This week in PR (31 January)

News in brief

A very sophisticated adieu. And stands in stark contrast to the stupid pantomime behaviour of Brexit Party MEPs yesterday frankly. https://t.co/zCO7F9Dicv

— Francis Ingham (@Ingers1975) January 30, 2020

• The CIPR and the PRCA have both welcomed the UK government’s decision not to implement the EU Copyright Directive which they argued would threaten the digital economy (via CIPR and PRCA).
• Here’s the shortlist for the Influencer Marketing Awards 2020
• Vodafone’s former sustainability lead, Justine Harris, has joined Brunswick’s London office as a partner, to focus on environment, social and governance (ESG), sustainability and social purpose. (via Holmes Report)
• The Guardian: ‘We have decided that we will no longer accept advertising from fossil fuel extractive companies on any of the Guardian’s websites and apps, nor in the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Weekly in print. Our decision is based on the decades-long efforts by many in that industry to prevent meaningful climate action by governments around the world.’
• The BBC has announced that 450 jobs are to go in BBC News in pursuit of £80m in savings. A day later, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme editor Sarah Sands announced she would be leaving in September this year. (via BBC)

Purpose and professionalism

• Katie King: People Over Profits: Why Corporate Purpose Matters & How to Adopt a Stakeholder Mindset (30 January)
  ‘A business is not a living person, but people are at its core. Whether they are a publicly listed multinational or a small shop on the high street, businesses big and small all have stakeholders to serve.’
• Caroline Kealey: How to be Strategic (29 January)
  ‘The essence of being strategic is intentionality and focus – it’s the idea of having laser-like clarity on where you’re going and then setting up a path to get there. Put another way, if you don’t know what success looks like, by definition you cannot be strategic.’
• Jenni Field: Jenni Field updates [CIPR] members with her first president’s monthly video [vlog] (29 January)
  ‘My [work] focus is on internal communication and employee engagement, and my focus for this year is on improving the service for members.’
• Stephen Waddington: PR needs to stop talking to itself in bid to tackle trust deficit (29 January)
  ‘In a market where anybody can call themselves a PR practitioner, individuals need to take their own professional development seriously. Time served should not and is not a measure of competence.’
• Jon Meakin: #5×20: Communications trends for 2020 (24 January)
  ‘Companies are turning their (genuine) values into action, using ethical leverage to help customers to change their behaviour for the better and positively impact society.’

Consulting and careers

• Angharad Planells: 7 ways to keep clients happy (30 January)
  ‘Agency/client relationships, just like romantic ones, can burn bright at first, but burnout quickly or sour to the point of no return if not handled correctly.’
• Iliyana Stareva: Projects, Programmes & Portfolios [Project Management Fundamentals] (30 January)
  ‘Projects fit within larger programmes, which themselves fit within portfolios.’

• Ben Smith: Greg Jones, managing director of Mischief, on the PRmoment podcast (28 January)
  On being a qualified psychotherapist. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by people and behaviour. A lot of what we do in PR is that: it’s public relations, relating to people.’

• Ross Wigham: Tips from the top (27 January)
  ‘Careers aren’t always linear and sometimes it takes you in different directions or even in ways that could be seen as a backward step to help gain a broader skillset.’

Politics and public affairs

• Tony Langham: High stakes lobbying is back as Government rescues FlyBe (no date)
  ‘This Boris Johnson Government is not a traditional Conservative regime reluctant to pick winners and losers – and averse to saving lame duck businesses.’

Risk, crisis and reputation

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

• Darren Caveney: Mental health first aid – life skills for all? (30 January)
  ‘Well I am now officially a mental health first aider. And I have the certificate to prove it. Cool. But so what – what does it mean and could it be useful to you?’
• Arianne Donoghue: Finding my courage (28 January)
  ‘The reality is, that despite how outgoing I may appear and how self-confident and even assertive I may come across, I’m chronically insecure and have spent most of my life avoiding confrontation. That’s the legacy of a childhood of being bullied I suppose – I must fit in and do my best to adhere to the status quo and not appear different for fear of what might happen. But since discovering I’m autistic about seven years ago, that’s slowly stopped being enough, if it ever really was in the first place – because I am fundamentally, irreversibly (despite what some idiots on the Internet might say), different.’
• Jenifer Stirton: PR campaign’s legacy highlights issue of depression (28 January)
  ‘In the past 12 months, iprovision has provided more support to members than before. And for the first time the financial support provided has outstripped the funds we received in the same period.  Evidence, if needed, that more people are seeking help they cannot get elsewhere.’

Brands, storytelling, content and influence

Golin's Executive Director Strategy and Innovation, @willcooke, on how 'human intelligence and creativity is at the core of earning audience attention' in today's @PRCA_UK conference discussing 2020 trends. https://t.co/aOtusQ0EMA

— Golin London (@GolinLON) January 30, 2020

• Tom Hindle: How screenwriting and copywriting overlap (30 January)
  ‘The opening line of a piece of copy… needs to tell the reader just enough that they know exactly what they’re about to read, while also posing a question that makes them want to scroll down and keep reading.’ 

