This week in PR (18 June)

It happened this week

Robert Phillips
17 March 1964 – 13 June 2021 pic.twitter.com/82EvGnWBma

— Robert Phillips (@citizenrobert) June 14, 2021

• Queen’s Birthday Honours: Former CIPR president Sarah Waddington has been awarded a CBE for services to public relations and voluntary sectors; Lisa King, Director of Communications and External Relations, Refuge has received an OBE for services to victims of domestic abuse; Alison Daniels, Deputy Director, Digital, Communications Directorate, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has received an OBE for services to British foreign policy; Viv Brealey, Deputy Director of Communications, Public Health England has received an MBE for services to Public Health particularly during Covid-19; Donna Webster, Deputy Head of Communications, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has received a BEM for services to the NHS particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• CIPR Excellence Awards winners were declared last night (#CIPRexcel)

Purpose and professionalism

Our profession has been at the forefront of communicating this pandemic. Being together has been the way we’ve coped. We’re a strong, supportive industry . #CIPREXCEL

— Sarah Pinch (@ms_organised) June 17, 2021

• Emma Duke: To fully engage with our role as communicators we must be ready to lead (no date)
  ‘Listening is the communicator’s superpower and I truly believe it’s what makes us great leaders. It enables us to anticipate issues on the horizon, to understand the complexities of an organisation, to empathise with frustrated employees and to create truly inclusive organisations.’

Academic and education

• Robert Lawson: We archived 84 million tweets to learn about the pandemic – each one is a tiny historical document (17 June)
  ‘TRAC:COVID is built on methods from a discipline known as corpus linguistics, which uses software to research a large body of text, known as a corpus. A corpus can be any size, but many of the largest online corpora contain millions or even billions of words.’

Sport

• Mark Borkowski: Naomi Osaka’s No-Win Standoff with the French Open (15 June)
  ‘Even though many fellow athletes are rushing to Osaka’s support, the tennis champion has also been subject to a surprising amount of criticism for refusing to undergo the tournament’s press circuit.’

ESG, corporate and financial

• Luke Cross: ESG needs good communications – but that’s only one part of the story (16 June)
  ‘Fundamentally, ESG reporting is about demonstrating good business practice. Many ESG factors are what businesses should be doing anyway.’

• Koray Camgoz: Why PRs must act on climate change (15 June)
  ‘As strategic counsellors, public relations and communications professionals are uniquely positioned to help clients and organisations create positive change on climate issues.’

Consulting, teams and careers

Aw, the end of an era! As @barbbq says, "it's hard to image @hotwireglobal without @Westofcenter". Looking forward to seeing what's next after your "regeneration"! https://t.co/dD3QMx4B1q

— Maja Pawinska Sims (@SparklyPinchy) June 11, 2021

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

• Chris Love: Men’s Health Week 2021 (15 June)
  ‘I tackled my sleep cycle by talking to people. I was amazed that so many people were in the same position or had previously suffered from insomnia. It felt really good to know that I wasn’t alone. Recently, the ‘coronasomnia’ phenomenon is disrupting routines and ongoing uncertainty is contributing to a surge in insomnia across the UK.’
• Amy Jones: Pride Month marketing: praise-worthy or performative? (14 June)
  ‘If there’s a lesson to learn from all these, it’s not to profit off protest or rainbow-wash your company when you could be making real change. You can’t whack a rainbow logo up if you’re turning a blind eye to persecution overseas.’

Public and third sectors

https://twitter.com/laura_skaife/status/1405778945480413188

• Dave Worsell: Making the case for citizen experience (CitX) (15 June)
  ‘What can the public sector learn from customer experience as a concept? Is it even relevant when you don’t have “customers” in the traditional sense?’
• Amanda Coleman: Banish the talk of reputation (15 June)
  ‘Organisations and businesses must banish the focus on reputation management when they are responding to crises, issues and incidents.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

• Fraser Raleigh: PM’s WhatsApp messages: Embarrassing but not explosive. For now. (17 June)
  ‘The Prime Minister has long had a tolerance for riding out embarrassing stories that far exceeds that of any of his predecessors and confounds his opponents. But even he will be shifting uncomfortably if he knows that yesterday’s messages are at the tamer end of the screenshots saved on Cummings’ iPhone.’

• Christopher White: PMBs: the good, the bad and the bonkers (16 June)
  ‘Private members’ Bills (PMBs) are a chance for individual MPs to put forward legislation that would otherwise be overlooked by the Government as part of its agenda in the Queen’s Speech. There are some incredibly important issues put forward.’

• Andrea Williams: NIMBYs – are we all one at heart? (16 June)
  ‘These are perhaps the boldest reforms to the planning system we have seen after years of tinkering around the edges. My hope is that we get the new homes we desperately need, where we need them, and as part of well-thought-out local plans to build our communities of the future.’

