Germany, Practice of Public Relations in

Professional Field

In absence of formal accreditation systems and census data, the total number of people working in public relations is unknown. Approximately 7,500 practitioners are organized in the major associations Deutsche Public Relations Gesellschaft (DPRG) and Bundesverband Deutscher Pressesprecher (BdP). Databases by service providers list more than 30,000 full-time professionals in the field. According to several large-scale studies by Günter Bentele and colleagues, more than 90% of the professionals have an academic education, usually on the master's level. Most of them have a background in communication and media studies or journalism (22%), other fields of social sciences or humanities (39%), or business (15%). The most common self-perception is being a mediator between organizations and publics (82%). Almost every second professional perceives himself or herself being a consultant to top management, spokesperson, or lobbyist.

Within organizations, the communication function usually reports directly to the CEO or management board, with responsibilities for external and internal communications. Financial communications is mostly a separate, smaller function on the same level. Marketing communications and advertising are traditionally separated and located within business units; they often enjoy less management influence but larger budgets.

The market of consultancies, agencies, and service providers in Germany is quite diverse. Leading public relations agencies serving all kinds of clients including many multinationals based in Germany are mostly privately owned with up to 300 employees. International networks have a much smaller market share than in most other countries. A number of high-end consultancies have specialized in fields like mergers and acquisitions, change communication, and auditing and controlling. Local agencies and consultants serve the large number of small- and medium-size companies as well as public institutions.

The large German-speaking market, which also includes Austria and parts of Switzerland, has generated a number of service providers for media analysis, distribution, measurement, online benchmarking, training, and headhunting, for example, who constantly develop new methods and services but seldom offer them abroad.

Research and Theories

Germany has a relatively short, but rich tradition of theory building in public relations and communication management. Due to a lack of institutionalization in universities, the debate until the 1990s was mainly shaped by concepts developed by practitioners (Albert Oeckl and Carl Hundhausen) who defined public relations based on mainstream practice and early U.S. theories.

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