Written by: Kaila Currie-Bartlett, Account Executive, Craft Public Relations & Digital Communications Coordinator, CPRS Toronto
For our second In Conversation With, we chatted with Mark LaVigne, MA, APR, FCPRS, an industry veteran with 30 years’ experience as a media relations specialist. For the past 23 years, he has operated his own media relations and media training firm, Hunter LaVigne Communications Inc. In addition to this, LaVigne has 16 years of part-time college and university teaching experience, most recently with Centennial and Humber Colleges’ Degree PR programs. Prior to his very successful career in PR, LaVigne worked as a radio journalist for five years in Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto with CKO, CJEZ, BN, and CBC Radio.
Mark is an award winning, accredited member (APR) of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS), and a member of the CPRS College of Fellows (FCPRS). He wrote the media relations chapter in “Fundamentals of Public Relations and Marketing Communications”, University of Alberta Press (2015) and is co-author of the new edition of “In the News (third edition)”, University of Alberta Press (2019) and Author of “Proactive Media Relations in Canada” (third edition), Centennial College Press (2019).
How did 2020 change your role as a PR practitioner?
- Pivoted to a fully-online reality for my teaching and practice
- Shifted most of my focus to college teaching and publishing
- I have more time due to the lack of commute (2.5 hours more time per day)
How important is communications and/or internal communications during a global pandemic?
- External as the geopolitical and geo corporate frenzy erupts
- Internal to engage a largely home-office workforce
What are the biggest challenges you think PR practitioners will face in 2021?
- Reaching target audiences effectively
Where do you see the PR industry heading in the future?
- The PESO blend will continue as clients try to reach target audiences
What trends do you foresee emerging throughout 2021?
- Home-officing will continue
- Closed-captioning will continue
- Migration from major downtown areas will continue, including head office dispersement
- The “creative boom” will continue across all of the arts, finding audiences online
- There will be a showdown between Canadian democracies and dictators of all sizes, as well as those multinational corporations that consider themselves as powerful as the democracies in which they exist
- Mental health will become a focus for many employers
- However, once global herd immunity becomes a reality near the end of the year, the new roaring twenties will begin!
What is your biggest piece of advice for PR practitioners moving forward?
- Continue to pivot and do not worry about leaving divots
CPRS Toronto’s ‘In Conversation With’ blog series
Once a month, CPRS Toronto’s communications and marketing subcommittee will post quick conversations with GTA public relations practitioners and industry thought leaders. During these conversations we look to explore the impact COVID-19 has had on communication practitioners, as well as provide insights into the future of public relations moving forward.