11 predictions for 2021 from PR insiders

It might be a fool’s errand to try and surmise the trends that will shape the industry in the year ahead. After all, there were plenty of predictions made at the end of 2019 that were quickly rendered worthless in the first months of 2020.

Still, the changes we’ve experienced over the last year are less of an aberration than a jump forward, with progress skipping a few rungs on the ladder. The digital transformation that now is remaking the modern workplace was already in the wings. The events of 2020 just gave it center stage.

Can we make predictions about what the forces of 2020 have unleashed on the year to come? Perhaps our prognostications should come with plenty of hedges and qualifiers, but savvy pros can make an educated guess about what will come next.

Here are the some predictions that top communicators are sharing for the year ahead.

1. We’re going back to the office.

That’s the aspiration for AxiCom’s new executive vice president and managing director, North America, Steve Kerns. Without in-person collaboration, PR work has lost some of its magic, he says—The sounds of voices talking over each other, peeking through a conference room window to observe the animation of a brainstorm, the energy of a new business pitch or working the room at a networking event.”