PR agencies advocate for truth and professionalism in a hyperconnected world at Warsaw Conference

IPRN members from 25 countries convened in the Poland capital with the goal of sharing global insights about trends affecting the public relations industry.

Founded in 1995, IPRN’s annual conference offers the keenest minds in the industry a platform to understand trends and best practices in various parts of the world and to bring these insights to their clients.

“We had deep debates and discussion about effective public relations, strategic communication and content practices from around the world,” said IPRN’s Executive Director Luis Gonzalez.

Some of those learnings included the continued rise of content as a primary driver of purchase behaviors; the continued blurring of lines between editorial and promotion, especially in the online space, and the need to integrate public relations campaigns with social media channels.

“As a leading global PR organisation, we strive to be on the front edge of trends and to bring key learnings to companies and clients,” Gonzalez said.

MANGO-OMC is the only South African member of IPRN. Managing Director and owner of MANGO-OMC, Nicole Capper said: “Being a part of a international network that sits at the forefront of global PR trends is one of the ways we are future-proofing our business.” Capper added that South Africa’s PR trends are very in-line with what was seen at the Warsaw Conference. “But it’s always reassuring to know that we are on a par with what’s happening worldwide in PR, especially because the industry is changing so rapidly. It is also extremely valuable to have access to learnings from agencies that sit in so many diverse markets.”

Former Poland President Aleksander Kwasniewski

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Nicole Capper MANGO OMC Managing Director

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The conference was hosted by Public Dialog, a PR firm based in Warsaw. Public Dialog’s president and owner Paweł Bylicki, chairman of IPRN, said: “The public relations profession is confronting a time of many changes, from digitization of the industry to the blurring of editorial lines. It was crucial to meet and bring highly inspired people together in our event in Warsaw to ensure that our organisatin brings value to the profession.”

The former President of the Republic of Poland (1995 – 2005) gave a keynote address where he stressed that communication was critical to Poland’s transformation over the past 30 years. The role of good communicators, he said, could not be understanted in conveying and simplifying complex messages.

Kwasniewski participated in the famous Round-Table negotiations that brought the peaceful transformation of Poland and led to a movement that crossed the entire Central and Eastern Europe to convert communism to democracy. He won the presidential election for the first time in 1995. A great advocate of Poland’s membership in both NATO and the European Union, it was under Kwasniewski’s leadership that Poland finally joined NATO in 1999.

About IPRN

IPRN was formed in 1995 and is now one of the world’s largest independent agency networks. The organization has 50 members covering more than 80 cities and markets in North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Australia. The combined fee income of our members exceeds 500M dollars, with staffing of more than 7,000. Every year, one member hosts the network’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and conference attended by all members. The next will take place in Lisbon in May 2020, organized by Central de Informaçao. The AGM is critical to the network as it enables members to interact personally for a better understanding of different cultures, business development and competencies.

For more information, visit www.IPRN.com