This week in PR (12 March)

News in brief

"The doubling of the apprenticeship grant to £3,000 per apprentice provides organisations with an irresistible opportunity" – @Ingers1975.

Following last week's Budget announcement, we're calling on employers to hire @PRapprentices now: https://t.co/itORvmUILt pic.twitter.com/Rhl1iyuHIn

— PRCA (@PRCA_UK) March 11, 2021

• • The week started with International Women’s Day, but the celebratory tone has turned in a dark direction with tales of harassment and assault shared by so many.

Academic and education

Many congratulations to @leemoya on becoming full professor at LSE. Fantastic for our profession and richly deserved by her. Good on ya Lee!

— Anne Gregory (@GregsAnne) March 8, 2021

https://twitter.com/CIPR_Global/status/1370057557813964800

Corporate and financial

• Dafydd Rees: Greenwashing and the Media: ESG standards in the spotlight (10 March)
  ‘The green agenda is the defining issue of our generation. A failure to reach consensus and a lack of collective understanding cannot undermine momentum. Transparency and accountability are critical in equal measure.’

Consulting, teams and careers

THANK YOU to everyone who joined me & @ArunSudhaman for our @Provoke_News Clubhouse on new agencies – it was a brilliant chat! Thanks to speakers inc @WimbartHope @AnnaGeff @DarrylSparey @joewalton @adamclyne @drewb @AngieMoxham @goodkind @philszomszor @stellanganga @untoldrichs pic.twitter.com/j36xVu5WpV

— Maja Pawinska Sims (@SparklyPinchy) March 10, 2021

• Arvind Hickman: W’s Warren Johnson: ‘It’s going to be a tough three months – I expect a second wave of closures [podcast] (11 March)
  ‘Anyone heavily exposed to retail, hospitality, travel is going to struggle to stay afloat.’
• Orlagh Shanks: Podcast Ep2: Networking And Blogging In PR With Marcel Klebba (11 March)
  ‘I realised that just a degree was not enough and that I’d have to do something more to land a job. I decided to start a blog: among the motivations was to become a better writer and to connect with industry leaders.’
• Amanda Coleman: Learning from half a century (9 March)
  ‘Always speak truth to whoever you need to including those in power.’
• Chris Coburn: What’s it like to leave an in-house Comms role? (8 March)
  ‘A good comms professional wears many hats – creator, coach and confidant, for example. So, having this type of person available to you when you’re leading an organisation can help you focus on value over volume when it comes to communication.’

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

What an absolute pleasure to host this panel today with our amazing female leaders from Russia, Austria, Spain & UK. Brilliant to be part of a team with so many strong women headed up by @sschole https://t.co/TMPdGkqO9e

— kat mcgettigan (@katmcgettigan) March 11, 2021

• Charlotte Coulson: If we really want greater equality in the workplace, shared parental leave needs to become the norm (10 March)
  ‘The past year has set women in the workplace back decades. But COVID-19 has also forcibly removed any ‘Chinese wall’ that was previously held between the personal and professional and illustrated the need for the workforce as a whole to be much more agile. Shared parental leave helps drive this flexibility, and rather than being seen as a rarity, the championing of shared parental leave should become the norm.’
• Daniella Graham: Unwanted attention, unhelpful advice and why winter is no season to be a woman (no date)
  ‘I know I’m not alone in this. Women already ‘think of their personal safety’ constantly and that still isn’t enough to stay safe. The earliest of the latest attacks happened at 5.40pm. Quite a few of the weekday attacks happened at the time most people are coming home from work. What more can we seriously do? Refuse to go out unaccompanied after dusk?’

• Teela Clayton: Keep fighting #ChooseToChallenge (10 March)
  ‘It’s always men. Women understand why we celebrate it annually. Women feel the effects of the patriarchy keenly. It’s there when we leave the office and the nights are drawing in. It lurks in our wardrobes when we’re choosing what to wear. It’s with us in the park when we decide to go for a run.’

