The PR paradox: Trapped in a tactical trap

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From press releases to the boardroom: why Sri Lanka’s PR sector needs a strategic overhaul

Public relations in Sri Lanka is highly technical and tactical, but it is not really strategic at all; agencies remain heavily focused on simple press releases

Modern public relations is about relational governance and risk mitigation, functioning as high-level consultancy that sits directly with the chief executive and the board

While the regional market matures rapidly, the local PR sector is held back by holding-company structures that deliberately siphon big budgets away toward advertising

A severe internal talent crisis plagues the industry, characterized by rigid operational silos and alarming practitioner burnout rates that cascade past 71 percent

As artificial intelligence effortlessly automates basic writing and translation, the historical reliance on executional labour will become entirely obsolete

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By Nishel Fernando

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Despite a 30-year history, Sri Lanka’s public relations industry faces a severe identity crisis, remaining trapped in tactical, executional roles rather than earning a seat at the corporate decision-making table. While global markets utilize PR as a strategic C-suite advisory function to manage reputation and drive commercial KPIs, local practices remain heavily skewed toward basic media relations. Industry experts warn that breaking free from this execution trap is now vital for survival.

Marking a history of over 30 years, the practice of public relations as a profession in Sri Lanka was established in the early 1990s by a few pioneering agencies and practitioners. These early entrants embraced the discipline of reputation management, initially focusing heavily on media relations and consulting services for corporate communications.

Over the decades, the industry evolved, welcoming international expertise through multinational affiliations and venturing into specialized areas such as advocacy, crisis management, and digital communications. 

Academic recognition also took root, notably when the University of Kelaniya initiated a landmark public relations and media management programme in 2008 to decentralize strategic communication education from general journalism.

Yet, despite this coming of age, the industry today finds itself grappling with a profound identity crisis, struggling to finalize its shift from mere execution to earning credibility at the decision-making table. 

This stalled transition from the press office to the boardroom leaves the sector ill-equipped to handle the modern corporate realities it now faces.

During a recent in-depth discussion with Daily Mirror on Sri Lanka’s public relations sector, Thanzyl Thajudeen shared his insights. He is the Managing Director of Mark and Comm, a boutique public relations and strategic communications agency. 

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (FCIPR), Thajudeen also serves on the CIPR International Committee and the PRCA Asia Pacific Board.

A strategic imperative lost in translation

The public relations landscape in Sri Lanka is standing at a critical juncture. Despite its proven global potential to act as a strategic, boardroom-level function that shapes corporate reputation and guides businesses through complex socioeconomic challenges, it remains largely misunderstood and fundamentally underutilized within the local corporate sector. 

Globally, the industry is experiencing a massive evolution, driven by technological advancements and a demand for high-level business counsel. However, according to industry experts and practitioners navigating the local space, public relations in Sri Lanka is far too often relegated to tactical, executional roles, preventing corporates from leveraging the discipline to its full potential.

The local approach is heavily skewed towards execution, rather than strategic alignment with business goals. Thajudeen highlights that the true meaning of the discipline is often lost on both clients and the agencies that serve them.

“Public relations in Sri Lanka is highly technical and tactical, but it is not really strategic at all,” Thajudeen observes. 

“Mostly, agencies focus on press releases and media relations. However, this is not entirely the fault of the PR agencies; clients also do not understand the real meaning of PR.”

This surface-level approach stands in stark contrast to mature international markets where public relations is engineered to solve core organizational problems. 

Having evaluated international campaigns, Thajudeen notes how advanced markets treat the discipline as an umbrella mechanism. 

“I evaluated about 400 entries in the APAC region last year, and it became clear how much PR was highlighted,” he shares, reflecting on his experience as an international awards juror. 

“Businesses face challenges, and they use PR strategically to change behaviours or achieve overarching business objectives.”

Expanding the strategic consultancy role

Modern public relations should be recognized as a discipline rooted in negotiation, dialogue, and relational governance. It is no longer about simply chasing media mentions; it is about reputation management, message control, crisis readiness, credibility, and long-term trust. Thajudeen emphasizes that strategic agencies must function as high-level consultants who sit directly with the chief executive and the board.

Rather than merely executing communication tactics, strategic consultants map out complex stakeholder networks, anticipate regulatory shifts, and provide objective counsel on sensitive corporate maneuvers such as market entry, product launches, or leadership transitions. Chief executives understand their specific operational metrics, but they increasingly require external, objective counsel to navigate a volatile landscape where consumer trust is fragile. 

