The annual Global Communication Report, conducted by the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, provides insight into the evolution of the global communication industry by analyzing emerging trends.
The 2026 report examines how political and social polarization are reshaping the communications profession. Based on surveys of public relations professionals, interviews with Fortune 500 chief communications officers, and comparisons with U.S. public opinion, the report explores how organizations are navigating communication in an increasingly divided environment.
The report identified a “quiet shift” in corporate communication, as companies move away from broad, purpose-driven messaging toward a more situational approach to public engagement. But, increased caution doesn’t signal a retreat from communication. As companies reassess where and when to engage, some conversations have receded while others have accelerated.
“Polarization has magnified the value of PR, even though many companies are communicating less,” said Fred Cook, director of the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations.
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant, author, and writer, interviews her guest Fred Cook, director of the Annenberg Center for Public Relations at USC and chair emeritus of Golin, about USC’s 2026 Global Communication Report, “A Quiet Shift,” on how political and social polarization is reshaping communications.
Based on a survey of about 800 PR professionals worldwide and CCO interviews, the report finds polarization is seen as harmful to the country and mental health yet beneficial to PR’s value; corporate advocacy support has dropped 38% since 2023 as companies say less about DEI, sustainability, and purpose.
Government/regulators have become the top stakeholder focus, resources are shifting toward crisis communications and government relations, silence is increasingly used as a strategy, departments anticipate restructuring, and most PR pros still expect positive growth while needing stronger political, crisis, and financial skills.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:37 Fred Cook Background
02:02 USC PR Program Highlights
03:37 Report Theme Quiet Shift
05:55 Key Findings on Polarization
08:14 Generational Views and Public
09:50 Stakeholders and Government Focus
13:39 Corporate Advocacy Pullback
14:54 CEO Silence and Defensive Comms
18:51 Budget Shifts and New Skills
23:24 Restructuring and AI Readiness
27:11 Future Outlook and Apocaloptimists
32:05 Industry Risk and Brand Examples
34:51 Wrap Up and Final Thoughts
Show notes:
Follow Fred Cook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredhcook/
View USC’s 2026 Global Communication Report, “A Quiet Shift”: https://annenberg.usc.edu/research/center-public-relations/global-communication-report
Full transcript:
A Quiet Shift – How Polarization Is Reshaping Corporate Speech
Michelle Garrett: [00:00:00] Hello, everyone, and welcome to PR Explored, the video podcast where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations. I’m your host, Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant, author, and writer. And today, I have with me my guest, Fred Cook. Fred is the director of the Annenberg Center for Public Relations at USC, and he’s also the chair emeritus of Golin.
Hi, Fred. How are you?
Fred Cook: Hi, Michelle. I’m fine. How are you doing?
Michelle Garrett: Good. Good. I’m so happy to have you back again.
Fred Cook: And I’m happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. We have… We’re gonna dig into this, report that, you- the USC, the, Annenberg does every year. but before we do that, let’s hear a little bit about, your background and what you’ve been up to, and anything you want to share with us.
Fred Cook: how much time do you have? [00:01:00] I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m in my 10th year at USC, and we’ve issued this report every year on a different topic. So that’s exciting. It just came out a few weeks ago, and, it’s about… I’ll talk more about that later. Golin is doing great. We were just, part of the merger with…
We were part of Interpublic, and we were bought by Omnicom, so that’s been a big change in everyone’s lives. We’re adapting to that new world. And, I’m not as involved in the agency as I once was, but I’m still very much part of the management team, and they’re all my friends. We’re… So I worked with them for so long.
But the PR business is, I think, is doing well. it’s a little… There are a lot of things happening right now in the business that I think everybody who’s working in it knows about. Everything from AI to hybrid, to, polarization, to all the changes in the media and the changes in the agency world and the mergers and acquisitions, and it’s a lot of stuff going on right now, so it’s a really [00:02:00] interesting time to be studying PR.
And we just had graduation, and we had, We have a fantastic graduation class. Lindsey Vonn was our speaker at Annenberg.
Michelle Garrett: Oh,
Fred Cook: my. And we, we saw a great group of PR people going out into the world. Many of them have jobs. It’s a tough market right now, but a lot of them have jobs or internships, and, I think they’re gonna do really well.
Michelle Garrett: That’s very encouraging. And I, that’s, Lindsay Vonn would be a great speaker. I did see- She was amazing … a note about that.
