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Sunil John, CEO, ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller.

How has the regional PR industry evolved over the last 10 years?

The PR industry has grown tremendously in the last five to 10 years for a number of reasons.

For the first time, governments, institutions and publicly-listed companies had to communicate with stakeholders, shareholders and the community at large - listed companies were required to do this for regulatory compliance, and governments needed to be seen as more transparent, responsive and responsible.

Furthermore, a large number of regional and government companies, like Dubai World, Emaar Properties and Qatari Diar, had a business requirement to reach out globally, and needed their communications to keep pace.

In summary, more and more companies wanted to communicate with global, regional and local audiences, and required high-level public relations consultancies to achieve that, which resulted in 30% to 40% annual growth year-on-year in the PR industry.

Do you think PR in the GCC in general is raising standards and comparable to other markets?

In the PR industry, as in any service sector, the offerings vary in terms of quality and sector experience. You see a large number of average offerings and a handful of high-quality ones.

This is a common phenomenon worldwide. Among the top agencies, however, the quality is comparable to North America and Western Europe.

How competitive is the pitch process and what is your secret to securing and retaining your clients?

Pitch processes are sometimes conducted professionally; otherwise, they turn into a three-month process with little or no result.

When that happens, it's an enormous waste of time for the agency that puts in the time and resources to research and strategise. Our secret to retaining clients - the quality of the people, our sector experience, and the passion we display in linking to our clients and their business objectives.

What impact do you see the current economic situation having on budgets from different industry sectors? Have you seen a shift in client preferences from traditional media to areas such as digital?

Clearly, the current economic conditions will force clients to turn to agencies that are ‘at the table' and comfortable with working with and integrating into high-level management.

The need of the hour is for PR consultancies that understand the issues clients are grappling with, consultancies who are able to work with them shoulder to shoulder.

Of course, clients moving to cheaper agencies or going into non-retainer relationships is possible, but that would be a knee-jerk reaction. It takes a higher-level consultancy and not a cheap, implementation-oriented PR firm to guide companies during a downturn.

Our recommendations to our clients are four-fold - first, look at the long term. Brands can lose their edge during the tough times if they aren't careful. We focus on how the company will emerge after a 24-month downturn.

Second, watch your customers even more closely. Consumers will re-examine their habits and loyalties during a downturn, and tastes shift dramatically. Research, and staying abreast of changing trends, is critical.

Flexibility and speed are vitally important in this time. Now is the time to gather up the courage to do new things.

Transparency is also a priority - corporate governance during tough times will be keenly watched, particularly among the listed companies. Communicating more, not less, is the only way to survive for the long haul.

And lastly, don't forget your people. Companies need to involve their staff, talk and listen to them, so they remain confident.

Does your agency offer a full service to clients including media, production, PR and creative solutions?

ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller is part of The Holding Group, the region's leading communications conglomerate.

The Group offers 360-degree creative and marketing services, from advertising through Team/Y&R, Intermarkets and The Classic Partnership, to direct marketing with Wunderman, media buying with Mediaedge:cia and MC2, interactive with Tattoo and public relations with ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller and Polaris.

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