The Italian PR market is characterized by: 1) A parliamentary democracy and high quality of life with a modern infrastructure and growing internet access, though newspaper readership is lower than other EU countries. 2) PR commonly uses two-way asymmetric and symmetric models, with sectors like hi-tech and finance seeing PR as an adviser and public administration being more skeptical. 3) The top 5 PR firms are Barabino & Partners, Eprcomunicazione, Edelman, MN, and Noesis, with Barabino having 20+ years experience across industries like media, healthcare, and finance.

1. Italian PR Market Ilaria Bettinelli Oana Scarlatescu

10. PR client sectors Media Services Health care Hi-tech Food industry Financial system

11. Main PR areas Media relations Internal communication Event management Public affairs

12. Investment in PR Up to 100.000 E 100 – 500.000 E over 500.000 E 0 31 10 8 Interviewed Companies 51

14. PR as adviser 71% Absolutely agree 20% Absolutely disagree 6% Somewhat disagree 23% Somewhat agree 51% Hi-tech (84%), financial and insurance companies (81%) and fashion industry (80%) absolutely agree Public administration (79%) and organizations with internal PR departments (37%) absolutely or somewhat disagree

15. PR as organizational supporter PR associations (93%) mostly agree 88% Absolutely agree 40% Somewhat agree 48% Somewhat disagree 10% No opinion 1% Absolutely disagree 1%

16. PR as a visionary Fashion industry companies (%) and financial organisations (89%) mostly agree The major corporations (24%), with over 1000 employees, disagree 83% Somewhat agree 64% Absolutely disgagree 4% Absolutely agree 19% Somewhat disgagree 13%

17. PR as management coordinator 74% Somewhat agree 59% Absolutely agree 15% Somewhat disagree 21% Absolutely disagree 5% Pharmaceutical companies (84%) and small organizations (78%) absolutely agree È ‘poco o per nulla d’accordo’ soprattutto chi non ha fatto outsourcing (33%)

18. Italian PR Values Flexibility Integrity Creativity Need oriented Expertise Professionalism PR

19. Perceived PR weaknesses Accessory Rigid Ambiguous activity

20. Perceived PR assets Solution finder Visionary Useful Result oriented Efficiency Empathy Expertise

21. PR officers profile Account managers 5-7 years Economic studies 24% Humanistic studies 32 % PR studies 44 %

26. PR TRENDS • Public affairs (+35%) • Event management (+21% ) • Environmental communication (+11%) • Crisis communication (+10%) • Media relations (+2%) • Financial communication (+1%)