The year was 2002. I was a fresh graduate with a degree in English Language and Japanese Studies from the National University of Singapore. I grew up fascinated by advertising. I collected print ads for their personality and creativity. Some of my favourites included United Colours of Benetton’s diversity and inclusion campaigns, The World Wildlife Fund‘s Living Planet campaign and (don’t judge!) the iconic Guess and Swatch ads. I always assumed I’d end up in the ad world.

But in university, modules in media discourse, news analysis, and writing sparked a different curiosity: how is news made? And the best place to learn that, I thought, was a public relations (PR) agency.

The dream employer back then was Burson-Marsteller, Singapore’s largest firm with an international network. My elder brother interned in their huge accounting department and his stories made it sound glamorous. I romanticised it completely.

But 2002 was also a year affected by a financial crisis brought on by the burst of the dot-com bubble. Jobs for fresh grads were scarce. After mailing out numerous hard-copy resumes to international firms, local agencies and boutiques, I received only one response: Gavin Anderson & Company, then under Omnicom. That marked the start of my career in PR.

The Three Eras of Modern Communications

1. The Golden Years

PR has always been about relationships with an organisation’s many “publics”: employees, media, investors, customers, the government and business partners. In those days, your media relationships determined everything. Getting a story into the newspapers was the ultimate win. Media relations was currency, the backbone of every agency.

Clients had big budgets and everyone was fighting for advertising space in top magazines, newspapers and television channels. We ran fully integrated campaigns across events plus above and below-the-line work, long before terms like “PESO” or “IMC” existed. We simply called them “360” campaigns.

Jobs were plentiful. Interns powered sprawling account teams. Retainers were generous. Coverage was king. And if you were in an agency, the bigger the network, the bigger your moat. Working for an international holding group carried prestige. From the moment I started, I barely needed to job hunt again. Those were the days that headhunters called constantly.

2. The Advent of Social Media

Then came the late 2000s, and everything changed. Social media reshaped attention, the news cycle became 24/7, and digital transformed everything from storytelling to crisis management.

The rise of Facebook and Twitter forced agencies to pivot overnight. “Bloggers” became a new stakeholder group, and influencers formed an entire parallel media ecosystem. As audiences embraced this shift, demand for traditional media declined. Media outlets faced falling advertising revenues, draining the lifeblood of their businesses.

Many agencies adapted and thrived. Others did not, and quietly disappeared. A former boss of mine chose not to evolve, and retired from the industry altogether.

3. The Stress Test Era (Today)

Now, the industry faces consolidation, layoffs, AI disruption, flat budgets, global uncertainty, and a fragmented media landscape. It is the most profound stress test I have ever seen.

Headlines in 2025 paint the picture:

• Havas reportedly exploring a deal with WPP
• IPG laid off 800 staff in Q3, bringing total cuts in 2025 to 3,200
• DDB’s future hangs in the balance as Omnicom finalises its US$13.5B acquisition of IPG
• Dentsu appointed bankers to seek buyers for its international business.
• Edelman announced major restructuring, phasing out several specialty firms
• WE Communications downsized in Singapore
• Mediacorp cut 93 jobs amid economic uncertainty and a shifting media landscape

These are not isolated events. They signal systemic pressure across the entire IMC ecosystem. When giants restructure, the whole stack, from advertising to media to PR, feels it. Many more layoffs across the ecosystem have gone unreported.

The Reality on the Ground

According to Gartner, marketing budgets were flat at 7.7 percent of company revenue in 2024, with four in ten CMOs planning to cut or renegotiate agency fees. Global uncertainty is expected to further suppress marketing and communications spend.

At the same time, GenAI is rapidly automating production tasks such as first-draft content, monitoring and reporting. Combined with rising costs and operational complexity, these pressures are accelerating consolidation across the industry.

What This Means for Agencies

1. Scale is no longer an advantage

Size and legacy no longer guarantee stability. Consolidation often means retrenchment, not growth. Even once-iconic names can fade away.

2. The economics of output are breaking

GenAI is driving simple production work in-house. With basic output now low-cost and fast to produce, the margins that once sustained agencies are eroding quickly.

However, what Gen AI still cannot replace is the work rooted in human presence, trusted relationships, sound judgement and lived experience, including:

• strategy that delivers tangible results, not just a deck of ideas
• navigating issues and complexity
• crisis counsel
• reputation stewardship
• cross-market strategy
• leadership and employee communications

3. The APAC advantage is shifting to boutiques

The APAC region’s complexity demands nuance that global templates cannot deliver. Local, regional and founder-led boutiques have an edge because they offer agility, cultural fluency and senior counsel grounded in real market realities.

4. The return of earned media

As GenAI floods the world with content and misinformation, earned media and credible storytelling are regaining importance. Budgets are shifting back towards influence, reputation and trust.

What This Means for Clients in APAC

For CMOs, CCOs and business leaders, these shifts carry real implications:

1. Agency choice will narrow at the top

Mega-mergers and restructuring reduce the number of distinct global networks. But bigger is not always better in APAC, where in-market understanding matters more than scale.

2. Put your money in the right buckets

With AI automating routine tasks, budgets must move towards work that delivers strategic value: insight, trusted counsel, stakeholder relationships and reputation. Impact comes from depth and quality, not volume.

3. Continuity will become a premium

As layoffs and restructuring increase churn in large agencies, stability and consistent senior involvement will matter more than ever. Founder-led consultancies are often better placed to provide this through long-term relationships and direct accountability.

4. The rise of fractional advisors

One of the most under-discussed shifts today is the surge in fractional advisory. Many senior leaders leaving holding groups are choosing not to return to full-time agency roles. Instead, they are moving into fractional or project-based work, giving clients flexible and cost-effective access to top-tier expertise.

So, is PR a sunset industry?

I haven’t called it PR in years because the work has long outgrown the label. Today, communications goes far beyond publicity. It is about aligning people, shaping meaning, guiding leaders through complexity, and helping organisations communicate with clarity across markets and platforms. At its core, modern communications is about solving human and business challenges through strategy, influence and empathy.

If we narrowly define PR as press releases and outputs, then yes. that version is sunsetting. But if communications is defined as the stewardship of trust and reputation in an age where both are fragile, then this isn’t a sunset. It’s a strategic reset.

The chapter ahead will test the foundations, resilience and adaptability of agencies and leaders like never before. For agencies, this is a wake-up call. For clients, it is an invitation to choose partners not by scale, but by expertise and impact.

After 23 years, I do not see decline. I see redesign.

And I believe the perfect storm we are in now is the testing ground for a new era.

About the author

Serina Tan is the Founder of Brewer, named Agency of the Future and one of the Best Agencies in APAC by PRovoke Media. A trusted strategic communications advisor and trainer, she has spent over 20 years guiding leaders across Asia Pacific to communicate clearly, build trust and navigate complexity. She was recognised in Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 40 Under 40 in 2019.