This week in PR (16 April)
About the author
Richard Bailey Hon FCIPR is editor of PR Academy's PR Place Insights. He has taught and assessed undergraduate, postgraduate and professional students.
It happened this week
Today we've published a new 6-point Public Confidence Plan for Reform in response to the Cameron lobbying Inquiry.
It's time for politicians to uphold public confidence.
More from @PRCAPubAffBoard @liamherbert https://t.co/AQF4uKVjCv
— PRCA (@PRCA_UK) April 13, 2021
Academic and education
https://twitter.com/lucy_chaps/status/1381533499962822656
Ethics, sustainability and professionalism
Congratulations to our most recent Chartered PR Practitioners, including the first from Jamaica:
Klao Bell-Lewis@CFrankpitt@ClaireSimpsonPR
@DarrylSparey@LizWillinghamFind out more information about how you can #GetChartered here: https://t.co/JeQZRWsrix pic.twitter.com/Wx5xbyHIM1
— CIPR (@CIPR_Global) April 15, 2021
- Dan Gold: Truth Be Told with Omnicom’s David Gallagher [podcast] (14 April)
‘I’m quite optimistic and saw this as an opportunity: if brands get this right, they can attach their story to a sense of purpose and do better and outcompete their competitors.’ - Louise Nicolson: Don’t Count On It (12 April)
‘British American Tobacco’s triumphant bronze medal as the third most environmentally and socially responsible companies in the FTSE 100 should stop us in our tracks.’
Comms can't lead on ESG.
Over and out.
— Mark Pinsent (@markpinsent) April 13, 2021
Consulting, teams and careers
- Ben Capper: Emerging into the sunlight (15 April)
‘Another reason it feels like I’ve fallen off a cliff this last few months is that I made the decision to come off Twitter entirely.’ - Shaifali Agrawal: Taking control of your PR career (12 April)
‘A good way to grow your career in PR is to be proactive about it. If career growth is important for you, you can start by building a personal professional development plan for yourself.’
Wellbeing, gender and diversity
- Nafisa Shafiq: Ramadan, demystified (13 April)
‘For me, explaining why I fast has always been hard. At times I have felt silly; like I am telling you something from a different era. It’s therefore easier to treat it like an event or day that we are more aware of in the western world, and to focus on what many Muslims do and don’t do during Ramadan rather than explain why.’
Public and third sectors
The hugely respected an much liked @JamesHelm1 is moving on from one of the biggest jobs in comms sector. Wishing him all the best for the future.#publicrelations #metropolitanpolice https://t.co/Pe3qCXPM5x
— Danny Rogers (@dannyrogers2001) April 15, 2021
- Claire Boden: Be bold, Be Birmingham: the inside track on creating a brand new narrative for a city (11 April)
‘Believe me it was one of the hardest tasks of my career to date to write Birmingham City Council’s Proud Host City narrative for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.’
Politics, public affairs and public sphere
- Mark Glover: Shirley Williams – remembered (15 April)
‘Shirley will be missed in politics now not only as one of those politicians who played an important role in progressive politics, and changed Britain for the better, but also as a politician whose decency and intellect was appreciated and admired beyond the confines of her party.’
- Henry Adefope: Tales from the Crypt: Bitcoin holders trust ‘Internet magic money’ more than conventional currency (14 April)
‘Bitcoin adopters entrust in a system that is designed to not trust or be trusted by anyone, by giving everyone a perfect record of all accounts and transactions.’ - Sabine Tyldesley: A new era of “sleaze”? How the Greensill scandal is setting the stage for a political blame game which could stifle genuine reform (14 April)
‘Today, we saw the debate shifting ever further onto the role of civil servants. Yesterday, it was reported a senior civil servant served as a director of Greensill Capital in the final two months of his civil service role.’
- Michael Hardware: Local Elections (no date)
‘These elections are the first to take place since the December 2019 General Election, so they are the first opportunity for the population to express their views on Brexit and the handling of the pandemic. These national issues are dominating in most areas irrespective of what elections are taking place.’ - Francis Ingham: It simply won’t do that Cameron wasn’t covered by lobbying rules that he himself introduced (9 April)
‘The recent media coverage of David Cameron lobbying Ministers on behalf of Greensill show us one thing: that the Lobbying Act he introduced is unfit for purpose and needs fundamental reform.’
https://twitter.com/kat_isha/status/1380942533556064261
Risk, crisis and reputation
- Vicki Marinker: How to prepare for the worst day of your business life, with Jonathan Hemus [podcast] (10 April)
‘In general terms, those [organisations] that had a good crisis communication plan were able to apply the principles to the pandemic.’
