This week in PR (12 April)
Profession and ethics
- Rajinder Kaur Mattu: Ethics: The SuperPR of foresight (no date)
‘Ethics is our industry’s superpower (or SuperPR as I’d like to put it) which grants us the gift of foresight so recent PR disasters never come to pass, which includes racially abusing Black MPs.’
Purpose, climate and ESG
SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION DIPLOMA
- Bill Coffin: Alison Taylor Brings Ethics & Compliance to Higher Ground
(10 April)
‘The premise of the book is that we’ve never been so confused about what it takes to be a responsible business. Quite clearly we are beyond the point in time when we can say just focus on shareholder value and don’t break the law.’
- Steve Earl: The ESG News Review: Banks caught in transatlantic ESG battleground (10 April)
‘A Wall Street Journal article this week summarised that “marketers are attempting to sidestep political brawls over concepts like brand purpose, ESG and diversity by softening language and avoiding related messages, but they aren’t giving up on such efforts”.’
Consulting, skills and careers
- Joanna Randall: Why I Sold My Business to My Colleagues – The Story of Employee Ownership (11 April)
‘Employee ownership is more than just a business model; it’s a philosophy. It’s about doing business ethically, where the welfare of the employees and the community takes precedence – but not to the detriment of commercial focus.’
- Beyond the brand: Amanda Coleman (9 April)
‘When I first started working in PR the Internet was on one computer in the corner of the room. We were still faxing news releases and sending out photographs. A lot has changed particularly when you look at the impact of AI. There are some fundamental principles and approaches that never change but the technology has given us a lot as well as created some headaches.’ - Maja Pawinska Sims with Roman Geiser and Gordon Tempest-Hay: Podcast: The New Strategic Communications Landscape (9 April)
‘Farner became that big gorilla dominating the Swiss market and two and a half years ago we decided to take that model of being more than a PR agency – a management consultancy for integrated communications – to the European level. We are already a top ten player in Europe.’
- Anne Cantelo: Top 8 mistakes companies make when engaging PR (9 April)
‘As Gerald Ratner and Prince Andrew discovered, being on the front page of every newspaper doesn’t necessarily enhance your reputation and drive sales.’
- Paul Holmes with Fiorenzo Tagliabue: The Disruptors: SEC Newgate Builds A “Group Of Entrepreneurs” (8 April)
‘My dream is to move what began as a small Italian business into a competitive worldwide group with strong European roots within the top ten of the market.’
Gender, diversity, health and wellbeing
- Fariba Ghazizadeh: A British perspective on DE&I in the PR industry (11 April)
‘We’ve seen enough campaign fluff ups where the first honest reaction is to question who was in the room and why nobody flagged the seemingly obvious insensitivity. But the truth is, when meeting rooms and calls are filled with people who look, appear and are from the same background, these situations are easier to come by than we’d like to think.’
- Tani Fatuga: More diversity, more personal – what PR needs to attract talent (9 April)
‘I worked at an agency once where it was obvious that I was the diversity hire. It felt that they didn’t actually want me there, didn’t value what I had to bring to the table. They just wanted to make it clear that they had a Black woman within the business, and that they were therefore ‘diverse’. That needs to change.’
- Alicia Solanki: For women, a drive towards greater participation and inclusion isn’t without a price tag (no date)
‘Women who juggle unpaid work alongside their careers often face burnout, stress, and limited opportunities for advancement. The expectation to excel both at work and at home creates a constant struggle for balance, leaving many women feeling overwhelmed and undervalued.’
Public and third sectors
- Dan Slee: CLICK POST: What good Instagram content looks like in 2024 (7 April)
‘Instagram has often baffled the public sector yet with some fresh thinking it could work well for you.’
Politics, public affairs and public sphere
- David Scane: First stop Mar-a-Lago, next stop Washington D.C. – Lord Cameron tours the States (9 April)
‘Since his appointment to the position, Cameron has drawn plaudits from commentators for the way in which he has conducted himself in the role. He has appeared comfortable when interacting with diplomats and foreign dignitaries and has been described by one civil servant as the “foreign affairs PM”.’ - Alina Vrabie: Which party ‘owns’ the economy? (9 April)
‘Labour has, since September 2022, led the Conservatives on this topic when voters were asked which party would handle the economy most competently. This is a considerable reversal of fortunes.’
- Beth Tarling: Why Reform might not shake up the polls… yet (5 April)
‘It will be more interesting to see how things play out in the West Midlands and the Tees Valley, where just a small shift to Reform UK by red wall turned blue voters could help further undermine the Conservative vote and see Labour come out on top.’
Brands, content, community and creativity
- Emile Kronfli: Is AI making content worse? (8 April)
‘Producing great content isn’t just about using facts and making benefit statements topped off with a scattering of nice words. It’s about understanding the reader. It’s about empathy, which is something that AI, for all its strengths, is not able to deliver.’
Research, data, measurement and evaluation
- Dan Gold: Measuring PR Excellence with Richard Bagnall
(9 April)
‘Because you become what you measure, you become a ‘busy fool’. We do stuff and then we say we’re going to count the stuff that we’ve done – and we’re going to confuse that with some kind of meaningful measurement. We lose sight of what actually matters.’
Crisis, risk and reputation
- Ian Morris: The rise of boycotts presents a risk conundrum for consumer brands (9 April)
‘McDonald’s is not alone in suffering a backlash over Gaza. Other companies perceived to have taken a pro-Israel stance or with financial ties to the country have also been singled out. Starbucks was targeted after it sued its workers’ union over a post about the conflict showing solidarity with Palestine. Likewise Disney after pledging humanitarian support to Israel.’
Behaviour and influence
Internal communication
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION DIPLOMA
- Advita Patel: Curious Rebel TV with special guest Sharon O’Dea
(5 April)
‘Never be driven by the channel; be driven by the need. What do people do and how does communication fit into their workflow? Focus on what you’re delivering for your people.’
Media, digital and technology
- Molly Gratton: Microsoft’s AI hub in London: A game-changer for the city’s tech scene (11 April)
‘It will be led by Mustafa Suleyman, the London-born cofounder of Google DeepMind, who Microsoft hired last month, and it builds on Microsoft’s recent commitment to invest £2.9 billion into data centre infrastructure and improving AI skills across Britain.’ - Karen Noctor: The role of media relations in an age of misinformation (10 April)
‘Journalists serve as gatekeepers of truth and we constantly tell our clients and internally as a team that when it comes to landing stories establishing and nurturing relationships with journalists is not merely about securing ‘coverage’; it’s about earning trust.’ - Alice Wilkinson: Why Aristotle was right about social media. (9 April)
‘Do we have to take an all-or-nothing approach to social media? Perhaps it is about finding the Golden Middle Way – learning how to be balanced in our approach to social media, rather than removing it from our lives altogether.’
