This week in PR (28 July)

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It happened this week

Profession

Purpose, climate and ESG

• Maja Pawinska Sims: Study: “Comms Professionals Must Challenge Environmental Claims” (27 July)
  ‘Most consumers don’t understand the environmental and sustainability claims used by food, drink and household products brands, according to new research by FleishmanHillard.’
• Mark Goyder: Are you connected with the soul of your company? (24 July)
  ‘Like Tomorrow’s Company the Conscious Capitalism movement defies the traditional assumptions underlying what we teach about business and economics. It follows all the major religions of the world in insisting that everything is connected. You cannot separate business from society, shareholder wealth from planetary health, today from tomorrow.’

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Consulting, skills and careers

• Son Pham: The Nomad S4: Lindsay Mandeville on brand archetype, taking herself out of comfort zone and moving abroad (27 July)
  ‘In the U.S., we tend to be overly positive to the point that it doesn’t seem genuine, but the Dutch people are very direct. They say exactly what they mean, even if it seems a bit harsh for different cultures. That was something that I had to get used to because it can be quite brutal sometimes.’
• John Harrington: From the UK editor: Do ‘pure’ consumer PR agencies have a future? (26 July)
  ‘Last month’s sudden closure of Talker Tailor Trouble Maker – the well-regarded, award-winning creative consumer shop that worked with some big-name clients including Spotify and Deliveroo – was a wake-up call. Its founders spoke of “rising market forces, trepidation and challenges in the industry [that] continue to squeeze smaller agencies like ours, to the point where we cannot continue to be the agency we set out to be for both our teams and our clients”.
• Claire Munro: Book Review: Organizational listening – The missing essential in public communication (23 July)
  ‘Macnamara outlines the high stakes, looking at the commercial, political and social consequences of organisations failing to listen. The author argues that “a lack of listening can cause voter frustration that can ultimately topple governments.” And without proper listening, he says, are we public relations professionals all just shouting into the void?’

Public and third sectors

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

• Hanad Darwish: The Government’s new housing strategy: Wicked problems require radical solutions (27 July)
  ‘What is referred to in academic circles as a “wicked problem”, the housing crisis certainly seems to emerge at the concatenation of a series of problems that have gone unaddressed for quite some time.’
• Beth Tarling: As Europe burns, are the government’s net zero policies going up in smoke? (25 July)
  ‘It seems that some in the Conservative Party believe they can replicate their win in Uxbridge in other marginal seats by drawing lines in the sand with Labour on green policy, and leader Sir Keir Starmer has equally acknowledged that the vote last week was lost on ULEZ.’

• Owen Griffiths: The roadmap to Party Conference (25 July)
  ‘Labour will begin to slowly change the dial from development of policy to consolidation of it, and businesses should be aware of the narrowing window between now, Conference, and into early 2024 to try and influence manifesto development.’
• Stuart Thomson: Assess Your Political Assets: Why Will Anyone Listen To You? (24 July)
  ‘We will often consider an organisation’s strengths and weaknesses (as well as opportunities and threats). But the idea of assets and liabilities enables us to think a little deeper. It can be more focused and nuanced. It also talks in a language that resonates throughout an organisation, not just with the communications team.’
• Jovana Vuletic: Unpacking the by-elections – In Conversation with Steve Richards (21 July)
  ‘Despite speculation that Sunak will try to go for an early election, this is highly unlikely. While he is behind in polls, Sunak will wait. So the General Election is still expected in October or November next year.’

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Brands, content, community and creativity

• Rebecca Fitzgerald: PR Resolution Meets: Ian McAllister from The Alnwick Garden (25 July)
  ‘We have had huge success with our Tai Haku cherry orchard (the largest outside of Japan), our Annual Gayday which hosts the finals of Mr Gay Europe, and the one time we announced that a (fake) snake was loose in The Garden, resulting in countless interviews, all of which promoted our “Alnwick Untamed” event.’

Crisis and reputation: Coutts and Farage

• Nick Barron: Coutts is not Britain’s Bud Light (27 July)
  ‘Promoting progressive political positions is no-longer risk-free for business. From Just Stop Oil to Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, activism eventually produces a backlash.’

• Jason Nisse: Rose Not Smelling So Sweet (26 July)
  ‘As we’ve seen since Watergate in the early 70s (and probably before), it’s usually the cover up that kills you, not the original crime.’

• Stuart Bruce: What can we learn from NatWest’s Nigel Farage crisis? (26 July)
  ‘If you’re talking to a journalist, then expect what you say to end up in the public domain and be attributed to you. It is possible to have private, confidential conversations but the parameters need to be agreed clearly in advance.’
• Amanda Coleman: When the response becomes the crisis (26 July)
  ‘I stress the importance of honesty and integrity if you are going to be able to manage a crisis. The situation may feel really difficult and challenging, and you may be under pressure but any attempt to hide or cover up will just make things worse.’
• Ian Morris: Farage fiasco shows perils of trying to be the moral police (25 July)
  ‘Are you judging the ethics and values of all your customers, or just those you have heard of? What is the process for this? How do customers qualify for this scrutiny? Do you have a scoring system? Who else have you refused to do business with?’

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Behaviour and influence

Internal communication

• Jenni Field: Chaos to calm: Translating your external brand into your employee experience with Lucy Kemp [podcast] (26 July)
  ‘Done really well, a great employee experience (or EX) should help you retain and develop really great talent – and also attract them – so that your company will perform well. Done badly, people won’t stay and people don’t want to join.’

• David Olajide: 5 Must-Read Books on Internal Communications (25 July)
  ‘To help you master the art of effective internal communication and build a thriving workplace culture, we’ve curated a list of five essential books by industry-leading experts. From fostering inclusivity to handling crises and driving employee engagement, these books offer valuable insights and actionable strategies to supercharge your internal communication efforts.’
• Emma Bridger: Why are McDonalds and The Met getting their employee experience so wrong? (21 July)
  ‘Clearly there are some incredibly toxic and unsafe workplace cultures still out there. I was optimistic and probably naive, to believe these behaviours were a thing of the past (I have my own personal experience but that’s a story for another time).’

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Media, digital and technology

• Jamie Marsden: Twitter’s rebrand to X shifts the focus to Musk’s ‘everything app’ plans but here’s why he might have moved too early (27 July)
  ‘Such drastic changes are usually accompanied by presentations delving into rebrand reasoning from company execs desperate to show how the new image aligns with organisational strategy and company vision.’
• David Linnett: The SEC Newgate AI Weekly (25 July)
  ‘Joe Biden has announced that seven leading companies in AI – Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI – have committed to managing potential risks from AI technology. AI development continues at pace and the US (not the UK, no matter what Rishi Sunak says) is leading the way in getting a handle on the capabilities of the technology.’
• Dan Slee: BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN: For me Twitter has reached its Morrissey moment (24 July)
  ‘It was when I heard that Elon Musk is now calling the place ‘X’ I realised I’d reached that Morrissey moment with Twitter.’
• Michael White: Language traits of disinformation in the age of generative AI (21 July)
  ‘Based on our own dataset of 4.2 million online articles, it’s clear that AI is being exploited by malicious actors. Generative AI is fuelling accessible and cost-effective disinformation campaigns. We’re seeing AI automate content creation including articles and social media posts that mimic human language and style.’

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Academic, education and training

• Stephen Waddington: Insights into the future role of public relations in management (26 July)
  ‘After two years of reading and writing, discussions, and arguments, I can explain precisely why public relations had a pandemic boom and why it has reverted almost as quickly.’