Starting my communications career in London’s West End eons ago, I remember many of the colourful characters who populated Wardour Street’s creative corridors. A particular standout was Charlie, an ‘old school PR man’ doing his life’s best work telling the good stories for some of the firm’s most prestigious clients. 

As a former army officer, Charlie liked to see things done properly. Aside from some questionable “when I was on tour” stories over Friday lunchtime drinks, one of my favourite Charlie memories was the high precision creation of his end-of-quarter client coverage brag boards. Digital wasn’t a thing then (although we had a fax machine on our floor), so Charlie would meticulously cut and glue his press clippings to A3 sized black cardboard. Once finished, these looked as sharp as Charlie in his navy blazer and loafers, ready for a client lunch where he would show off the fruits of his labour. 

In Charlie’s old school world, this reflected months of effort cultivating a wide network of senior business reporters at UK mastheads, many of whom he saw as friends. This network lifeline was always willing to take his call and listen to his well-curated pitch. The brag board was tangible proof, a receipt of earned goodwill credited to the client’s trust bank account over the course of that past quarter. Well done, Charlie, another bottle of burgundy if you please. 

That was then and this is now, and the earned landscape has fundamentally changed. 

The media pool that Charlie used to network is nowhere near as abundant as it once was, and neither are the client entertainment budgets sadly. Technology has flipped over more than once – case in point Facebook wasn’t a ‘thing’ back then (Mark Zuckerberg was only 14) so alas Charlie and I have not stayed in touch – and the ubiquity of AI now dominates all aspects of working life. However, if Charlie were still operating today, then I’d like to think he would be grinning from ear to ear as we see the star of earned storytelling on the rise again. 

This is because Generative AI is eating Search’s lunch (although I know there’s plenty of talk of Google’s comeback, but for the sake of this story let’s not go there just yet…), and in this new information ecosystem most of us humans are choosing to get a synthetic readout from our favourite AI bot and going no further. 

And where does our preferred AI friend get this information? Earned content, of course! Traditional media yes (the more prestigious the better), but also from industry advocates, NGOs, academia, creators, analysts, trade and good old local media. Why? Because Generative AI scrapes and weighs all these third-party, citation rich endorsements before synthesising them into compelling insights that most people accept as gospel. 

Building this earned content ecosystem is communications’ job. Equally as important as cultivating external sources is tending to your own backyard – developing authoritative thought leadership and clear quotable insights from your leaders, maintaining consistent value-focused messaging across all content assets including press releases, blogs, and white papers, plus ensuring a well-curated and clearly structured website with comprehensive FAQs. 

The extensive agenda I reference above must be prioritised by the communications team with one clear goal: making your owned media not just informative but also meaningful and easily digestible for Generative AI. It’s equally important to keep a diligent eye on what is being said about your brand within these non-static generative engines and be prepared to quickly correct misinformation with fact. 

So, this World PR Day, with its themes of ‘building bridges’ and ‘navigating polarisation’, let’s reflect for a moment on the job to be done by an industry which has been hobbled in recent times and, frankly, has always done a lacklustre job of selling its value back to the business. 

Gil Scott-Heron once said, “The revolution will not be televised,” but our revolution has the potential to be everywhere. For communications professionals, this means rolling up our sleeves, taking a deep breath and flexing those earned muscles as AI reveals our true value once more. 

Time to dust off the loafers, Charlie, and don’t spare the UHU. You’re going to be busier than ever, because high-quality trust must still be earned. 

Note: This article first appeared on Mumbrella