Long Live PR
Human intelligence > Artificial intelligence
The question shouldn’t be whether PR is threatened by AI. The question is – how do we continue to stay valuable in a world that is overwhelmed by it? Because let’s face it – it is already everywhere, and it touches everything we do.
We can’t afford not to account for AI – both what it provides, and what it takes away. Used well, AI can streamline administrative tasks, act as an additional resource to teams and free up time for higher-value work. It gets you from A to B quicker, but not all the way to Z.
Tools and tech have always evolved, always caused concern, until they have been understood and then gradually absorbed into everyday life. There’s naturally a lot of apprehension from creative industries in particular.
Screen reported that in an indicative ballot, 99% of UK film and TV performers would refuse to be digitally scanned on set. Remember the move from practical FX to VFX? The fear was losing human craft? It of course gave rise to flourishing VFX and CGI industries, creating new forms of creativity and expertise – but there was a lot of panic.
While we at Percy & Warren are naturally uncertain about what it means in the long term, we don’t believe it fundamentally undermines the expertise we offer clients in the way it is often assumed. AI doesn’t build reputations, manage crises or foster relationships. Those capabilities stem from human intelligence. Ultimately, we’re in the business of human creativity, judgement and connection – qualities that remain distinctly human.
AI’s impact on media
Rather than asking whether AI diminishes what we offer clients, we are more concerned with the profound impact it is already having on the media landscape. We’re increasingly conscious of the ways in which writing, research and content creation are being shaped by AI, and what that means for trust, originality and critical thinking.
The craft has always been about understanding people, navigating complexity and exercising judgement. AI-generated PR, communications and opinion can spread like wildfire, amplifying misinformation and blurring the line between expertise and noise.
Communication has always been complicated, across B2B and B2C environments. We operate in a world where audiences consume content on an ever-expanding range of channels, trust in established institutions is declining and misinformation spreads at unprecedented speed.
Brands, studios and production companies now operate in a world where a single piece of content can reach millions of people within seconds. Yet, capturing and sustaining attention has become increasingly difficult. Audiences are questioning what they see, what they read and, ultimately, who they trust.
For those of us at PR agencies tasked with building reputations and communicating authentic company and brand stories, this presents a significant challenge. The same technologies that enable organisations to create content at scale also make it easier to generate misinformation, manipulate imagery and flood channels with AI slop. In an increasingly crowded digital landscape, the ability to distinguish information from noise and the credible from the crap will become an essential skill – one rooted in critical thinking, experience and sound judgement.
If anyone can create content in an instant, what will make any of it meaningful? What will make it different?
Leveraging legitimate industry publications to stand out
In an environment where news itself can be manipulated, legitimate coverage in high domain authority publications with vetted industry journalists becomes one of the most valuable information sources of all.
The strongest campaigns that can be picked up by the highest domain authority magazines in the industry (think Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter) are always built on genuine industry experience, informed judgement and strategic insight. Taking these out wider to business press and major consumer-facing publications (think BBC, The FT, Forbes, Sky, The New York Times) combine this with a deep understanding of audience psychology, cultural context and emotional nuance.
As well as understanding these high-authority publications, for clients we also have to make that coverage work as hard as it can. As a team, we have to understand the microcosm of not just challenges our clients face but commissioner and channel hurdles and what their own internal PR teams need support with.
We need to understand how the lines in a budget of a feature film are ever-growing and where you can position yourself to help close a gap; where a CEO of a production company should be placed on a panel with industry peers to talk about what gets them up in the morning – because intelligent PR can move all these things along.
PR to support creative projects in the era of AI
Few industries illustrate the potential of human intelligence-led PR more clearly than film and television and the way it can sit comfortably next to assistive AI-supported production. AI can support production processes, dubbing and audience research, but it cannot become the creative engine. During the Hollywood writers’ strike, concerns extended beyond the fear of technology replacing jobs (click to read article: bbc.co.uk); they touched on a deeper question about the value we place on human creativity itself.
Whether launching a new series, shaping a studio’s reputation or developing talent narratives, our role is to understand not only what audiences think, but how they feel, to ensure the series’ or feature’s success. This doesn’t just apply to consumer audiences and viewers – it applies during the development and production stage to the industry and stakeholders.
Our role is to anticipate what could be the decision that gets a project off the ground in the first place, into a festival or onto a distribution slate. The future of communications is not about who or what can produce the greatest volume of content. It is about who can create the most meaningful impact.
The machines can churn out a press release, send it via newswire to robot sites (and who knows, maybe newspapers will also pick it up) but within the film, TV and creative industries, PR needs to do a whole lot more than that. Public relations is infinitely more than media relations.
It needs to be so intelligent that it helps a business (be it a studio, a streamer, a production company, a sales agent, distributor, or post house) survive and carve out its offering in a saturated space. The potential of PR is moving beyond telling your story in an echo chamber and using it to make waves with the right people at the right time, open doors, move projects along, raise visibility and accessibility for marginalised and underrepresented – to show the industry why it should work with you, buy your company or invest in your slate.
AI can help us work faster and, in many cases, more intelligently. But it cannot tell us what matters and to whom. That remains a human responsibility.
Synthetic PR will undoubtedly become more sophisticated, yet audiences continue to seek out content, creatives and organisations that demonstrate transparency, consistency and an authentic point of view. Ultimately, the most valuable asset in communications is the ability to understand human beings. And that is something only human beings can provide.
Long live PR.
Contact Percy & Warren today
Get in touch with us at Percy & Warren to talk about how to meet international partners, explore global co-pros, and use PR to position your company and content on an international level – no matter the language, format or stage.