That’s the theme – and ambition – of Indonesia’s public relations community, which hosted a regional conference Feb. 2-4 in Jakarta for the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). There were 162 delegates from 23 countries attending.
The Institute for Public Relations and its mission of PR research, measurement and evaluation had a high profile with this multi-national but mostly-Asian audience. Among the takeaways:
- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? IPRA installed another woman as president: Dr. Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto who leads the graduate communications program at Indonesia’s Trisakti University. She succeeds ’09 President Maria Gergova, managing director of United Partners, an MS&L affiliate in Bulgaria. Egypt’s Loula Zaklama chaired IPRA in ’06. Academics and practitioners in emerging markets now dominate IPRA, whose mission always was to set ethical standards of practice globally and advocate for the profession where it is relatively new.
- CHINA’S DOMINANCE: You can’t travel anywhere without being confronted by China’s growth. China’s domestic market and economy are larger than those in the whole of the ASEAN region. Most Southeast Asian countries have lost ‘market share’ to China. Nevertheless, Chinese companies entering new markets have difficulty establishing identity and emotional bond with consumers. Serge Dumont, Asia/Pacific President for Omnicom, says his group’s research shows 58% of Chinese companies lack sufficient consumer visibility to compete fully. “I could be based in New York, but that’s not where the action is,” says the 25-year Asian veteran.
- TRUST IS COUNTRY-SPECIFIC: For the second year, Indonesia is included in the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, and outpaces other countries on multiple dimensions of trust. Sixty-four percent of Indonesians surveyed trust business to do the right thing (versus 54% globally). Sixty-two percent trust government (versus 47% globally) and a whopping 84% trust the banking sector!
- ADVANCING RESEARCH: Indonesian practitioners say that obtaining budget for public relations research is still a “tough sell” to many companies and clients. Perhaps that’s why a presentation about David Michaelson’s Best Practices in Public Relations Research and other frequent references to the Institute’s library of research topics were so well received here.
- A CALL TO ACTION: I have long believed that we are living in a world that public relations is perfectly suited to serve, and my keynote address at this conference was a “call to action.” Our opportunities are enormous because business is expanding into a lot of areas where we don’t yet know how to communicate. But the world is changing so fast that PR people are having a hard time keeping up. Practicing public relations in this “new normal” will require inspired leadership from within our profession.
What do you think?
Bob Grupp
President and CEO
Institute for Public Relations
May11 Brian PittmanThanks for the comment and adtdiions, Judy! This page is intended as a resource, and is a living document. Am changing and updating all the time, based on comments, etc. Happy to add more anytime and eager to add the CommPRO community’s POV herein. Keep the comments coming ^brianpReply
I really like your comments…they are a catalyst to all who are in communication industry.
As you said, “Our opportunities are enormous because business is expanding into a lot of areas where we don’t yet know how to communicate. But the world is changing so fast that PR people are having a hard time keeping up. Practicing public relations in this “new normal” will require inspired leadership from within our profession.”
It would be nice if you were able to arrange some sort of conference in Africa, especially in East African countries, as I do believe we are in need with it so much.
David A. Mosha