This month in PR (August 2019)

News in brief

I never worked for Tim Bell. However, I’ve always interviewed/hired people who did. As they’re very good

For those making unpleasant comments (he’s not without controversy), it’s worth remembering he leaves a wife and two, youngish adult children. Her husband. Their dad #TimBell

— Mary Whenman (@marywhenman) August 26, 2019

• There is a contest for CIPR president-elect, to serve as president in 2021. The candidates are Mandy Pearse and Rachel Royall and members will be able to vote from 2-16 September. This means there will be female presidents for four years in succession.
• The CIPR and PRCA have both defended the importance of public sector communications after the Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP described public engagement roles in the police force as “unnecessary” and “a waste of tax payers money”.
• Lord (Tim) Bell has died aged 77. He was best known as an adviser to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and for building up (and perhaps helping to bring down) Bell Pottinger. See the obituaries by Danny Rogers for PR Week and Arun Sudhaman for Holmes Report. Sudhaman writes: ‘While Bell Pottinger’s collapse, and the consequent ethical reckoning across the PR world, may have tarnished Bell’s legacy — his influence in terms of shaping London’s communications industry cannot be overlooked.’ Neal Lawson, writing in The Guardian, saw another side to his former employer.
• Carol Rennard, known to many as Carol Arthur, has died aged 63. As Victoria Tomlinson said at her funeral service, Carol always offered ‘widsom and wise counsel’ and gave so much to colleagues, clients, the CIPR in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and to students at Leeds Beckett University. Friends and family spoke with warmth and affection about her zest for life.

Academic and education

This is the entire PR section in the standard guide for GCSE Business students. We have a lot to do to change perceptions of our industry and show our value at grass roots level. @wadds @SparklyPinchy pic.twitter.com/9Y38JxQBfo

— Tom Berry (@Bezmeleon) August 14, 2019

• Emma Leech: Clearing: Fast, Furious… and Fickle? (14 August)
  ‘Students are increasingly aware that they have more choice than ever before and that will impact on next cycle. Plan for later decision making, longer research pre application and more of a focus on granular and highly personal content.’

• Arianne Smart: Top tips for university students (14 August)
  ‘Here are three super-simple tips that I wish I had known at the start of my course that will hopefully help you…’

Ethics and professionalism

• Paddy Blewer: Notes from the dark side; we have to understand each other better to enhance PR’s operating and ethical standards (29 August)
  ‘My experience is that it’s easier to teach PR and communications skills to someone that understands [capital markets, geopolitics, energy] than it is to teach a PR focused colleague the effects of monetary policy on both inflation and the value of a currency and therefore the valuation on any given investment.’
• Ella Minty: A Threat To Public Relations – And An Opportunity (15 August)
  ‘While our membership bodies do try and respond/engage in the ethical debates we have online and offline, we see almost no champions of ethics and responsibility from the large corporations’ PR, Comms, Corporate Affairs departments.’
• Alex Malouf: Is it time for a debate about how the PR sector deals with Ethics? (13 August)
  ‘What is good is the increasing focus on ethical issues in the industry. We need to talk more about ethics, and realize the importance of this issue.’

Consulting and careers

• David Brain: Sir Tim Bell (27 August)
  ‘Some in the industry may be glad he has gone, but even they cannot deny the influence he had on it.’
• Stephen Waddington: Speaking up for graduates in the workplace (20 August)
  ‘Studying at university is a consumer experience. The student demands a level of service from the teaching institution. The relationship between graduate and employer is very different. In agency land managers need to set out clear expectations. They need to mentor graduates during their first year of employment. It’s an important life transition.’
• Marcel Klebba: Thriving in the PR agency world (15 August)
  ‘Agency is an environment heavily focused on the client. It’s very important you always put yourself in clients’ shoes. Every piece of work should be done with them in mind.’

Gender, diversity and wellbeing

• Leila Mountford: Why the ASA rule against gender stereotyping doesn’t solve the problem (no date)
  ‘Whilst we can’t police the internet, the ASA and marketing campaigns have to lead the way in setting the highest of standards in avoiding gender stereotypes. ‘
• Jenni Field: Mental health – the topic we love to talk about but hate to deal with (28 August)
  ‘CIPR launched its mental health guide last week which is a great start to providing resources for practitioners but to truly effect culture change, there are specific business behaviours PR practitioners need to embed in daily practice.’

