Mark Glover, Newington's Chief Executive, explores the importance of professionalism in the public affairs industry.

Bell Pottinger has been the ‘bête noire’ of the public affairs world for a number of years, due to their international work with a variety of controversial clients. With their passing we must not forget that Bell Pottinger was one of the companies which created the public affairs industry in the 80’s and early 90’s, but their passing may herald a new era of professionalism.  

It has always been my contention that if your issue is important enough, and is communicated properly, you should be able to meet everyone you wish to meet in order to promote the outcome that you require. Providing structure to a campaign, understanding how to communicate your message and understanding how a policy issue aligns politically is critical. Public affairs should never be about calling in personal favours or reeling off a list of contacts who you allegedly know, but about correctly aligning a client’s communications strategy and capitalising on your knowledge and experience of your audience to deliver the required communications objectives.

Ethics in public affairs is about professionalism being at the centre of everything you do and abiding by the spirit not just the letter of the rules, as outlined in the various industry codes of conduct – the gold standard being the APPC Code.

Clients also have a major role to play in this. If they can prioritise communications professionalism in their tender documents, then we will move away from agencies winning bids just because of spurious claims of who they know. It is sadly the case that too many clients still base their decisions on boasts of political contacts and fail to prioritise evidence of communications professionalism and experience.

Yet the burden of scrutiny will always fall on those that carry out public affairs and it is important that all those acting in the industry meet the highest standards and the highest levels of transparency. APPC or PRCA membership is one way of demonstrating this, and clients who employ agencies who are not members of either should demand it of an agency as a minimum requirement.

Employing an agency which doesn’t meet the highest ethical standards as demonstrated by compliance with an independently recognised code of conduct is a risk to your brand. Is this really a risk you feel is worth taking?

Newington is active in and members of both the APPC and the PRCA. So if you need an agency whose reputation will only enhance your brand, get in touch; [email protected]