Brands, storytelling, and influence
- Scott Guthrie: Influencer Marketing Show round-up day 1: Peer-to-peer, community-based and creative (14 April)
‘Imogen Coles, influence programme director and creator at Ogilvy, explained that working with the same influencer over the long run reduces agency hours by up to 60% compared to working with an influencer on a one-off, transactional basis. Other benefits of long-term relationships include removing the time and cost associated with the identification, vetting and selection phase of the workflow.’ - Gemma Storey: Why brands need to focus on advocacy through action (12 April)
‘No matter how stunning your creative campaign is, it’s always better when you’re also making lasting changes.’
Planning, insight, measurement and evaluation
- Paul Sutton with Gemma Moroney: Is Comms measurement finally coming of age? [podcast] (14 April)
‘For me, an organisation that does an amazing job of planning, measuring and evaluating comms in the round is the Government Communication Service. I think they do an absolutely fantastic job in having one standard for everybody, getting people up to speed on it, with consistent best practice across departments and colleagues.’
Internal communication
Interesting insight on benefits of Organizational Listening for #Innovation highlighted by @AcademyKev of @pracademy in #WhosListening Listening, Connecting & Doing underpins Creativity #ManagingChange pic.twitter.com/hfuAxqivuz
— Andy Green (@andygreencre8iv) April 13, 2021
- Katie Macaulay with Jenni Field: Influential Internal Communication [podcast] (14 April)
‘The model I created starts with insight; it involves understanding how the business works; then you’ve got the principles and strategy; then communication (the tactical bit) and finally measurement.’ - Rachel Miller: How to start out in internal communication [podcast] (11 April)
‘I remember discovering internal comms and being amazed the profession existed because I’d never heard of it. Lots of us started in the world of journalism and moved into the world of corporate or internal communication.’
Technology, media and digital
The #CIPR publishes an updated guide for #PRs on how to engage with the #Wikipedia community https://t.co/vV4Dehx0G8
— Neville Hobson (@jangles) April 14, 2021
- Gemma Clay: LinkedIn Headline: How To Write Yours In 4 Easy Steps (no date)
‘Using a well-crafted Linkedin headline (profile) you can position yourself as a thought-leader and industry expert, right in front of your target audience.’ - George Esmond: LinkedIn’s legitimacy is the solution for social media (12 April)
‘Trust – in the age of data harvesting, dark adverts, and fake accounts – is hard to come by. The LinkedIn model offers a starting point in aiding professional connection and collaboration that can also be adapted on other social sites. Tech competitors should follow its model before governments have no choice but to determine the changes for them.’
- Stephen Waddington: Characterising the COVID-19 PRstack (10 April)
‘Revisiting the PRstack project seven years on there are some emerging themes. It shows how the tool market and practice has changed.’
https://twitter.com/Welsh_PR/status/1382780582095163393
#prstudent #bestPRblogs
Ditto, been so overwhelmed with doing work and spending time with my family this week that I would have just rushed my blog post anyway. Would rather give myself some time to write my post about Katie (and how amazing she is).
Will share next week instead! https://t.co/qdV1QtlCnU
— Sophie Smith (@sophiersmith19) April 15, 2021
- Piotr Boiwka (Newcastle): How programmatic advertising revolutionised marketing (no date)
‘In 2021, almost 87% of all display ads come from real-time bidding auctions. On mobile, it is nearly 70% of all banner ads, while it is almost 75% for video.’ - Eloise Newman (Solent): Flat-Pack Pub? Haircut and a Pint? A Roundup of Two Unique Campaigns Celebrating The Next Phase Out of Lockdown (15 April)
‘This was a simple yet very effective campaign in merging two of the key restrictions lifting this week. Above all else, Heineken’s campaign was fun, and encouraged engagement on social media with those who managed to get a free haircut alongside their first pint in a few months!’ - Phelim Sweeney (Ulster): From wind-ups to lucky pants, are Paddy Power the kings of PR? (15 April)
‘Paddy Power use their social media accounts for a mix of betting information and poking fun at others, with the latter being their main point of focus.’ - Ste Linsley (Sunderland): The Word on Swansea City’s Social Media Boycott; The Catalyst for Change or Futile Gesture? (14 April)
‘Can football clubs of Swansea’s size really make a significant impact and what is best course of action to realise the aim of the #EnoughisEnough campaign?’
- Rachael Thompson (Sunderland): Copycat Campaigns – Tesco Take Inspiration from Burger King for Lockdown Ad. (14 April)
‘Brands poking fun at each other, encouraging playful dialogue and encouraging customers to join in – it’s been an interesting way to see huge businesses utilizing the social aspect of digital media.’
- Emily McCann (Ulster): Influencers or Brainwashers (13 April)
‘It has been proven that 70% of teens would trust social media influencers more than traditional celebrities. Teens are more likely to follow advice from influencers over conventional TV and sport celebrities, evidently indicating how influential these influencers can be on younger generations.’ - Elise Ralph (Ulster): Cancel Culture and PR Scandals (9 April)
‘Cancel culture or being “#cancelled” is essentially an online punishment given to influencers, creators, celebrities, brands (etc) after unforgivable mishaps in the form of mass public shaming.’