This week in PR (28 February)

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.

This month our COO, @charliehampton100 visited @uniofgreenwich and gave a guest lecture to their PR and Comms students. 🎓 Check out the beautiful shot of the campus he took on the day, February you’re looking glorious! 🤩☀️
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#universityofgreenwich #sunshine #lecture #london @pembrokeandrye
This month our COO, @charliehampton100 visited @uniofgreenwich and gave a guest lecture to their PR and Comms students. 🎓 Check out the beautiful shot of the campus he took on the day, February you’re looking glorious! 🤩☀️
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#universityofgreenwich #sunshine #lecture #london @pembrokeandrye

News in brief

  • AxiCom’s European CEO Henry Brake has died aged 45. There’s an obituary in PRovoke.
  • The CIPR is inviting experienced practitioners to apply to join the judging teams for its regional PRide Awards.

Academic and education

Purpose and professionalism

Conferences and exhibitions

Consulting and careers

  • Ben Smith with Tamara Littleton: Can a virtual agency scale? [podcast] (26 February)
    ‘The Social Element helps brands have a genuine connection with their consumers. We’re obsessed with social and with human behaviour on social. I call it the three Cs: there’s creative, consultancy and communications.’
  • Chris Owen: Recruiters. A plea. (25 February)
    ‘Understand what we do. And you know what, if you don’t handle talent in the space we operate in, just be honest. Don’t try and bluff your way through b2b tech.’
  • Katie de Cozar: Acing the PR agency briefing process (no date)
    ‘Here are my top five considerations before putting pen to paper which will help you kick off the process in the search for the ideal PR partner.’

Public and third sectors

Politics and public affairs

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

https://twitter.com/LiamSmithSocial/status/1233154861266501635

  • Debs Field: Managing Maternity (24 February)
    ‘A year ago, I saw a job advertised and knew I wanted it. It was the next step up for my career, with a company I had great respect for, in an industry I adored. I polished up my CV, took great care with my covering letter so it didn’t sound too much like fan mail, and submitted it with a rush of adrenaline. The next day I got a very different rush of adrenaline: I was pregnant.’
  • Jed Hallam: Finding belonging: imposter syndrome, adland, and culture (21 February)
    ‘For most of my career to date, I’ve felt like an imposter. What compounds this is my fear of losing what little sense of belonging and security I was starting to feel. But being an outsider – or an imposter – just means that you’re different from the dominant archetype. For a long time imposter syndrome has been seen as a typically female trait, but I think it’s much more intersectional than that.’

Brands, storytelling, content and influence

https://twitter.com/michaelwhite1/status/1232739550256123905

  • Ella Minty: The People Behind The Brands On Social Media (27 February)
    ‘Behind most brands’ social media handles there are only employees, paid to broadcast corporate blurb and, sometimes, constructively engage with their followers.’
  • Orlagh Shanks: Does Politics Belong in Influencer Marketing? (26 February)
    ‘The campaign strategy apparently came from a company called Meme 2020 who were also behind promoting Fyre Festival and well, we all know how that turned out.’
  • Sarah Lay: 7 top tips for paid content copy and creative (24 February)
    ‘Unlike billboards, or mass media ads in traditional channels online ads don’t have to be a one-way push at people, but can be the start of a conversation.
  • Ste Davies: Influencer marketing in 2020 with Scott Guthrie [podcast] (no date)
    ‘A key trend is data and insight. The conversation has moved from ‘we need it’ to ‘can we trust it?’.’

Measurement and evaluation

  • Andy West: Plan it, don’t wing it (26 February)
    ‘I’m troubled by the transactional mentality that pervades the industry which, if left unchecked, can serve to undermine the credibility of our profession.’

Internal communication

  • Rachel Miller: Say no to logos (26 February)
    ‘In my mind you have one brand identity and hopefully just one logo.’
  • Helen Deverell: Top writing tips for internal communications (25 February)
    ‘People generously shared so much good advice that others could benefit from, so I’ve collated them all here in this blog.’
  • Trudy Lewis and Advita Patel: The Internal Comms Holy Grail: Measurement and ROI [podcast] (25 February)
    ‘It’s an area a lot of internal communicators do struggle with. There hasn’t been anything that’s been done specifically for internal communicators.’

Technology, media and digital

  • Steph Palmer: The importance of working with local and trade press (26 February)
    ‘National newspapers aren’t always the key to success. Many businesses overlook local and trade press, not realising that they are important for growth.’
  • Duncan McKean: Please, no Big Yellow Taxi for the BBC (no date)
    ‘I love this little image that shows the relative value you get from your BBC licence fee now versus 1995. Simply put, more for your money.’
  • Holly Hodges: PR Blogger Spotlight: Jessica Pardoe (25 February)
    ‘We’re thinking more about reputations and less about media relations. Meaning that there’s less of an emphasis in getting brand coverage here, there and everywhere, but more getting great exposure for your clients in areas that are really relevant to them. I’ve also noticed a massive shift in influencer marketing over the past couple of years, and I think that despite its flaws, influencer marketing is absolutely here to stay.’
  • Stephen Waddington: Book review: Powerful B2B Content by Gay Flashman (24 January)
    ‘Brand journalism is a form of content marketing whereby an organisation reports on its business, people, events and industry news. It’s a concept as old as the web itself but is something that very few organisations do well.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

  • Niamh MacManus (Ulster): Have you too been victimised by marketing decoys? (26 February)
    ‘At the end of the day, these secret marketing strategies are just one big catalogue of manipulations really. Hopefully by reading this it will make you slightly more aware of the sneaky games retailers play on us daily.’
  • Susan Greer (Ulster): Single or Self-Partnered? (25 February)
    ‘The stigma of being single has lessened over time. As a result of women like Emma Watson who have gone on to say, “It took me a long time, but I’m very happy [being single]. I call it being self-partnered.”’
  • Shannon Walsh (Ulster): My experience in the busiest press office in the country (24 February)
    ‘There were days that you would have 20-30 calls on your book to deal with and so efficiency was key, this isn’t the kind of place that you would succeed in if you didn’t cope well under pressure.’