This week in PR (12 May)
It happened this week
- We used to call them memes; they’re now better know as trends. Unless you avoid TikTok completely, who could have missed that a new, final series of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has been released on Amazon Prime. How do we know this? Because of the much copied ‘pink shoelaces’ dance routine.
The coronation
- Amanda Coleman: A fine line (7 May)
‘Policing has to walk a fine line between allowing people to peacefully protest but also to ensure the safety of others and to allow events to run smoothly. It isn’t easy.’
Profession
- Ben Smith with Ray Eglington: The results of the PRCA’s Governance Review on the PRmoment Podcast (5 May)
‘This is about creating a structure that gives a platform for the next stage of PRCA’s growth. We’re going to rework the memorandum and articles of association of the PRCA (the document that sits at Companies House). It’s the rules of how you operate.’
Purpose, climate and ESG
Consulting, skills and careers
- Shimon Cohen: It’s all about relationships (no date)
‘Lord Weinstock was right: afford time to everyone when you can and be warm and welcoming where appropriate. All the connections one creates can prove helpful and supportive; people will remember you in the future, and one certainly does not want to create any enemies.’
Gender, diversity and wellbeing
Politics, public affairs and public sphere
- Chris White: Revoking campaign pledges prove as challenging as revoking EU Law (11 May)
‘When the UK left the EU, it had around 4,000 pieces of legislation still in effect in UK law. The Prime Minister had pledged to scrap this by the end of 2023 in a bonfire of Brussels rules and regulations, and this was given effect by the Retained EU Law Bill currently going through Parliament.’ - Jamie Capp: Local elections tell a national story (10 May)
‘Local elections are the opportunity to check in with the electoral mood. They offer a partial, incomplete view of what could happen in a General Election, but one that points to a brutal ejection from office for the Conservatives.’ - Rose Brade: ‘Stopping the 8am rush’ – Is the plan for recovering access to primary care an oversimplification? (9 May)
‘The primary care access plan is finally here. It is coined by DHSC as “the first step to address the access challenge ahead of longer-term reforms”, but this is not to undersell its transformative potential.’ - Jenna Goldberg: UK Local Elections: It’s Always A Local Issue (9 May)
‘In one of the most centralised countries in the developed world, how much do local elections matter? It’s easy to smirk at the obsession with potholes and bins (or road infrastructure and waste management as we might like to say) but for many people those are the day-to-day interactions with our political system.’ - Phil Briscoe: The Sunak reign may be in its final days, but there is no easy coronation for Starmer yet (4 May)
‘To enter polling day defending 82 councils and come out of it having lost 49 of those councils represents a seismic shift in town halls across the land. Add to this the headline that the Conservatives have lost their position as the dominant party in local government for the first time in 21 years.’
Brands, content, community and creativity
- Maja Pawinska Sims with David Woodward, Kate Sarginson and Lauren Payne McLeod: Podcast: Why Creativity Is Exploding In B2B Comms (9 May)
‘We’re actually three years old – and it feels like three hundred. The business was born out of the ground shifting in B2B. We saw an opportunity to strike out; to make a bet on creativity in B2B PR and marcoms.’
Internal communication
- Molly Gretton: Embracing internal activism: John Lewis and its unique employee-owned journey (11 May)
‘John Lewis & Partners, the renowned British retailer, finds itself in a unique position as an employee-owned organisation navigating the complexities of internal activism.’ - Victoria Ford: Communicating change and the conundrum of a comms strategy (11 May)
‘I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the word ‘strategy’. It’s overused (everyone wants a strategy for something right?) and can be intimidating (strategy must be a big, important, complicated thing surely?).’ - Katie Macaulay with Nicole Bearne: The inside track on comms at Mercedes F1 [podcast] (3 May)
‘I did the CIPR Diploma and for my dissertation I focused on employee voice. I wanted to understand how IC could support leaders to be more ‘human’.’
Media, digital and technology
May is Technology and PR month where we look at how tech is shaping the way we deliver PR.
Visit https://t.co/kaDK9ZDy4W for webinars, videos and articles. pic.twitter.com/bM3N8j3KmY
— Global Alliance PR (@Global_Alliance) May 10, 2023
- Steph Edwards: The SEC Newgate AI Weekly (11 May)
‘The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the use of AI in businesses, focusing on potential issues around competition, consumer protection, and market dynamics.’ - Alan S. Morrison: Why the new AI tools will make your people’s communication skills vital for Sustainable Competitive Advantage (11 May)
‘The most impactful form of communication is Face-to-Face, 1-to-1. So human contact and ability to communicate effectively will be more important as other sources of [competitive advantage] are eroded by AI.’ - David Lucas: Zeno Thinks: What Brits’ takeaway habits tell us about the media landscape (9 May)
‘Sites like BuzzFeed News and Vice target the Gen Z and Millennial cohorts, designed to appeal to digital natives. So, if these audiences aren’t turning to them for their news, where are they getting it from?’
Academic, education and training
“We must move away from counting what we do and start measuring our contribution.”
CIPR Board member and former President, Professor @GregsAnne argues for greater theory in practice and makes the case for both disciplines to work together.#PRacticeMeetsAcademia pic.twitter.com/gwvi92FKL0
— Chartered Institute of Public Relations (@CIPR_Global) May 9, 2023
