This week in PR (23 April)

It happened this week

Breaking:

Boris Johnson has axed plans for televised White House-style press conferences

Allegra Stratton, his press secretary, will become his spokeswoman for COP26

The £2.6m No 9 briefing room will instead be used by the PM, ministers and officials

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) April 20, 2021

• • Jack Doyle is the new 10 Downing Street head of comms, but plans for televised media briefings are being put on hold (PR Week)
  • PR Week‘s top 150 consultancy rankings gives a snapshot of performance through the pandemic.
  • Publicis has acquired Taylor Herring (PRovoke Media)
  • The need for public relations and reputation management never ceases. Consider the following statement about the way Jane Austen’s House is presented in relation to questions of the Empire and slavery. 

It is 30 years today when I made 'that’ speech. It seems like yesterday I wish it was tomorrow I would cancel it.

— Gerald Ratner (@geraldratner) April 23, 2021

European Super League

• Ian Morris: Climbdown won’t save clubs from this comms catastrophe (21 April)
  ‘Maybe it was an elaborate stunt aimed at improving the bargaining position of “the dirty dozen”. Whether it was or it wasn’t, what is clear is that the football club owners responsible for this attempted breakaway seriously underestimated the level of opposition to the idea of franchise football.’
• Mark Borkowski: European Super League’s Launch is an historic Comms disaster (20 April)
  ‘The revelation wasn’t so much announced as dropped like a ballistic missile and has, both operationally and in terms of potential fallout, been a disaster for those involved. In reputation terms the ESL is 3-0 down, in danger of having its entire first team squad suspended and on the brink of a violent pitch invasion…all before kick-off.’

Consulting, teams and careers

• Nichole Culverwell: The Comms Chat with Dr Heather Yaxley [podcast] (23 April)
  ‘My experience as an educator is that you see fewer people from consultancies on professional qualifications, and when we do see them they tend to be from the smaller consultancies. Perhaps the larger consultancies have the ability to do more of this in-house.’
• Alice Wilkinson: What does working life look like post-lockdown? (22 April)
  ‘A sharp decline in face-to-face interactions has made it harder for workers to learn from their peers or feel connected to their organisations, and has damaged opportunities for creativity.’
• Richard Fogg: 2021 PRWeek Top 150: We’d rank 82nd but it does help if you enter! (no date)
  ‘Today our numbers look even better, having bounced back from Covid-19 in 11 months we’re exceeding our fee levels from our last financial year and our ranks have swelled to 34 staff and we expect to pass 40 by the summer.’
• Shaifali Agrawal: Projects replace retainers in the PR industry – but at what cost (19 April)
  ‘Long-term relationships are also good for the clients. Agencies tend to go the long mile for clients they have worked with for a long time. It breeds loyalty.’

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

• Stephen Waddington: Accessible communications guidelines published by PRCA (21 April)
  ‘The PRCA has published guidelines to help communicators improve the accessibility of their communication. It covers content, media, influencers and events.’

Public and third sectors

We are delighted to announce we are one of the founding members of the #EuropeanSuperLeague of Councils.

We have signed up alongside Barcelona Council, Milan Council and Handforth Parish Council to this elite group. pic.twitter.com/dgIqJHw7LC

— Doncaster Council (@MyDoncaster) April 19, 2021

• Hayat Rachi: Ross Wigham on change, disruption and why frontline staff should be at the heart of NHS comms (20 April)
  ‘I think the last year or so has probably been the most challenging ever for NHS communicators. Certainly in my career, it’s been the toughest year. I think we can all agree that this has been a pretty terrible year, punctuated by some fantastic good news about the vaccine programme.’
• Dan Slee: ANGRY NOISE: Racist and other abuse faced by public sector comms is endemic… here’s some steps you can take to fight it (19 April)
  ‘In a recent survey of more than 400 public sector communications people I carried out it shows 12 per cent have seen racist abuse. That’s an increase of half since the first three months of lockdown.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

https://twitter.com/WomenInPA/status/1385237346719838209

• Nick Jessup: Downing Street’s move to scrap daily press briefings surprises no one (21 April)
  ‘The Government announced last night that plans to hold daily ‘White House style’ press briefings in the new press briefing room built in 9 Downing Street have been shelved.’

