Election 2024: Opportunities for public relations in a time of renewal

In public relations practice, there can be few more interesting times, at least in democracies, than the run-up to national elections. As the competing candidates and parties prepare their narratives, the channels of public communication fill with slogans, prepared messages and the controversies that accompany electoral campaigns. 

And elections are consequential for all aspects of practice, calling into question the techniques used in public relations and raising the possibilities for change. The coming elections in the US and UK will – as ever – be described as important to the future directions of the countries and touted as first steps in a process of change for the better. In public relations practice, work will already be underway to try to anticipate the changes which may follow the elections, in the UK on 4 July and in the US in November.

One theme for the UK election already set out is the idea of renewal. At the Labour Party conference in October last year, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer committed to a ‘decade of renewal’ if Labour were to be elected to govern.

Renewal is not a new promise, but the idea is one likely to be much debated over the coming months. Taken seriously, it has important implications for public relations practice. 

Because ‘renewal’ suggests a need to address the consequences of decline, and to work to bring about improvements. In the UK, there is dissatisfaction with perceived decline in living standards, the cost of living, public services such as the national health service, local amenities, the transportation and postal systems – the list goes on. A recent Ipsos study found two-thirds of the nation think the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Questions have also been raised about Britain’s place in the world. Writing in the Observer on April 7, David Miliband, a former UK foreign secretary, talked of Britain’s lost influence. Since Brexit, he argued, Britain has become ‘just one of many “middle powers” in the world.' It’s an old argument, one made in the 1960s by former US secretary of state Dean Acheson who said then that Britain’s role as an independent power was “about played out.”

Critics suggesting that the UK needs renewal may well be dismissed as talking the country down, as “declinists.”  Talking of decline is often part of the narrative of opposition parties who suggest they offer hope of positive change. And there are objective measures that can be taken as evidence of decline, such as dips in gross domestic product, measures of satisfaction with the quality of life, increases in levels of poverty or decreases in life expectancy.

If there is a need for renewal, what might it involve?

A simple answer might be economic growth. Grow the size and productivity of the economy and resources become available for improved and efficient public services, increased opportunities for employment and the spreading of resources to less advantaged regions and groups.

However, to go for growth as currently understood may be to compound the difficulties it sets out to alleviate. This argument is well set out in a recent book by Daniel Susskind. In his book, Growth: A Reckoning, he argues that growth, invaluable though it has been, “has come at an enormous price: deepening inequalities, destabilising technologies, environmental destruction and climate change”. He advocates a new approach to deal with what he calls the dilemma of growth – which is relevant to public relations practice (we will come back to this in a few moments).

Renewal depends on recognising that there is a need for renewal. Writing in the Guardian on April 11, 2024, Martin Kettle suggested the country needs to rebrand itself, to stop seeing itself in terms of past glories or in unrealistic roles as “the greatest place on earth”.  Renewal will mean setting out a different view of ourselves as a country, a task that will go beyond government to involve a national effort.

The role of public relations

And this brings up the role of public relations. Practitioners, working on behalf of clients and employing organisations, are – among other roles – framers of narratives. In relation to renewal, the idea is one that can be incorporated into storytelling. It’s easy to think of examples: in material put into the public domain by a university information office the relevance of publicised research to national renewal can be included, or a company announcing a new product can emphasise how its uses contribute to the same end.

Even more important to practice are some of the proposals set out in Susskind’s book, which deal with a different approach to growth. Growth is a new phenomenon in historical terms and for all its benefits has come at a price. The growth on which renewal will depend will need to draw on:

• Ideas.
• The findings resulting from increased investment on research and development.
• More people involved in the development of ideas. 
• Using technology to generate ideas.

In the past, public relations practice has often been used as a defensive practice, to push for or defend the continuation of existing ways of doing things, to maintain the status quo and protect reputation. It can also be a source of change, arguing against practices which cannot be sustained, or challenging outdated attitudes and values that may damage long-term interests. It is placed to argue for innovative approaches to growth that mitigate the damage growth has caused.

The practice is also a source and enabler of new ideas. A source because it has a perspective to draw on, and wide networks of contacts that are themselves sources of ideas. Studies of innovation have shown in the past that innovation and creativity depend on open communication that allows for the free exchange of ideas. By enabling communication, practitioners contribute to innovation and creativity.

In the last two years, these processes can be augmented using artificial intelligence; exploring, generating and evaluating ideas that can be exploited in public relations.

In any case, public relations is a creative practice and an area of management where the use of imagination is very actively encouraged. As more routine tasks in practice may use AI, public relations’ value for its use of imagination will become much more visible and recognised.

Trade-offs

Two other areas raised in Susskind’s examination of the dilemma of growth are relevant to public relations practice. He argues strongly against degrowth, while recognising that growth requires trade-offs; for example when it comes to the exploitation of resources at the expense of the environment.

He believes that when these trade-offs must be considered they should be a matter of broader public debate, where – in line with suggestions that have been made in the past for public consultation – there may be a need for new local-level political structures allowing for fuller debate.

In public relations practice, there has been a long-standing interest, and expertise developed in issues management. This expertise relates to the anticipation and emergence of issues, their framing, and responses to them. Issues relating to growth and renewal will add to the list of issues to be considered up to and following the coming UK election.

Another area for further work in practice – talked over in an earlier article for Influence – relates to the reconciliation of interests around issues. The development of public relations advice can incorporate an understanding of the various interests involved in questions of growth and renewal as well as recommendations for their reconciliation.

Renewal and new beginnings

If the ambitions for renewal go beyond the usual slogans prepared ahead of elections, what will be involved in real renewal will open huge opportunities for public relations practice – not least to demonstrate what the practice stands for, which is for the quality of relationships in the interests of achieving results.

Jon White is an independent consultant who specialises in management and organisation development, public relations, communications management and public affairs. Accredited by the CIPR, he is also a visiting professor at the University of Reading (Henley Business School) and honorary professor of journalism at Cardiff University.

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