What's the point of traditional PR in 2023?

Social media has changed the roadmap of showbiz journalism for the worse. So what does the future hold for PR? I started my own firm after I left writing...and here's what I've learnt so far!

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

You’ve probably gathered by now that I thoroughly enjoyed my days as a showbiz columnist and writer on Fleet Street. They were crazy, fun and wildly exhausting. I was young, hungry and had the celebrity bug. So what happened after I left?

Well, after a little freelancing to test the waters, I realised it was beyond hard to get paid well – or on time - and takes so much energy to make work with titles folding before our very eyes.

So…I decided to set up my PR firm, Beak Comms. Ten years since leaving journalism, I’m pretty happy with life here on the ‘dark side’ within PR. I say ‘dark side’ because when I left there were literally dozens of hacks describing my move as just that.

“Oooooh, you’re off to the dark side,” they’d say spikily.  

Errrrrm, I didn’t consider it moving the dark side in the grand scheme of things. I was done. Upon reflection, newspapers and shady editors were the dark side.

For me, PR felt exciting, and I was able to work with some of the celebs I’d made pals with during my Mr Showbiz days. Sky Sports F1 host Natalie Pinkham was first to come on board, then Sky News anchor Sarah-Jane Mee and following them were a string of other great people I loved working with. Brendan Cole, Gethin Jones, Melanie C, Sadie Frost and many more. Before a great list of brands. It’s been a constant stream of different and exciting work.

But something strange has happened in the past handful of years. Today that Japanese knotweed effect that social media so easily provides has had a huge effect on the world of PR.

In fact, at times I wonder how long traditional PR is going to be able to survive. I say traditional as in…dealing with newspapers, broadsheets and magazines to achieve public relations for people or brands. So garnering mentions, credits, reviews, plugs and general interviews for clients.

During the past few years I’ve come to realise PR as a career has the power to be an extraordinarily unfulfilling thankless job at times. You see, being a PR in the celebrity-driven world is all about connections, introductions and general logistical tasks. Sorting out the phoners or zooms, tens of emails to secure just one chat and you find yourself chained to your desk and chasing your tail to keep up with things. And that’s not a huge amount of fun - especially being a one-man-band…like I am.  

Then with the brands and venues I’ve been looking after it’s changed dramatically in recent years and even more so since Covid…

Whereas when I began, you could genuinely see the uplift or translation into sales from traditional PR (reviews, inclusion within articles and online media) nowadays brands can’t rely on traditional press AT ALL to get their product sold. It feels like the last two years in particular there’s been a huge turnaround with how PR works - and is effective - and it’s really changed the way in which I’ve had to work.

Case and point, I’ve been the PR and VIP coordinator for Body Camp for the past eight years. I love every single detail about this business model. A holistic, no fad, fitness retreat whose focus remains on a fun way to do a retreat with huge health rewards and a real education on what we need to stay healthy in this weird and wacky world.

When I came on board with founder Kate Whale I knew it was a huge opportunity for me. To be frank, I didn’t know a huge amount about PR – then again, I didn’t know much about being a journalist when I joined the Mirror back in 2001 at the age of 21. But I managed that ;-)

One of my best life skills is the fact I can fly by the seat of my pants. I’m turbo organised, able to control a situation, deal with crisis and generally have good common sense (which is integral). So it was never going to go that wrong…

I’m the guy who’s mum has always said she never worries about me when it comes to work. “I never actually worry about you, Dean - you just get on with it and it seems to always work out for the best.”

She’s very astute. But even so, this was a leap into a new world and, to be frank, I was kinda shitting myself about the career leap.

Anyhow, I nailed the interview with Kate (I was hungover, she told funny jokes and we hit it off over cocktails once the business stuff was out the way). I was thrilled to be starting with a business at their conception and having the opportunity to grow. I knew two things. I wanted to get Body Camp on the map in the health, fitness and lifestyle genre as quickly as humanly possible. Secondly, I knew my rollerdex of celebrity numbers, emails and contacts was going to help me out. Not to mention the fact all my former newspaper and magazine colleagues were fast moving into positions of power at all sorts of national publications.  