Fred Cook: And then, and, PR Week voted USC as the number one PR program in this country this year. Again, that’s twice in three years, so that was very exciting. And a bunch of our students went to the PR Week Awards in New York to accept it, and they had a wonderful time.
They sat at different tables with different agencies and companies who are involved with USC, and they had a great time.
Michelle Garrett: Oh, that sounds, that, what a, that’s a amazing opportunity for the students. I’m
Fred Cook: sure they- and one of them, Sophie [00:03:00] Shaked, was named, PR Student of the Year also. Oh. So that was even double, a double whammy.
Michelle Garrett: Wow. Yeah. That’s that, students don’t always get opportunities like that. No. So I hope they I’m sure they appreciate it because,
Fred Cook: yeah. they had a good time, and they enjoyed every minute of it, I think.
Michelle Garrett: Good networking too.
Fred Cook: Yes, certainly
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. that’s great. so this all sounds good, right?
So
Fred Cook: It’s all good.
USC’s 2026 Global Communication Report, A Quiet Shift
Michelle Garrett: there’s nothing… We don’t have to worry about anything. No, I’m, that’s, I’m kidding. so let’s, we’re gonna talk today about the, 2026 global communication report. It’s entitled, A Quiet Shift, and it examines how political and social polarization is reshaping- the communications profession.
I would love if people are listening, [00:04:00] watching, have questions, please post those and we’ll do our best to answer them. But I’m just gonna kinda dig in, with some of my questions, because every year you mentioned, it’s a different topic, and I would love to hear, about how you decided how to frame it, and, this year h- just talk a little bit about the background maybe.
Fred Cook: last year we did a report called Minding the Gap, which looked at, PR, the issues, the major issues in PR from a generational point of view. Okay. We looked at hybrid, we looked at AI, we looked at media changes, and we looked at polarization, and pretty much everyone thought polarization was the biggest problem of all of those four.
So we thought we’d delve a little bit deeper into it because what we’ve seen is in the past year or year and a half, there has been a dramatic shift in the way, public communications is being handled from a corporate perspective. We call it a quiet shift because that shift has been more [00:05:00] to saying less, particularly about issues like sustainability and purpose and DEI.
So we, it’s been a big change, but nobody’s really talking about it, so we wanted to see if we could get to the bottom of it and find out what impact polarization is having both short-term and long-term in, on the PR, the world of PR, and the people that are practicing it.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I remember last year’s survey was really interesting because obviously, I’m, I’ve been doing this a while too, so I’m always curious to know, what the, how newer, those newer to the profession are viewing it, in light of all of these things that are going on, and I think this is, I thought the, the report was really interesting, but also I wasn’t super surprised by it because-
Fred Cook: Yeah
Michelle Garrett: when you’re practicing, some of these things. yeah. so what, when you, [00:06:00] after you did the research and kind of were sifting through the results, what were the biggest takeaways that you saw?
Fred Cook: probably the, one of the biggest was that we, and this was a survey of about 800 PR people, all ages, all over the world, agency and in-house.
So we were talking to the industry itself, and, and the industry, not surprisingly, is very concerned about polarization. They think it’s bad for the country. They think it’s bad for mental health. They think that it’s probably gonna be around for quite some time. So there was a lot of, almost 90% felt that way about all those three topics.
But, contrary to that, over 90% thought it was also good for the PR industry, which is a big ch- change. so what’s bad for the US and bad for the population is actually good for public relations. And that wasn’t a giant surprise, but it was really, the numbers were s- staggering in that [00:07:00] regard.
And I think it just shows that polarization in a time where everyone is so sensitive about what they say and do because of the rep- re- possible repercussions, that the council of smart PR people is more valuable than ever before. So I think that’s the one silver lining to this dark cloud of polarization in, is that it makes PR more valuable inside the organization.
So that was an, an important finding, I thought.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, and I think, just to dig into that a little bit further, I think it’s really hard as somebody who’s working in the profession to balance those two things- Yeah … because, personally, it probably impacts us in a very negative way. you were mentioning mental health and so forth.
But then work-wise, it’s, maybe it’s, it’s- A
Fred Cook: different story, yeah.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Fred Cook: For sure.
Michelle Garrett: And that’s really hard to grapple with for me someti-
Fred Cook: Yeah. [00:08:00] we both, we deal with it both on a personal level and on a business level, and and, and sometimes our feelings about it aren’t in, in sync with one another from a business and personal perspective, so that can make the job even more challenging.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. do st- are students, what do students think about this? do you have any thoughts or insight into, what, how do they view the, that?
