Agency heads across the globe are overwhelmingly upbeat about the growth of public relations, profitability and the strategic importance of PR, but talent remains the industry's number one headache, according to the 2020 ICCO World PR Report.

The report, now in its fifth year and published in partnership with Opinium, provides a snapshot of the global PR landscape, highlighting the issues, trends and opportunities for agencies across seven main regions.

The research uncovered high levels of optimism and profitability in every region. When asked their levels of agreement with the statement ‘I am optimistic about the growth of the public relations market’ on a 10 point scale, the global average came out at 7 out of 10, with levels of optimism particularly strong in North America (7.7).

Across all regions, participants scored an average of 6.7 in terms of confidence in increased profits. However, 48% of the sample admitted that their biggest talent challenge was retaining key people, 32% acknowledged difficulties in hiring mid-level staff and a third said training and developing junior staff was challenging.

ICCO chief executive Francis Ingham said: “The global PR industry faces the future in fine shape. Growth, optimism and profitability have become the norm. However, we must not take our position of strength for granted. At every level of the industry and in every region of the world, we have a talent problem. We simply do not attract and retain enough of it. That is because we do not pay enough. And we do not pay enough because we charge too little.”

On a more positive note strategic consulting, the second largest area of growth last year, accounts for just under a third (29%) of all growth and is expected to be the largest area of practice over the next five years.

For more information and to download the full report, go to https://iccopr.com/prs-global-growth-set-to-surge-beyond-2020-icco-world-pr-report-2020/