This week in PR (14 December)
In the news
Doesn’t even capture a fraction of this amazing year. Highlights: engagement to @Wadds; @CIPR_UK presidency (landing @RalfLittle!); 2 #FuturePRoof books; @alwayswearred pioNEer; @Athena_40 ambassador; @LeedsTrinity keynote; @HouseofCommons debate win; meeting @cbicarolyn and more pic.twitter.com/JnZNx9G5PU
— Sarah Hall (@Hallmeister) December 8, 2018
- 39% of FTSE 100 corporate comms directors are female, down from 51% the year before according to research cited in PR Week.
- Scott Guthrie and Chris Lee are among the judges for the inaugural Influencer Marketing Awards.
- WPP is restructuring, shedding 3,500 roles (less than 3% of its global headcount) (The Guardian reports). Public relations is set to remain a core offering, under the banner of ‘communications’.).
- Meanwhile, Huntworth’s Citigate, Grayling and Red teams are to work more closely together (Holmes Report).
- How important is analyst relations within technology sector public relations? It’s so important he’s long argued that it’s a separate discipline. Now Duncan Chapple is joining CCgroup as its head of analyst relations. (Holmes Report)
Academic
Excited to be co-editing this issue with @UniWestminster colleague @AnaDenisova Send us your abstracts on #AlgorithmicActivism #HashtagActivism #ChangingTheFrame .. how do you define #MediaActivism? https://t.co/Gs0jjLhZRw
— Michaela O’Brien (@michaelao) December 14, 2018
Insights and opinions: Pick of the posts
These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week (UK focused, but with a global outlook). Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com or @pr_place
Purpose and professionalism
- Jose Manuel Velasco: Challenges and trends for PR in 2019 (13 December)
‘I have synthesized ten trends that, in my opinion, will affect the exercise of communication in the next twelve months.’ - Ella Minty: Did Blowing Your Own Trumpet Send the Right Message? (12 December)
‘Pragmatism and scepticism are very healthy traits to have in PR – at all levels, not just “at the top”.’ - Rebecca Stewart: ‘You’re not saying goodbye to me yet’ – Unilever’s Keith Weed on what’s next (11 December)
‘When he took the chief marketing officer job, one of his first moves was the shut down Unilever’s CSR department to embed it into the marketing function.’ - Arianne Williams: Seven takeaways from the CIPR Conference 2018 (10 December)
‘Josh Hardie, Deputy Director-General at CBI said “If you behaved your way into it, you have to behave your way out, it’s not just a comms job.” - Advita Patel: Why bother with getting chartered? (11 December)
‘I truly believe that if we want to see a change in our profession then we need to step outside our comfort zone, start being a bit brave and create a bit of noise.’ - Richard Edelman: Paul Polman – the CEO who changed capitalism (7 December)
‘His most significant achievement has been to inspire fellow CEOs to look beyond financial results, to address the world’s pressing societal issues.’
Consulting, skills and careers
- Rich Leigh: Agency impact: 6 months into our 4-day work week (12 December)
‘Friday in PR used to be something of a reporting day. A day to collate results and reports and to get ahead with writing/content creation. We’re in a position now though, thanks to reporting and measurement tools such as Coverage Book and SEMRush, that we don’t have to spend as much time as we used to pulling it all together.’ - Hanson Search with Brendon Craigie: How I made it: Brendon Craigie, co-founder and managing partner, Tyto (12 December)
‘Tyto is name for the genus which includes the barn owl. I like things to have a story behind them, so if you look at the website, a lot of our visuals are taken above as a nod to the birds’ eye view of the barn owl.’ - Mike Love: Find great mentors (9 December)
‘Building my first agency teams at McDonald’s UK, I brought together the CEOs of the teams into a sort of dining club to relax and share together to encourage the agencies to work together. This was in the spirit of one of the many thousands of mantras of the McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc: “None of us is as good as all of us.”’
Public sector
- Dan Slee: LONG READ: I’ve been on Twitter for ten years and here’s what it made me think (14 December)
‘Social media was going to shine a light through the crap and give citizens a voice. It was going to let us talk with residents directly without having to go through the priesthood of journalists. Well, it both has and it hasn’t.’ - Rob Smith: Mission RAF100: Bringing the Royal Air Force to a New Generation (11 December)
‘The toolkit was built around the campaign’s three communications aims: commemorate, celebrate and inspire.’ - Sally Northeast: 5 things you’ll learn at the UnAwards and why they’re a force for good (10 December)
‘The UnAwards have heart in spades. They also have friendship, they have ‘cool’ (the Everyman cinema is a genius place to hold an event) and they have talent and hard work.’ - Darren Caveney: Die Hard + Christmas + Creativity + Friends = TheUnawards18 (9 December)
‘Local Government were the biggest winners this year picking up eight of the 18 awards. NHS, Police and Higher Education picked up two apiece.’
