Eight communications predictions for 2025
Talking Points highlights the topics, trends, and technology defining the media and communications sectors.
Eight communications predictions for 2025
Prediction season is upon us–where executives across virtually every sector weigh in on where they think their industry is headed in the year ahead. Especially with the uptick in independently run newsletters, there are more voices than ever publicly hedging bets on what the future holds.
And we’re no exception. So, if you’re not already tired of reading about 2025 predictions, we’ve tapped our team’s mindhive to share the big comms trends we expect to see next year.
With continued economic uncertainty, demonstrating value is more important than ever
One of the biggest topics on communicators’ minds heading into 2025 is how to continue to prove the value of PR amid ongoing headwinds–economic uncertainty, media layoffs, and more. With this pressure, it’s even more important to master showing the value of PR through data and analytics. JSA’s proprietary Coverage Analysis & Tracking System (CATS) is a prime example of how we’re shoring up an approach to data beyond reporting story counts and readership, but the buck doesn’t stop there. Communicators should continue to explore new ways to demonstrate value, such as tiering outlets to demonstrate the caliber of each win, tracking more subjective KPIs like sentiment and message pull-through, and finding new ways to analyze and visualize the “same old” PR metrics.
Crisis communications takes center stage
Crisis and issues management will become even more vital for protecting corporate reputations and maintaining strong brand equity with stakeholders. The ability to navigate unexpected challenges and provide timely, transparent updates will be essential for building trust and safeguarding brand image. Internal and external comms professionals who can help brands weather the biggest storms and come out the other side will be in high demand. This increased focus on crisis preparedness underscores the importance of having a plan in place to address potential issues proactively.
Communicators will increasingly adopt AI as it becomes more capable
Generative AI has come a long way since OpenAI released the first iteration of ChatGPT. While the technology has helped communicators quickly assemble media lists, pitches, and even press release drafts–albeit often with mixed results–it is poised to become a more prominent tool amongst PR teams as its capabilities grow. With the ability to develop custom models trained on proprietary data, AI is evolving from basic, mundane tasks to handling more complex and strategic responsibilities.
Authenticity will continue to win audience trust over manicured, corporate personas
With more CEOs and founders bypassing traditional media channels in favor of reaching audiences directly, authenticity has and will continue to become a staple of this strategy. Senior leaders are stepping away from manicured, corporate personas for their genuine selves in an effort to build trust with employees, customers, and other audiences. From Mark Zuckerberg’s well-documented love of MMA to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s famous obsession with black leather jackets–these unfiltered and relatable personality traits are helping humanize chief executives and founders, and communicators will be expected to develop the right strategy and coach them through it.
Brands will operate as media companies, and communicators will moonlight as in-house journalists
Company blogs, newsletters from founders, and curated LinkedIn posts are making up a bigger part of PR strategies these days. As companies and leaders continue to rethink jargon-filled press releases, communicators will put more muscle behind owned media in an effort to tell their story directly to target audiences, in potentially more unique ways. Brands will start to operate more like media companies, and communicators will find themselves moonlighting as in-house journalists and content marketers as they vie for audience attention.
Communications will become increasingly collaborative
As corporate reputation gains more recognition amongst senior leadership, modern-day communicators have more resources than ever at their disposal. A rise in online professional communities, industry events, and newsletters has given access to industry-agnostic expertise from veterans and up-and-coming talent alike. As these communities continue to grow, resourceful comms pros will increasingly benefit from the strategic insight and collective intelligence of their peers, enabling them to lean on and learn from outside expertise.
Forming meaningful relationships is only going to get harder
We all know successful communications start with strong media relationships, however in today’s digital world, it can be tricky to get IRL face-time with reporters. The days of frequent off-record coffee chats are slowly fading as reporters’ responsibilities grow; a tangible news hook is now often needed to get time on a journalist’s tightly packed calendar. PR professionals need to be cognizant of reporters' overflowing inboxes and lack of free time, both when asking for meet-ups and pitching news. Media lists need to be more controlled and targeted, focusing on 1:1, highly tailored pitching, to ensure you’re providing real value to overwhelmed media.
