Industry leaders from Cision, CIPR, Mischief, Telefónica UK and The Future Laboratory outline the future of PR

LONDON, June 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Communicators finally have the opportunity to prove to company executives how great they are, and how important their work is, communications experts told a packed audience at the Cision's World Tour London event on Tuesday (June 6). 

A range of speakers, including Nicola Green, Director of Corporate Affairs at Telefónica UK; Chris Sanderson, co-founder, The Future Laboratory; and Lucy Hart, Head of Influence, Mischief, talked about the future of PR and a new era of modern communications with PRs and communicators at the prestigious Ham Yard Hotel in Central London. 

Cision CEO Kevin Akeroyd kicked off the event by discussing how the time is right for earned media – including PR and media relations – to take its rightful place in the marketing mix and get its rightful share of marketing budgets. "Consumers love trusted third parties, so that recognition that businesses have under-invested in earned media is happening now. We've got a great opportunity right now, but we can't keep doing the same thing. We've got to invest in data, tech and measurement." 

During the event's panel Q&A session, which is part of a series exploring the future of communications with leaders and influencers in the industry, Telefónica UK's Green said the development of new industry innovations means PR professionals now have the opportunity to demonstrate the impact their work has on a company's business objectives. 

"When we can deliver against our business objectives then, I can guarantee, that's the one time a board sits up and listens," Green explained. 

Mischief's Hart said she was seeing how clients were increasingly coming to Mischief with bigger PR spend available as support for influencer marketing continued to rise. 

Hart added that innovation will help the communications industry grow. "We have to loosen up a little bit and be willing to be more innovative and pushier and take our slice of the pie, Hart added. "Because what we do a brilliant job of is creating dialogue, conversations and creating content that people actually sit back and watch!" 

CIPR President Jack MacKenzie agreed, saying, "We need to stop being hung up on what we call what we do. You can call it influencer relations, you can call it PR, you can call it strategic communications. The client, or your boss, doesn't care. They want results." 

The Future Laboratory co-founder Chris Sanderson made a series of bold predictions about the challenges consumer brands are facing and how technology will continue to shape the future of communications, arguing that the way consumers engage with content is continually changing. Many people now prefer to consume content in silence, Sanderson said. The majority of videos in Facebook newsfeeds are viewed with the sound off and communicators must be aware of trends like this to create effective PR campaigns. 

Cision CMO Chris Lynch explained how brands, including big-name corporations, are finding that combining great storytelling with data science is uncovering the right influencers to share their stories, craft content that gets read, and, ultimately, link coverage with customer behaviour. 

The 2017 Cision World Tour is a series of events exploring the future of communications with industry leaders and influencers. After the U.S. leg of the tour launched in April, with events in Chicago, San Francisco and New York, London marked the first European event on June 6, 2017. Next stop on the tour is Paris on June 8. For more details on the next event nearest you, visit worldtour.cision.com and be sure to join the conversation on Twitter @Cision using the hashtag #CisionWorldTour. 

About Cision: 
Cision is a leading media communication technology and analytics company that enables marketers and communicators to effectively manage their earned media programs in coordination with paid and owned channels to drive business impact. As the creator of the Cision Communications Cloud™, the first-of-its-kind earned media cloud-based platform, Cision has combined cutting-edge data, analytics, technology and services into a unified communication ecosystem that brands can use to build consistent, meaningful and enduring relationships with influencers and buyers in order to amplify their marketplace influence. For more information, visit www.cision.com or follow @Cision on Twitter. 

Contact:  
cisionpr@cision.com

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