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Back Eşti aici:Home Dezbateri Dezbateri actuale Inovatie in PR Gabriela Lungu, Weber Shandwick: Many agencies are run by fear of losing what they already have, instead of hunger for what they could have

Gabriela Lungu, Weber Shandwick: Many agencies are run by fear of losing what they already have, instead of hunger for what they could have

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gabriela lungu nou‘It takes a lot of guts to push yourself to embrace bravery – especially if you have a good business going on and you don’t see an immediate need to do it. There’s an old saying “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”. Many agencies are run by fear of losing what they already have, instead of hunger for what they could have. Until defenders shift to having an attackers’ mentality, there’s little innovation’, told us Gabriela Lungu, Chief Creative Officer UK & EMEA at Weber Shandwick, in an interview with PR Romania on how innovation will take PR to the next level.

How do you define innovation in the PR industry?

Much more than just creativity, innovation in PR means discovering new things (ideas, technologies, methods, methodologies) that redefine the standards of the profession or even the profession itself.

PR agencies create innovative products for clients, but their modes of operation are standard and somehow outdated.  So what’s holding agencies back from innovative and risk-taking structural decisions?

It’s a whole lot easier to push others for taking risks than taking the risk yourself. PR companies are not an exception to this rule. Actually, as many times PR agencies are also in the business of risk management and crisis handling, I think this makes them even more risk averse.
It takes a lot of guts to push yourself to embrace bravery – especially if you have a good business going on and you don’t see an immediate need to do it. There’s an old saying “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”. Many agencies are run by fear of losing that they already have, instead of hunger for what they could have. Until defenders shift to having an attackers’ mentality, there’s little innovation.

Usual titles like ‘Senior Account Manager’ and ‘Director’ are becoming less and less adequate at defining someone’s true job. How do you see the agency of the future regarding these roles?  

I think we need to stop thinking that performance in PR can be achieved with one-man-band type of consultants. Great creativity cannot just happen between the many phone-calls in a day, staying constantly updated with latest technologies needs dedicated effort, making sense of the huge amount of data available needs special skills and time, and understanding – truly understanding – clients’ business (to be able to give any pertinent advice) is a job in itself. We need specialists. People with good understanding of the PR function as a whole, but with a very specific set of skills and dedicated time for a particular activity.

In which areas are you seeing the most concrete industry innovation?

Digital communication of course – because the external world is forcing agencies (and clients) to take action.
Then Consumer PR and Technology PR, as an immediate result of that.  

Do you think that PR industry attract enough doers with entrepreneurial skills?

We’re not a special case – I think we attract entrepreneurs as much as any other industry…

The future is laden with more complex technology and big ideas. Are the agencies ready to take on the next big, unknown thing?

Not all. But some are. Not just ready to take on the next thing, but leading the way to the unknown. Every time I think of the agency of the future I’m happy to notice we’re it. Or pretty darn close.


Gabriela Lungu is Chief Creative Officer UK&EMEA, Weber Shandwick


Interview by Dana Oancea. Copyright PR Romania

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