PR leaders continue push for full inclusion of measurement in industry initiatives

LONDON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of international public relations organizations will take part in a special debate at the AMEC European Summit in Madrid in June, as part of a new global initiative to make measurement an integral part of public relations practice.

The debate will be led by Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Ketchum. In a keynote address, "It's Time:  From Principles to Action," he 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.

More than 200 representatives from the world's top research and measurement companies and PR agencies will take part in the Summit Debate, for what the leader of the session, David Rockland, Chairman of AMEC, described as "the final push to establish measurement as a key part of business performance."

Rockland, Partner and Managing Director of Ketchum Global Research & Analytics and CEO of Ketchum Change, said: "We have made substantive progress, and those in the industry are increasingly adhering to the Barcelona Principles of measurement. It's important that we listen to PR industry leaders, clients and editors and learn from what they have to say. From there, we can move away from talking and move toward global education."

The Summit is organized by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and supported by Acceso, a leading media evaluation and communication insights company in Spain and Latin America, as the Summit Headline Sponsor.

The Summit takes place from 5-7 June, 2013 and is supported by the Global Alliance, ICCO, PRSA, Dircom and IPR.

The Summit is the biggest event of its type in the world, with 200 delegates expected from up to 25 different countries.

PR industry body leaders taking part in the Summit Debate will include William Murray, President and COO, PRSA; Francis Ingham, Executive Director of ICCO; Jose Maria Palomares, from Dircom (the Spanish Association of Communications Directors); and Catherine Arrow, Secretary of the Global Alliance.

Representing the client point of view will be Francesc Corbero Vinyals, Communications Director, Nissan, Iberia; Marguerite Marston, Commercial Public Relations Manager, IKEA U.S; Jodi Kennedy, Head of Corporate and Marketing Communications, SABIC's Innovative Plastics business and Americas region; Eileen Sheil, Executive Director, Corporate Communications, Cleveland Clinic; and Andre Manning, VP, Global Head of External Communications for Royal Philips Electronics.

Keynote speaker Flaherty will also take part in a Meet the Press question-and-answer session on the PR industry's commitment to measurement. The session will include prominent editors including Kate Magee, Associate Editor of PRWeek; Ben Smith, Editor of PRmoment; and Arun Sudhaman, Partner and Managing Editor of the Holmes Report.

About AMEC
AMEC is the international professional body for communications research and measurement which created the Barcelona Principles framework in 2010. AMEC has over 100 members in 40 countries, including top global PR Groups, including Ketchum, MSL, Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Waggener Edstrom, Research+Data Insights, Ogilvy Public Relations, Ruder Finn and Hotwire.

SOURCE AMEC