This week in PR (10 September)

It happened this week

Remember 9/11 so vividly. I was a junior PR in East London, calling national business news desks with a tech story. They started telling me what was going on before it hit the news, then we turned on the office TV.

— Drew Benvie (@drewb) September 7, 2021

ESG, corporate and financial

• Bob Huxford: The UK IPO Market Is Still Heating Up (7 September)
  ‘76 companies have undergone a successful IPO in the UK year to date, suggesting 27 came to market in July and August alone.’

Consulting, teams and careers

• Andrew Bloch: The 5 P’s And The Art Of Saying ‘NO!’​ (9 September)
  ‘I’ve learnt over the years that you only have limited capacity, and whilst you might want/think you can take on the world, in reality, if you want to do the best possible job, deliver great results and enjoy what you are doing, then it is important to understand what to take on and what to decline.’

• Ben Smith with Imogen Osborne: Where are you on the flexible working hybrid spectrum? [podcast] (9 September)
  ‘We wanted to get a sense of what hybrid plans were being put in place by teams. One in three said they were looking to run three days in the office; one in four were going to offer staff complete flexibility.’
• Paul Stollery: Scaling Service x Andrew Bloch: how to sell an agency (8 September)
  ‘Founding an agency is a little like being a secret agent: you should always know where the exit is.’

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

First UK LGBT business champion appointed https://t.co/Q4vY8CM72X

— BBC Business (@BBCBusiness) September 9, 2021

https://twitter.com/ALeaderLikeMe/status/1435694980509716480

Public and third sectors

• Annie Hilditch: Thackray’s Big Relaunch! – Through the medicine cabinet and what Annie found there (3 September)
  ‘Three days into my new job, here I was at the grand relaunch of the Thackray Museum of Medicine. With the museum’s transformation into a vaccine hub, the creation of 11 immersive and tactile new galleries, and now the shortlisting for Art Fund Museum of the Year award 2021, Thackray had a lot to be shouting about.’
• Stuart Thomson: What charities need to learn from the actions of Extinction Rebellion (and others) (8 September)
  ‘Ever since the days of some of the less obvious and often controversial corporate social responsibility tie-ins, charities have got better at assessing the risks involved. But funds are tight, tighter than ever now, and reputations change, so the risk analysis alters over time.’
• Pete Orton: VIDEO VIEW: Using effective TikTok as an NHS Trust (3 September)
  ‘You know TikTok… it’s that dodgy Chinese state-owned video app that’s corrupting our children and stealing our data, right? Well for us at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust it’s our most followed and most watched social media channel.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

• Andrew Adie: Countdown to COP (9 September)
  ‘The UK Government is reportedly engaged in a huge ‘shuttle diplomacy’ push to get ambitious carbon reductions agreed by the world’s nations to ensure we can still aim for the Paris targets.’

• David Scane: Sacked in the morning (9 September)
  ‘A Cabinet reshuffle will almost certainly happen this autumn, not least because there is a need for a comprehensive refresh. Yet it will be done at a time of the Prime Minister’s choosing, when he feels it will deliver maximum impact.’
• Emma Goodwin: Barcelona is blazing a superblock trail (9 September)
  ‘While Barcelona’s straightforward grid system lends itself well to the creation of superblocks, back in London, plans to create two pedestrianised piazzas around Oxford Circus indicates there’s potential – and appetite – to apply a similar concept in the UK capital too.’
• Paul Burstow: Political Insider: Social Care Reforms (8 September)
  ‘The PM said that you can’t fix the NHS without fixing social care. True. But today’s announcement fails that test, it does not fix social care. The majority of the monies raised will go to the NHS and yet underinvesting in social care, especially the types of help that keep people independent and in the community simply stores up costs for the NHS.’

• Chris White: PM delivers much needed medicine, but it’s bitter pill to swallow (7 September)
  ‘Less than two years after pledging not to raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance, the Prime Minister today admitted that he would break his manifesto commitment and introduce a new 1.25% rise in National Insurance contributions to fund health and social care reform.’

Campaigns, creativity and behaviour

• Gem Stokes: Camden Town Brewery x Marmite – Love it or Hate it Ale (7 September)
  ‘The eye-catching, classic marmite branding of black and mustard yellow adorns the beer’s packaging, guaranteed to make consumers stop and stare at the unusual collaboration.’

Sport

• Tim Le Couilliard: Fabrizio Romano – “Here we go!” (9 September)
  ‘Romano began as a sports journalist at the age of 18 at a small football website in his native Italy. By 19, he was already reporting for Sky Sports Italy. Now 28, he has carved himself a niche in being the go-to man for transfer news and has gone on to work for major broadcasters and The Guardian.’

Brands, storytelling and influence

• Rebecca Roberts and Harriet Small: Brandsplaining and why does every brand want to change the world? [podcast] (7 September)
  ‘It sounds cool – ‘we’re going to change the world’ – but what does that mean? What’s your strategic narrative?’

Internal communication

Ooh it’s two years ago today that I signed contracts with @KoganPage for my book – and now it’s on the shelves! pic.twitter.com/pKOT43eIx4

— Jenni Field (@mrsjennifield) September 9, 2021

• Virginia Hicks: What Comms pros need to know about IR35 (9 September)
  ‘Over time, there has been a dramatic shift towards self-employment; from less than one million in 1999 to nearly five million now; that’s around 14% of the working population. The government saw the potential income from the new ‘off-payroll’  regulations which has been as quoted as £1.3 billion which would go some way towards offsetting the drop in PAYE.’
• Rachel Miller: Have your say on line manager communication (8 September)
  ‘The research aims to reach HR partners and line managers as well as internal communication colleagues. It’s hoped that a mix of perspectives on the issue of line manager communication and how we best help resolve the challenges will be uncovered by a diverse mix of respondents.’

• Jenni Field: Culture shock – why we need to be more intentional when communicating organisational culture (6 September)
  ‘For me, communication is a tangible way of demonstrating culture. If culture is where the purpose, values and behaviours sit, then articulating those for employees and sharing stories that link to them is communication.’
• Jennifer Sproul, Dominic Walters and Cathryn Barnard: The history of human communication [podcast] (3 September)
  ‘One of the advantages we have as a species is that we’re able to record knowledge – and pass it on.’

Technology, media and digital

https://twitter.com/amyirvine322/status/1435609100084207619

• Holly Ingram: Tech Me Out: Beginner’s guide to ERP (no date)
  ‘Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a type of software used by organisations to manage and integrate the separate elements of a business, including accounting, procurement, marketing, finance, HR and much more.’ 
• Keith Lewis: Operation London Bridge and what it means for social media managers (3 September)
  ‘Operation London Bridge is the official code name covering the formal declaration of the death of the monarch and the subsequent events.’

https://twitter.com/torfordy/status/1435491246571655173