This week in PR (1 June)

News in brief

• PRCA has published a report Communicating the Gender Pay Gap. ‘The pay disparity between men and women [in public relations] is £11,364. On average women earn £42,588 and men earn £53,952. These statistics highlight the need for a collaborative, industry-led approach to tackle the problem.’
• Fake news: Open Democracy reports that the Evening Standard newspaper has been offering positive news and commentary to high paying corporations. The CIPR has issued a statement on this including a limited denial from the Evening Standard.
• Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) has released a new ethical framework revolving around four themes: Community, Collaboration, Careers and Conscience.
• Manchester-based Brazen PR has created a student hub to help graduates find their first jobs.
• Jaguar Land Rover has restructured its global marketing and comms functions. The role of ‘PR communications director’ becomes ‘customer experience director’. The Drum reports.

Calendar

Our calendar of events now appears on a separate page

Thought leaders: Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week (UK focused, but with a global outlook). Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com or @pr_place

Business / profession

• Stephen Waddington: Hands up if you’re willing to support student PR research (30 May)
  ‘The relationship between theory and practice is slowly improving. It’s reflects the growing maturity of our business.’
• Mike Sergeant with Paul Blanchard: Mike Sergeant + Paul Blanchard [podcast] (30 May)
  ‘Organisations that don’t leverage their leader are missing out.’
• John Brown: My four takeaways from the #AIinPR discussion paper [vlog] (29 May)
  ‘This paper hopefully brings some calm to the hysteria that’s surrounding AI.’
• Paul Sutton with Iliyana Stareva: Why inbound could finally prove the value of PR [podcast] (29 May)
  ‘Iliyana Stareva talks about her new book, and about what public relations agencies need to to do to become that trusted adviser.’
• Jenny Fieldgate: I heart GDPR (25 May)
  ‘Last night we held a party, a GDPaRty. It was a night of pitch-free, GDPR-free celebrations for the tech PR and media community.’
• Amanda Coleman: The people versus (25 May)
  ‘At the heart of what we do is something that is incredibly straightforward and that is people.’
• John-Paul Dannon: Sunshine after the storm (25 May)
  ‘GDPR clarifies that control of personal data belongs to the individual, so organisations need to facilitate control and transparency. This is good for people and healthy for organisations.’

Careers and skills

• Roger Darashah: Public Relations and the ‘Cult of the Specialist’ (31 May)
  ‘In cricket terms, the emergence of 20/20 has led specialists to be dispensed with altogether; with disastrous results in England’s case… Non-specialists appear to be taking over the world!’
• Helen Reynolds: 2018 survey: Comms in the UK housing sector (30 May)
  ‘Comms professionals in housing have a sense of purpose and enjoy their work. But the sector needs to ensure they have resources, understanding and respect.’
• Rachel Miller with Jess Roberts: A question of comms: Jess Roberts (30 May)
  ‘Antoni Gaudi: “To do things right, first you need love, then technique.” For me and my career this is everything. I love what I do. With a bit of hard work the rest will follow.’
• Victoria Tomlinson: Make the most of your skillset with the right ‘unretirement’ advice (29 May)
  ‘When you start planning for life after retirement – or “unretirement” – you want to think about the skills you have, if you want or need to earn – and how much – and what you get a buzz out of.’

Campaigns and creativity

• Taylor Herring staff: Greggs goes undercover as posh ‘Gregory and Gregory’ at gourmet food festival (30 May)
  ‘Greggs wanted to trial its new menu on some of Britain’s most discerning palates so they booked a pitch amongst the street food and artisan producers in the market area of the festival site that would convincingly blend in with the upmarket array of stalls.’
• Alan VanderMolen: Cannes PR Lions: 5 Thoughts Post-Judging (30 May)
  ‘After the 2016 PR Lions, there was such an outcry about ad agencies dominating the category that a new definition for PR Lions emerged – earned at the core.’
• Laura Crimmons: How to have better brainstorms (25 May)
  ‘In summary my top tips for running better brainstorms are: Send a proper brief in advance; Do something to break the ice at the start; Give everyone the opportunity to contribute in a way they’re comfortable with.’

Crisis and reputation

• Gerry McCusker: Media training is pretty much dead (28 May)
  ‘When we claim “Media training is pretty much dead” what we’re saying is that in isolation it really is.’

 Gender and diversity

• Victoria Pearson: Don’t just lean in – look in too (no date)
  ‘While I have rarely encountered genuine antipathy or open discrimination towards women in the workplace, there have been stereotypes and assumptions aplenty.’
• Lucy Chapple: Remembering Maggie Nally (28 May)
  ‘Maggie Nally paved the way for women who aspire to become leaders in our industry, and her contribution to the CIPR and to the wider communications sector is worth celebrating.’

Internal communication

• Uzma Mohamedali: Ten must-haves for your internal comms strategy (29 May)
  ‘Clarity of purpose, knowing where your organisation is going, must be at the core of your Internal Communications strategy.’
• Katie Marlow: How to change things when change is hard, and how communication can help (28 May)
  ‘We know that change is hard. It’s challenging, outside of our comfort zone and often exhausting.’
• Leah Bowden: How to make an impact in your first 90 days as head of IC (26 May)
  ‘Map your key stakeholders and meet as many any possible. Talk less about communications and more about their businesses, the issues they’re facing and ask, “What would you do if you were me?”

Media and digital

• Jon Reed: “I get to review this before you publish it, right?” A media day botch job we all need to avoid (29 May)
  ‘Most vendors allow their customers a chance to review and approve use case text and videos. Brand mentions are run by the customer’s internal PR for naming compliance; their legal team reviews it.’
• Scott Guthrie: Product placement double standards affecting influencer marketing (29 May)
  ‘Influencer marketing has moved from the emergence phase to growth phase. As it transcends niche status influencer marketing is falling foul of tall poppy syndrome  – a tendency to discredit or disparage anything that’s achieved notable prominence.’
• Anne Whitehouse: Is prevention better than cure? Tackling ‘fake news’ in the media (no date)
  ‘It got me thinking about the existential crisis facing journalism, the fact that the public relations profession still has a reputation problem, and the role that scientists and science communicators can play in finding ‘the truth’ in a world of information overload.’
• Oisin Prendergast: Once upon a chime… (25 May)
  ‘We recently introduced a “power hour”, an hour whereby all Account Execs hammer out the calls for 60 minutes in the morning, sharing stories on behalf of clients with media.’