This week in PR (9 December)

It happened this week

5/8 #Qatar2022  reflections
No alcohol changes the atmosphere.
It feels odd to us westerners but no alcohol turns the feel from male sporty to family festival. And that's by no means a bad thing.

— Tony Langham (@TonyLangham) December 7, 2022

Consulting, skills and careers

We blur the lines between management, sustainability and comms consultancy, putting People and Planet on equal footing as Profit, and focusing on positive impact for our clients. Delighted to have been shortlisted for the Consultancy of the Year at the edie awards. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/N0LChoNVNW

— nik govier (@nikdone) December 7, 2022

• Emma Drake: Skills & Themes for your 2023 Comms Strategy [podcast] (8 December)
  ‘We need to adapt our skills to keep ahead of the curve. One [trend] is the growth of digital media; the other is the need for authenticity.’
• Chris Simmance with Jim Hawker: And we have an Office Dog! [podcast] (7 December)
  ‘We describe ourselves as a brand performance agency: a PR agency merging with a performance marketing agency, acquiring a creative and then an SEO agency.’
• Hoffman Europe: Unconventional paths to PR: How did we all get here? (part 2) (5 December)
  ‘The bustling world of public relations and communications is filled with people from all walks of life. While some of us pursued degrees in PR or journalism, many stumbled upon the industry from something vastly different: from accounting, history, law, to other creative backgrounds.’

https://twitter.com/alexjonespr/status/1600786518720712706

Gender, wellbeing and diversity

• Katie de Cozar: Three habits to adopt in 2023, to build a healthier workforce (no date)
  ‘It’s clear that while progress has been made [on mental health], more needs to be done. As we head towards 2023, there are three habits I’d love to see companies adopt.’

Public and third sectors

https://twitter.com/judetipper/status/1598642728283275266

• Catherine Howe: GUEST POST: ‘I did not realise how integral communications are to the council’s activities’ (8 December)
  ‘Working for the council has shown me an array of challenges that local government faces during these strange times; indeed, I started here only two days before the budget proposals were announced, during a cost-of-living crisis, after a global pandemic…’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere

https://twitter.com/CIPR_Global/status/1599701462451474433

• George Esmond: Government faces Christmas of chaos as further industrial action is announced (8 December)
  ‘The public is faced with the very real prospect of a Christmas wrought with strikes and industrial action as the cost of living continues to soar.’
• Alexander Shayler: The UK Government has been ‘pwned’: The consequence of data breaches for democratic politics (8 December)
  ‘The Sunday Mail recently reported that former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ mobile number was being sold online for £6.49. This showcases the level of personal data which is available to purchase for some of the UK’s most senior politicians; it’s time this was acknowledged.’
• Molly Gretton: The reality of rip off rents in London (8 December)
  ‘Alongside this drastic shortage in availability, the average London tenant can expect to spend approximately 40% of their income on renting a property.’

• David Scane: Reputation will be key as Gove scraps housing targets (6 December)
  ‘In a move designed to stave off a Tory rebellion estimated to be 100 MPs strong, the government announced overnight that it would be softening its approach towards housing targets.’
• Andrew Brown and Hannah Blackford: What does the Supreme Court’s verdict mean for the future of the Scottish independence debate? (6 December)
  ‘Whilst Downing Street is likely to view this outcome as a win, the optics of this case play to the First Minister’s narrative that the UK is not a voluntary partnership of equals and risks driving support for independence north of the border – a scenario which Number 10 strategists will be acutely aware of.’
• Thomas Sharpe: The UK and France – A Family Affair (6 December)
  ‘The UK and France are like siblings. They may love each other deep down but most of the time they seem to be fighting it out. Always trying to outdo the other.’
• Laura Thomas: Nearly a Third of the British Public is Beyond the Reach of Communicators. Here’s How to Make Sure Vital Messages Cut Through (no date)
  ‘Clearly, there is an audience of millions of Britons untouched by communications on a variety of vitally important issues. The Opt-Outs are sceptical about the government, disconnected from their local community, and potentially more vulnerable to scams.’

https://twitter.com/PLMRLtd/status/1600242882656448517

Brands, content, community and creativity

Research, data, measurement and evaluation

Yes! @andremanning67’s comms pro 3.0 can no longer be the person who says ‘I was never good in maths so I went into PR’. Embracing analytics is the future of our function. My talk at 1pm today will show you ways to do this that we don’t have to fear pic.twitter.com/B2dJker8Q1