• Imogen Shaw: Where did International Women’s Day come from? (8 March)
  ‘Until the late sixties, the occasion was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and officially recognised by communist countries, after which point the influence of second wave feminism saw International Women’s Day expand its reach.’
• Christine Quigley: Why we all should Choose to Challenge #NotAllMen (8 March)
  ‘When we know that many women never come forward to report their abusers, it’s vital that we are creating a culture through the language we use that believes and supports women who speak up.’
• Darren Caveney: The a-z of women who have inspired me from the world of comms (8 March)
  ‘Although we separated a couple of years ago we remain very good pals. Carol [Caveney] was fundamental to the start-up and growth of comms2point0 10 years ago. Quite simply it wouldn’t be the thing it is today with her skills, foresight and dedication.’

Public and third sectors

• Dan Slee: 30 days of human comms #75: The human Facebook page that tells the NHS story (11 March)
  ‘If you allow people to tell them in their own voice and their own picture you will cut through to people in a way that you may struggle to through a poster or a tweet.’
• Kate Stark: Abi and the viral video about the viral test (8 March)
  ‘All in all, a good thing to do. Made Abi feel ace about going back to school and far less nervous about sticking a swab up her nose and tickling her tonsils with it and judging by the comments and reactions it’s helped lots of other kids too.’
• Andrew Kirby: Setting up a new comms ‘team within a team’ – child’s play? (9 March)
  ‘NHS Digital is all about good design and uncovering user needs to fully understand complex problems. In order to best design a team from scratch I conducted a lot of user research and scoping work in April.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

https://twitter.com/DigitalPREx/status/1369696313416290304

• Joshua Bell: The price of international prosperity at home (11 March)
  ‘There is no question the UK’s aid budget is generous by global comparison, and since the 1970 United Nations Resolution on foreign aid, the British government has unquestionably led from the front.’
• Simon Gentry: Sport, concussion and money (10 March)
  ‘Evidence of the damage to the brains of sportsmen and women who repeatedly receive blows to the head is building rapidly.  We now know, for instance, that professional footballers [are] three and a half times more likely to suffer from neurological degeneration than the rest of the population.’
• Harry Shackleton: The Government needs a plan for public services to win in 2024 (5 March)
  ‘Hidden away deep in the Budget documents is a further £4bn cut for public sector spending, on top of £12bn announced back in the Autumn.’

Risk, crisis and reputation

Campaigns and creativity 

https://twitter.com/jessicapardoePR/status/1368979642183454726

Brands, storytelling, and influence

• Scott Guthrie: Creator subscription services? We’ve been here before with TIDAL (10 March)
  ‘Today’s content creators might learn from TIDAL’s recent past. By diversifying their content to include subscription services as well as maintaining audiences on mainstream platforms they are hedging their bets; spreading their risks.’

Internal communication

It’s difficult enough explaining internal communications to stakeholders, but now we have to explain it to the census people!! #internalcommunications #ic #Census2021 pic.twitter.com/wOSRfQd2wt

— Keith Riley (@itskeithriley) March 8, 2021

• Katie Macaulay: Kate Jones on the state of our sector [podcast] (no date)
  ‘I am the head of corporate affairs and look after the internal, external and community engagement teams. I report into HR ultimately. I have reported everywhere in different organisations; it doesn’t really matter where you sit because you are going to be working across the whole organisation.’
• Jo Dodds with Kate Isichei: Radio Show 385: Inspiration and Tips on How to Build and Increase Engagement (8 March)
  ‘When you come in as a consultant, you’ve got that autonomy – that freedom – to be able to state where the gaps are. When you’re an embedded person it’s hard to have that external perspective and that autonomy.’

https://twitter.com/CalmEdgedRebels/status/1369027873747701760

Technology, media and digital

I’ve resigned as a judge from @EditorsUK. Here’s my statement. https://t.co/hKkhsap5iV