Gender and diversity
- Amanda Coleman: Where in the world? (9 December)
‘There is amazing PR work that goes on around the country both agency and in-house and in all sectors. We need to start to recognise this if we are to move forward with a strength through diversity.’
Crisis and reputation
The bosses at Crossrail must be thanking their lucky stars… they hoped we’d be distracted by the vote, but never in their wildest dream did they expect today’s clusterf**k to unfold and helpfully brush this under the carpet https://t.co/t95t3KfNYF
— Holly Justice (@Hollyajustice) December 10, 2018
Internal communication
- Katie Macaulay: How internal communicators can become a bit more Don Draper (13 December)
‘As our profession becomes more strategic and influential, now is the time to challenge ourselves and our organisations with some fresh thinking.’ - Emma Bridger: Developing your employee engagement expertise (no date)
‘It is absolutely possible to develop and improve employee engagement, such that it has a significant positive impact on a whole range of business outcomes.’ - Rachel Miller: Internal comms predictions for 2019 (11 December)
‘In the age of the machine, we need to be human now more than ever. You cannot beat face-to-face for truly effective interactions.’
Media and digital
- Stephen Davies: SEO and public relations with Chris Lee [podcast] (13 December)’
‘No one has a divine right to a link. I can tell which [pitches] are from a PR and which ones are from an SEO because PRs are looking for coverage and a mention and SEOs often don’t even hide the fact that they want a link. That’s really bad and it’s not a PR approach.’ - Marcel Klebba: Key takeouts from Hootsuite’s social media trends report (9 December)
‘2018 has been a tough year for trust on social media. Facebook, among others, has been in press in the wake of Cambridge Analytica and a Congressional hearing. The platform faces huge amounts of pressure from its users.’
#prstudent #bestPRblogs
It was a pleasure to host @BUPR_Soc‘s event with @CIPR_Wessex. Thank you to @DarrenNortheast, @mckennatownsend and @balintbrunner for talking to #PRstudents last night. ? pic.twitter.com/IhvMZ71EA8
— Yana Miladinova (@Y_Miladinova) December 7, 2018
Editor’s note:
There are more posts to consider than I can include here. So I’m issuing monthly challenges to help me select. January: Your reflections on health (mental, physical and/or financial).
- Heiða Ingimarsdóttir (Leeds): Love for Books (14 December)
‘I can be quite old fashioned and one of the ways it manifests itself is that I refuse to read books on screens. I simply like the touch and smell of books.’ - Yana Miladinova (Bournemouth): 10 Questions with Jason MacKenzie (13 December)
‘Read more, network more, be kind. Help others. Work on your character. Being a generous, decent person builds a good foundation.’ - Christopher Hynds (Ulster): This Christmas, I really don’t want Snow(flakes) (13 December)
‘Are we to change every nuance in our language to conform to modern gender norms? Is this sustainable? Does it really make a difference to anyone’s life if we change to name of a manhole to a mixedhole? - Lottie Wiltshire (South Wales): I’m Making a List, and Checking it Twice… (12 December)
‘In Public Relations planning is so important because there are so many elements to take into consideration in order to make a campaign successful.’ - Sian Jones (South Wales): Let’s talk about disabilities (10 December)
‘If disabilities are becoming the new phase of marketing and advertising, then I for one think it is a good thing. By normalising something, people with disabilities are becoming more comfortable with themselves and their disabilities.’ - Ellie Tyrrell (Greenwich): The reality of influencer events? Pants and workouts! [vlog] (9 December)
‘I view this as a satirical take on YouTube influencers. If not, it’s an interesting look inside.’ - Claire Kearney (Ulster): 10th October 2018 (10 December)
‘Our generation needs to stop letting social media platforms take over our lives in negative ways. We need to start trying to teach ourselves to stop comparing our lives and our looks to other people who we don’t even know.’ - Niamh Murray (Ulster): From Oranges to Apple – what Happened to Christmas? (9 December)
‘Christmas has always been somewhat commercialised of course, with a massive focus on spending money and buying gifts, but I think that it’s really starting to get a bit ridiculous.’ - Paula Zbodulja (South Wales): Every end is a new beginning (7 December)
‘Even though my uni lectures are done, I will definitely continue to post at least once a week in order to stay up to date with the latest news and trends in the marketing and PR world.’ - Orlagh Shanks (Liverpool John Moores): #FridayFive: Five Ways to Overcome the ‘Embarrassment’ of Putting Yourself Out There (7 December)
‘It’s quite a vulnerable feeling, putting your thoughts out there for everyone to read and dissect. But the reasons for doing it, much outweigh the reasons not to do it.’