This week in PR (13 October)

13th October 2017 6 min read

About the author

Richard Bailey Hon FCIPR is editor of PR Academy's PR Place Insights. He teaches and assesses undergraduate, postgraduate and professional students.

News in brief

AMEC, PRCA and ICCO have produced a free online resource: the PR Professional’s Definitive Guide to Measurement
The PRCA has issued a ten-point Helsinki declaration on ethical principles. This restates existing codes and adds a statement about fake news.
Nudge theory author Richard Thaler has won this year’s Nobel prize for economics.
It’s 50 years since drink driving laws were introduced, and the Department for Transport claims an 88% fall in drink-drive related deaths.

Calendar

October is Ethics Festival (CIPR) and Ethics and Professionalism month (PRCA)
Deadline for the Douglas Smith essay prize for young public affairs practitioners is 27 October
International History of Public Relations Conference is in Bournemouth, 11-12 July 2018. Deadline for the call for papers is 18 December 2017 (email prhistory@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Next year’s PR Festival is in Edinburgh on 14 and 15 June 2018. You have until 31 October to offer to speak.
Next year the CIPR will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Here’s how you can contribute to a publication to mark the occasion. Pitch submission form (deadline 3 November)

Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week. Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com

Louise Andrews: PR measurement: why we must break the shatterproof ruler (6 October)
‘How does our industry improve the way it measures success? Throw out our age-old, universal measurement approach, embrace diversity of measurement and, most importantly for me, have confidence that what we offer is too valuable not to be measured.’
Adam Vincenzini: A (monster) list of 40+ data, research and insight tools for 2017 (6 October)
‘I had a lot of trouble finding a list of the most relevant and valuable tools in one central place so I thought I cobble something together.’
Robert Gage: We’re still not getting our heads around mental health issues in PR (8 October)
‘The fact that the PR profession has been talking about this for so long doesn’t bode well. I mean, it’s good to talk and great that it is recognised as a strategic problem, but action is far better.’
Amanda Coleman: Time to open up (10 October)
‘I have seen many people struggle with their mental well-being over the years. I have lost some good friends and family to the battle with mental health.’
Dan Slee: Sure Shot: 5 videos that show that video is thriving as a comms channel (10 October)
‘Here are five that caught my eye over the last few months. Shot in-house. Engaging. Funny at times. Sad at others. This isn’t hard.’
Paul Sutton: Proving the Value of Social Media: A Detailed Case Study (11 October)
‘If social media is not responsible it’s one hell of a coincidence that revenue jumped by 26% the month after the campaign was implemented and then stayed at record levels!’
Stephen Waddington: Help write the CIPR’s story as part of 70th anniversary project (11 October)
‘We’re asking CIPR members to help tell the story of the organisation and showcase excellence in public relations practice’
Sarah Evans: Shining a light on dark traffic (12 October)
‘84% of content sharing now happens via Dark Social: channels such as private IM, email and apps like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Here’s our pick of the best posts by those studying public relations and/or aspiring to work in PR.

Orlagh Shanks (Liverpool John Moores, 3): #PlacementSeries: When and Where to Start Looking (6 October)
‘So you’ve decided you want to try and get a placement and you’re ready to start looking but you have absolutely no idea where to start. I feel ya. I was in your exact shoes last year.’
Louise Harvey (Ulster, PG): Pourquoi (9 October)
‘During the first week of uni, our lecturer, Conor McGrath, told us to question everything in PR – including his own words.’
Jack Walton (Birmingham City, 2) L’eau de Chris #dontbottleitup – One campaign we won’t forget in a hurry (12 October)
‘It all started with multiple media articles saying that Chris Hughes was releasing a range of bottled water infused with his very own tears; the name of the product being ‘L’eau De Chris’. When you say the name out loud it sounds very similar to the word ludicrous…’
Paula McKay (Ulster, 4); Stepping out of my comfort zone and taking the placement year plunge (12 October)
‘My mum said to me recently that I “left Belfast a student and came back an adult”.’