This week in PR (9 October)

Author: Richard Bailey, Editor
9th October 2020 15 min read

About the author

Richard Bailey Hon FCIPR is editor of PR Academy's PR Place Insights. He teaches and assesses undergraduate, postgraduate and professional students.

@wearebottle The best kind of #MondayMotivation is being together again, for the first time in what feels like forever. “We’ve done 6 months without seeing each other. The thought of another 6 months was too much to bear. So, as we’re lucky that no-one needs to use public transport and because our office could accommodate a 10m distance between us if we needed to, we've agreed (a voluntary) 2 days together a week. We believe this is what we need to keep our minds healthy and the agency thriving over the long winter to come.”
@wearebottle The best kind of #MondayMotivation is being together again, for the first time in what feels like forever. “We’ve done 6 months without seeing each other. The thought of another 6 months was too much to bear. So, as we’re lucky that no-one needs to use public transport and because our office could accommodate a 10m distance between us if we needed to, we've agreed (a voluntary) 2 days together a week. We believe this is what we need to keep our minds healthy and the agency thriving over the long winter to come.”

News in brief

  • Here’s the full list of candidates standing in the CIPR elections for council and for president-elect. Voting closes on Friday 16 October and the results will be announced on Monday 19 October.
  • Here are those shortlisted for PRovoke Media’s Global 2020 agency of the year awards
  • ‘Allegra Stratton to be Boris Johnson’s TV spokeswoman’ according to The Guardian

Events

Please note our PR Calendar, plus we’ve just been alerted to the following event:

CIPR election

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6717816030623776768

Covid-19 and comms

  • Amanda Coleman: Nine weeks, and another nine weeks (7 October)
    ‘We need to take a different look at how the restrictions are managed and communicated. As a starting point there needs to be an attempt to accurately understand why people are not hearing the messages about what they need to do.’

Purpose and professionalism

https://twitter.com/Wcommlondon/status/1313767365616730114

Consulting, teams and careers

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6718478746078314496

  • Caroline Addy: The art of PRomance (6 October)
    ‘After the cork-popping celebrations of winning a new client comes the real work. Building – and maintaining – a strong relationship that stands the test of time requires effort. But the results are always worth it, which is why our motto is ‘old is gold’. Here’s five things we’ve learnt about the art of PRomance.’
  • Laura Sutherland: Laura talks to Rachel Miller about being an IC consultant and an entrepreneur [podcast] (6 October)
    ‘I’ve been a consultant for the last seven and a half years, and this year has been the most stressful and exciting yet. As an IC consultant, our skills have never been more in demand. But as a business owner my earnings have gone down 90% because I’ve been with my three young children. It’s been savage.’
  • Sarah Samways: Has COVID changed the way the PR industry works? (no date)
    ‘As soon as lockdown was announced, PR campaigns for our clients changed overnight. We had to shelve product launches, ditch campaigns we’d spent months working on and flick a switch so we could give the press what they needed at that time.’

Wellbeing, gender and diversity

Public and third sectors

  • Dan Slee: LONG READ: It’s time we talked about how Twitter is fading (7 October)
    ‘Forget the PR bubble. It’s what the public themselves are doing that’s really changed my ideas about Twitter.’
  • Naomi Harris: What to expect and how to plan for the Energy White Paper (5 October)
    ‘Timing aside, we know that the White Paper’s central aim is to put the UK on the path towards the decarbonisation of the entire energy system. Its scope is huge.’
  • Oliver Tipper: Comms: facing the triple threat (5 October)
    ‘I’m not ashamed to say in the early stages of the pandemic response I had a few wobbles, said a few daft things, sent a few bad emails, and needed to sit down and have a word with myself. Basically, I needed a plan and the resource to deliver it.’

Politics, public affairs and public sphere 

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6718836528145141760

  • Stuart Thomson: Beware of classic political deflection techniques (7 October)
    ‘Governments and politicians will always try to dominate the news agenda in their own, not always positive, ways. They need to capture the attention of voters. But there is also the seemingly increasing tendency to try to deflect attention.’

Risk, crisis and reputation

Brands, storytelling, and influence

Internal communication

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:6719884344233652224

  • Nick Helsby: Injecting a dose of strategic rigour into internal communications (7 October)
    ‘If IC is to evolve into a more rigorous, insightful function, with the ability to help effect changes in motivation engagement and behaviour, it needs to at very least have access to this research and the ability to integrate this into its planning and content development.’
  • Sophie Shaw: The power of a connected network (no date)
    ‘The journey to thought leadership status is not just for the boardroom elite. They may lead the charge, but to truly achieve status in the eyes of your potential customers, you need your broader workforce to align on the journey too.’

Technology, media and digital

Academic, education and training

https://twitter.com/sevilyesiloglu/status/1311936812722589696

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

We’re keen to showcase bloggers and content creators among current public relations students. First, we need to find you. So here’s an example to encourage others, shared on social media (and thus discoverable) using the #prstudent hashtag.

  • Kayleigh Tinney (Ulster): The Skincare Products I Can’t Live Without (7 October)
    ‘Over the past few years I have been trialing different skincare products and brands to find which ones worked best for me and my problematic (eczema prone) skin.’

Related topics

#bestPRblogs #prstudent #ThisWeekinPR