PR spending returning, slowly
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
PR spend for 2010 looks hopeful, albeit weak according to the Bellweather Report.
As mentioned in my annual review post, it seemed that business was picking up in Q4 and this seems to be confirmed by the report.
Spend is still in decline, but at a rate of 4% for Q4 compared to 24.4% for Q3. It might be that Q1 is the bottom and that PR money will be released.
Recruitment is positive with nearly 40% seeing new staff appointments in 2010 and client budget is also on the up for over a third of those surveyed. However, respondent numbers are small although trends seem to reflect a lot of conversations I have.
There is still the shock of a public sector cut back as early as summer, so while the overall trend looks reassuring there might be some hard times for agencies with a public sector client base.
Will there be more shocks for the economy, even though the US and China picture is encouraging?
