Companies are slashing advertising budgets to cope with the recession and using some of those savings to channel more money into public relations, according to the chief executive of international PR group Huntsworth.
Lord Chadlington, whose company is bucking the current trend with the news of a handsome increase in profit, said that companies were diverting some of their ad spend into public relations in a bid to cash in on opportunities presented by social media.
And city investors responded favourably to his confidence, with shares in the group surging by 10% to 45p following the company's announcement that its pre-tax profit had risen by 9.9% to £24 million.
Lord Chadlington said the outlook for 2009 was looking very positive as the group, which includes leading PR names such as Citigate and the Red Consultancy, had already secured 78% of this year's expected revenue.
But the cost-saving benefit of using PR over advertising is clearly not the only reason why public relations is winning out in the recession.
Enterprises need PR more than ever as they enter into unfamiliar territory as bearers of bad news.
As chief operating officer at Huntsworth Sally Withey says, when you have bad news to get out there, you don't sack your PR company.
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