The brainy communicator

IT is an indication of how far the public relations industry has travelled, or perhaps, where it is headed, when the chairman of one of the world's biggest PR companies gets an international award for a research paper titled Brain Behaviour Story.

Christopher Graves, chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations, won the WPP Atticus Award which honours original thinking in communications last year. Over a six-year period, Mr Graves delved into primary research to understand emerging findings in behavioural economics and neuroscience to craft a new point of view on the effectiveness of narrative in communications. His findings overturn much of what communications professionals believe about what works and what doesn't in their field.

Mr Graves feels recent technological advances have turned traditional approaches on their heads in a slew of industries and PR is no exception. Five forces are reshaping the PR industry, he says.