The Value of Public Relations

On Drews Blog Dennis Howlett sugested that “The BBC has probably the richest source of media assets anywhere on the planet. Anyone want to put a price on it? Try this - Time Warner is worth $78 billion - what say you for the BBC? $200 billion?"

Well, I am not going to argue price. What I am going to argue is value of the relationships that the BBC has among its many stakeholders.

These have made the Corporation. Without these relationships the BBC would be worth the value of its properties (a few million I guess).

Nearly all its properties are intellectual properties and this where the value lies. It is the capability of relationships to lever value from IP.

So the value of relationships should be on the balance sheet – right?

Relationship management should be an investment to create and sustain the value of its IP – right?

So it is not a cost and does not belong on P&L.

Ergo PR is not a cost at all, its an investment.

Hmmmmm.....