• Jon Gerlis: Lobbying: Not for the Underground (21 April)
  ‘Ultimately the [Lobbying] Act fails to do what it was intended to do – rebuild public trust in our political institutions and processes.’
• Stuart Bruce: Majority of UK public believe lobbying can help create better policy and law (21 April)
  ‘Just 9% of people surveyed disagreed with the idea that Businesses and organisations such as charities, trade unions and pressure groups should be able to meet with MPs and Ministers with the intention of promoting ideas to inform and influence public policy.’
• Matthew Williams: As the ‘King of the North’ prepares for his second election battle, surely there can only be one winner? (21 April)
  ‘Nobody knows for certain if Andy [Burnham] will reignite his Whitehall ambitious, but what we do know, with confidence, is that he is highly likely to retain his seat in May.’
• Will McMyn: By ratcheting up the UK’s climate ambitions, the PM gives a positive signal to the world – but widens the already gaping “policy gap” (20 April)
  ‘The signal from the White House could not be clearer: when it comes to global leadership on the climate, after a painful four-year absence, the US is very much back.’
• Tiffany Burrows with Alessandro Marongiu and Matthew Ogg: #TradeTalks: Episode 5 with SMMT [podcast] (20 April)
  ‘We’re going to have to find common ground both with the UK government and our European counterparts, to move from this tumultuous and adversarial process that we’ve been through with the [Brexit] withdrawal agreement into something much more stable.’
• Stuart Thomson: Lobbying by tweet? Beware the consequences (20 April)
  ‘Amazon has recently gone a stage further. Instead of using Twitter as a part of a campaign, to engage in banter or as a way of establishing a new contact, they have engaged in forceful exchanges direct with US policy makers.’

Campaigns and creativity 

• Darren Caveney: Caterpillar cake wars are fun. Copying not so much. (17 April)
  ‘Talk to any creative agency and they will have a book-ful of examples of where their creatives and ideas have been copied. No, let’s call it what it is – nicked.’

Brands, storytelling, and influence

• Scott Guthrie with Mark Dandy: Exploring Gifta: the brand-to-influencer gifting logistics company [podcast] (22 April)
  ‘Gifta aims to connect true storytellers to brands. The influencers that we contact, they’re not obliged to post. We then get a lot more authentic content. We’re targeting more nano and micro influencers with engaged audiences.’
• Dawn Reeves: Beware: snake oil story snatchers – your story is yours, share it wisely (20 April)
  ‘“Story” is in danger of becoming the latest in a long line of over-used words and phrases in the media, remember when it was all about the “journey,” then we were living in “unprecedented times” and now it’s “the new normal.” Everyone wants us to “share our story” and eyes are rolling.’

Planning, insight, measurement and evaluation

#AMECSummit powered by @IntradoDigital will feature #research impacting #PR & #Comms May 26&27. Including 'Measuring News Consumption in a Digital Era' 'Trust & expectations at Time of COVID' https://t.co/Vfd5TrLBqO @CIPR_Global & @PRCA_UK members qualify for CPD points pic.twitter.com/8HtOoF2dSn

— AmecOrg (@AmecOrg) April 22, 2021

• Adeeba Hussain: The golden thread of measurement (no date)
  ‘For me measurement and evaluation are part of the DNA of communications planning and should be given the same level of importance as objectives.’