I got to work. Lined up the Times, Telegraph and Mail within weeks. Then started with the celebs and they came thick and fast. Within a few short months everyone was discussing Body Camp. The press, teamed together with the social media blitzing we got every time a new face came, quickly ensured they were on the tip of everyone’s tongues. And nowadays it’s always a thrill to still be navigating their journey with them. Each year is different. We’ve survived covid together, grown together and Kate’s a huge supporter to me, the Piper. As I am of her!

But, whereas at the beginning in 2015 we knew we were guaranteed bookings from traditional press and could almost guarantee what the articles would give us in return…it’s now a completely different picture.

There’s no guarantee to what press will do for a brand. You might have a brilliant four-page piece in a fitness magazine and incredible social media posting to support and it does sweet FA. You might get a target market page in ES mag. Still sweet FA. You might get the all-important broad sheet glossy inclusion. Still FUCK ALL. You cannot predict what will happen following a piece of fantastic press. But then a celebrity with a few hundred thousand followers goes on camp and posts and BOOM – sales through the roof. Not to mention the subliminal messaging that vibrates online for weeks after their visit.

This obviously bruises the ego slightly as I fear journalists (and the general public) don’t fully realise or appreciate the amount of work that goes into nailing just one journalist to come on camp for a week in the sunshine working out. It’s a lot. Hundreds of emails. Juggling schedules. Back and forth calls. Persuasion. Fake smiles (occasionally). And a lot of energy. Imagine all that work for a client and then the piece runs and NO FUCKER BOOKS ANYTHING.

Which is why over the years – and despite my huge dislike to the way social media is harming the industry – I’ve been forced to immerse myself into the VIP influencer side of the market and collaborations.

I can dick about with journalists (who let’s face it are offered every trip under the sun around the globe) for MONTHS trying to land a single review which might fall flat on its face OR I can what’s app a mate in the celeb world who needs a break, send them to the retreat, watch them tag a gifted stay on social and the bookings literally roll in…

Don’t get me wrong, it’s sad that publications aren’t leading the way for PR activity now. But with readership dwindling, newspapers like the Standard feeling like little more than a pamphlet and tens of titles simply closing down, what is a PR meant to do? We can’t sit on our laurels – we have to move with the times. And those VIP friendships and relationships with people in that industry have provided the key to working with brands like Body Camp. It’s lead me to grow and consult for all sorts of brands like Langan’s Brasserie, Amanda Harrington London, Alexis Amor, Fifi and Friends, Loci, Roar Fitness and dozens more. For some it’s PR, some it’s VIP gifting and for others it’s a mix of the two. The rules are simple. I’m honest as hell with the client from the get-go. If they’re obsessed with getting traditional press and don’t seem to get how that’s going to do nothing to shift their product, then I tell them the truth.  

Brands are always going to need some sort of traditional press (usually to appease their investors and to use on a website) but it’s getting to the point where I’m advising the client to go down the VIP route, ditch the traditional press altogether and put budget into online marketing. I mean let’s face it, the amount of crap we’re all buying weekly from our Instagram should be a sign of where the influence is coming from in our lives. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. It’s a huge shame but it’s the truth.

As I said earlier, there are a lot of elements within PR that make for an exceedingly unfulfilling job. There’s just so little creative substance to keep your mind ticking over. It’s all about introductions, emails and pretty basic stuff. But I have the contacts people want and I’m doing the job well for all my roster. But what do I dream about in the future? It might not be this.  

I guess I’m at a pivotal time in my life. Newly single. Looking at different opportunities. Renting somewhere in Ibiza to escape too (only for my 90 days in every 180 – thank you all you Brexiteer gonks). Generally, I’m searching for a way to get creativity back into my life. That, for me, feels like the key to happiness as I enter my mid-forties.

Anyway, a glimpse into PR. It’s not fucked. But it’s sure as hell changing for the worse each and every year thanks to the speed and our good ol’ friend social media. And before you say it, no I don’t want to go with the times and become an expert in Tik Tok. Let’s not be daft.

Toodle pips, people. Until next week.

P.S. Here’s my leaving page from the end of my time at Closer Magazine. It’s tradition when you leave a publication that you get a leaving front cover. This was suitably fun from my friends at Closer…