By acting as the eyes and ears of the corporate entity, public relations professionals can identify potential reputational damages before they occur, shifting the discipline from a reactive firefighting tool to a proactive pillar of corporate governance. 

This is especially critical in Sri Lanka today, where recent macroeconomic volatility and high-profile corporate governance failures underscore the dire need for transparent, strategic stakeholder communication.

The global and regional trajectory

To truly understand the local deficit, one must look at regional and global trajectories. In neighbouring India, the public relations industry is experiencing unprecedented maturation. According to the Public Relations Consultants Association of India’s (PRCAI) SPRINT report, the Indian public relations market grew by 11 percent in the financial year to reach Indian Rs. 3,230 crore (approximately $389 million), accounting for a significant 12.6 percent of the Asia-Pacific market.  The industry in India is projected to reach Indian Rs. 4,500 crore (approximately $542 million) by 2030, driven by a growing recognition that reputation drives real business outcomes.

The report notes that 96 percent of Indian professionals credit public relations with building investor confidence and customer loyalty, while 83 percent credit it with crisis resilience, effectively positioning agencies as strategic business enablers. 

Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence investment in the Indian public relations sector has more than tripled over the last three years, highlighting a rapid adaptation to modern technological demands.

Globally, the narrative is similar. The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management’s report emphasizes an urgent need across all regions to reposition the profession as a strategic, C-Suite advisory function rather than a tactical communications service. 

Industry forecasts indicate a sharp shift away from vanity metrics, with agencies now required to demonstrate a clear return on investment by linking media coverage directly to the sales pipeline and commercial key performance indicators.

Conglomerates, corporates, and the tactical trap

This disconnect stems from a corporate culture that traditionally prioritizes visible, short-term marketing activities over long-term reputation management. 

Clients often view advertising and brand activations as the primary drivers of business success, treating public relations as a supplementary tool merely for putting an article out into the public domain. 

However, because many local public relations agencies operate as subsidiaries of larger marketing and communications conglomerates, the lines are intentionally kept blurred.

These larger entities often separate advertising, activations, and public relations into distinct revenue streams, preventing a unified, holistic approach to corporate reputation. 

Thajudeen notes that for many of these holding companies, public relations receives a very small retainer to handle media relations and events, while the large budgets are predictably siphoned off for advertising and ground activations.

Furthermore, this dynamic is compounded by agency behaviour itself. “Agencies here often respond reactively rather than getting ahead of an issue, and there isn’t always the incentive to move beyond managing the message toward resolving what caused it,” Thajudeen observes. 

“Locally, issues are often resolved informally and quickly. Overseas, agencies are expected to engage directly with the customers and stakeholders affected.”

The talent crisis and burnout epidemic

The Sri Lankan public relations sector is currently grappling with severe internal challenges that prevent it from offering the high-level counsel seen in other markets.

The industry is characterized by high employee turnover, isolated operational silos, and alarming rates of mental burnout among practitioners.

Thajudeen points out that the industry is very overworked, dealing with sparse staff numbers and an overwhelming volume of tasks, referencing industry surveys that indicate mental burnout rates cascading past 71 percent.  This creates a volatile working environment where talent retention becomes nearly impossible.

Young professionals and university graduates entering the field are often deeply disillusioned by the stark reality of the day-to-day work. Universities tend to teach the profession from a highly theoretical standpoint, focusing on strategy and management. 

When these graduates enter the workforce, they find themselves acting as ground-level executors, mechanically churning out press releases rather than engaging in strategic thinking.

“When we visited local universities, we found the curriculum to be heavily theoretical,” Thajudeen recalls. 

“They spend four years engaging with the discipline mostly in theory. When graduates enter the workforce, their expectations are mismatched with the ground-level, executional nature of the job.”

Compounding this is the operational friction built within the agencies themselves. 

“Sometimes, agencies get caught up in internal politics,” Thajudeen states. “You end up spending more time navigating internal issues than solving client problems.”

Without proper mentorship and a clear trajectory toward advisory roles, many skilled individuals either migrate to in-house corporate roles where the environment is less chaotic, seek opportunities overseas, or pivot entirely to freelance work.

A regulatory void

Observing the broader industry landscape, it becomes apparent that a lack of robust industry self-governance compounds these internal issues. 

There appears to be limited tangible, proactive effort across the sector to engage State officials or systematically address core industry challenges, such as the talent drain or the media ecosystem’s fragility, with the focus remaining heavily on periodic training sessions rather than structural, grassroots reform.

