This week in PR (18 November)

It happened this week

https://twitter.com/iain_w_anderson/status/1593205609197096963

• PRovoke Media Innovator 25 EMEA: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, is the headline name, but 13 of the 25 named are from the UK.

Profession

Very pleased to announce that @PwC has appointed @communique_UK as its trusted Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) training partner. To read the full announcement visit https://t.co/ARa5JGqjgF pic.twitter.com/xVN47FR4Ka

— Gihan A.M Hyde (@Gehanam) November 15, 2022

• Tim Le Couilliard: COP27 Daily Insights: Day 10 – Biodiversity Day (16 November)
  ‘Today marked Biodiversity Day at COP27 – a topic so important that next month there is a whole COP dedicated to the subject (COP15).’

• Claire Foster: Who’s still missing? (no date)
  ‘At COP27, out of 110 global leaders, just 10 were women.  This trend permeates all levels.  BBC analysis across delegation teams found that less than 34 per cent of country negotiation staff were female.  Some teams were more than 90 per cent male.’
• Paul MacKenzie-Cummins: Impact reporting key to kicking greenwashing into touch (and gaining customer trust) (15 November)
  ‘While not mandatory (not yet anyway), what we call ‘responsible reporting’ will soon become as important to businesses and their stakeholders as traditional financial reporting.’

• Amelia Beale and Sophie Morello: COP27 Daily Insights – Day 8: Water and Gender Day (14 November)
  ‘The dialogue in Sharm-el-Sheikh emphasised the stark reality that women — particularly those from poorer nations — continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the adverse impacts of climate change.’

• Samar Khanna: COP27 – We are not on the path to 1.5C (11 November)
  ‘Virtue-signalling to greenwash consumers’ concerns about climate and the environment can no longer be used as a substitute for unsustainable business practices. A risk businesses are alive to. But a more pernicious aspect of our climate actions are around ‘greenwishing’.’ 

https://twitter.com/TonyLangham/status/1592806507321913345

Consulting, skills and careers

• Emma Drake: Comms That Works 101 – Two years of the podcast (17 November)
  ‘Today is a bit special as it was recently the 100th episode of the podcast. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this podcast, and have decided to take a look back at the past episodes.’

• The PR Cavalry: Should PR Agencies Dump Timesheets? Two Founders Disagree (no date)
  ‘Hard Numbers rejects timesheets for reasons of culture and also sees this decision as discipline of a different kind. The agency prides itself on investing to a far higher degree than other agencies on tools and systems which increase individual efficiency and work flow and uses this information based approach to agree programmes of work with clients where timesheets would add little extra value and potentially be used as a stick to beat them.’

Delightful celebration lunch with @shayonislynn – winner of the Mark Mellor medal at last night’s @PRCA_HQ #PRCAUKAwards alongside fellow Board advisor @TBoneGallagher #BoardAdvisors#client pic.twitter.com/MecMYzKjR9

— Andy West (@Westofcenter) November 16, 2022

Gender, diversity and wellbeing

• Calm Edged Rebels: Women in Leadership [podcast] (11 November)
  ‘When I speak to men about leadership they will be able to articulate quite clearly how they see themselves as a leader. As women, we’ve only had a century – if that – to get equal footing.’

Public and third sectors

 

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A post shared by Emma Kane (@emmavkane)

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

• Natasha Egan-Sjodin: Autumn Statement 2022: A double-edged sword for a nation in recession (17 November)
  ‘Coupled with the decision to reduce the threshold for higher rate taxpayers by £25,000 a year, today’s tax announcements will prove to be an unpopular move for a Conservative Party which was re-elected in 2019, committed to a low tax economy.’
• Mike Peacock: Autumn Statement 2022 – what does this mean for us? (17 November)
  ‘Truss’s recipe for growth was wrong-headed, but her diagnosis that a plan was needed to raise Britain’s stagnant potential growth rate was spot on. Hunt, out of necessity, has focused more on regaining a reputation for sound finances than on kickstarting the economy.’
• Gareth Jones: Hunt commits to ‘face into the storm’ to show that Conservatives can still be trusted to manage the economy (17 November)
  ‘Seeking to close off potential Labour attacks framing the Conservatives as the ‘party of the rich’, the Chancellor made a point of saying he would protect the vulnerable and be a ‘compassionate government’.’
• George Thomas: Are you shore, Rishi? (17 November)
  ‘Ramping up wind production is clearly a big part of Labour’s plan to make the UK a clean energy superpower, having already pledged to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind by 2030.’
• Amanda Coleman: Who’s a celebrity? (15 November)
  ‘My advice [to Matt Hancock] would have been to take some time in processing his part in what happened, focus on the job of being an MP and avoid the spotlight so he can learn and then move forwards.’
• Alastair McCapra: The age of politics by WhatsApp has damaged our trust in transparency (11 November)
  ‘WhatsApp launched in 2009 and quickly became the go-to messaging app of choice, including in Westminster. The quiet word in one’s ear has now been replaced by a few taps on the phone.’

