Public relations (PR) consulting is a for-profit professional service provided to meet clients’ demand for services including information communications, relationship co-ordination and image management. Primary forms of PR consulting include strategy consulting, market research, brand planning, communications consulting, public affairs, event management, media monitoring, crisis management, professional training and promotional materials development. The disputes related to PR consulting introduced in this article refer to contractual disputes among clients, service providers and service executors during the provision of PR consulting services.
As the PR industry has maintained a robust annual revenue growth in developed countries in recent years, the Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC) has dealt with an increasing number of PR consulting-related disputes with rising values. According to incomplete statistics, there has been a 30% annual increase in the number of PR consulting cases handled by the BAC since 2004, and in terms of the resolution results, the rate of case withdrawal after mediation has reached 47%.
Most PR consulting disputes handled by the BAC were related to press agency, event planning, marketing communication and corporate communications. These cases are characterised by faulty contracts, improper performance, the basis of “personal relationships” and difficulties of proof. In summarising the common focuses of dispute in these cases, and the arbitral tribunal’s reasons for its decisions, we can offer some suggestions.
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The author, Lin Xiaolu, is a case manager at the Beijing Arbitration Commission