“Shoulder events” will add even more value as big conference complements
Nearly every PR professional is familiar with CES, SXSW, and the lineup of major technology conferences and trade shows. But smaller, more targeted “shoulder events” are continuing to gain momentum alongside these industry namesakes. From focused summits to intimate mixers and exclusive breakfasts, these experiences offer quality networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities that bring additional value and maximize executives’ time onsite. Especially as programming these conferences becomes more competitive than ever, expect there to be a rise in the quality and quantity of these hyper-targeted gatherings.
On-Record with ESPN’s ex-comms SVP Chris LaPlaca
After a 43-year career as ESPN’s SVP of Corporate Communications, Chris LaPlaca made the decision to retire in 2023. Throughout that time, and certainly with his help, LaPlaca watched the network upstart in Bristol, Connecticut, evolve into the global media powerhouse it is today.
We asked Chris to drop by our virtual office for a lunch & learn session with the team to reflect on his time at ESPN and share his thoughts on how to succeed in the comms business–here’s what he had to say.
Spending more than 40 years at any company is sure to come with highs and lows, but when asked about his biggest challenge, LaPlaca emphasized the difficulties that come with communicating the value of PR.
“No one understands it,” he said, adding that the work he did was “not always tangible.”
“You can’t say this year we sold 10% more advertising time than we did a year ago–so how do you demonstrate to people that when you go knock on their door and you need them to do something for you that it’s worth their time? That was a massive challenge.”
In order to tackle this, LaPlaca recommends taking a “we” approach to the job, emphasizing the need to make a deliberate effort to celebrate company wins with colleagues and let it be known how PR helped achieve it, whether by email or even bumping into someone in the hallway.
“If I was involved in something that happened and as a result the company won that day … I would tell the story,” LaPlaca said. He said company leaders would take notice, and after doing it enough times, employees would “know why you’re there” when you walk into a room.
That goes for working with company talent, too. LaPlaca would reiterate to on-air talent that they are “a major representation of the brand,” and that not only would they benefit from working with PR on an interview or other appearance, but so would the company, and its bosses.
“If you can reach somebody and convince them that doing the right thing is also the right thing for them, they’ll move in your direction a lot quicker.”
Any communicator working for a media company knows it comes with a separate PR playbook and its own set of challenges. For one, pitching media to–sometimes competing–publications is never an easy sell.
In response to this, LaPlaca says he took a “fan-centric approach” to running ESPN’s comms, often leaning into the brand’s now-renowned mission statement: serving sports fans anytime, anywhere.
“Don’t cover ESPN because ESPN is going to get attention, cover what ESPN is doing because the fans in your audience will be educated–they’ll be educated by you and you’ll build a better relationship.”
LaPlaca noted how the media industry has fragmented over the years as newsletters, podcasts, and social media enter the fray and continue capturing audience attention. He acknowledged that today reporters and audiences are “everywhere,” but reaffirmed that it's a communicator's job to “go where they are,” and not “expect them to come to you.”
He reflected on the 1989 San Francisco earthquake which interrupted the A's-Giants World Series game that ESPN was broadcasting. Other networks were knocked off the air while ESPN–running off a separate generator–stayed online. With a little bit of luck and ingenuity, LaPlaca teamed up with ESPN’s talent and engineers to quickly deploy a hotline which reporters and radio hosts could call into to hear a pre-recorded interview of what was happening onsite. “That thing rang off the hook,” he said.
His point was this: “we would try to make things easy for people… We kept looking for new ways to get information easily to people in ways that they could consume it.”
It’s a message that still rings true today as communicators look to blog posts, LinkedIn, and other non-traditional channels to tell their stories.
We ended our session by asking Chris the age-old question: What’s one thing he wished he’d known sooner in his career?
“To understand better what the challenges are to the people on the other side of the phone, the table, other side of the room. The more you understand what [media’s] challenges are–from a business perspective–you understand more intimately why things are happening and what’s driving the forces of change.”
“The more you understand about the business of the communications world and the media business at large the better you’ll navigate it for your clients and for yourselves.”
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