Sir Martin Sorrell Declares PR Dead: Communications Just Got Promoted
Sir Martin Sorrell is one of the sharpest and most successful operators in advertising and marketing.
But on December 17 in a BBC Radio 4’s Today interview— Sorrell said “there’s no such thing as PR anymore.” His comments were said opposite Public Relations Communications Association (PRCA, Europe) chief executive Sarah Waddington. It seemed more like a ‘red herring’.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reducing the costs of advertising. What is dying is the old advertising category and outdated view it drags behind it.
Communications has become a central function of enterprise leadership—no longer tactical, but strategic. It sits alongside risk as a core responsibility of the chief executive, translating intent into trusted signals with speed and precision.
It converts intent into signal…and signal into action—with digital as fastest way to inform investors, steady employees, influence customers, alert competitors. Done right, it becomes the silent force behind execution—felt instantly from the sales floor to the trading floor in real time.
Sorrell aims at PR, but the disruption is AI—commoditizing advertising and marketing while communications is elevated into enterprise counsel on governance, trust, downstream risk and crisis response.
In boardrooms of Fortune companies, advertising and marketing show up when something goes wrong. Communications, on the other hand, is vital to track stakeholder pressure, shape disclosures, stress-testing narratives and preparing responses before damaging screenshots goes viral.
Recently, on media pundit summarized, “…it’s fair to say that these comments tell us more about Sorrell — who during his three-decade tenure as chief executive of WPP was responsible for the fortune of global agencies BCW, Hill & Knowlton and Ogilvy — none of which exactly flourished over that time….”
Follow the money because money talks truth.
Financial teams now measures marketing like a factory: unit cost, cycle time, defect rate and rework.
Gartner found marketing budgets in 2025 flat at 7.7% of company revenue, unchanged from 2024. Meanwhile, U.S. internet advertising revenue reached $258.6 billion in 2024, up 14.9%, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau( IAB)-PwC annual report.
Creative versioning, resizing, localization, and rapid testing used to justify teams, timelines, and markups… now run through software models prompting, parameter tuning and automated orchestration. In video, IAB reports half of advertisers are already using generative AI to build video ads, and nearly 90% are using or plan to use it.
AI’s driven shift does not merely disrupt agencies. It rewrites risk profiles of entire companies.
As output multiplies, so does exposure and risk. Every new asset increases risk of legal claims, safety issue regulators can’t ignore, synthetic image backlash… or a disclosure mistake that becomes an immediate headline.
Employees feel this first. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported AI was cited for more than 54 thousand layoff plans in 2025. Since 2023, the firm stated AI has been linked to more than seventy thousand job-cut announcements.
For employees, AI is not just a tool—it’s management’s workforce plan. If CEOs can’t explain what will be automated, what stays human and what that means for roles, stories fill the vacuum: people assume cuts, trust drops and talent walks.
Investors view AI as a governance test: can it be deployed without legal, reputational or regulatory surprises?
Boston Consulting Group reported in 2025 that 71% of CMOs plan to invest more than $10 million annually in genAI over the next three years. That’s aggressive capital allocation into a rulebook still being written about IP, privacy, safety, disclosure. Markets don’t punish ambition; they reprice unmanaged risk.
Communications is the discipline that ensures decisions are communicated clearly, consistently and credibly under pressure. It works with legal and business teams to align public statements with facts, manage disclosures and respond quickly if needed.
At AI speed, a marketing mistake becomes a crisis when regulators or customers react.
This is not abstract. Just look at FTC’s $2.5 billion Amazon Prime settlement over deceptive enrollment and cancellation practices; FTC and Colorado’s $24 million Greystar settlement omitting mandatory fees from advertised prices; UK’s CMA investigating companies like Wayfair, StubHub, and Viagogo over hidden fees in pricing practices.
Today, communication is central to executing corporate strategy. The PR-versus-marketing debate is largely performative. The modern enterprise requires communications counsel: the capacity to disseminate and explain decisions that survive stakeholder scrutiny — delivered at the speed the digital era demands.
AI travels at ludicrous speed. But stakeholder trust decides who wins.
AI accelerates production, but it also makes trust more fragile. Persuasion carries a credibility tax when audiences sense automation is being used as a shortcut, replacing genuine care.
AI-powered search and answer engines elevate what appears authoritative, which makes third-party validation a key competitive advantage.
In this landscape, communications isn’t just “messaging.” It’s about proof, transparency and restraint—knowing when automation enhances the brand and when it risks making it seem indifferent.
Warren Buffett said it best: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” AI makes those five minutes scalable.
If leaders want the right name, they should call it communications—and treat it as the enterprise function it’s become.
Companies that win won’t produce the most content; they’ll move at ludicrous AI speed while staying credible with stakeholders, consistently and under pressure.
Back to Sir Martin and his declaration that PR is dead. The marketplace and current practices keep overruling him. When an investor question rattles the boardroom, a regulator calls or a deepfake alienates customers, the first SOS goes to communications and legal—not the ad agency.
P.S. So, Sir Martin — A challenge to you in New York or Washington, your call, on stage, with a sponsor for charity. You bring your PR obituary. I’ll bring a decade of experience as a member of the New York Stock Exchange’s Management Committee (policy) and Executive Committee (operations), plus three decades managing a global reputation and high-stakes issues firm. Let’s see if Lazares can be raised from the dead, (John 11)?
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Richard Torrenzano is chief executive of The Torrenzano Group. For nearly a decade, he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange management (policy) and executive (operations) committees. He is a sought-after expert and leading commentator on artificial intelligence, cyber and digital attacks; financial markets; brands, crisis, media and reputation. His new book is Command the Conversation: Next Level Communications Techniques.