The Press Office Is Dead: Why Always-On PR No Longer Works
Why always-on PR no longer works and what replaces it
For years, the press office has been the default model for PR.
Always on. Always pitching. Always “in market”.
It’s certainly where my career started (pitching posh mustard, no less!)
It sounds proactive. It feels punchy.
And that’s exactly why clients still ask for it.
It’s also why PRs still sell it.
The problem is - it no longer works.
The Comfortable Myth of “Always On”
Clients often come in asking for an always-on press office because it feels like the right thing to do. Or someone higher up has asked for it because it worked for them back in the day.
And agencies, understandably, say yes. It pays the bills. It keeps things moving. And challenging a brief or client can sometimes mean the lead disappears (which is a whole other point about what makes an effective client/agency relationship).
But beneath that, there’s an uncomfortable reality most people recognise but don’t say out loud:
It’s a model that often burns out.
After 6–12 months:
The easy wins are gone
Media interest slows
Coverage becomes harder to generate
The status report becomes a series of “warm leads”
Clients start questioning value - they receive status reports and invoices far more often than coverage leads. Agencies double down on activity to justify the spend. Frustration builds.
Then the reset happens.
The client moves on.
A new agency picks up the account.
The cycle starts again.
“And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.”
It’s not good for clients.
It’s not good for agencies.
And it’s not good for PR.
Why the Press Office Model Broke
The issue isn’t effort - there are teams across the PR landscape truly hammering the emails.
The issue is context.
There are now far fewer journalists than there are PRs (and it’s only getting more pronounced).
Brands can’t “stay front of mind” through constant outreach.
And you can’t expect a steady stream of coverage just because you’re active.
What you get instead is:
More noise
Less response
Diminishing returns
The press office model was built for a media landscape that no longer exists.
PR Has Always Been About Relationships - Now It’s Everything
PR hasn’t changed at its core.
It has always been about relationships. I used to pride myself on being able to do “The Triple” fairly regularly - a journalist breakfast, lunch and dinner all on the same day. (No, I don’t have gout.)
This used to be a valuable part of PR life - getting out and getting time with journalists. What’s changed is that relationships are now the only reliable route to coverage.
With more freelancers, fewer staff writers, and overloaded inboxes, journalists aren’t responding to volume.
They’re responding to:
People they trust
Stories that are relevant
Timing that makes sense
The best PR has always worked this way but now it’s the baseline.
You Can’t Fake This in a Report
This, then, is where the tension sits.
Relationships don’t show up neatly in a monthly report or on a P&L (sorry, finance teams).
You can’t quantify:
The pitch you held back because it wasn’t right
The conversation that leads to a feature three months later
The trust that gets your email opened
So instead, the industry often defaults to what can be measured:
More outreach.
More activity.
More visible effort.
Which creates exactly the kind of noise journalists are trying to ignore and leads to more frustration for, well, everyone.
From Always-On to High-Impact PR
If the press office is dead, what replaces it? (in case you were worried this was only concerned with tearing things down)
The future is a more honest, more effective model.
The strongest PR strategies today are built around a small number of high-impact, tentpole moments - moments where a brand has a real reason to show up.
These moments:
Ladder up to a clear narrative
Are timed properly
Are built on relationships, not cold outreach
Are designed to land, not just exist
To steal a line you will have seen on the Tikity Toks, no doubt: Work smarter, not harder.
What the Industry Needs to Admit
There’s a final point that’s worth saying plainly:
More PRs should be calling this out.
Too often, the industry accepts always-on retainers knowing they are unlikely to deliver sustained value.
Not because people don’t care but because it’s commercially easier not to challenge the brief.
But if the outcome is predictable - burnout, frustration, churn - then it’s not a good model.
For anyone.
Better conversations upfront lead to better results later. This is stating the obvious to some but it’s not said enough.
A Smarter Role for PR
This isn’t about doing less PR.
It’s about doing it properly.
Use relationships as the foundation.
Use strategy to define when you show up.
Use moments to create impact.
And stop confusing constant motion with meaningful progress.
Because in a world where PRs outnumber journalists 10:1, the brands that win won’t be the ones making the most noise.
They’ll be the ones who know when to speak and have the relationships to be heard when they do.
