This week in PR (23 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.

Another day spent wondering how this is my job...?! (and wondering if anyone looks good in PPE balaclavas?!) 🏎 #mediaday #goodwoodcircuit #goodwooddriveday #bmwm3 #bmwm4 @helenwilsonxx on Instagram
Another day spent wondering how this is my job...?! (and wondering if anyone looks good in PPE balaclavas?!) 🏎 #mediaday #goodwoodcircuit #goodwooddriveday #bmwm3 #bmwm4 @helenwilsonxx on Instagram

It happened this week

    • 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. 

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

Public and third sectors

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

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

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

  • 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

  • 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

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

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

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

  • 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.’
  • 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?’