A year from now
What will the PR landscape look like a year from now, and how will Paver Smith have faired, muses Dougal Paver.
Consolidation.
There you have it: potentially the shortest blog ever.
Except, of course, I'd better explain myself (so forgive the following lesson in the bleedin' obvious).
The UK PR industry has never had a recession - it's the fallback position for most marketing budgets, after all. So whilst the chaps in red braces are getting a kicking in Soho Square's ad houses, the boys in the pin-stripes or trainers (pick your branch of the PR industry) tend to plough on through the hard times.
Simplistic, of course - there'll be casualties a-plenty, for ours is an unregulated industry with a long tail of poorly-managed consultancies. Many will go pop; others will opt for defensive mergers; whilst the cannier players will merge or sell to benefit from scale and security.
So, it's shake-out time and where will Paver Smith land in this game of corporate straws? Our plan is to acquire new agencies to give us scale, access to new skills and networks and an entry point in to new markets. It worked well in 2008 with the acquisition of the outstanding Factory team, after all.
As a betting man, therefore, I'd say we'll finish 2009 with 46 staff and a turnover of £2.8m. There'll be an office in at least one other city, too. We're not about to conquer the world, then, but we're sure as hell planning on getting through 2009 in one piece.
Here's to you doing the same.
COMMENTS
No comments added for this entry.
POST A COMMENT
