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Our latest Ornico Measurement research shows a striking paradox. PR teams need to show value to the C-suite and the money men, but many teams lack a documented framework for success.
Freelancers and smaller organisations often deliver strong work that is poorly captured and therefore undervalued.
At the same time, audiences no longer distinguish between paid, owned, earned and shared media. One idea moves fluidly from ad to article to influencer post to WhatsApp group. For the public, this is a single brand experience. Internally, however, it is still too often measured in silos. Media agencies are counting impressions, PR agencies or teams counting clippings, social teams counting likes, brand teams staring at web analytics. Each view is partly true, but none reveals the whole.
Global frameworks such as the Barcelona Principles were designed to fix this by focusing on outcomes and organisational impact. In practice, vanity and volume metrics still dominate, and every department interprets “best practice” in its own way.
The way forward is clear. Brands and agencies need:-
- One integrated view of all paid, owned, earned and shared activity,
- independent data and analysis from a neutral party,
- outcome oriented metrics that link communication to business results,
- and benchmarks that provide real context.
This is the role Ornico plays, merging all media types into a single, independent measurement environment, translating global standards into local reality, and giving leaders evidence they can trust. If we embrace this as a shared responsibility between brands and agencies, we can move beyond defending budgets to proving undeniable effectiveness – and ensure South African brands are not just heard, but measurably trusted. DM