✅ Monday briefing: Institutional racism, new books, state of journalism, relevance report, Wikipedia engagement, COVID-19 PR toolstack, April WaddsCon and more…

Industry, practice, research and insight, social media and platforms, tools and events

This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and community of practice for people studying and working in marketing, media and PR. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support. You’d be welcome to join.

Industry

😡 INSTITUTIONAL RACISM: The report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities for the UK Government was wrong in finding no evidence of institutional racism. Home Office policy, the Windrush generation and the legacy of Grenfell have all failed to be addressed. Source Kristian Hoareau Foged.

🏠 HOME COMFORTS: The post pandemic future of the office is home comfort according to a report from Wunderman Thompson. Office designs created by Citibank, Goop, Office of Things and Spotify integrate calming elements, comfort and hidden nooks and crannies. Spotted Kate Hartley.

📚 NEW BOOKS: Congratulations to Jenni Field on the publication of Influential Internal Communication; and David Gallagher and John O’Brien on the publication of Truth be Told. David will be joining the April WaddsCon on 30 April (see below). Source Jenni Field, David Gallagher and John O’Brien.

Practice

🗑️ PARIS HASHTAG CAMPAIGN: #SaccageParis trended on Twitter over the Easter weekend accusing the city’s socialist leadership of ruining the capital with rubbish. Parisian officials have since hit back blaming a “political smear campaign” and saying that the city clean has always been a problem. Spotted Alan Morrison. 

🖼️ AGENCY CREDENTIALS: When Gymshark marketing boss Noel Mack posted on LinkedIn seeking agency recommendations branding agency Orb turned up outside his office with a fleet of promotional vehicles promoting its credentials. Nicely done. Spotted Phil Szomszor. 

🤣 APRIL FOOLS: Volkswagen rebranded as Voltswagen in an April’s Fool stunt claiming the move recognised the vehicle manufacturer’s shift to electric vehicles. The gag was not well received after VW misled regulators on diesel emissions in 2008. As a general rule brands should generally avoid gags unless it fits with their tone of voice. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

Research and insight

📝 STATE OF JOURNALISM: 59% of journalists describe their relationship with PRs as mutually beneficial but cite room for improvement. Email pitches on a Monday between 5am and 9am. The Muckrack research is based on the US market but contains useful insight. Spotted Alan Morrison.

👂 RELEVANCE REPORT: Communication as a means of bridging social divide, the impact of tools such as chatbots on discourse, the evolution of ethics, and unlocking civic imagination are emerging issues for marketing and PR practice in the USC Center for Public Relations’ Relevance Report. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

🎒 CIPR PRACTITIONER SURVEY: The CIPR is keen to understand how practice has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic to help shape their policy and campaigns, inform debate and generate intelligence. It would welcome your viewpoint. Source Jon Gerlis.

Social media and platforms

🎙️ CLUBDECK AND CLUBHOUSE PAYMENT: Clubhouse has announced the launch of a payment service for content creators. Think OnlyFans for audio but without the porn. In related news non iOS users can access Clubhouse via a third-party service called Clubdeck. Spotted Stuart Bruce and Phil Szomszor. 

💬 TIKTOK ACCESSIBILITY: Auto captions generates subtitles for TikTok videos. Select auto captions in the editing page after uploading or recording a video and the text will be transcribed and displayed on your video. Spotted Alan Morrison. 

⛔ WIKIPEDIA ENGAGEMENT: Don’t contribute or edit Wikipedia pages if you have a conflict of interest. It breaches the community’s guidelines. The CIPR published guidance on engaging with the Wikipedia community in 2014. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

Tools

🔧 COVID-19 PR TOOLSTACK: A new Wadds Inc. project aims to characterise the COVID-19 PRstack. It has characterised 80 tools and found that the application of artificial intelligence is limited but there is innovative in data analysis, management and workflow. Source Stephen Waddington.

Events

📅 APRIL WADDSCON: WaddsCon at 1-2pm on 30 April features speakers on the current PR job market, creativity, storytelling and purpose. Follow this link for more information, speakers and booking. Source Stephen Waddington.