Fred Cook: When we looked at it from a generational point of view on a number of topics, and it’s interesting that, students are n- nearly as sensitized to polarization as the PR, older PR professionals.
their numbers were down in the 60 range versus the 90 range. So they’re not as, as, aware of it or not as concerned about it as older people, and I think that’s probably because they’ve grown up in a polarized environment, so they don’t know really anything different than that, and they’ve seen it, and th- they’re living with it full time.
So that was interesting. And we [00:09:00] also saw that the general public wasn’t as, as concerned about it or didn’t think it was as bad as PR people. So clearly, the older PR people are much more sensitized to polarization than anyone else, and it may cause them to be a little overly cautious in, fact, in terms- of the decisions they’re making because nobody else seems to think it’s quite as bad as they do.
Michelle Garrett: That’s really interesting. Yeah. They don’t know anything different if they just… Yeah, this has been the, when they’ve come of age, this has been the way things have been. Yeah. Yeah, it’s been. So that’s fascinating actually, ’cause we probably- feel it a lot more than they maybe do.
Fred Cook: Not that it’s a cool- most of my students were, when Obama was president when they were five years old, It’s, so it’s, when he was elected, so it’s big difference.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. the ma- past 10 years has been a huge- Yeah … huge,
Which Stakeholders Are Communicators Focusing On?
So let’s talk about the stakeholders [00:10:00] because, y- the gr- the government has taken over employees and customers as the number one stakeholder communicators are watching.
And we know why. but that’s certainly a shift to make note of.
Fred Cook: Yes, it’s definitely a shift, and I think that there’s a, it’s not that employees and consumers aren’t, customers aren’t important. They’re just not as important right now as the government and the federal officials and the regulators because they’re seem to be calling the shots on a lot of things.
So where we saw in the past activism was driven largely by employees and then by consumers in terms of doing purposeful things or changing, addressing some of the societal issues that are important to those two groups, now that has become less important from a corporate perspective because the importance of government and the [00:11:00] regulations and the politicians has become so paramount that’s w- the biggest concern, and it’s shifting the nature of PR into a more defensive mode to protect the brand as opposed to one that’s going out and telling stories about all the great things the brand is doing.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I, that’s just something I don’t think I’ve ever, seen, I don’t remember quite as much as, the last little bit here. So it’s interesting.
Fred Cook: Yeah, we’re seeing a big change. I think, in the report we talk about how different, it was in Minnesota when George Floyd was killed versus the two murders that were took place last year in terms of the corporate outre- outcry around George Floyd was massive all over the country, and companies were making statements in support of DNI and condemning the murder of George Floyd.
And then in Minneapolis, five miles away from the [00:12:00] same spot, two people were murdered, by ICE, and, the outcry was very muted. A handful of companies that were based in Minnesota put out a statement. It was a very mild statement by comparison. So you can see the difference in, in just a matter of years of how the pendulum has shifted from one side to the other.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, and I imagine it could shift back just as quickly at some point.
Fred Cook: We, that’s the biggest question. We really don’t know. I think that, we don’t know which is the anomaly, where we … I think a lot of people in public relations think five years ago we shifted too far to one way where everybody was speaking out about every single topic.
And now we’ve shifted w- to the extreme in the other direction where nobody’s talking about anything. So I think that there may be some middle ground between those two that’s more appropriate. But it remains to be seen whether the pendulum’s gonna swing back that way, and w- and when it does, because we think polarization’s gonna be around for a long time
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
[00:13:00] No, I’m, interested in that because, I did feel like it was quite a bit different and, I felt like it was… I didn’t think it was gonna go back quite swing back quite so far the other way. So yeah, maybe there’s a happy medium in there because I still see companies like Costco, for example, getting a lot of support and they’re standing up to some, on some of these issues- Yeah
of DEI and things. I don’t know. it’s interesting ’cause I know that there’s always fear of losing some of your audience, but then of course you can gain- Yeah … audience too. So we see that with Nike, of course, and a lot of other brands. But, one of the statistics that I saw was support for corporate advocacy has dropped 38% since, 2023.
Which is pretty significant.
Fred Cook: Huge drop. That was probably the most dramatic statistic in the report, and it dropped last year too. So the last two years have been [00:14:00] way below what we’d saw the years before in terms of the number of people that think corporations should be addressing the issues, these societal type of issues, and have purpose-oriented programs.
