5 Public Relation Agencies/Firms

Nowadays, consumers are active on multiple social media platforms and influenced by digital opinion leaders. Traditional one-way communication strategy isn’t working anymore because organizations have less influence over all the messages people read, hear, and watch about them. To deal with these challenges, organizations are increasing their outsourcing practices to public relations agencies/firms.

Public relations agencies are not parts of any organization. They operate independently as hired public relations consultants assisting organizations in their area of expertise. Small firms and large corporations work with public relations agencies to get help with media relations, corporate social responsibility, issue management, event planning, developing communications programs, conducting research, digital and social media expertise, and so on. As media and marketing environments are constantly evolving, public relations agencies are providing more services and to their clients and their contributions to success stories are constantly increasing.

Judy Lewis, the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF), says that recently public relations agencies are experiencing both growth and diversification because more organizations recognize the demand for more transparency. “Public relations agencies play an important role in helping to navigate communications, while being true to a code of ethics that aligns with best practices” (CCPRF, 2018).

The CCPRF is a national organization of leading public relations firms operating in Canada. Argyle, Broad Reach Communications, CASACOM, Citizen Optimum, Cohn & Wolfe, DDB Public Relations, Edelman, Energi PR, FleishmanHillard, HighRoad, GCI Canada, etc. are the members of the CCPRF network.

Public relations firms range from full-service agencies to agencies specializing in public affairs, strategic communication, or corporate identity. Full-service agencies provide their clients with a wide range of services, from media relations and monitoring potential issues to influencer relations and blogging for the web.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, public relations agencies are experiencing shift from traditional office environment to virtual teamwork. Virtual teams can work remotely together from different cities, countries, and even continents.