• Angus Hill: Fixing a broken market: how to create a thriving housing market (15 June)
  ‘The fundamental challenge remains that the UK needs more homes, but changes – for example to planning policy – intended to speed this up or focus building in particular areas has historically met fierce resistance, especially in the South East. The government’s upcoming Planning Bill is likely to see a repeat of this, with a series of showdowns this Autumn.’
• Sabine Tyldesley and Matthew Williams: UK – Australia trade deal: Down Under coming out on top (15 June)
  ‘Although some details are still to be released, Australia’s beef and sheep, dairy, rice, sugar and wine makers are likely to be the big winners.’

• Andrew Adie: Jogs, jaunts and jeers – after the last lingering embrace will G7’s visual feast leave a diplomatic legacy that matters? (15 June)
  ‘While the Summit and its staged imagery and bonhomie is obviously easy to chuckle at, it does clearly serve a serious purpose. While the legacy of this event is arguably to be seen at COP26 and how well that goes in setting actions that have existential impact, it has sent a serious message to the world that the G7 is ‘back in business’.’
• Christine Quigley: Will arguments over Irish-language legislation topple the government in Northern Ireland? (15 June)
  ‘The proposed Acht na Gaeilge, or Irish Language Act, would give Irish equal status with English in Northern Ireland. In practice, this would provide Northern Ireland residents the right to use Irish within the judicial system, in the Northern Ireland Assembly and engaging with public sector services.’

• Simon Gentry: Covid forever, and ever (14 June)
  ‘Poll after poll show that the public are broadly content to remain unfree.  The reasons are varied, but for many their quality of life is higher and not facing unemployment, or not needing medical care, what’s the downside?’

• Stuart Thomson: Changing stakeholder communications? (14 June)
  ‘I am less convinced that politicians, one of our key stakeholders in public affairs, will be completely happy with continued video-conferencing. Of course, it will work for many situations, but the experience is that direct one-to-one discussions helps to build trusted relationships, especially early on.’

Risk, crisis and reputation

• Alistair Kellie: It’s not cricket. Why senior executives should take note of the latest twitter saga to avoid being cancelled (17 June)
  ‘Your online presence, particularly on Google Page 1, should be viewed as a digital portfolio with assets and liabilities.  Digital assets, like your financial assets, must be actively managed to build long-term value and to mitigate reputational risk online.’
• John Harrington: BrewDog must steer a new course amidst toughest PR challenge yet (11 June)
  ‘The episode is also a clear lesson about the importance of internal comms in the modern era. For a company built on superb external PR and marketing, it’s somewhat ironic that dissatisfaction from within has caused its biggest reputational crisis to date.’

Campaigns, creativity and behaviour

https://twitter.com/rfzeitlin/status/1405185492992266243

• Rich Leigh: Are PR stunts still relevant in 2021? [Slide show] (11 June)
  ‘I think we’ll see fewer taking a punt on stunts – and what real life stunts do get through will be much higher quality.’

Brands, storytelling, and influence

It's good that this is becoming more and more regulated instead of a wild west: Social media stars under fire for flouting rules on advertising https://t.co/tj6FoZKnZ3

— chris_norton (@chris_norton) June 17, 2021

• Scott Guthrie: Philip Brown talks Offset: Formula E’s new creator collective [podcast] (17 June)
  ‘We have decided to set up our very own influencer collective of mostly UK-based individuals, contracted for the duration of our seventh season, to create original content. The goal is to allow these individuals to tell their stories. We’re not just focusing on automotive influencers.’

Planning, insight, measurement and evaluation

• Nicole Moreo: Communications Measurement Trends from AMEC Summit 2021 (11 June)
  ‘As a Board member I was proud to support the unveiling of the new AMEC Planning Resources and help people rethink how to use data and get started with planning.’

Internal communication

• Rachel Miller: Podcast: How to find an Internal Comms job (13 June)
  ‘My advice if you’re looking for a job is to make yourself visible. Get a LinkedIn profile: this is your professional CV online.’

Technology, media and digital

Spotify launches its live audio app and Clubhouse rival, Spotify Greenroom https://t.co/G03O6lBMOu

TLDR: Greenroom is a new mobile app that allows Spotify users to join or host live audio rooms, and optionally turn those conversations into podcasts. pic.twitter.com/Rl2zWEdHvb

— Paul Sutton (@ThePaulSutton) June 17, 2021

• Stephen Waddington: Life on the internet in the UK in 2021 (17 June)
  ‘The Online Nation 2021 Report published by Ofcom provides insights into use of the internet in the UK. It is packed with insight for marketing and public relations planning.’
• Jamie Williams: GB News launch – success or flop? (14 June)
  ‘Andrew Neil launched the programme with a 5-minute monologue. Neil promised to give a “voice to those who have been side lined” and cover the “people’s agenda”.’