But that number has dropped. It’s still above half of PR people believe that. Oh, wow. But it’s way below what it was a couple years ago, and that’s just reflective of the times that we’re in. People are very cautious about, sign- We had a question five years ago about which organizations you would be willing to partner with, to, on a communications program, and the number of people that said none of the above doubled in, since five years ago.
So there’s, more scrutiny about who you get involved with. There’s much more cautiousness about the topics you talk about, and a lot more reticence to put the CEO out there, unless it’s a very business-oriented subject matter. So there’s, people are playing it pretty safe these days.
Some Corporations and Executives Choose Silence
Michelle Garrett: That’s my next question, is about the C-suite, because, some [00:15:00] corporations and C-suite executives are choosing to stay silent- Yeah
and of course, they’re probably being counseled to do that. Although, I will say on the other hand, we see them out there sometimes just shooting from the hip and kind of s- putting their foot in their mouth sometimes.
Fred Cook: I think what’s happening, this wasn’t s- this isn’t a question that we asked because I didn’t think we would get the right an- the honest answers, but I think the number of CEOs are actually happy that their companies don’t have to speak out about some of these topics that are controversial.
I think they feel like that was a very touchy subject for them to address, and they weren’t really comfortable with it. So I think they’ve washed their hands of this, and are quite relieved that they don’t have to talk about some of these subjects that they’re, they felt were outside of the course of their responsibility and their job and their company’s role.
So I think there’s some of, some sense of relief there, and I don’t think those people are gonna be reticent to start doing that again, anytime soon.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. [00:16:00] silence is a strategy. Yeah. that was something the report was talking about.
Fred Cook: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: sometimes staying quiet is the best approach according to 41% of those who, responded to the survey, and among in-house communicators 52% said that.
it- that’s still pretty divided,
Fred Cook: It is …
Michelle Garrett: interesting.
Fred Cook: I think we asked people whether they thought a good defense was the best offense or b- good offense is the best defense, and there was not… They’re a little more on the offensive side than defense, but there was certainly a mixed view on that topic.
And I think that, people still feel that being offense, being on the offense, being on the front foot is better than just waiting to see what happens. But if you look at what’s really happening, we have some charts in there from Meltwater and CoreMetrics that talk about corporate messaging six months before Trump was elected and six months after, and the numbers are staggering in terms of how quiet people have become on a whole [00:17:00] bunch of different topics.
They’ve just quit talking about them, and they’re talking about other things that are less controversial, like AI- and, and more business-related issues. So I think you’re s- although people still believe offense is a good approach, everybody’s playing defense right now, almost everyone.
Michelle Garrett: Really interesting. and there was a quote that I thought was interesting. It says, “Controversy did, doesn’t lead to revenue.”
Fred Cook: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: So that was But then again, like I said, I feel like some companies like Costco have maybe bucked that trend a little bit, so I don’t know. I still say what works for you.
You have to figure out your audience and, what works for you. Yeah.
Fred Cook: There, there are certain brand- I think there are certain brands that are g- going to become, probably this year or next, are gonna get, begin to be more proactive than they have been. I think that’s just part of their nature, and that’s what their customers expect and their employees expect.
But I think it’s gonna be [00:18:00] just a handful, and probably the ones that you are talking about that are, have done it in the past, that aren’t as afraid of, the repercussions of speaking out. But right now, there’s not much, m- not much being said except for a handful of people. But Anthropic is a good example.
They went up against the government in terms of how their AI products were being used, and their sales skyrocketed because of that. So I think there’s still that opportunity to appeal to a certain audience who’s looking for that activism and, and will support that with their checkbook.
More Resources Allocated to Crisis Communications and Government Relations
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. we know that things can change, sometimes pretty quickly, so we’ll just have to see what happens. let’s see. What question we are on? Question five. Let’s see. so priorities are shifting regarding how resources are [00:19:00] being allocated. we see more, according to the survey, more, resources shifting toward crisis communications and government relations, and of course, as we’ve discussed, DEI, sustainability, and purpose-driven initiatives, those resources are declining.
Fred Cook: Yes. That’s true, and I think, people are probably not surprised by that. But you have to look at what is the ramifications of that for PR, because a lot of, the communications over the past five or six years has been about DE&I, sustainability, and purpose-driven initiative. So if that’s, if that part of our purview has been taken off the table, what’s going to replace it?
