"The once-strong public relations industry is losing ground to an even stronger advertising industry", writes author and communication consultants Stefan Engeseth.

According to Swedish journalist and author Calle Schulman in a Swedish debate article, everyone working in the media industry is a monkey. But perhaps the PR industry is full of sacred cows instead – after all, nobody seems to be allowed to question it. Surely an industry that makes its living by addressing others’ beefs can tolerate being compared to cows?

In 2002 Al Ries and Luara Ries’ shook the foundations of the advertising world with their best-seller The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR. Recently at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, I released my latest book, The Fall of PR and the rise of Advertising, which describes the PR industry’s rise and possible fall.

The first person to approach me was the CEO of Burson-Marsteller in India, who told me he had read the book from cover to cover in one sitting. It upset him so much, he didn’t get a wink of sleep that night. I expect a dressing-down, but instead he thanked me for raising questions about the way the PR industry is changing. The book was, therefore, no sacred cow in India.

Internationally there has been a great deal said about the book, but in Sweden everyone remains blissfully silent. Why? Was I wrong to suggest that the once strong public relations industry may be losing ground to an even stronger advertising industry?

Journalists in Sweden have admitted to me that they feel ‘kidnapped’ by the public relations industry. If they do not write the right things, they risk losing access to the information they need to do their job. Marketing public relations is profitable, but when something goes wrong it can be even more profitable to sell crisis management to panic-stricken clients. Profit-hungry PR agencies have so far lived off selling press clippings by the kilo. With increased competition the tactics become even more obvious. Research shows that young people today are so accustomed to the media that they are like lie detectors, able to identify articles generated by PR agents. It is often hard for buyers to place a value on successful public relations campaigns. PR agencies’ knowledge of branding and strategy is usually so low that the value of their work often stops at the price per kilo they charge for press cuttings.

Once upon a time, media was considered to be the ‘the third party’ (the fourth estate), an impartial and independent ‘voice of truth’. Today, 100 million bloggers can kill public relations lies’ in a matter of hours. The PR industry is clueless about the internet, and its understanding of social media would have worked, if only it were based on the same tightly monitored, one-way communication that characterised ‘old media’.

What neither Murdoch, Stampen nor Bonniers [Sweden's two major publishers] has grasped is that ‘content is still king.’ Bonnier’s new Communications Director, Mårten Lyth, asks in the magazine Dagens Media: “Who will pay for quality?” The short answer to that question is: the advertisers. But advertisers are also developing their own media channels. In the same issue of the magazine, several major advertisers were asked how they work with social media. Many, it seems, are lagging four to six years behind. Why? Because they can (i.e. they can afford to).

But the media industry cannot afford monkeys. Nor can it afford PR agents offering up lipstick on the bulldog.


Looking round the corner we see that brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel and Audi have already set up their own television channels. For many, though, the content quality is so low that it threatens the health of their brands. Together with its millions of fans, Ikea could become a future media player. Whether or not brands will succeed in delivering good content will depend on whether the current media providers are humble enough to offer their skills to those who seek quality.

The goal of my book is not to slaughter any sacred cows, but to generate a constructive discussion, despite the fact that so many are living on milk.

Stefan Engeseth
CEO of Detective Marketing, author, speaker and consultant

Download the book free at DetectiveMarketing.com