News
Here you will find a selection of media comment by, or about, Gyroscope.
27 April 2007
International PR Budgets and Benchmarks
The first stage of Gyroscope's research into international PR budgets and benchmarks is now complete - and the findings to date should make worrying reading for the industry. The report shows clearly that until the industry - on all sides and at every level - learns to adopt more rigorous planning of desired returns and required investments, its potential will, for most organisations, continue to be wasted.
The second stage will take place in a series of workshops during the Communication Directors' Forum, on board Aurora from 09-12 May. A full report will be published shortly after the Forum. Download PR Week article (pdf).
20 April 2007
PR Week has published its latest review of the UK's Top 150 PR agencies. The rankings are again based on a formula developed by a panel of industry experts, including Gyroscope's Managing Director, Tom Wells, and minority shareholder, Adrian Wheeler. The formula is designed to estimate fee incomes for those agencies that either do not, or cannot, supply their income figures to PR Week. Download PR Week article (pdf).
December 2006
A survey carried out by Gyroscope amongst some 200 senior-level delegates at the International PR Association summit in London has highlighted, yet again, the low standards of professionalism prevalent in global PR.
As part of a panel discussion on 'Managing global PR programmes', led by Gyroscope's Tom Wells, delegates used interactive keypads to answer a series of lighthearted, but seriously-intended questions.
First, a remarkable 73% of delegates rated the statement 'typically, budgets set for global PR programmes have no relationship with reality', as 'true' and just 27% as 'false'.
Second, 74% agreed the truth of 'high level corporate communications strategy is usually developed by someone with little or no experience in delivering day-to-day PR activity in any country other than their own'; just 26% said this was false.
Third, when asked 'who is best at planning and managing global PR programmes?', 165 of delegates said 'clients'; 35% said 'agencies'; 29% said 'clients and agencies are both equally good'; and 21% said 'clients and agencies are both equally bad'.
And finally, when delegates were asked 'when planning a global PR programme, which budget model do you/your clients typically use?', 15% said 'the PR budget is a percentage of the advertising or marketing budget'; and 8% said 'the PR budget is a percentage of sales or turnover'. And while an encouraging 34% said 'the PR budget is rigorously planned to deliver precisely the right resources at the right time in the right place', an astonishing 43% said 'the budget is based on what we spent last year, give or take a bit'.
Tom Wells comments: 'While acknowledging that this survey was far from scientific, we believe it is further evidence of the woefully low standards of planning, buying and management in the PR industry. No organisation can expect a worthwhile return on its PR investment when it is based on the ineffective use of inappropriate resources by inexperienced people'.
10 August 2006
Gyroscope's PR Landscape of Africa (the latest in a series, with previous reports covering Russia, China and Brazil) will be available for free download from the Resources section of this website by mid-August. In the meantime, PR Week of 10 August 2006 carries a brief review and summary of the report by Gyroscope's Tom Wells; download article here.
July 2006
Gyroscope has been working for several months with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) and the Central Office of Information (COI) to develop a Guide to Professional Purchasing in PR.
The Guide meets the need for a common standard in the purchasing and procurement of PR. The lack of such a standard affects the competitiveness and future success of the profession, and is a major cause of wastage in PR spending.
CIPR members can download the Guide free from www.cipr.co.uk; non-members can buy the Guide for £85.00 by contacting Anne Mealor at the CIPR on + 44 (0) 20 7766 3333.
A review of the Guide and industry comments on it can be seen in PR Week of 14 July 2006. View pdf here.
June 2006
Gyroscope is sponsoring the 'Best International Campaign' category of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations' Excellence Awards. The Awards ceremony takes place in London on 3 July.
Tom Wells was a judge in the CIPR Awards category for Media Relations, reviewing well over 100 entries from UK PR agencies. Tom was also a judge recently in the SABRE Awards, organised by The Holmes Report, reviewing entries in the categories for France, The Nordics, Eastern Europe and 'multi-country' campaigns.
PR Week, 21 April 2006
Gyroscope's Tom Wells and Adrian Wheeler were both members of an expert panel assembled by PR Week magazine to devise a formula by which agencies affected by the Sarbanes Oxley Act could be re-instated to the Top 150 Consultancies table. Download the article (pdf file)
| 12 April 2004 Wheeler acquires stake in Gyroscope |
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| Adrian Wheeler, former Chairman of GCI Europe, is to acquire a minority share in Gyroscope, and will work with the company in developing its business. Wheeler, who left GCI in December 2005, founded Sterling PR in 1976. This firm was acquired by Grey in 1990, and Wheeler was then instrumental in developing GCI Europe’s 28-office network. Gyroscope's Managing Partner Tom Wells comments: 'I’m absolutely delighted that Adrian will be working with us, and that he has decided to take a stake in the business. We have known each other for many years, as rivals in the consultancy business, as client and agency, and through many industry bodies and initiatives. He brings a quite exceptional understanding of the PR industry and the challenges faced by clients and agencies alike in realising the true value of PR'. |
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| PR Week, 24 March 2006 | ||
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A study by Gyroscope has revealed that nearly four out of ten client organisations do not have a valid contract with their PR agencies, exposing them to significant legal and commercial risk. In our work with our clients, we have been astonished by how often there is no current or effective legal basis to their dealings with PR agencies. When disputes arise, or when either party seeks to terminate the relationship, huge and expensive difficulties can result. To assess the scale of the issue, we carried out a survey of 73 client organisations, including some of the world’s largest and best-known companies, which showed that 37% of them have no contract with their agency or agencies. A classic case is the ‘post-win, let’s just do it’ scenario. At the first meeting after a business win, the newly appointed agency presents its standard contract to the client. The client representative, who may have little or no experience in legal or contract issues, accepts the document with the intent of running it past their legal team, but forgets, and the contract is never signed. Some time later, when difficulties arise, neither party can agree on its rights or obligations – and time, value and goodwill are destroyed with frightening speed. |
| In an ‘A to E’ of contractual nightmares, we would highlight just five of the potential risks for both clients and agencies: Abuse of copyright and intellectual property; Budgets and fee conflicts; Confidentiality breaches; Dumping of the other party by either client or agency; and Employee solicitation. Without a valid contract in place, neither client party has any protection against issues such as these. To operate without the protection of a clear and mutual contract, in an area which can involve not just millions of pounds but the very fabric of corporate reputation, is simply insane. It should be a matter of the deepest concern to the industry as a whole that such a huge proportion of its work has no contractual foundation. |
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Public Affairs News December 2005
Tom Wells, author of The PR Landscape in China, discusses the theory that the boom time for Sino-PR and PA will soon be followed by a bust. Click here to view the article as a pdf file.
China PR Study Tour 2006
In March 2006, Gyroscope is leading a group of 10-15 senior corporate communications professionals on a one week study tour of China’s PR industry. Click here for more information.
PR Week
November 9 2005: China PR seminar, London
Tom Wells will be presenting a workshop at the PRCA on whether or not western organisations can use PR successfully to develop brands and businesses in China. For further details, please contact Pom Daniels at the PRCA on + 44 (0) 20 7233 6026.
October 19-21 2005: ICCO Summit, Prague
We will be attending the ICCO summit in Prague to build further contacts with agencies and other suppliers from around the world. Any client organisatons with questions about PR agencies and the PR industry in specific countries are welcome to contact us beforehand, and we'll see what answers we can find while we're in Prague.