• Scott Guthrie: Brand outs influencer over £30 gift (29 January)
  ’The Siren song of the influencer lifestyle is beguiling. The reality for many is a far cry from the Insta-perfect world.’

Measurement and evaluation

The challenge facing data analysis in Public Relations & Comms. In 2011 there were around 150 software tools to guide analysis and insight now there are 6,800.Kristin Philbin @kphilbin with visiting American students at Boston University in London pic.twitter.com/GusLA8pwvE

— Andy Green (@andygreencre8iv) January 30, 2020

• Katie Paine: The Measurement Revolution Manifesto: Use business metrics, not bad metrics (27 January)
  ‘We are already in the middle of a communication revolution, and the time has come for a measurement revolution.’

Internal communication

IoIC was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Saskia Jones. Our thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends. Saskia was elected to the IoIC Board in 2019 and we were all looking forward to working with her and are devasted that we will not get this opportunity. pic.twitter.com/Cb5wfNUA2q

— Institute of IC (@IoICNews) January 27, 2020

• Emma Kane: The BBC keeps scoring own goals with its internal communication (30 January)
  ‘Times were already tricky — but somehow, the broadcaster made things worse by committing a cardinal sin of internal communications and failing to let employees know about a major shake-up of its current affairs programming.’
• Mike Pounsford: Why Listening Is a Critical Leadership Capability for Today’s Communicators (28 January)
  ‘Communication professionals can help improve the discourse and create connection by listening more. The explosion in the number of available communication channels has led to a focus on messaging, audience segmentation and channel choice. We’ve lost the balance between receiving and transmitting.’

• Kevin Ruck: 10 things I have learned about internal communication over the past 10 years (28 January)
  ‘Treating employees as if they are readers of tabloid newspapers when providing important information about their organization is disrespectful. Today, most employees expect a more adult to adult approach to communication.’

Technology, media and digital

https://twitter.com/MaxTB/status/1222452857007460352

• Paul Nolan: 5G in the UK: When politics and technology collide (no date)
  ‘It’s almost as if [Boris Johnson] considered the position of the UK government in the wake of Brexit, acknowledged the need to maintain positive relations with the Americans and the Chinese with possible trade deals in mind, reached a compromise that he felt both sides could begrudgingly entertain, and then asked his advisors to come up with the detail.’
• Stuart Bruce and Tim Bailey: Over the Horizon – a look into the future [podcast] (28 January)
  ‘RSS and email won’t be going away. They’re both really simple and they perform important functions.’
• Ste Davies: Browsing the web with privacy with Des Martin from Brave [podcast] (no date)
  ‘Ads have evolved into behavioural tracking and surveillance. Most people say ‘so what?’ But it affects individuals, groups and whole countries.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

• Hannah Chambers (Ulster): Why a Career in PR is for me? (30 January)
  ‘I may have taken the scenic route to my career in PR but I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and I think I am in exactly the place I should be right now. Maybe I should have listened to my parents, but I think I needed to find my way to this path by myself.’
• Emma Rogers (Solent): #SainsBey (30 January)
  ‘This month Beyonce launched her new Ivy Park x Adidas fitness range, but what Beyonce maybe didn’t expect was the apparent similarity with Sainsbury’s uniform. The maroon and orange colours are well known within the UK for being a part of Sainsbury’s staple brand identity.’
• Cassandra Roos (Solent): 2020 (30 January)
  ‘I want others to know that it is never too late, an old dog can learn new tricks and whatever timeline you are on that is your business. Ten years ago I was not ready to take the step into University and the only thing that would have happened if I went straight in would have been me under-performing.’
• Niamh Murray (Ulster): Remove stigma, not hair: Why brands are promoting female body hair (29 January)
  ‘There’s also the Janu-hairy trend which was encouraging women not to shave for the month of January. Which, by the way, is no more “unclean”, “weird” or “disgusting” than ‘Movember’.’
• Teela Clayton (Leeds Beckett): Time for a re-brand? (29 January)
  ‘It’s hard to be a teacher. But it’s even harder to be anything other than a teacher once you’ve donned that persona.’
• Georgia Galway (Ulster): Why does a career in PR interest me? (29 January)
  ‘Almost every industry is realising the effectiveness of Public Relations to their business, so successful PR practitioners can flit between locations and lines of business until they decide to make nest in a particular niche.’
• Fionnuala Hegarty (Ulster): Keeping on top of your digital strategy (29 January)
  ‘It’s simpler than you think. Although I do advise that you always plan for the worst as you cannot control every situation or employee that crosses your path. Feedback from customers can be a heart-breaking or a ‘made my day’ experience, reels in opportunities to boost your business, being inspired to improve.’

• Emer Stinson (Ulster): Applying for a placement year? Look no further! (27 January)
  ‘For anyone out there who is in the process of either applying for a placement or on the fence on whether to do one, I have a few tips that might make the decision/ process a little easier for you.’