Is it going to be more government relations? There’s going to be more business-oriented stories or what, happens to that work? And that’s where I became concerned. I thought, if, we’re not playing as big of a role in corporate storytelling as we have been in the [00:20:00] past, does that in any way diminish our importance as a function inside a corporation or as an agency if a lot of this work is being…
is not happening anymore? As it turns out, the companies are communi- not communicating less, they’re just communicating differently. But it does, I do think that, if the silence stays around for the next four or five years-
Michelle Garrett: Okay …
Fred Cook: it’s gonna have some interesting, ramifications for the importance or the, future of the PR function is gonna be, could be changed by all that- Yeah
by that shift. And we don’t know yet whether that’s gonna happen, but we’ll wait and see.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I think, that the need for, storytelling and being human and just, I think it’s, the C-suite kind of needs more from PR and comms pros, and maybe they’re seeing that.
But [00:21:00] I, yeah, it’s interesting ’cause I think even if you’re not speaking out publicly, you’re still discussing internally- Yeah … how you’re gonna approach and- Yeah … manage your comms,
Fred Cook: but you may not need the same people, you may not need as many people, but there’s certainly a different skill set, especially for students coming out of college or, master’s programs like USC.
There’s a different requirement, for them to b- better understand politics, pu- public policy, better understand the financials because it’s more, becomes more business driven- and better understand crisis and crisis management because there’s such a, an issues-oriented approach to all of these things.
And you’re, we’re defending the company rather than out promoting their products and promoting their initiatives. We’re defending them, and that’s a whole different skill set for, PR people.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, and I, of course, this is not new, one, again, one misstep can get- [00:22:00] Yeah … you in trouble, ’cause it goes viral on social media.
And then, it’s so I feel like that’s not new, but that’s certainly still, in play because again, we see CEOs just getting caught off guard with a question or making a misstatement, misstep, and then they kinda have to recover, but it usually blows over. So that’s another thing ’cause there’s just so much going on all the time.
Yeah. I think that’s something that would be a challenge for those coming into the, profession, but of course, they’re probably used to that,
Fred Cook: I think that’s, when you’re silent, I think that’s your hope is it’s gonna blow over, that people are gonna forget about it, and you can just be quiet for a few days and it’ll go away, and sometimes that’ll work.
But I think longer term, that- that’s not a, I don’t think that’s a sustainable strategy long term to just say, “We’re not gonna say anything about anything and hope nobody notices.”
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I do see that, and in fact, I’ve seen some things, written about that too, and it’s, it, that’s just, [00:23:00] to me, that’s a little bit incredible because it’s like it used to be we wanna get in front of this.
We have to, get right on top of it, and of course, with social media, we don’t have a day to- Yeah … discuss it. We kinda have to get in there and have our core team come up with something right away. so to think that you’re just gonna sit and not say anything is funny to me, but I know people do it.
Will Communications Departments Be Restructured?
so what about, communication departments? you, you– we started to get into this a little bit. They may be restructured, so- more than two-thirds of in-house communicators believe their organizations are likely to restructure according to the survey.
Fred Cook: Yeah. That was a big number.
I thought that almost two-thirds said they’re gonna restructure over the next five years. But it just shows that, public relations and communications functions are very flexible, and that we always have to adapt to what’s happening in the real world. So I think that [00:24:00] restructuring around polarization, around AI, is probably bound to happen in most places over the coming years, because our business is changing.
What… The content is changing, the technology is changing, the media is changing, and if we don’t adapt to that, we’re going to be left behind. So I think it’s probably good news that two-thirds are planning on restructuring, because that shows that they recognize that change, and they’re proactively going to address it.
So I think the more change, the more adaptable, more flexible we are, the more likely we are to survive and succeed, continue to succeed as we have in the past.
Michelle Garrett: I have heard… Of course, I, I work for myself, so I’m not out there in the job market, thank goodness. but, I’ve seen, I’ve heard a lot of colleagues talking about for not…
This isn’t new, for several years at least, job titles and responsibilities have been all over the map. and of course, we have content marketing, we have social media, [00:25:00] we have… And I feel like there’s a lot of overlap, and it’s just confusing when people are trying to apply for a job because…
And so maybe the restructuring won’t be a bad thing. I don’t know.
Fred Cook: No, I think it’s a p- I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it… We’ve got to constantly be thinking about what’s gonna happen next and how we’re gonna be ready for that. And not only from a organizational point of, structural point of view, but from a skill set point of view.
