This week in PR (13 September)

News in brief

Two lovely ladies together @MandyPearse @RachRoyall
Nothing like healthy competition for CIPR President-Elect! #TheseGirlsCan pic.twitter.com/4vUGGzGy8i

— PRKSheehan (@PRKezza) September 11, 2019

• Voting for CIPR president-elect closes on Monday.
• Universities have welcomed the announced change to immigration rules for international students
• Newly-formed PRCA Russia promises to ‘group together multiple pre-established businesses and individuals to form one, unified PR professional body in Russia.’
• Several former Downing Street advisers were recognised in the Resignation Honours list, including a knighthood for previous Downing Street Director of Communications Robbie Gibb and CBEs for Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
• Four blogs have been shortlisted in the PR and comms category for Vuelio’s Online Influence Awards 2019: All Things IC (Rachel Miller); Amandacomms’s blog (Amanda Coleman); PR Examples; Stephen Waddington.
• Here are those shortlisted for the PRCA National Awards 2019.
• Birmingham 2022: the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games invites pitches for advertising, PR, design and research

Academic and education

Starting the next @CIPR_UK public affairs diploma at @pracademy whilst Parliament is prorogued. My prep reading this year includes Haven’t You Heard by @youngvulgarian pic.twitter.com/5fkerHtc8m

— Dr Heather Yaxley (@greenbanana) September 10, 2019

Ethics and professionalism

• Jon White: Behavioural insights: A foundation for professional public relations practice (9 September)
  ‘Practitioners are essentially applied psychologists, in that they claim understanding of the ways people behave and how they may be influenced in relationships, through skilful use of communication.’

Consulting and careers

• Iliyana Stareva: 5 Years at HubSpot – Here’s What I Learned About Growth and Career (11 September)
  ‘There’s nothing more valuable for you when it comes to building your career than establishing, nurturing and maintaining relationships with others from across the org not just your own team or department.’
• Ben Smith: Nick Clark, MD of Nelson Bostock on the PRmoment podcast (10 September)
  ‘I did languages and marketing at university, and fell into PR. As soon as I got to understand what it was and how it worked, I absolutely loved it.’
• Drew Salisbury: PRO Fifteenth Anniversary Series – Shimon Cohen on PRO: from dream to reality (9 September)
  ‘At the age of 40, I was very excited to have been asked by Lord Bell, the Chairman of the Bell Pottinger Group, to become the chief executive of Bell Pottinger Public Relations. It was an enormous promotion and very flattening and exciting, so I said yes. What I didn’t quite understand is that, being a client man through and through, I was now asked to become a manager and manage people’s holidays, hiring and firing people – all the things that come with being a manager.’

Politics and public affairs

• • Jake O’Neill: MPs believe social media has a negative impact on politics (12 September)
    ‘Research commissioned by Vuelio has found that MPs believe social media has a negative impact on politics, with four in five (81%) of the 137 MPs surveyed believing public attitudes towards politicians have been changed for the worse as a result of social media.’
  • Jason MacKenzie: Podcast pointers for Brexit and beyond (10 September)
    ‘I spend up to three hours each weekday on trains, tubes and trams (yep, a slightly unusual combination, granted) – so the discovery of political podcasts has been a boon. I subscribe to around a dozen. Here are the three I enjoy the most, and why I think you should give them a listen.’
  • Stuart Thomson: The road to building political trust (10 September)
    ‘Trust always takes time and effort to build. So a political relationship needs to be cultivated over time and never taken for granted. A first meeting will always be useful in learning more about a politician’s concerns and motivations but that is only ever the starting point.’

Public and third sectors

• Darren Caveney: Going full hippy. And why that’s a good thing (12 September)
  ‘I have gone into full hippy mode, eulogizing about the benefits and importance of fresh air, lunchtime walks and time away from screens to anyone who will listen. I am getting all preachy in my old age.’
• Dan Slee: LONG READ: What we can all learn from the #GrabBag hashtag blow back (10 September)
  ‘A tweet from Police Scotland appeared to set off a mix of alarm and mirth with the  #GrabBag hashtag trending and BBC News picking up the baton online and in broadcast.’
• Sally Northeast: Could it be magic? (9 September)
  ‘Magic is…the focussed attention you can give to speakers when you’re disconnected from your phone and other devices, allowing you to really listen and connect with the people sharing your marquee.’

Reputation management

• Ella Minty: Can “Reputations” Still Be Trusted? (11 September)
  ‘Today, trust is far more important than reputation. Reputations can be attacked, tainted, fabricated and “beautified”; trust cannot since it has to be earned; and to earn that trust, you have to match the “image” to the “reality”.’

Measurement and evaluation

So many wise words from @_ghop_ kindly sharing best practice as part of #CommonGround, the @AmecOrg global initiative to promote best #pr #measurement practice pic.twitter.com/wO4OlQtjLq

— Westofcenter (@Westofcenter) September 10, 2019

• Jonty Summers with Richard Bagnall: Elevating Measurement and Evaluation Practices & How to Win Awards [podcast] (no date)
  ‘AI and automation and better IT systems are not going to automate [the] entire process and make the need for humans go away. The humans bring context, they bring insight, they bring experience, they bring relevance, and they are able to bring narrative to bring the data points together to tell a meaningful evaluation story.’

Brands and influence

• Orlagh Shanks: New Job, New Sector, New Me (11 September)
  ‘Influencers are experts in their field or just well known for what they do. Influencers include artists, visionaries, scientists, sports stars and celebrities. Not just Molly Mae from Love Island and Lydia Millen the fashion blogger.’

Internal communication

It’s happening… I’m writing a book. Signed by @KoganPage to publish in 2021 and will share how you can take the chaos out of your organisation – can’t wait to put pen to paper! #writer #book #internalcomms #communications #pr #author pic.twitter.com/YDd9UnyGKP

— Jenni Field (@mrsjennifield) September 9, 2019

• Katie Macaulay with Kevin Ruck: A check-up with the IC doctor [podcast] (11 September)
  ‘Sometimes internal communication people are just too nice. We could be a little bit more assertive: challenging back, and sometimes saying no.’

Content and creativity

• Alex Malouf: Getting PR Creative: Technology, Stunts and Film-Making Inspirations (13 September)
  ‘Are you still stuck sending out press releases on that new executive hire? Or prepping for a new product launch with a stock photo and a couple of lines of text?’
• Simon Marshall: What is Total Read Time? (8 September)
  ‘Total read time is a measure of the amount of time that people have ever spent reading your webpage. It’s one way of determining the return on investment of creating a piece of content.’

• Media and digital

  Really sad to see another legendary mag brand close – another casualty of the digital revolution https://t.co/vChlnpOSVW

  — Team Nine (@ninemediauk) September 11, 2019

  • Stephen Waddington: Public service broadcasters failing public (10 September)
    ‘Public service media are in crisis. They are struggling to reach younger, less educated audiences. A Reuters’ Institute report suggests they risk decline and irrelevance.’