Disintermediating the Intermediaries
19 October 2007
At last week’s Digipalooza conference, I made a comment about one of the threats to the PR industry from digital communications being that it disintermediates intermediaries, of which PR firms are one. A colleague in attendance recently asked me to qualify this; here’s what I said:
PR is an intermediary. We sit between the media (and increasingly the public) and our clients, trying to control the flow of information between the two. The internet has no respect for intermediaries – media and consumers can find information in other ways; they are no longer dependent on us to provide access to it. That’s why we will become increasingly intermediated unless we find new ways to deliver value to both sides.
What do you think?
Richard Bailey
19 October 2007
10:53 am
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That’s very good – and also a useful description of the public relations role. This reminds me of a passage in George Pitcher’s The Death of Spin published in 2003: ”PR agency functions are dead and dying. There cannot be a continuing justification, in an era of global on-line corporate communication, for middle-men to distribute press releases, compile performance tables, post interim and preliminary financial results and field queries."
I think the question now becomes ‘what are PR consultants for?’ – because the in-house role does not face quite such pressure from disintermediation.
Richard Bailey
19 October 2007
2:37 pm
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I think this over simplifies the situation – PR companies don’t just control flow of information, but rather provide recommendations and insight with regards to content and timing of information, as well as a menu of approaches that often include digital as well as other tactics. The point isn’t just to create content, but to create content that your audience actually reads. Communications professionals do have a role in terms of ensuring the content is meaningful and it reaches the target audience.
James Warren
1 November 2007
5:39 pm
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(Sorry, I’m coming to this a little late).
Niall, I think you’re absolutely right. Richard’s right to ask about the future role of the agency, too. And Kathleen’s right as well (three rights and you’re out) in that the opportunity for our industry is to augment the media in the traditional communications (or more accurately, information-gathering) model.
I’d argue your response can be tweeked slightly: consumers are no longer dependent on the *media* to find information. The good news for PR is we can use our understanding of our client’s audience and their information-needs to create tailored appropriate and relevant content that benefits both them and our client. So (appropriately) it’s the media that becomes disintermediated – as far as information distribution goes. They’d argue their future lies in comment and opinion… But that’s a whole separate argument.
Subject hi-jack. We’ve never met. Time that was rectified. Beer?
Niall Cook
2 November 2007
10:48 am
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Some good points, James. Particularly your last one – if it’s on WS’s expense account, I’m in!