This week we publish the first in a series of best practice
guidelines drawn up by the PR industry as part of PR Week’s CBI-backed
campaign.
The Partnership Charter is a framework for building and nurturing great
relationships between clients and agencies. Some of the suggestions may
seem painfully basic, but the Best Practice panel members who drew up
the guidelines never intended to patronise. The aim was to encourage
practitioners in all sectors and all sizes of companies to get the
foundations of their relationship right, so they have better chance of
taking what PR can achieve to a higher level.
If, when you read the guidelines, you feel they don’t apply to you - and
this goes for clients as well as agencies - ask yourself whether you
could put a tick next to each point at every stage of every working
relationship.
The answer is likely to be no. As panel member Lord Bell said, if
everyone already worked in this way, there would be no need to spell out
the model relationship.
