A first look at the Barcelona Principles 3.0

The Barcelona Principles have gotten a facelift for 2020, five years after the last update in 2015 and 10 years after the principles were first introduced in 2010.

The updates were introduced at AMEC’s 2020 Virtual Summit, in a session led by Ben Levine, director and partner with TRUE Global Intelligence. Levine stressed two key reasons for updating the principles, beyond the obvious reason that it has been five years since the last update:

Here’s what the principles look like for 2020:

Barcelona Principles 3.0

Breaking down the changes

What were the reasons behind the changes? Let’s go through each principle.

In 2015, the principles said that “goal setting and measurement are fundamental to communications and public relations.” The update takes this idea a step further, Levine says.

By demanding that setting goals is an “absolute prerequisite,” the principles are pushing for PR measurement programs that are built to identify outcomes and measure progress towards those goals.

2. Measurement and evaluation should identify outputs, outcomes and potential impact.