To combat this regulatory void and uphold the integrity of the profession, Thajudeen strongly encourages local practitioners to seek accreditation with recognized global organizations. 

He specifically advocates for obtaining memberships with the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) or the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), bodies he is personally affiliated with. 

By aligning with these international bodies, professionals subject themselves to a stringent, globally recognized ethical standard. This ensures that accountability and continuous professional development extend far beyond local limitations, removing practitioners from the industry entirely if they engage in unethical practices.

ROI measurement deficit

Another critical barrier to the elevation of the industry is the fundamental misunderstanding of how to measure public relations success. Currently, the local industry relies heavily on superficial and outdated metrics, primarily focusing on share of voice and the sheer volume of media clippings. While digital media has introduced basic sentiment analysis, these metrics still fail to capture the true financial and strategic impact of a well-executed campaign. This is in stark contrast to global trends, where demonstrating return on investment and connecting communications directly to revenue has become a central, non-negotiable challenge for the profession globally.

Thajudeen points out that local clients still believe public relations cannot be financially measurable beyond surface-level metrics. He argues that effective strategic communications directly contribute to brand equity and can secure lucrative partnerships and sales inquiries, yet this financial correlation is rarely tracked or appreciated by local corporate boards.

“I have had clients note that they received direct inquiries from an article we published,” Thajudeen explains. 

“That is a simple, measurable outcome where an article leads to new business partners or deals. But the reality is, many simply do not want to measure it.” Without proper, hard-hitting measurement, public relations will continue to struggle to justify its strategic value.

Nurturing the media ecosystem

The symbiotic relationship between public relations and journalism also requires urgent attention. Public relations agencies rely entirely on the media to disseminate their narratives, yet there is a distinct lack of reciprocal support for the journalism industry.

Thajudeen urges large, well-connected public relations agencies, which represent the country’s top corporate entities, to facilitate genuine support for the media sector. 

This could take the form of funding capacity-building workshops, providing specialized training, or even negotiating relief efforts such as concessionary insurance for working journalists. Beyond abstract support, it requires taking a firm stance on policy changes affecting the press room.

“Regarding the proposed Chartered Institute of Media Professionals, I raised these concerns directly with the Ministry of Mass Media,” Thajudeen shares. 

“There is no RTI provision and no actual media representation on that committee. I submitted a set of key pointers for their consideration.” There is a broader, systemic need for the entire corporate sector to aggressively invest in the survival of the media ecosystem that sustains its corporate narratives.

The dawn of AI and the advisory imperative

Looking toward the future, the rapid integration of artificial intelligence is poised to permanently disrupt the traditional Sri Lankan public relations model. 

Globally, artificial intelligence is no longer seen as a simple tool, but as the most significant force shaping the profession today. In markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, public relations professionals are actively warning that the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence has led to a surge in synthetic content and algorithmic misinformation, forcing agencies to act as truth guardians and intensifying their verification processes.

As artificial intelligence begins to effortlessly automate tactical tasks such as drafting press releases, summarizing reports, and translating content, the historical reliance on executional labour will become obsolete. 

“Whatever they can automate, they have to 100 percent automate,” Thajudeen advises regarding local agencies.

However, he warns that this technological shift makes the transition to strategic consulting an absolute necessity for survival. Artificial intelligence cannot replicate the nuanced counsel, the deep industry expertise, the empathetic reading of a boardroom, and the long-term relationship-building that define high-level communications. Sri Lankan agencies must adapt by aggressively elevating their services to this advisory level, shedding the fear that keeps them tied down to safe, basic routines.

Thajudeen concluded that agencies should not be afraid to challenge a client’s instructions when the situation calls for it, since a strategic PR agency exists to help guide decisions, not simply carry them out.

To overcome these deeply entrenched challenges, the Sri Lankan public relations industry must urgently break out of its isolated silos and work collaboratively. 

Agencies need to come together to educate corporate clients on the true, measurable value of their services. They must invest heavily in mentoring their young talent, replacing chaotic execution with strategic empowerment.

Furthermore, adopting global professional standards and ethical accountability is no longer optional; it is a prerequisite for industry survival. The industry must shift away from the expectation that agencies are magicians hired to blindly twist facts and make corporate missteps disappear. Instead, agencies must be empowered to practice professional lobbying, ethical influence, and honest reputation management. If the industry can navigate this necessary transformation and embrace its true calling as a strategic business enabler, it has the potential to evolve from a tactical afterthought into a powerful driver of corporate success, finally realizing its true worth within the Sri Lankan economy.