This week in PR (24 January)

Author: Richard Bailey, Editor
24th January 2020 15 min read

About the author

Richard Bailey Hon FCIPR is editor of PR Academy's PR Place Insights. He teaches and assesses undergraduate, postgraduate and professional students.

Welcome to Davos! Not a bad view from my bedroom window… @sparklypinchy
Welcome to Davos! Not a bad view from my bedroom window… @sparklypinchy

News in brief

https://twitter.com/stuartbruce/status/1219246198139301888

  • Matt Peacock has joined Blurred a partner (via Holmes Report)
  • Freuds has become the largest PR agency to achieve B Corp status (via Holmes Report)
  • Here’s the list of those shortlisted in the PRCA City and Financial Awards 2020
  • John Foster Hon FCIPR has died. He was the author of Effective Writing Skills for Public Relations in the CIPR’s PR in Practice series which was published in four editions.

Academic research

Purpose and professionalism

  • Paul Holmes: 2020 Trend Forecast: Shareholders (23 January)
    ‘In the UK, increased geopolitical tensions such as trade tariffs, are now cited as the number one risk to businesses in 2020 (65%), according to financial services company Stenn.’
  • Barri Rafferty: Stakeholders, Climate, Health and More: Key Topics at Davos 2020 (20 January)
    ‘The concept of stakeholder capitalism is not new – in fact, WEF founder Klaus Schwab proposed the model in the 1970s. The concept was pushed aside in favor of shareholder capitalism, which puts the interests of its investors before the needs of its employees, customers, suppliers, vendors, the environment and society at large.’
  • Andy Turner: Does the UK need its own PR museum? (20 January)
    ‘Two PR museums already exist in New York and Leipzig, Germany. These tell the story of PR’s origins and development in their respective countries.’
  • Robert Phillips: Message to Davos: Don’t blame lack of trust on ‘society’ (17 January)
    ‘With green-washing as the new normal and ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) set to supersede CSR as the favoured corporate jargon, “many see the new, caring capitalism as a politically expedient sham, perpetrated by those with the most to lose.” 

Consulting and careers

  • Alex Malouf: What’s the region’s biggest issue? It’s the Arabic language (24 January)
    ‘Just 32% of respondents to PRCA MENA’s inaugural Middle East PR and Communications Census 2019 were nationals of countries in the region. Overall, a fifth of the region’s PR professionals are British, 18% come from India.’
  • Claire Walker: Five reasons you don’t need to shout (23 January)
    ‘I’ll admit being a little too liberal with the use of an exclamation mark now and again – it’s an easy trap to fall into, especially for those of us with endless positivity coursing through our veins. However, overusing dramatic punctuation means that you won’t get the right message across and this is particularly a challenge for those of us working in marketing and comms.’
  • Victoria Tomlinson: 14-day New Year action plan to make LinkedIn work (23 January)
    ‘If you are actively looking to create a second career after you leave corporate life – or have already left and looking for roles and new activities, then LinkedIn is probably the most essential tool to help you.’
  • Heiða Ingimarsdóttir: Keeping on a brave face while job hunting (22 January)
    ‘I am sending out personal information about myself and asking for a chance. I am trying to sell my talents and personality, but I am getting rejected. It’s hard not to take it personally.’
  • Rich Leigh: PR in a car episode 5 – New to PR? [vlog]
    ‘You can always tell those who are going above and beyond to learn about the industry. And when you do get into the industry, don’t stop learning.’

Politics and public affairs

https://twitter.com/jasonmackenzie/status/1220313793504391168

Risk, crisis and reputation

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6625078818379976704

  • Tony Langham: The Real Cost of Crisis (23 January)
    ‘Boeing’s reputation will probably recover, unless another serious incident happens, because of the long history and high standing of the organization. But recovery will be slower than if it had put reputation ahead of everything else in the days after the first crash in October 2018.’

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

  • Anonymous: The dreaded return to work after maternity leave (22 January)
    ‘We talk about women in senior roles, increasing visibility of women at events and panels, about what women can do to get a seat at the table in boardrooms. But when The Equality and Human Rights Commissions reports that in  2018 77% of mothers had a negative or possibly discriminatory experience during pregnancy and/or maternity leave, how can we possibly expect women to return to work and achieve these things?’
  • Darren Caveney: 3 important ‘gives’ to support a happy, healthy 2020 (19 January)
    ‘I set up comms2point0 almost nine years ago to try to help to fly a flag for communicators and communications and, in my own little way, give back to our industry.’

Campaigns and creativity

Brands, storytelling and influence

  • Rohan Midha: Eight key influencer marketing trends in 2020 (22 January)
    ‘We all know that influencer marketing isn’t simply a numbers game: it comes down to the quality of engagement between influencers and their communities. This is something that will be prioritised in 2020.’

Measurement and evaluation

  • Stella Bayles with Russell McCathy: A simple guide to attribution [podcast] (22 January)
    ‘A lot of PR work is similar to SEO: it’s done either to raise brand awareness or brand propensity. Attribution allows business to understand the consumer better. What marketing activity influences the consumer’s buying behaviour? We need to understand the influence PR has on the customer journey.’

Internal communication

  • Rachel Miller: How Comms pros use the Edelman Trust Barometer (23 January)
    ‘Trust is a constant conversation in our organisations. As Comms practitioners, we look for ways to enhance trust, nurture it, demonstrate it and turn the notion of trust into tangible actions.’
  • Helen Deverell: The curse of knowledge (21 January)
    ‘Leaders especially suffer from the curse of knowledge. They will often have been discussing a major programme of change and transformation for months and months before they even get to the point of communicating.’
  • Katie Macaulay: Insider tips for producing podcasts (20 January)
    ‘Choose a podcast platform – we use SoundCloud – then embed the RSS feed on the channels your audience visits regularly. Can you create a show for both an internal and external audience? If so, make it discoverable on mainstream podcast channels, such as iTunes and Spotify.’
  • Martin Flegg: Pulling the plug (19 January)
    ‘Last week, during a chat on Twitter, I made an off the cuff remark that if some organisations pulled the plug on their intranets and shut them down tomorrow, no-one would notice or care because they add no value for employees.’

Technology, media and digital

  • Dan Slee: UPDATED: What are the optimum lengths of social media video in 2020? (23 January)
    ‘Video remains a powerful way that people are consuming media. In the UK that’s true and the stats bear this out. Ofcom say that 70 per cent of the internet is video and almost half watch short video.’
  • Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson: FIR 191: Two decades in 2.5 hours [podcast] (21 January)
    ‘We’ve invited listeners to share their thoughts for this episode. What events are worthy of note from the past decade? Listen for the consistent themes that emerge.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

  • Emma Rogers (Solent): Meeting the professionals (23 January)
    ‘As a PR professional myself (after Graduation in July of course), I believe I have come a long way in the last three years. That is purely down to my degree, the lecturers and the opportunities we are given to gain real life experiences.’
  • Niamh Murray (Ulster): Why we need “Naked Attraction” (23 January)
    ‘Naked Attraction normalises difference. It shows what a “normal” body and person is. Which is ANYONE AND EVERYONE. There is no “normal” or “standard” for appearances or beauty. So it’s about time advertisers, film makers and the media in general stops acting like there is.’
  • Claire Loughran (Ulster): Cheating Your Way to Instagram Likes (23 January)
    ‘I decided instead of telling you about myself (which will come in my following posts) that I’d give you some helpful tips to keep those likes rolling in on your Instagram. There’s more to it than just uploading a post, there’s an art to posting and I’m going to share with you the four key factors.’

Related topics

#bestPRblogs #ThisWeekinPR