It’s time to move away from relying on consumer PR surveys

It wasn’t long ago that financial services companies weren’t using consumer research to get their brands talked about in the news sections of national newspapers. Now there isn’t a day gone by, where there isn’t another survey or index covering a variety of topics - from telling us how confident we are about saving (or not), to how many of us are travelling abroad this year (or not). I am not saying that there isn’t a place for this, but in these difficult times, where trust in our sector is at an all time low, we need to find bigger platforms, create adult debates which will give longevity to a brands point of view, rather than the poppy, one-hit wonders these surveys can be. It’s about bringing public affairs skills to play with a keen sense of what consumers are interested in. In my view that’s the model of good PR in these times.

Jo Parker
Chief Executive