The rise of digital media has fundamentally changed the complex relationships between brands and consumers. And while the latest digital technology offers potential for unprecedented levels of consumer engagement, it also requires our industry to adapt rapidly in order to exploit the opportunity successfully.

The frenetic land grab for ownership of new marketing specialisms is therefore raging, with a tremendous opportunity for PR to lead the way given our heritage of engaging with, rather than talking at, consumers. 

And it seems that PR is winning. As classic advertising models struggle to maintain people’s attention in an age of social media, our experience of engaging consumers through lasting relationships is proving highly effective. After all, we’ve been doing just that for decades. We’re also best placed to advise brands and companies how to protect their reputation in this new digital world as well.

In 2008 we expect to see a greater focus placed on branded content, delivered via critical digital platforms such as MySpace, YouTube and Brickfish. Virtual environments are also set for growth and we’ve learned much from our work with Coca-Cola in Second Life.

Our expertise in inspiring consumers will help ensure we lead the way by developing exciting, innovative and dynamic user-generated content campaigns. With consumers increasingly looking to brands to be entertained, examples might well include leveraging of celebrity contacts and /or relationships with record labels and TV companies to broker premium content.

It’s therefore a very exciting time indeed, both for the PR industry as a whole and for the Next Fifteen Group in particular. Our shared insight and innovative credentials place us in a prime position as the marketing sector evolves and a new breed of PR appears.