New Labour’s claims to greater accountability appear to have had a
beneficial effect on its government information service. The COI has now
taken the forward-thinking step of drawing up a roster of media
evaluation companies.
Admittedly, it has always taken evaluation seriously. The tax
self-assessment campaign was closely monitored by CARMA and the Highways
Agency is developing its own in-house method of evaluating
campaigns.
But the roster lends a new weight to the whole concept of planning and
measurement, and underlines the fact that all communication spend,
particularly in this sensitive public domain, needs to be
accountable.
The COI cannot guarantee its proportional spend on R&E will always hit
the Proof target of ten per cent, but it is recommending that its
clients spend between three and 12 per cent of overall budget depending
on the size of a project.
Perhaps more importantly, the COI is also attempting to teach its
’clients’ how to properly use these tools and how to set measurable
objectives. The first of an ongoing series of seminars was held on
Wednesday which brought together government departments and agencies and
PR and evaluation professionals.
This could provide a valuable template for consultancies, which often
complain that client companies are unwilling to commit budget to a
system they do not understand. Also crucially, it provides the
opportunity to communicate the true potential of properly planned PR
activity.
