Investor relations

Investor relations is a specialised practice area within the PR industry representing corporations to investors, regulators and the media.

In a two-part series on Australian corporate PR, Australian Financial Review journalist Jennifer Hewett reviews how investor relations campaigns seek to court journalists, politicians and the financial markets. "At morning conference calls, there's always a lot of talk on which journalist is a softer touch and who will be more favourably disposed and who has particular relationships with the other side," an investment banker told Hewett. "Senior journalists play a critical role in setting the tone for other journalists and they are very influential when it comes to institutional investors," one anonymous PR professional said. 

The spokesman for one large corporation, both unnamed, said that they used external PR consultants for "for media management of senior commentators. These guys talk to commentators about 10 projects a night and it is not necessarily evident who they are working for ... The use of an independent third party allows you to manage that relationship better or get a discussion going to ease the tension. The consultants say it in their own language and it doesn't sound like spin from the company," he told Hewett for the second in her series.