We’re kicking off our event with Cleo Watson on her life in politics! pic.twitter.com/4ZEub6jgVL

— NextGen PA (@NGPAGroup) November 16, 2022

AMEC Measurement Month

• Stephen Waddington: A thank you letter to Richard Bagnall (17 November)
  ‘Richard intuitively recognises the professionalism gap in public relations and management and has spent his career as an industry educator. Last week he received the CIPR President’s Medal. Tonight AMEC awarded him the Don Bartholomew award.’

Brands, content, community and creativity

• Clotilde Gros & Simon Neville: Festive Frolics or Christmas Bloodbath? (17 November)
  ‘Whilst shoppers are planning to spend less, marketing departments are spending more, knowing the fight is on.’
• Son Pham: Tis the season: Brands should avoid being cynical with cyclical marketing (11 November)
  ‘Not long after I set foot in the UK in September 2019 came the Christmas season and I couldn’t figure out what it was about the John Lewis’ Christmas advert that got people so excited.’

Crisis, risk and reputation

https://twitter.com/Mrs_Wadds/status/1590802757958930432

• George Hutchinson: Rod Cartwright…Crisis Communications Now the Key Skill Required by Clients in the ‘RUPT’ Era (16 November)
  ‘In an era of constant flux – which the Center for Creative Leadership has termed ‘RUPT’ (Rapid. Unpredictable. Paradoxical. Tangled) – organisations of all kinds have realised the extent to which the systematic management of reputational risk is simply business-critical.’

Internal communication

• Rachel Miller: Podcast: How to communicate the cost of living crisis (16 November)
  ‘I am having a lot of conversations about the cost of living crisis with my clients and with my comms friends and with my team. And it’s a topic that is on the edges when we think about internal communication in terms of responsibility. So is it our responsibility to talk about the cost of living or is it an HR responsibility?’

Media, digital and technology 

Surely the darkest hour for Musk’s moves in social media has to be his midnight email to all remaining staff last night: sign up for overtime and a hardcore, intense environment within 24hrs or sling your hook.

On what planet do we think any of this is good business? pic.twitter.com/3LIqWwzprL

— Drew Benvie – @drewb@mastodon.social (@drewb) November 16, 2022

• Stuart Bruce: Mastodon returns – what does it mean for PR and communications? (17 November)
  ‘At the moment I don’t believe Mastodon can become a viable alternative to Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to set up an account.’
• Florie Lhuillier: 2023 cybersecurity predictions – a turbulent year ahead for the industry? (no date)
  ‘IBM’s Cost of Data Breaches Report 2022 reveals the average total cost of a data breach has increased again to $4.5m, whether ransomware is involved or not.’

Academic, education and training

• Ben Smith with Tasos Theofilou, Martina Topic and Sarah Bowman: Why PR degrees need your help [podcast] (14 November)
  ‘There are not that many BA Public Relations degrees around any more… You can’t study what you don’t know exists. The recruitment problem starts with schools, because they don’t recognise PR.’

#prstudent #CreatorAwards23

https://twitter.com/wadds/status/1592880558161657857

• Chloe Rose (Sunderland): Hancock’s jungle hiatus: PR genius or PR gone wrong? (13 November)
  ‘In what seems like a total 180° turn, members of the public appear to be not only sympathising with Hancock, but some are even claiming to “love” him and rooting for him to win the show. All because he took part in a few bushtucker trials.’

• • • Charlotte Smith (Leeds Beckett):

  @charliebobs12 Rainy day again today but had a great lecture and presented my groups presentation which went well!!! I also made a bouquet for my step-moms birthday. Hope you enjoy!!! #PRstudent #leedsbeckettuniversity #dayinthelife #dayinmylife #learninghowtousetiktok #busyday #rainyday ♬ Aesthetic – Gaspar