Investment pouring into communications industry

PULSE aims to provide insights for companies across the world to act on, such as helping them benchmark their own organisations and plan for their own communications activities.
Key findings from the first global PULSE survey, and those which Grayling believes will prove to become critical global trend indicators for the communications industry over the next three years, are as follows:
lGlobal investment in public relations across most areas appears to be stagnating, with only a fifth reporting an increase in spending.
lIn spite of this (or perhaps because of it) visibility of communications activity at board level, and perceived value of communications activity to commercial success, is strong with increases of 47 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively.
lShort-termism continues to dominate budget and resource planning with organisations remaining cautious about long-term investments; project support sees a 20 per cent increase in spending at the expense of an 11 per cent increase for retained support. In addition, in-house teams’ headcount remains static with almost 70 per cent reporting no change.
lThe Consumer and Retail sector appears to be trying to invest its way out of recession with the greatest increase in spending, headcount and visibility at board level globally.
lUnsurprisingly, spending on social media and the digital industry sees the largest increase with an average of 44 per cent led by 60.8 per cent increase in the Consumer and Retail sector; 26 per cent increase for corporate communications and a 17 per cent increase in spending on CSR communications.
lKey growth areas in corporate communications and reputation management include Energy, Environment and Industry with 38.9 per cent of companies reporting an increase in investment. Other sectors that saw increased investment include Tech, Media and Telecoms; Consumer and Retail; Financial and Professional Services; and Transport, Auto and Logistics.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific saw the largest increase in PR investment with 17 per cent, driven by the emerging economies of Indonesia and India; followed by Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.