This week in PR (7 July)

It happened this week

I can't explain how excited I am about #APCR23. For a long time, there has been a dearth of research about the public relations industry in Africa.

Now, we are seeing data coming out of Africa, in a research led by Africans!https://t.co/7b38NpluYM – download it. READ it!

— Tolulope Olorundero (@Tolucomms) July 3, 2023

• The first Africa PR and Communications Report has data from interviews with practitioners and businesses from 29 of the 54 countries in a continent of some 2000 languages.

Profession

CIPR launches Members' Week with new Ethics Guide.

Find out about the exclusive member benefits and competitions being announced throughout the week and how you can get involved.https://t.co/kmiajF0IsG#CIPRMembersWeek #JoinCIPR pic.twitter.com/72Ulyulxep

— Chartered Institute of Public Relations (@CIPR_Global) July 3, 2023

• Maja Pawinska Sims and Arun Sudhaman: Podcast: Cannes Review, Market Update & More (6 July)
  ‘I first went to Cannes in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. Lord Bell was the jury president; that tells you how long ago it was. But 13 PR Lions later, how much has really changed? Cannes is so polarising in the PR industry.’
• Stephen Waddington: How can we level up regional public relations in the UK? (4 July)
  ‘There are strong communities of practitioners outside of London… Manchester (2,500) is the largest market outside of London, followed by Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Leeds, all with around 1,000 practitioners.’

Purpose, climate and ESG

Embracing such a shared national ethos, is what helped shaped Anthropy’s 2022 agenda and now it can go beyond to inspire a more positive nation, where we have a belief in how we should treat each other and what #society means to us. ‘How dare we not?’#People #Place pic.twitter.com/jasztR2IIu

— Anthropy (@AnthropyUK) June 29, 2023

• Matthew Gwyther: Doing It On Purpose – An Interview with Giles Gibbons [podcast] (no date)
  ‘In our conversation about where sustainability is now, we discuss what non-financial audit is likely to mean for corporates in the next few years, what he thinks about the ever-increasing squadrons of ESG consultants selling their wares, [and] why Good Business has remained relatively small.’

Consulting, skills and careers

• Ben Smith: The “In Hindsight” Series: Greg Double on the PRmoment Podcast (6 July)
  ‘In hindsight I should have started in consumer PR. I was too young to start [at Blue Rubicon] in corporate PR as a 21 year old graduate. I was just too immature.’
• Jessica Ellis: How simple café jobs can provide young people with invaluable life skills (30 June)
  ‘Things often go wrong in whatever job you are doing, and situations such as orders going missing really tested my quick thinking and resolve. Although it is never fun when things go awry, learning how to control the situation and deal with things calmly is something that you get better with over time.’

Gender, diversity, health and wellbeing

Alongside some incredible women, I've been busy over the past year working on a little side hustle called @pr_mums. Aiming to help mums back into the communications industry after family leave. Incredible support from the industry already with nearly 50 agencies on board ❤️ https://t.co/4LRPhfkDq6

— Ali Maynard James (@AliMaynard) July 5, 2023

• Jonathan Owen: CIPR charity launches £75,000 fund to boost diversity (6 July)
  ‘The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)’s benevolent fund, Iprovision, has launched a £75,000 fund to help people from lower socio-economic and underrepresented groups to pursue careers in PR.’

NHS at 75

https://twitter.com/KateBurkeNHS/status/1675775949667815424

• Freya Stockdale: In conversation with Matthew Taylor — Chief Executive, NHS Confederation (30 June)
  ‘The argument for investing in prevention and out of hospital care – often described as upstreaming – is well established and widely shared. However, persuading those holding the purse strings, whether centrally in the Treasury or locally in Trusts, is challenging. Too often ‘invest to save’ arguments are rejected, because in the past, new investment has not always led to the promised savings.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

There aren’t many benefits to being a partner of an MP – but this was a bit good! #DowningStreet #No10 pic.twitter.com/eUY5GSkWV5

