The PRCA, IPR, Association of Media Evaluation Companies (AMEC) and
other members of the working party formed as a result of the Proof Forum
met this week to thrash out the details of a best practice toolkit to be
launched in May. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Public Relations
Society of America is also working on a new tool to measure and evaluate
the impact of PR. Likely to be a CD-Rom, workbook or training programme,
this is due to be launched at the PRSA’s international conference next
October.
Both initiatives, and in particular the willingness of industry bodies
here in the UK to work together for the greater good of the profession,
represent a real step forward in terms of promoting the accountability
of the industry.
But the profession’s increasingly global concerns will soon necessitate
a transatlantic co-ordination of efforts to ensure that, when it comes
to research and evaluation, in-house practitioners and agencies working
on an international basis are all singing from the same song sheet.