That’s why we’re teaching a lot of AI classes at USC. Some universities are shying away from it, thinking that it’s not appropriate for a university setting. But we’re trying to prepare students for a world where AI is going to be doing a lot of this work. And if they don’t know how to, if they’re not fluent in AI, they’re going to have a hard time getting a job.
So I think you’ve got to adjust in real time these days because it’s just These changes are happening so fast. And understanding what’s politically… you see every day there’s some new political wrinkle or some new change in policy or some new approach to, the elections or voting or, [00:26:00] everything.
So you’ve really got to be on your toes, I think, to be effective in this world.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I think thinking on your feet is, it’s always been important- but, this, the speed of things now is just, Yeah … it’s incredible.
Fred Cook: Making sure that- and you have to, you’re going as faster than ever and it’s more, there’s more danger out there, so you have to be cautious and fast at the same time, and that’s not an easy combination to maintain.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, and that’s where I think the experience comes in. and that’s why I worry too about AI coming in because, of course, if we have AI doing lower level work in any profession, we’re not preparing the, the younger, newer pros for, the future, and they need experience to be able to really do a good job.
Fred Cook: So- Definitely.
Michelle Garrett: That’s interesting. We could talk about AI, but we didn’t, I didn’t have that on our agenda for today. But, but yeah, I’m really [00:27:00] curious because I feel like there has to be a balance, if universities are gonna teach AI, and I know some are really embracing it and others are, not.
7 in 10 PR Pros Say the Outlook for Future Growth is Positive
Yeah. the future outlook. I found this really interesting
I’m gonna put it in here. 7 in 10 PR pros say the outlook for future growth is positive.
Fred Cook: Yeah. And, that was a surprise to me. not a surprise really. I think- when we set out to make this survey, and we s- thought about polarization and the fact that so m- so much of what we normally would talk about is not on the table anymore, that we’re communicating about fewer topics, but, and some of them are very important topics, that I th- would have thought 10 years ago if you told me, I thought purpose was, gonna be the main trajectory for PR, [00:28:00] that’s what we were gonna be talking about for the foreseeable future, about the goods, the good that companies were doing for their employees and for the society.
But it’s actually gone the other way, the other direction. So I thought that people might be concerned that was making their jobs less valuable or less important, not only to them, but to the organizations they work for. So s- seeing that three-quarters of people were very optimistic about the future, I think was encouraging.
So it doesn’t seem that, 25% may be worried, but for most part, people are, pretty upbeat about where PR is headed. So I think that’s a good sign. Yeah. But I think we have to be cautious about how we’re approaching it, because if we’re not adapting approp- appropriately, I think we may find ourselves in a different position than we are today.
But, I use the word, I think, a- apocaloptimist is a word I use for the PR people. [00:29:00] we are always willing to paint the worst-case scenario about what’s going to happen, but then we’re very optimistic that we’re gonna survive it at the same time. So I think people are, people that, that work in PR are apocaloptimists, and they are s- they are positive regardless of what, what’s happening, and maybe that’s a good thing.
I, I think that, we should have a good outlook on the future, and then make the most of it, depending on what happens.
Michelle Garrett: yeah, I just, I found that to be funny because, that, just it, 7 in 10 was h- seemed high to me based- Yeah … on, the other findings in the report, and just, yeah, the general…
Because I feel and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this too, but I have a lo- I know a lot of people who have been laid off, and- Yeah … are s- experiencing, a lot of challenges, Yeah … in the business. yeah, I don’t know. I found that really… I try to [00:30:00] maintain hope no matter what, but
Fred Cook: it’s, it- Yeah.
I think PR people are positive about things de- despit- despite the circumstances that may lead you to believe otherwise.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. And I think we, we are just coming back, and I, again, I thought this was just an interesting finding, was that, we, PR becomes even more valuable in times of disruption.
Yeah. that’s, I guess that’s a good thing for us, but we just have to- Figure out how to, it’s all about balance. It’s a-
Fred Cook: Yes. And I think it- Fast and
Michelle Garrett: cautious and
Fred Cook: Yeah, and I think sh- you know, there’s a quiet shift in communications, and there has to be an equal shift in terms of what PR people are good at.
And I think that you’re gonna see in the future that PR is gonna be more aligned with the business objectives of the company. A lot of people already are, but I think it’s gonna come closer and closer. We’re gonna have to be, more financially oriented, more profit-driven and show how s- PR is [00:31:00] really impacting the business in a positive way as opposed to just telling stories because I think that’s w- where we’re gonna be m- we’re gonna find our value in that area much more than we are in storytelling as we have in the past.
