In some ways 2023 has been like any other year; there’s never been a dull moment, and, looking ahead to the new year, that’s unlikely to change any time soon. But we also know that there will be a few new PR trends that burst onto the scene and help shape the ever-evolving PR landscape. These are our top PR trends that will shape 2024.
A look at our national media
We believe in a free press: this is the basis of any democratic society. But in return, those who run our media have a responsibility to do so ethically. This year we’ve witnessed scandal after scandal, culminating just last week with a High Court ruling around historical phone hacking. We’ve also seen impartiality challenges at the BBC that bosses are struggling to grasp hold of. These issues will rumble on in 2024, and media bosses have a huge challenge on their hands to balance revenue with quality, ethical journalism.
So, with a combination of other factors, none more so than the fact than as Gen Z (those who use social media to search and consume news) get older and Gen Alpha comes into the workplace/has more spending power (let’s face it, they will never pick up a hard copy newspaper or watch live TV, and are more trained than any of the rest of us in spotting fake news online…), the challenge for the mainstream press has never been greater. We see this via events at the Telegraph over the past few months too.
The PESO model
With the backdrop of the situation with our national media (which is also decreasing journalist numbers) and with the prefoliation of A.I. and other emerging tech, securing press coverage is more challenging than ever. This is why a lot of PR and comms agencies have moved to integrate more of the marcomms mix into their strategies and service offerings.
Taking control of your own message is now more important than ever before.
Going into 2024, campaigns more broadly will evolve towards a more nuanced, integrated approach. A lot of campaigns we run work around the PESO model (paid, earned, shared, owned). This full mix of activity enables consistent, targeted communications to reach audiences effectively, utilising budgets more effectively by seeding out creative content across a variety of channels in a variety of forms.
Being smart, agile, and capable across a range of areas is much more effective, but only if it’s done right. As with everything in a PR campaign, it absolutely has to be part of a wider strategy which is designed to achieve clear objectives.
Sustainability and environmental issues
In terms of what is motivating campaign messages, the salience of ESG and sustainability will increase throughout 2024. While it will mean different things to different people, businesses of all shapes and sizes are taking it seriously. As we look into 2024 though, be cautious of businesses that aren’t doing enough. In response, accusations of ‘greenwashing’ are possible if a campaign clearly isn’t authentic.
So, if this isn’t the space for you or your brand isn’t in at the moment, then don’t shoe-horn an angle into your campaign just for the sake of it. Instead, look at how you can make small, incremental changes to your day-to-day business which will combine to give you a credible campaign to run on.
People care about environmental issues and will change their consumer behaviour to accommodate it. They also care about companies getting it right, though.
A.I. and emerging technology
Any ‘predictions’ list would be incomplete without the one the thing everyone has been talking about – A.I. Apart from the early-adopters, the first year of Open AI’s Chat GPT (the most commonly used A.I. bot available) has been a little bit like a playground for the curious. I suspect that this time next year it’ll be more like a building site for the serious. As PR pros, we will be able to choose, use and optimise tools to create things greater than a sum of their parts. For example, research tasks, basic ideas generation and creating skeleton campaign structures are all things A.I. can support with, currently relying only on limited human involvement. Other tasks like more comprehensive idea creation, strong copywriting, and, perhaps most importantly, building relationship with clients, peers, suppliers and journalists, cannot be replaced by technology… yet. Looking ahead to 2024, A.I. will support and complement, but not surpass, human-led campaigning.
Videos
Despite a challenging year for some social media sites – Twitter/X has had its fair share of tough days under its new ownership, for example – others, such as TikTok continue to see growth. The short-form video platform grew 16% in 2023 and, while Instagram’s reels are three years old now, their length and popularity are also increasing. Video, therefore, whether a snappy 10 second piece to camera, or a two-minute section designed to tell the audience a story, will play a large role in 2024’s PR campaigns.
A final word of warning though, just like the PESO model, video cannot stand alone. If you want a video because you’re keen to jump on a viral trend, then think again. These hooks can be incredibly effective providing you have the agility and capacity to move at pace, but video has to be part of a dedicated campaign strategy; it is a tactic to help execute the strategy and achieve the objectives.
Deep fakes
While the power of both A.I. and video will be significant in 2024, both are prone to manipulation and abuse in the wrong hands. Videos in particular are deliberately designed to grab their target audiences. But, when consuming this content, we have so far largely assumed everyone is acting in good faith. What happens when deep fake become even more convincing?
One of the consequences will be that delivering convincing, powerful messages will become even harder as trust in traditional sources of information is further eroded.
It is worth noting, however, that deep fakes aren’t always used to nefarious means. David Beckham has been used in a positive ad campaign against malaria to show him speaking nine languages and thus reducing the need for nine different versions of the same advert – effectively reaching a global audience for a global issue. This year, a fantastic advert by Orange used deep fakes to advertise the Women’s’ football World Cup in a way that utterly grabbed audiences and prompted waves of coverage off the back of it.
It’s not just deep fakes either. Here in our office, we have members of Gen Z, Millenials and Gen X. All were fooled by the very recent #FakeMoss Kate Moss sighting in Aldi in Ancoats. All believed Kate Moss was actually there as part of her attendance at Chanel’s Manchester fashion show. It was a cracking (award-winning to be) stunt by Aldi’s PR agency, but shows just how easy it is to spread fake, believable news online.
What do you think? Have we missed anything? How will these predictions look this time next year? Have an idea? Email george@refreshpr.co.uk