According to a press release on Bizcommunity, Karl Haechler, chief executive of Burson Africa, has been named chair of a new Johannesburg public-relations forum created by PRCA Africa.
The forum is designed as a confidential, high-level space where senior agency leaders can share perspectives, exchange insights and discuss challenges that are shaping the industry. Topics will include market conditions, employment practices, the changing workplace, reputation, representation, investment and the overall direction of the public-relations profession.
Haechler said, “Agency leaders are often navigating many of the same challenges, yet we can find ourselves tackling them independently. There is real value in coming together to share experience, challenge each other’s thinking and work together on solutions.” He added that the forum should turn discussion into action that benefits the wider industry.
Jo Brophy, head of international membership (Africa, Europe and the Americas) at PRCA, said agency leaders have a unique perspective on issues affecting the profession and the broader business environment. “The Forum will provide a space for those leaders to have open and constructive conversations about the challenges we face, but also to identify opportunities to strengthen the role and influence of public relations,” she said.
For agencies that serve small and medium-size enterprises, the forum could lead to clearer best-practice guidance and collaborative approaches to talent retention, digital transformation and client-service models, areas that directly affect the cost and quality of PR support for SMEs.
In addition to chairing the forum, Haechler will join the PRCA Africa Executive Committee, ensuring that agency leaders’ priorities are reflected in the association’s strategic direction. The forum will meet regularly, with outcomes feeding into PRCA groups, new initiatives or dedicated workstreams led by participating agencies.
Read more about similar developments in the SME & Entrepreneurship sector.
According to the launch brief, the Forum will operate on a confidential basis, meaning that any strategic insights or competitive intelligence exchanged will remain within the group and will not be disclosed publicly. This confidentiality is intended to encourage candid dialogue among senior agency heads, allowing them to explore sensitive topics such as pricing structures or client acquisition tactics without fear of external scrutiny. By keeping the discussions off-record, participants can test bold ideas and assess potential collaborations before committing resources, creating a safe incubator for industry-wide initiatives that may later be rolled out through PRCA’s broader channels.
The structure of the Forum includes regular meetings that are deliberately scheduled to align with key industry cycles, such as the fiscal year planning period and major campaign launches. Each session will feature a rotating facilitator drawn from the participating agencies, ensuring diverse leadership perspectives and shared ownership of the agenda. After each gathering, a summary of actionable items is drafted and circulated to the Executive Committee, where it can be escalated to relevant PRCA Groups or transformed into dedicated workstreams led by the agencies that originated the concept.
Jo Brophy highlighted that the Forum’s output is expected to feed directly into PRCA’s existing governance framework, linking the high-level conversations with the association’s formal policy-making bodies. When a topic emerges that requires deeper analysis, the Forum can commission a task-force comprised of agency experts and PRCA staff to develop recommendations. Those recommendations are then presented to the PRCA Africa Executive Committee for endorsement, after which they may be published as best-practice guidelines or incorporated into the association’s advocacy agenda.
Haechler emphasized that the Forum will not only address current challenges but also act as a catalyst for future-oriented projects, such as joint research into emerging media channels or collaborative training programmes for junior talent. By pooling resources, agencies can co-fund studies that map consumer sentiment across the continent, generating data that would be prohibitively expensive for a single firm. The resulting insights can then be shared with the wider membership, helping to raise the overall standard of public-relations practice in South Africa and beyond.
The initiative is part of PRCA Africa’s broader strategy to deepen engagement with senior professionals across the continent, building on previous efforts that have focused on regional workshops and mentorship schemes. The Forum adds a new layer by bringing together the most senior agency leaders in a single, ongoing forum, thereby creating a continuous feedback loop between the operational realities of agencies and the strategic direction set by the association. This alignment is intended to ensure that policy decisions remain grounded in day-to-day industry experience.
When the Forum identifies an issue that warrants a longer-term commitment, it can launch a dedicated workstream that operates under the umbrella of PRCA Africa but is driven by the participating agencies. These workstreams are tasked with developing implementation plans, setting milestones, and reporting progress back to the Forum on a quarterly basis. This mechanism allows ideas generated in the confidential setting to evolve into concrete projects that can be measured and refined over time, reinforcing the Forum’s role as both a think-tank and an execution platform.