And it means that students, as I said before, are gonna have to have a different skill set. They’re not always financially, they don’t, their financial acumen is not always as sharp as their communication skills. So I think that’s gonna have to change, and they’re gonna have to understand what’s happening in the world and the impact that a war in Iran is having on their companies and their products and their customers and that sort of thing.
It’s gonna become super important, and understanding all this crazy politics is gonna be really a part of the job because every time you send out a message or an email or a press release or write a speech, you’ve gotta take into consideration how that’s gonna react, how other people are gonna react to that.
And right now, half the country’s reacting to this one thing, and the other half the country’s reacting another way. So you’ve gotta take, calibrate that sort of a [00:32:00] reputational calculus every time you do anything or say anything. You’ve gotta take that into consideration.
Michelle Garrett: Do you think it’s industry specific sometimes, though?
Fred Cook: it’s probably. I think that B2B is probably a little safer place to be because they’re not as, as, as highly visible to the rest of the world. But consumer brands out there are getting, can get clobbered in, in a, any kind of situation if they make the wrong move. Yeah. Not only by the media, the politicians, but also by their customers.
If they do something that people don’t feel is appropriate, you hear about it immediately. Bud Light was a good example of that. their sales sank I think 30% for a period of time because of their marketing that they did. And I think other… That scared a lot of brands a lot because they could see themselves, that happening to them if they make the wrong step.
So then it becomes easier not to communicate at all out of fear of saying [00:33:00] something that’s gonna upset people.
Michelle Garrett: I feel like though for every, Bud Light example, there’s an example on the other side, like a Nike, like with, with Colin Kaepernick and all of that. So I feel like it could go either way, but it is a risk.
And I, back to the, the quote about, it’s not, controversy doesn’t lead to revenue. So- Yeah … I feel like that’s really, just very telling,
Fred Cook: There, there’s a number of quotes in the report, and we interviewed, 20, CCOs of major companies in the US, and we extracted some quotes.
they’re anonymous, but they do support a lot of the data that we’ve heard. and a lot of the people are just saying, “This just smart for the business to be careful right now,” and that, they don’t want to have any controversy on their watch if possible. So they’re just being really careful, and they’re doing…
They’re vetting things further. they’re checking, double-checking everything before they send it out. They’re doing more message testing. They’re [00:34:00] vetting their partnerships with influencers much more closely to make sure they have the right ones. They’re talking to only the media that they trust about topics they don’t think are controversial.
So there’s a lot of things that companies are doing now to ensure that they don’t create some kind of… Shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak. But they’re being very cautious and maybe sometimes too cautious in that regard and missing some opportunities perhaps to tell a story a little bit better
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
you don’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest,
Fred Cook: No, nobody want, no- everybody’s afraid of the hornet’s gonna sting them.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, it’s definitely a risk. so yeah, and it seems, I don’t know. it’s just, it’s always interesting to work in this field, but wow, there’s just a lot, to-
Fred Cook: Yeah, there’s a lot to take in these days
Michelle Garrett: arms around and, keep up with, is there anything else you want to share before we, we close this out today?
PR Will Survive This – and Remain Essential
Fred Cook: I think we’ve covered it all. [00:35:00] I think that we’ll see what happens over the course of the next couple of years. It’s been, you don’t know, it’s hard to predict the future when you don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow.
So I, I think if nothing else, we’re living in very interesting times and very stressful times, but very interesting. And I think PR is gonna survive this, and we’re gonna remain essential, but we’re gonna have to adapt in a lot of different ways, I think, in order to do So again, we’re just continuing to evolve as, the world, as the world changes.
Michelle Garrett: Yes, and, we are really good at that,
Fred Cook: Yeah. Paco Optimist.
Michelle Garrett: I like that.
Fred Cook: Yeah, it’s good. I
Michelle Garrett: like that term. I really, appreciate your time, Fred, and I think this research is always fascinating, and, I want to thank you for being here and sharing all- My
Fred Cook: pleasure …
Michelle Garrett: of this. Thank you so
Fred Cook: much. Thank you.
Right
Michelle Garrett: on. Bye.
Fred Cook: Bye.
About the host: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, writer and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations, marketing and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
Learn more about Michelle’s freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy Michelle’s book here.