Internal communication

It was a great day! Well done @mrsjennifield https://t.co/JS2IlzDQbM

— Trudy Lewis (@lewiscomms) April 21, 2021

• Rachel Miller: Why I hate spin (22 April)
  ‘Spin is not a word I identify with or defines what I do as an internal communicator. It’s not a word that defines what any of us do as internal communicators.’
• Mike Klein: It started with a hashtag… (22 April)
  ‘In recognising the outsized role internal communicators play in bringing cohesion, coherence and authenticity to the whole Comms profession, #WeLeadComms also seeks great examples of leadership across the world of Comms – PR, Public Affairs, Crisis, even Investor Relations and other disciplines.’

Technology, media and digital

Excellent round up on Facebook's 'pivot to audio' model, with details on the 'audio TikTok' product Soundbites (sounds horrific!), the Clubhouse competitor product & the closer partnership with Spotify https://t.co/Xasd7yMZM5 via @verge pic.twitter.com/B5lFj0KAq8

— Paul Sutton (@ThePaulSutton) April 21, 2021

https://twitter.com/lauramarysmith/status/1385265947628347400

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

https://twitter.com/carolineshawPR/status/1384080623346733069

• Piotr Boiwka (Newcastle): Crypto PR – what reputational challenges face cryptocurrencies (no date)
  ‘Crypto PR is a new and emerging branch of the PR industry. It is very promising, and the number of agencies specialising in crypto PR is increasing significantly.’

• Eloise Newman (Solent): Manipulation or Relatable Marketing… Can An Irresponsible Tweet Cause Reputational Damage? (22 April)
  ‘A Tweet like this undoes the hard work ethical activist fashion brands and organisations are doing to reverse the damage the fashion industry has done.’

• Ste Linsley (Sunderland): The Word on the Super League; Can Comms Recover Club’s Reputational Damage and a Potential New Age of Fan Power (22 April)
  ‘There is absolutely no doubt that the notion of a Super League is built upon the greed, with the self-appointed elite European clubs wanting an even bigger slice of the pie than they already have.’

• Joe Green (Cardiff): ‘The Murder that Changed a Nation’: 28 years on. (22 April)
  ‘Stephen’s name is actually one of the most well-known, if not the most publicly known name in the history of the UK, regarding the matter of institutional and systemic racism within the police and wider British society, alongside racial hate crime.’
• Cliodhna Donnelly (Ulster): Will Influencing Last Forever (22 April)
  ‘Influencing works and it is not the first time I have bought a product due to a recommendation from an influencer, but it could be the last.’
• Lauren Simmons (Ulster): What Will A Career In Communications Look Like Post Covid-19? (21 April)
  ‘LinkedIn has become as powerful as ever. I have found myself getting more submerged in my news feed and looking through potential connections.’

• Rachael Thompson (Sunderland): Community Management – What I’ve Learned From Victoria Tran and Among Us (20 April)
  ‘I wanted to make a note of the 5 key areas that a community manager can be integral to the success of a brands communications, and how it can work side by side with PR.’

• Elyshia Dixon (Sunderland): Is TikTok the future of social media marketing? (19 April)
  ‘Now, what is it about TikTok that trumps most of the other social media sites we see today. Why do Gen-Z seem to be gravitating towards it, aways from popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter?’

• Sophie Smith (Newcastle): The PR Students Experience: Katie Hull (19 April)
  ‘When studying at UCLan Katie enjoyed learning about public relations and decided she wanted to venture into that industry, however, the university didn’t offer it. She spoke to her personal tutor who tried to put her off the idea by saying it was a “dead industry.”’

• Cheyenne Doyle (Ulster): The Brand Putting Sustainability First (19 April)
  ‘Described as “the brand you knew you wanted but could never quite find”, Tala is a fitness brand, creating ethical products with sustainability at the core of the brand.’
• Martin Agunwa (Leeds Beckett): I Feel Sorry for the Racist (18 April)
  ‘How can you look at me and all you see is the colour of my skin? Just tell me how?’

• Annie Hilditch (Leeds Beckett): Colin v. Cuthbert: The Battle of the Caterpillars (17 April)
  ‘Aldi is the star of the show whilst M&S are “patently” being a bit of a Karen.’