Editor's note: Walter K. Lindenmann is senior vice president and director of research, Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide, New York. This article is adapted from a presentation made in Frankfurt, Germany on May 10, 1996 at a special public relations evaluation workshop initiated by Ketchum Public Relations, GmbH, Munich.

During the past four to five years there has been a considerable amount of downsizing in business establishments, both large and small, in all four corners of the globe. This often has resulted in cuts in the amount of funds available for advertising, marketing and public relations programs and activities.To justify new expenditures in any of these areas, communications professionals have found it increasingly necessary to justify their existence. Top corporate executives no longer simply approve advertising and/or public relations programs or activities because they look or sound creative, or are something that have always been done - rather, they are first asking questions such as these:"Will this advertising and/or public relations effort actually move the needle in the right direction? Will the new communications activities change what people know, what they think and feel, and how they are inclined to act? What impact - if any - will the advertising and public relations programs have in changing consumer and opinion-leader awareness, retention, attitude and behavior levels?"As the research director of one of the world's largest public relations counseling firms - Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide - I am well aware of a growing interest in my field in the need to measure public relations effectiveness from a bottom-line perspective. Within our own agency, the number of PR measurement and evaluation projects that we have designed and carried out for our clients during the past four to five years has more than tripled.Not only that, during the past two years, we have experienced a surge of i...