ICCO World PR Report Reveals AI, Strategic Consulting, and Ethical Leadership as Key Industry Priorities

The ICCO World PR Report 2024-2025 has officially launched, offering a comprehensive overview of the key trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the global PR industry. This year’s findings underscore AI adoption, reputation management, geopolitical influence, and ethical leadership as defining factors for PR professionals navigating an evolving communications landscape. 

This year’s research finds a global industry confident in its resilience despite economic pressures, digital transformation, and shifting geopolitical realities. PR leaders remain optimistic about market growth, and expect increased profitability in the coming year. However, financial concerns persist, with clients’ unwillingness to commit sufficient funds (37%) and economic uncertainty (34%) ranked among the most significant challenges. 

As PR firms navigate these hurdles, corporate reputation and strategic consulting emerge as the leading growth areas, with agencies shifting their focus toward long-term reputation management and high-value advisory services. 

The rise of AI is reshaping PR at unprecedented speed, with 74% of professionals already using AI tools in their daily work. AI is now integrated into content creation, analytics, and workflow automation, and 47% of PR leaders identify AI mastery as the most critical skill for the future. Despite the enthusiasm for AI-driven efficiency, ethical concerns around AI-powered misinformation are mounting. 

Beyond technology and reputation management, talent retention remains one of PR’s biggest challenges, with 60% of agency leaders citing it as a top concern. The industry struggles with staff retention, mid-level talent development, and incentivising senior staff. Younger professionals are increasingly drawn to purpose-driven careers, making Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), ethical leadership, and corporate responsibility essential factors in attracting and retaining top talent. 

Produced in collaboration with Opinium, PRovoke Media, and CARMA, the report is free to download here. 

You can read the full news at this link.