PRCA celebrates 50th anniversary, announces school programme to tackle diversity

The PRCA has announced a plan to engage its members in helping raise awareness of PR as a career option in schools.

The PRCA celebrated its 50th anniversary in London last night. Director General Francis Ingham and founding chairman Michael McAvoy both spoke at the reception, but it was former chair Jackie Elliot that stole the show.

Elliot was chair of the PRCA when it celebrated its 25th anniversary in the mid-nineties.

Setting professional standards

“Our biggest challenge in 1994 was creating professional standards. There was a lot of cowboy practices,” she said. “In the 90s the PR business was smaller than the sandwich business.”

According to Elliot the sandwich soundbite was a throwaway remark made at a PRCA board meeting aimed at countering the need for standards.

“It annoyed me because it devalued our work. Today the PR business is valued at £15bn in the UK (PRCA Census 2019). The sandwich business is £8bn. That’s progress.”

Elliot paid tribute to Professor Tom Watson in defining the PRCA Consultancy Management Standard (CMS) based on ISO 9001 and Investors In People. Watson is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University.

The PRCA is unrecognisable from the organisation it was even 25 years ago thanks to the work of Francis Ingham over the past decade.

Today it represents more than 900 corporate members including consultancies and in-house teams, and thousands of individuals and freelancers.

Ingham has driven professional and ethical standards, represented the industry on issues such as digital rights, and addressed talent.

PRCA launches Schools Outreach Programme

Ingham announced a Schools Outreach Programme to tackle the diversity of the PR industry. Ethnic and social economic diversity are longstanding issues.

According to the PRCA Census 2019, 89% of practitioners in the UK are white, 80% are graduates and a third are privately educated.

“It’s impossible to keep coming up with creative ideas to reach and resonate with audiences that are not represented on your team,” said Maja Pawinska Sims, EMEA Editor, The Holmes Report.

We caught up recently to talk about trends in the PR industry.

The PRCA will provide practitioners with the assets and resources they need to visit schools, introduce students to PR, and drive awareness of PR as a career option.

“We’ll be sending the toolkit to members to ensure that they have everything they need to inspire the next generation of PR professionals,” said Ingham.

Each corporate PRCA member will be expected to engage with a local school each year, said Ingham.

The programme is the brainchild of the PRCA’s Diversity Network, led by Pema Seely and Rax Lakhani.