Global PR leader to call for unified effort to establish measurement as key tool

LONDON, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Ketchum, is to be the Keynote Speaker at AMEC's 5^th European Summit on Measurement in Madrid on 6 June.

In his address, Flaherty is expected to set out a roadmap on the future of PR, explain the key role research and analytics has to play and call for greater efforts from PR consultancy professionals, clients and member trade bodies.

Flaherty said, "Ensuring solid measurement is embedded in all public relations work is critical to sustaining the growth of our industry and continuing the shift towards having a more prominent seat at the marketing table. I am looking forward to playing a part in the summit as it continues to build on the progress of the previous meetings and identifies the barriers that have kept PR measurement from being universally accepted into everyday practice by PR consultancies and clients in all parts of the world."

More than 200 representatives from the world's top research and measurement companies and PR agencies will participate in the plenary session at the conference in Madrid, for what Barry Leggetter, Executive Director of AMEC, described as "the day measurement grew up as a business tool."

"Public relations has continued to look away when it needed to seize the opportunity provided by the economic downturn – in difficult financial times, it is more important than ever to employ measurement to prove the effectiveness and credibility of our work," said Leggetter.

Flaherty will be the guest speaker in a major Summit Debate on Public Relations and Measurement, involving PR industry body leaders, clients and media.

The Debate will be moderated by the new Chairman of AMEC, David B. Rockland, Ph.D., Partner, Managing Director of Ketchum Global Research & Analytics, and CEO of Ketchum Change. Rockland, a respected international authority in communications programme measurement, said that in 2010 at a Summit also held in Spain, AMEC and other industry-leading organizations developed the Barcelona Principles framework as the new yardstick of PR measurement.

Rockland said, "We are going to actively encourage a lively Debate at the Summit. I hope it will be passionate, because we need to come away knowing that we took a step forward with clear thinking and new ideas to educate not only our clients in major global companies, but PR consultancies and corporate teams as well."

The three-day conference is designed for communications and public relations professionals and academics to share the latest thinking about research and measurement of public relations. The Acceso Group and Dircom are the event's Spanish partners.

The Summit will be held in Madrid from 5-7 June. Booking details can be found at http://ameceuropeansummit.org/about/

About AMEC
AMEC, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication has grown to become a global trade body for agencies and practitioners who provide media evaluation and communication research. AMEC's purpose is to define and develop the industry on an international scale with better professional standards for both companies and individuals.

SOURCE Ketchum