small agencies that can't afford entering contests or paying for advertising/awards' dinner tables. The pay-for-play scenario MUST stop.
Ron Culp
Professional in Residence, PR and Advertising, College of Communication, DePaul University
My PR-related wish for 2023 is seeing a significant increase in senior agency and corporate PR executives making serious commitments to playing active roles in academic institutions and nonprofits. Don't just sit on boards or committees that plod along doing things the same old way. Become a catalyst for finding creative ways to advance a cause where you have passion. Or help colleges build PR programs and courses that address the profession’s future needs.
Nicole Dye-Anderson
SVP, Head of Media Relations & Influencer Strategy CoBrand Cards, Wells Fargo
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that companies and corporations finally understand the importance of PR, beyond getting good press and doing damage control. Instead, I wish in 2023 they see PR practitioners as strategists who can help influence the bottom line.
Rick Gould CPA, J.D.
Managing Partner, Gould+Partners
My PR wish for 2023 is that PR's C-Suite executives stay focused on their operations and profitability, do less billable client work and more managing of the bottom line.
Dr. Yan Jin
Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership and PR, University of Georgia
My PR-related wish for 2023 is to see more collaborative research and practice among PR, law and business management scholars and practitioners in the classroom and workplace.
Karen Jones, CMO & Head of New Product Innovation, Ryder System, Inc.
My PR-related wish for 2023 is a successful launch of an advertising campaign featuring golfer Sam Ryder.
Dr. Tina McCorkindale
President and CEO, Institute for Public Relations
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that communicators operate from an ethics-of-care philosophy.
Kim Sample
President, PR Council
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that PR pros embrace the value they deliver and demand the respect they deserve.
Curtis Sparrer
Principal, Bospar
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that PR pros will be advocates for the profession, defending PR's value even in a period of economic uncertainty.
Wishes for Global and Social Change
Gil Bashe
Managing Partner, Chair, Global Health and Purpose, Finn Partners
My PR-related wish for 2023 is we stop rehashing conversations around problems we’ve talked about for years. It’s time to talk about solutions. Collaboration is the magical ingredient to success.
Neil Foote
President & CEO, Foote Communications, President, National Black PR Society, Sr Lecturer, Mayborn School of Journalism, University of N Texas
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that at least three major PR agencies appoint diverse C-suite executives, in addition to naming chief diversity officers.
Dwayna Haley
President, Haley Communications Group, LLC
My PR-related wish for 2023 is hearing more diverse Gen Z, millennial and early Gen X voices sharing perspectives about the field today and opportunities they see for the future.
Ben LaBolt
Partner, Bully Pulpit Interactive
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for the world to realize that the loudest and most ubiquitous voices are not necessarily the most effective communicators.
Aaron Sherinian
SVP for Global Reach, the Deseret Management Corporation, Member, Faith & Media Initiative's exploratory task force
My PR-related wish for 2023 is a world where people acknowledge–rather than ignore or misrepresent–the diversity of faith and spirituality that is at the heart of so many communities and causes worldwide.
Jaclyn Tacoronte
Partner, JMT Media
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for PR agencies to consider assisting nonprofits that may not possess big budgets, but need their professional support.
Kelly Williamson
President, APCO Worldwide, North America Region
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that people will work to find a common ground rather than retreating to a my way or the highway approach. Remaining open-minded provides us with multiple perspectives and the opportunity to grow as individuals within the industry.
Media Relations-Related Wishes
Fern Lazar
Managing Partner, Global Health Practice Leader, Finn Partners
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for the world to recognize the vital role that real journalists play in communicating the truth, educating the public and spotlighting societal wrongs.
Karen Mateo
CCO, PRSA
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that trust in media reaches an all-time high.
Samantha Qualls
VP, Marino.
My PR-related wish for 2023 is to see local media grow. It’s vital for our industry and society.
Michael Smart
CEO, MichaelSMARTPR
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that this is the year we finally stop opening blast email pitches that begin with Hope you're well.
Suzanne Struglinski
PR Manager, Industry Dive
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for clients and companies to see media relations and external communication as part of their business plan, not an add-on included at the last minute or not at all.
Jenny Wang
SVP, Clyde Group
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that journalists and PR pros remind ourselves of the echo chambers we tend to fall into.
Social Media and Technological Wishes
Timothy Chun
Social Media Director, Maiden+John (BerlinRosen)
My PR-related wish for 2023 is to see Instagram stop trying to be all social media platforms in one.
Alison Fitzpatrick
Partner, Davis + Gilbert LLP
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that the Federal Trade Commission does not outlaw influencer marketing directed toward children, as such a step would raise serious 1st Amendment concerns. Fine-tuning the guidelines will allow for child-appropriate influencer marketing campaigns.
Gene Grabowski
Partner, kglobal
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that people of all ages realize the limitations of social media and abandon Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all the rest for books, board games, dinner parties, conversation and long walks.
Michael J. Lamp
Chief Digital Officer, HUNTER
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for every PR pro to spend 15 minutes each month with their social/digital colleagues reading consumer comments and DMs to help stay informed about how various publics are speaking today and what matters most to them.
Bob Pearson
CEO, The Bliss Group
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that we utilize our data science and digital media skills to decrease trafficking of drugs, people, goods and services. We can do this by developing techniques and tools and using them across the public and private sector…right here in the United States of America.
Lindsay Singleton
Managing Director, ROKK Solutions
My PR-related wish for 2023 is for a social media platform like Pixstory, free of misinformation, cyberbullying and hate, becomes the new destination for advertisers.
Alex Slater
Founder & CEO, Clyde Group
My PR-related wish for 2023 is that Elon Musk sells Twitter.