PR has demonstrated, particularly over the last decade, that it is a vital resource and an essential tool for any company or entity facing any type of crisis or issue.

In the past, we have seen many examples of good and bad management of a crisis connected to a specific product, to company mergers and consequent staff lay-offs, to plant closures, etc.  More recently, however, it's the consumers, the stakeholders who are being impacted by issues connected to reputation.

PR must become a more strategic and consultative activity in order to work closely with top management and respond to the need to communicate tangible and intangible assets to key stakeholders. In this new scenario, the importance of PR is growing and is fully recognised as a flexible way of managing changing situations.

We are now facing a crisis phase that involves every economy worldwide - it looks like the worst economic crisis we have ever seen and may last the longest.

The immediate reaction of PR experts has been that this phase could become a unique opportunity for PR consultants to re-affirm their importance and strategic role.

Starting from this concept, let's have a look at the market:

• Companies are focused on results and the bottom line.
• They are struggling with fixed asset costs, primarily staff costs.
• They need to look to weaker and unresponsive markets.

Working alongside a company today mainly means that the good relations, previously put in place and hopefully well managed, with all the stakeholders will continue to establish a common ground of contact and result in suitable outcomes for both parties (the famous win-win approach).  At this point, the question is - should our traditional function as mediator between the represented organisations/companies and their publics (media, institutions, staff etc.) be completely revised as a result of the changed scenario in which we and they operate?

I want to add some additional considerations:

• Journalists have less power and influence than they did as they now deal with more powerful editors and media owners who require fewer opinions and more facts that can be easily found on the internet or via the press agencies. Their work consequently becomes more flexible and sometimes even temporary.
• Organisations can be increasingly less influenced by others given the multifarious types of information they receive. Take, for example, President Obama's declarations recently to go ahead and with his promised measures despite all the lobbying pressure emanating from companies and banks. As a consequence, even our media are raising a question about the future of 15.000 lobbyists working in Washington circles and representing particular interests.
• Employees are really afraid of losing their jobs. Recently I overheard a comment from a a young girl in a lift: "I'm working nights and days, but I'm lucky as I still have a job".

So should PR consultants, like their clients, be revising their business models?

Everyone else seems to be doing it.  Banks are overhauling their systems which no longer work; companies are looking for new manufacturing and distribution systems in different markets and more transparent and sustainable working practices; governments are dealing with national budgets, overstretched welfare systems and a global economy which requires underpinning; consumers are afraid for their future.

PR shouldn't just be saying: "Let's turn the current economic crisis into an opportunity". It should also be striving to understand everyone's needs, to listen to the market, to monitor the changes and follow the instructions we receive from them. Public relations can no longer be managed with the same methods that were successfully used for the past 20 years.

Our challenge should be:  Treat this crisis as an opportunity to re-think our role, and indeed our mission in order to be more in touch with today's needs and be able to grasp emerging opportunities.