Politics and public affairs

“For a Code to be relevant it must surely be enforceable. Marking one’s own homework through having one’s own Code surely is irrelevant.”
Read our full response to ORCL’s Codes of Conduct consultation here: https://t.co/H9k4E9a86y pic.twitter.com/fdR7P0h1DH

— PRCA (@PRCA_UK) August 22, 2019

• Tony Langham: My post-Brexit hopes for the UK (14 August)
  ‘I hope to hear of science parks, fintech hubs, medical zones, education centres and much much more in the coming months. The coming General Election will in part be a referendum on austerity, so we need to hear the plans.’
• Peter Bingle: It’s important to be optimistic (13 August)
  ‘In modern times, the greatest political communicator was a former B Movie actor who became President of the USA when national self-esteem was at rock bottom after the dreary Jimmy Carter years.‘

• Emily Wallace: Brexit as a fairytale (12 August)
  ‘The people just wanted to get back to being a United Kingdom again, and worrying about all the things they used to worry about before this whole sorry tale happened.’ 
• Darren Caveney: Just answer the damn question. And why we need to do better (7 August)
  ‘I have never encouraged anyone to lie in a media response, interview or release and I strongly suspect the vast majority of our profession will be in this same place. So, who exactly are the media trainers or more general advisors who are encouraging this? Genuinely – who are they?’

Public and third sectors

Very Proud of the new @UKgovcomms Standard, published today. Sets out the purpose, approach and practice of govt comms in ⁦@UKCivilService⁩ to deliver effective public service comms. Credit to @rosedj & @KingMcdowall who created the standard https://t.co/z2fTNfiyC3

— Alex Stuart Aiken (@AlexanderAiken) August 10, 2019

Reputation management

Campaigns and creativity

Back-to-school stab vests go ‘on sale’ for hard-hitting awareness campaign https://t.co/cCWeLxLMWd pic.twitter.com/7Lu4tlB9Pa

— PR Examples (@PRexamples) August 29, 2019

• Jessica Pardoe: Creative Campaigns #16 – Chester Zoo Wants You To Play With The Elephants (13 August)
  ‘What I also love about this campaign is that not only does it have the basic PR benefits, but it also has the backlinks too. Coverage is great, but if you’re actively working on improving your SEO, links are like gold dust.’

Brands and influence

• Scott Guthrie: Estée Lauder and Revolve demonstrate importance of influencer marketing (29 August)
  ‘”75% of our investment now is in digital social media influencers and they’re revealing to be highly productive,” explained Estée Lauder president and CEO Fabrizio Freda during a Q4 earnings call earlier this month.’
• Michael White: Organisations: An algorithm away from irrelevance (21 August)
  ‘Taking ownership of your brand will arguably become more complex, particularly as the privacy movement gathers steam and social networks reform to remain relevant.’

Internal communication

• Martin Flegg: The curse of busy (27 August)
  ‘Why is everyone who works in internal communications so busy? Productive reflection is a skill which all internal communicators could usefully learn to help them create better organisational outcomes.’
• Debbie Aurelius: Creating Engaging In-house Audio with Keith Lewis. [podcast] (26 August)
  ‘Empowering our people to get out there and be more social is an important part of what we do.
• Jenni Kampf: Changing the conversation about internal communications (10 August)
  ‘We’ve been round the houses with issues like professionalisation, gaining senior staff buy-in, and measurement, seemingly stuck in a rut of talking about the same issues in the same way. So, how could we move this forwards?’

Technology and AI

• Brendon Craigie: The tech sector may be at war, but the peace can still be won (1 August)
  ‘Recent research conducted by Tyto with 600 UK respondents about various aspects of technology, revealed that almost 76% agreed that they don’t trust big technology companies to make ethical choices. However, more than 75% also believe that digital technology is having a positive impact on society.’

Media and digital

I just got interviewed for a PR blog about how I feel about phone pitching.

Here’s my take: My inbox is such a disaster, sometimes it’s quicker (and less stressful) to take a phone call.

— Matthew Hughes (is going to IFA) (@matthewhughes) August 21, 2019

• Chris Lee: If you don’t like it, don’t share it (no date)
  ‘One of the absolute basics we cover in community management is don’t feed the trolls! Don’t dignify tweets, comments that are designed to harm – as opposed to legitimate queries or comments – with a response.’
• Gini Dietrich: How to Generate Content Ideas and Forever Avoid Writer’s Block (13 August)
  ‘As a communications professional, content creation is an automatic part of your job, no matter which part of the PESO model you focus on.’
• Stella Bayles: Netflix’s ‘The Great Hack’ proves it’s the PR industry’s responsibility to protect the public (1 August)
  ‘What ‘The Great Hack’ documentary demonstrates to us is how scary innovation can be when it’s being used for the wrong cause.’