PRCA CONTINUES TO BROADEN MEMBERSHIP
A new wave of recruits suggests the Public Relations Consultants Association(PRCA) is succeeding in broadening its membership profile.
The PRCA has today welcomed Speed Communications as its most recent member. This follows the announcement only weeks ago that Bell Pottinger Public Affairs had joined.
Traditionally recruiting smaller, consumer-focused agencies, the PRCA has recently been eager to expand its membership base to include in-house practitioners and corporate/public affair agencies. This has followed the recent acceptance of inhouse comms teams from businesses such as Ebay, Procter & Gamble and Nationwide.
Stephen Waddington, managing director, Speed said: “We're really impressed with how the PRCA has modernised. We welcomed the decision to broaden the membership to include client organisations, the way that the Association has embraced digital communications and its proactive campaigning on issues such as web licensing. The change has been dramatic.”
Francis Ingham, PRCA director general said: “Speed's reputation in the industry has meant there has been a hole in our membership until now. It is exciting that agencies that have long rejected PRCA membership are reconsidering the value we offer. We have signed more than 25 agencies into membership in the first quarter of this year – miles ahead of what we used to achieve.”
According to Richard Ellis, the PRCA’s communications manager, their sites are now set on the not-for-profit sector. “We’d love to have a leading charity come on board, for example Oxfam. Charities have to be extremely careful with their money and it would highlight the value that membership now offers”.