— Sara Bristow (@SaraLPetela) July 6, 2023

• Harry Brown: Ready, set, go: Sir Keir Starmer launches fifth and final mission (6 July)
  ‘Starmer drew on his working class roots as he vowed a Labour government would shatter the ‘class ceiling’ and ‘tear down’ obstacles to opportunity.’
• Daisy Robertson and Hannah Blackford: Humza Yousaf’s first 100 days – survival of the fittest or not fit for office? (6 July)
  ‘Low poll ratings, relentless policy U-turns, and continued criticism for NHS Scotland waiting times have done little to inspire confidence in his leadership, particularly given his previous responsibility over the health brief.’
• Sharika Santha Kumar: APAC in the News (June Edition) (3 July)
  ‘President Xi Jinping stated that China is willing to play a positive role to help the Palestinians achieve internal reconciliation and promote peace talks with Israel.’
• Angus Hill: Labouring to the point (2 July)
  ‘Climate change, energy costs, and energy independence is a challenging trifecta to find a solution to at the best of times, let alone when the overriding priority is to project economic competence and fiscal trustworthiness.’

Research, data, measurement and evaluation

• Ben Sigerson: A Practical Guide to Trustworthy AI for Social & Media Monitoring (July)
  ‘How do we get AI-powered social and media monitoring that is both accurate out-of-box and maintains its accuracy over time? If we can solve this, we may have addressed a core driver of distrust in AI in our industry.’
• Chris Norton and Vicki Murphy: World-Class Campaign Measurement with PR Futurist Stuart Bruce [podcast] (no date)
  ‘The measurement mistake most marketers make is not having set measurable objectives in the first place.’
• Abbie Trussler: What I learned about developing, delivering and evaluating comms (5 July)
  ‘When evaluating comms, it is really important to look at the whole picture not just the numerical data. For example: Look at what was going on in the month you had a sudden jump in followers: was there a new partnership announcement, launch of a new campaign or some media coverage?’

Behaviour and influence

• Emma Drake: A/B Testing for Behaviour Change Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide [podcast] (6 July)
  ‘A/B testing or split testing is an experimental approach to testing two or more variations of the same thing – in this case of a message, ad or web page or any piece of collateral.’. 

Internal communication

Here’s today’s Members’ Week drop!

This new Internal Communications Measurement Guide and Matrix produced in association with CIPR Inside provides a comprehensive look at the scope of internal comms measurement.

From auditing internal communications to choosing the right… pic.twitter.com/38ZBecpwxL

— Chartered Institute of Public Relations (@CIPR_Global) July 6, 2023

• Jenni Field: Chaos to calm: Understanding organisational chaos with Jenni Field [podcast] (5 July)
  ‘Chaos is all around us all of the time. In organisations, chaos is everywhere because organisations are complex. And they are complex because they involve people.’
• Martin Flegg: Time to say goodbye (1 July)
  ‘I’ve written before about why internal communication recruitment is like:: the lawless Wild West. How the confusion about professional standards, meaningless job titles and no clear universal benchmarks for what an internal communicator is, or does, increases the risk of mismatches between successful applicants and IC roles.’

Media, digital and technology

• Gary Taylor: Threads is not a Twitter killer… but it should be (6 July)
  ‘[Meta has] got the people and server power to deliver a truly great Twitter-as-it-should-be product, and it hasn’t. It’s been hamstrung from the off. In that sense, it is no better than Twitter is right now – and in some areas, much worse.’
• Matthew Ford: The SEC Newgate AI Weekly (6 July)
  ‘It’s been another fast-paced week in the world of AI, with big developments from Microsoft, Midjourney and LinkedIn.’
• Paul Sutton: Threads: A case of the Emperor’s New Clothes (5 July)
  ‘Much of the marketing communications internet seems to be very excited about [Threads] being the app that will sound the death knell for Twitter. Except me.’
• Chris Bunting: AI, comms and creativity (4 July)
  ‘This is a technology that is going to make its presence felt throughout our working lives and that we will use, rather than simply consume.’
• Dan Slee: GO NOW: A footballer’s farewell video that works and one that doesn’t (5 July)
  ‘As one person comments, it has the look of a hostage video. It would also be wrong to try and force emotion. Fake tears are fake.’
• Neville Hobson: T2: a new microblogging champion (3 July)
  ‘If you’re a kick-the-tyres kind of person who relishes the unexpected, loves testing the new, and sharing your discoveries and learnings with others, then this is exactly the place for you!’

Academic, education and training

Our July summer offer on @CIPR_Global online courses starts today! #pr #internalcomms #digital #crisicomms https://t.co/KSCBzUVsr3 pic.twitter.com/FRkdvlzIkF

— PR Academy (@pracademy) July 4, 2023