24 Mar 2025

ICCO World PR Report 2024-2025

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) recently unveiled its World PR Report for 2024-2025, showcasing a comprehensive overview of the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the global PR industry. This year's report highlights several defining factors for PR professionals, including AI adoption, reputation management, geopolitical influence, and ethical leadership.

Produced annually by ICCO, the report gathers insights from senior PR leaders worldwide, providing valuable data on growth, investment, talent retention, measurement, and emerging digital trends across different regions.

Here are some key takeaways:

AI Adoption and Digital Transformation

With 74% (those who took part in the study) of professionals already using AI tools in their daily work, AI is now integrated into content creation, analytics, and workflow automation. Nearly half of PR leaders (47%) identify AI mastery as the most critical skill for the future. However, ethical concerns around AI-powered misinformation are growing, emphasising the need for responsible AI use.

Reputation Management and Strategic Consulting

In the context of an election-filled year across the globe in 2024, the number of respondents indicating their public affairs/government relations service has increased from 13% to 16%. Corporate reputation (37%) and strategic consulting (38%) rank above public affairs/government relations (23%) in service areas that the PR industry is expecting to grow over the next 12 months.

Economic Pressures and Financial Concerns

Despite the industry's confidence in its resilience, financial concerns persist, clients' unwillingness to commit sufficient funds (37%) and economic uncertainty (34%) are among the most significant challenges. However, PR leaders remain optimistic about market growth and expect increased profitability in the coming year, but these financial hurdles cannot be ignored.

Talent Retention and Ethical Leadership

Talent retention remains a top concern for PR agencies, with 60% of leaders citing it as a major challenge. 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.

Click here to download the full report.