— Sarah Pinch (@ms_organised) March 11, 2021

• Trevor Young: There are strong reasons to start a blog for your business … and a few reasons why you shouldn’t! (12 March)
  ‘With a blog, the thing to remember is that you have total control of the content you publish: It’s a pure owned-media play.’
• Carrie Rose: 4 of the BEST creative PPC stunts that drove brand awareness and traffic online (12 March)
  ‘Some of my favourite campaigns are reactive, simplistic and nothing less than creative. And using PPC creatively to capitalise on search is RARE so I bring to you some of my favourite examples including some of our own work.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

J’adore clubhouse! Je parle le français avec autre personnes #french #student #LanguageMatters

— Katie Hull (@KatieHullPR) March 12, 2021

• Megan Laura Harris (Liverpool John Moores): It’s time to talk about endometriosis (11 March)
  ‘I am not writing this blog post for people to feel sorry for me. I am writing this to bring awareness to endometriosis itself. 1 in 10 women suffer from endometriosis and the condition is still not very well known. It’s time to raise awareness for the condition so that young girls know that they could have endometriosis if they are suffering.’

• Rachael Thompson (Sunderland): Why Is This Still Happening In 2021? (11 March)
  ‘Harry and Meghan’s interview, Burger King’s Twitter balls up, it’s all been overshadowed for me by the horrifying news of the abduction and suspected murder of this young woman, just walking home from a friends.’

• Piotr Boiwka (Newcastle): How AI in PR will influence entry-level jobs in the industry (no date)
  ‘We can assume that in the next few years the number of entry-level jobs will decrease. AI powered programs even now can write social media posts, short articles press releases, and keep an eye on our brand in media.’

• Ste Linsley (Sunderland): The Word According to Grunig & Hunt; Evolution of Football Clubs Comms From the Football Pink to Social Media (11 March)
  ‘Whilst some institutions may demonstrate the Two-Way Symmetric model periodically, in my opinion the vast majority communicate for the organisational advantage, with the benefit to their publics’ interests very much a secondary thought.’
• Lydia Killen (Ulster): Placement: what if I don’t get one (11 March)
  ‘In March, you still feel as if you have a bit of time left to find a placement for September. But this time, March wasn’t just an ordinary month. Instead, the world went belly up.’

• Will Wollaston (Newcastle): Tennis Coaching, PR and Me (10 March)
  ‘It is the same in PR, and whilst a piece of communication you make may seem clear to you, does not guarantee it will be interpreted the way you envisaged.’
• Sophie Smith (Newcastle): What do over 30s think of influencer marketing? (9 March)
  ‘This wasn’t a large study with 15 respondents, but everyone did provide some useful information.’

• Joel Currie (Ulster): Corporations and Performative Activism on Black Lives Matter (BLM) (10 March)
  ‘Performative activism can be defined as when an individual acts out of a desire to increase their own social capital rather than out of true devotion to a cause.’

• Lindelani Moyo (Birmingham City): Why I am transitioning into the Tech Industry (no date)
  ‘The UK has entered a national lockdown and I have become comfortable with my working-from-home routine. A lot of my friends have begun to apply for graduate jobs but I know that I am not ready to join them in applying yet.’
• Daisy Hughes (Sunderland): Harry and Meghan Vs Palace PR (9 March)
  ‘As a PR student, I am often frustrated by the notion of ‘spin’. Of course it occurs and has notoriously occurred within politics, but I believe spin and manipulation should no longer have a place in PR.’
• Eloise Newman (Solent): International Women’s Day 2021- Brand Engagement and Campaign Successes and Fails (8 March)
  ‘One organisation who I feel have created a successful campaign this International Women’s Day is Formula 1 team, Williams.’

• Aoife McCreesh (Ulster): Marcus Rashford’s Persuasive Campaign forced Governmental Change (8 March)
  ‘These tactics along with a petition demanding extra funding which gained 1 million signatures and even backlash from his own party MP’s and councillors placed an overwhelming amount of pressure on the Prime Minister.’