This week in PR (29 March)

News in brief

• Take your pick of developing crises: a presidential sex crisis in the US, the Australian ball tampering scandal (‘it’s not cricket’), and the question of anti-semitism in the Labour Party. For a second week, Facebook has its own section below.
• The CIPR has released its State of the Profession 2018 report.
• The BBC has appointed a commissioning editor for podcasts.

Calendar

Our calendar of events now appears on a separate page

Thought leaders: Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week (focused on the UK, but with a global outlook). Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com or @pr_place

Cambridge Analytica and Facebook

• Lee Edwards: Cambridge Analytica: a symptom of a deeper malaise in the persuasion industry (no date)
  ‘Arguably, the origins of the current scandal lie not in lax oversight by Facebook, or in the amorality of Cambridge Analytica and its clients, but in the histories of promotional industries that have normalized the idea of manipulation in their professional practice, while marginalising ethics and the public interest.’
• Andrew Grill: When an apology isn’t an apology – when it’s from Facebook (26 March)
  ‘The irony can be found that Facebook (the world’s largest social network), chose traditional media – newspapers to publish their “apology”.’
• Paul Sutton: How to lock down your Facebook data (26 March)
  ‘Given that the vast majority of us aren’t worried enough about our personal Facebook data to want to quit the network, what can we do to minimise the risk?’
• Neville Hobson: What next for Facebook? (25 March)
  ‘I joined Facebook in April 2007. Unlike many friends and acquaintances whose opinions I value, I have no plans to shut down my account and leave.’
• Max Tatton-Brown: B2B can worry less about its Cambridge Analytica moment (no date)
  ‘B2B Tech really means B2B innovation. It means what’s next. It means the new way of doing things and a potential source of advantage over the competition.’
• Margaret Heffernan and Robert Phillips: Message to Zuck and friends (no date)
  ‘The question of who is collecting and harvesting our data – and who stands to profit? – has been troubling us for some time, even before Alexander Nix and his worrying, if colourful, claims.’

Business / profession

• Paul Sutton with Aby Hawker: Defeating the four horsemen of communications [pordcast] (28 March)
  ‘Find out if the communications industry really is facing an apocalypse.’
• Stephen Waddington: Public relations booming with areas of work in progress, CIPR report (28 March)
  ‘I’ve chewed through the State of the Profession data on this blog each year for the past five years. Here’s what you need to know for 2018.’
• Laura Sutherland: PR success isn’t based on coverage achieved, it’s based on achieving measurable objectives (28 March)
  ‘It all starts with objectives. What is it the client is trying to achieve for the business? What does the business plan say? From there, you create the public relations and communication objectives, from there you devise a relevant and timely strategy and from there, you develop a tactical plan, which delivers the strategy.’
• Jennifer Sanchis: What is wrong with PR? (no date)
  ‘Whilst it might be true that PR has become discredited by the general public and many journalists, the industry is increasingly valued by the public as well as by private and third sector brands.’
• John Brown: Mistakes I made in our first quarter [vlog] (23 March)
  ‘Don’t Cry Wolf has had a great few months: we’ve not been sued and we’re still in business.’

Careers and skills

• Louise Thompson: What a year of coaching taught me about my leadership journey (27 March)
  No-one should see what goes on in the communication office if it is really doing its job. But bosses, CEOs and those in charge have to see the work the communication team do and have to see the impact it brings.’
• Stuart Smith: Measurement in The New World of Earned First Ideas (no date)
  ‘We now live in what I dared to predict would be an “Earned First” world.’
• Marcel Klebba: Asking the right questions (25 March)
  ‘Last year I learnt how hugely powerful questions can be. My series Four PR Questions (#4PRQs) opened many doors for me.’ 

Crisis and reputation

• James Morton: Caught out: How a lack of crisis comms turned Australian cricket’s reputation to ashes (28 March)
  ‘In an age of fake news and Trumpese, this ‘ultra-honesty’ response was breathtaking in its speed and the pure, unfiltered level of detail.’

Internal communication 

• Matthew Batten: How to prepare for GDPR (27 March)
  ‘What do all successful campaigns need? One memorable and clear call to action.’
• Sue Palfrey: Internal Comms – How it Aligns with Employee Engagement [podcast] (26 March)
  ‘[The National Trust] is in reality a very complex, matrixed organisation with up to 12,000 staff in the summer season plus an army of 65,000 volunteers.’
• Jenni Kampf: The power of ‘thanks’ (24 March)
  ‘A ‘thank you’ in person, from a member of the senior team, engages our people in a different way to an annual awards ceremony.’

Media and digital

• Arianne Williams: What you need to know about social media algorithms (26 March)
  ‘LinkedIn’s algorithm is perhaps one of the most simple to understand. Simply put, there is a four-step process when you share content on your news feed.’
• Stuart Bruce: Who owns social media? (26 March)
  ‘It’s the same with social media. The clue’s in the name. To be social you really need to do it yourself. You don’t usually get a mate or work colleague to be friendly on your behalf.’ 

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Here are two useful resource for PR students:

• PR Careers: 2018: 150 PR internships and graduate schemes
• Stephen Waddington: Updated: public relations dissertation topics

And here’s our pick of the best posts by those studying public relations and/or aspiring to work in PR.

• Katya Hamilton-Smith (LCC/UAL): My first week at the PHA Group (28 March)
  ‘Keep a log of everything you do. This might sound a little over-the-top but I always write down everything that I do in my internship. This way, I have a log of everything that I have learnt, everything that I have done and when I undoubtedly forget, I can refer back to it in future.’
• Matthew Johnston (Ulster): Employee Engagement – Needless or Necessary? (28 March)
  ‘One organisation for me that stands out in employee engagement is Richard Branson and Virgin Media.’
• Nicole Service (Ulster): Being Cool to be Cruel: Exploring makeup for those that love animals (28 March)
  ‘For a lot of brands, it seems to be that you have to do the research yourself to find out information about their animal testing policy.’
• Lauren Hill (Ulster): A message for final year students (27 March)
  ‘Coping with final year studies as well as sleeping, retaining a social life and sanity and managing a part time job is without a doubt stressful.’
• Jessica Pardoe (Liverpool John Moores): Let’s Talk about Film PR (27 March)
  ‘One of my biggest assignments this semester is based around film promotion and PR and it’s actually been remarkably interesting.’
• Una McHugh (Ulster): Missguided: Stretching the Media’s Beauty Standards (27 March)
  ‘A well known fashion website using images of a model with her stretch marks still intact!  How astounding! Groundbreaking! Simply MINDBOGGLING!!’
• Roisin Watters (Ulster): A Bloody Easy Donation (26 March)
  ‘Because it was so easy I felt guilty that I hadn’t gotten round to donating before and we learned that, amazingly, just 1 donation can help up to 3 patients.’
• Chloe Campbell (Ulster): Look What ‘PR’ Makes Taylor Do – she’s not ‘really’ dead… (26 March)
  ‘Taylor repeats in her new album “my Reputation’s never been worse so…” but let’s not forget she “never goes out of style” and she’s not wrong.’