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United States V.S. United Kingdom Advertising and Public Relations

Jul 18
3 min read

As I prepare for my adventure abroad in the United Kingdom, I couldn’t help but research how British public relations and advertising may differ from ours in the United States. You may not think there would be many differences between the two; I sure didn’t, and I was pleasantly surprised by both the similarities and the differences. Here are a few of the main differences I found in my research, and I hope to gain more information when I am actually in the U.K. This post is a little more information-heavy, so I will try to make it as fun to read as possible!


Communication Style


Here in the U.S., we have a direct yet informal communication style, but the British tend to use a more polite, indirect style that focuses on context. Differing communication styles affect how a campaign or ad is developed, expressed, and received by an audience. U.S. consumers like to get to the point: what will they receive if they act on something?  In the U.K., they focus more on a soft sell, letting the consumers take their time in considering a product rather than acting on it.


(I was actually watching a documentary the other day that had U.S. and U.K. professionals being interviewed, and it shocked me how easy it was to notice the difference after learning about

communication styles.)


Principles and Codes of Conduct


All U.S. PR professionals know (or should know) that we follow the Page Principles and the PRSA Code of Ethics in our profession. As a U.S. aspiring PR professional, I use these to guide my decisions and ensure I am doing what is best for all parties. I won’t go through both in depth for the sake of this blog post, but I’ll include the link so you can read for yourself. Here you go: PRSA Code of Conduct


British PR professionals follow the CIPR Code of Conduct, PRCA Code of Conduct, and ESG Principles. CIPR and PRCA are pretty similar to our PRSA codes, focusing on advancing the profession and accuracy in information. ESG Principles is where we start to differ. ESG (environmental, social, and governance) is becoming more prominent in U.K. PR as “Consumers, employees, and stakeholders increasingly demand that businesses demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability, social equity, and ethical governance.”


The U.S. also uses ESG, but we tend to focus more on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). ESG and CSR are similar to each other, and in my opinion, they are basically responsibility siblings. Although one framework dominates the other, both countries still use aspects of each.


Budget


When it comes down to it, U.S. public relations happens to be more expensive than in the U.K., partly because the U.S. market is so large. With a large market, it's harder to reach all audiences without the right tools, and the biggest tool is money. The U.S. has a higher overall budget for PR, which results in bigger campaigns and outreach efforts. In the end, a higher budget = better quality, and better quality = better responses from the audience.


Now that you have more information about the differences between the U.S. and the U.K., it is easy to see how public relations shifts from country to country. My upcoming blog posts will, hopefully, have real-world insight from PR professionals from the U.K., so make sure you stay ready to read!


References

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