— Richard Bagnall (@richardbagnall) December 8, 2022

Crisis, risk and reputation

#BrewDog campaign claimed its beer makes up "One of your five a day”. So, the ASA banned it. Brew Dog sarcastically replied with: "We… are happy to confirm that beer is not a fruit or a vegetable". How many reputational lives do they have left? https://t.co/pxKKzVMxRz

— Paul MacKenzie-Cummins (@PaulMacKenzie_C) December 7, 2022

• Sheena Thomson: Business risk research project launches – first Pulse survey results (8 December)
  ‘Last week Sheena Thomson Consulting launched a year-long research project examining the risks and challenges facing business and organisational leaders in this time of heightened uncertainty and challenges.’

Internal communication

• Antonia Welch: How to write a Christmas message to staff (7 December)
  ‘Many organisations might not have bothered with an official Christmas message in the past, but this year it really could be worth putting in the effort. As with all internal communications, it’s crucial to strike the right note (or risk doing more harm than good). It’s not always easy to start with a blank sheet of paper so, here is my guide to writing that end of year message.’

• Calm Edged Rebels: Where does culture sit? [podcast] (2 December)
  ‘The responsibility for culture is often given to the HR team. But is it a role HR should be responsible for? Communication is the tangible representation of culture.’

Media, digital and technology

https://twitter.com/stuartbruce/status/1600796513130532867

• Matt Redley: ‘The future of communication?’ The stunning power of ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence chatbot (6 December)
  ‘ChatGPT can understand human dialogue and generates detailed human-life text as if you were typing to a friend, can simplify difficult concepts, and can even write code and fix bugs in Python, a programming language.’

Had such a great morning hosting Battenhall’s 10th annual social media trends briefing. From the new benchmark data to our Gen Z speakers’ BeReal & TikTok insights.

Our report goes out to attendees today and general release tomorrow at https://t.co/sd3RtmOQCB #battenhalltrends pic.twitter.com/rT7vXaAQgM

— Drew Benvie (@drewb) December 7, 2022

https://twitter.com/CMRLee/status/1600056036945104897

Academic, education and training

• Ben Smith with Tasos Theofilou and Heather Yaxley: Education Vrs Experience: What are the benefits of an in-career PR qualification? [podcast] (7 December)
  ‘You can get a long way in PR practice through experience. I see education as a rocket fuel that helps you answer the question ‘why’, not just ‘what’.

#prstudent #CreatorAwards23

This section is open to any UK-based public relations student (or indeed, any UK-based student seeking a career in public relations). This week it’s dominated by Sunderland students; others are welcome too. Tag your shareable content with #prstudent and I’ll consider it for inclusion here.

Brilliant to have the #PR legend that is @10Yetis chat to our @UoGjourno students this week about digital PR and link building ideas. You can tell by their smiles that it was a great session! pic.twitter.com/ukQ52ervul

— Jenny Eastwood (@JennyEGlos) December 7, 2022

• Chloe Rose (Sunderland): My Top 5 Favourite Christmas Campaigns (8 December)
  ‘TK Maxx have gone down a different route to other campaigns this year, and attempted to position themselves as THE go to place for low-cost but high quality gifts amid the UK’s cost of living crisis.’
• Bianca Stoica (Sunderland): Let’s talk CSR and CSI. (2 December)
  ‘When you analyze the company from a CSI (Corporate Social Irresponsibility) perspective, you realize Nestle uses palm oil in almost every product it produces!’

• Destiny Hollern (Sunderland): Cosy Community’s online takeover: how video games of farming, crafting and puzzles has reigned supreme on social media (2 December)
  ‘Many of us have our own meaning and definition of cosy, however at least in popular culture, video games were not necessarily seen as a part of the discussion. This is because some of the most popular video games seem anything but comforting. Games that involve zombie outbreaks, war or even just frustrating platformers.’

• Rachel Williams (Sunderland):
  

  @lamoralibraryPlease feel free to share your thoughts, whatever they are! #booktok #ukbooktok #booktokpr #booktoker #ukbooktoker #bookish #publishingindustry #publicrelations #prstudent #lamoralibrary♬ original sound – rachel (@lamoralibrary)