Authored by Johannes Martschin, Managing Director and Founder, Martschin & Partner
After a year in which major players in the global PR industry continued to join forces, long-established agency brands merged, and entire PR divisions within corporate groups were reorganized or put up for sale, I see an opportunity for 2027 that owner-managed agencies like ours have been capitalizing on for nearly 30 years: genuine proximity rather than corporate logic.
Our clients appreciate being able to speak directly with the people who are actually responsible for the strategy – not with ever-changing teams that will be reassembled anyway after the next corporate restructuring.
Practice Knowledge Can’t Be Replicated
My prediction: By 2027, it will be clear that AI will completely take over simple, routine tasks such as drafting text, initial research, or basic translations. To a large extent, we’re already seeing this in our daily work today.
What remains is precisely what corporations find structurally difficult to scale when entire PR brands disappear in a restructuring: local practical knowledge, personal relationships with editorial offices and government agencies, and a deep understanding of how communication actually works in Austria and the German-speaking world – culturally, linguistically, and in terms of the media landscape.
This is exactly where we see the difference between a globally interchangeable template and genuine local relevance.
Rooted Locally, Connected Globally
As the owner-managed agency Martschin & Partner, we aim to play precisely this role in the German-speaking world: an agency that is rooted locally but also thinks and works internationally through the Worldcom network.
2027 will show that this combination of personal proximity to clients and a global partner network is the true advantage of independent agencies – not sheer size.
