✅ Monday Briefing #20: UK obesity ad consultation, comms conspiracy, Guinness recall, PDR tool, productivity apps, Parler boom and more…

Industry news, research and consultations, media offers, practice, tools, social media and platforms, events and food bank fundraiser

Good morning. My name is Stephen Waddington. This is a weekly summary of news from my blog and topics discussed in a community of practice that I run on Facebook.

The community started life as a lockdown project for industry debate, discussion and gossip. It has developed into a vibrant, supportive, borderless space. It's been the genesis of my new business, a source of work, the inspiration for countless articles, discussions and friendships.

You’d be welcome to join us. My thanks to all the contributors.

I’ve teamed up with Prowly to bring you this offer. Everything you need to manage media relations packed into a user-friendly tool—without expensive and confusing long-term contracts. Try Prowly free for 7 days.

Industry news

📑 PR CONTRACT CLARITY: The CIPR and PRCA have called for transparency on how public money is being spent on PR contracts. The Sunday Times claims that Admiral Associates has been paid £670,000 for a COVID-19 vaccine campaign without a formal procurement process. Source: Maja Pawinska Sims. 

📣 INDUSTRY SUPPORT: In an upbeat message to the PR industry the new IPRA President Philippe Borreman said that it is the only profession with the skill set to navigate complex relationships in the rapidly changing political, social and environmental landscape. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

Research and consultations

🍯 UK OBESITY AD CONSULTATION: The UK Government has launched a public consultation to restrict online advertising related to products that are high in fat, sugar and salt. The consultation is open for six weeks via childhood.obesity@dhsc.gov.uk. Spotted by: Marshall Manson.

🖼️ INFLUENCERS AND JOURNALISTS: Influencers are indistinguishable from journalists according to Nieman Lab. The public holds the two sources of news content to the same credibility and standards. Spotted by: Andrew Bruce Smith.

Tortoise subscription

🐢 TORTOISE SUBSCRIPTION: I've three 12 month gift subscriptions for Tortoise for students or anyone driving media, PR and marketing practice forward. Drop me an email at stephen.waddington@wadds.co.uk and let me know why you'd like one. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

Practice

🙅 COMMS CONSPIRACY: Don’t Cry Wolf’s John Brown has written a DIY how-to guide to creating a conspiracy theory after observing the communication strategy used by the Trump administration. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington. (#client).

🍺 GUINNESS RECALL: Guinness has recalled its alcohol-free stout days before it was due to go on sale in Ireland. It said the move was a “precautionary measure” as microbiological contamination “may make some cans of Guinness 0.0 unsafe to consume”. Spotted by: Máire McGrath.

❌ HUMANING MARKETING: Mondelēz mangled the English language announcing a new marketing strategy called humaning. The first rule of marketing and PR is to listen and use the language of your audience. The second two is that nouns should never be turned into verbs. Spotted by: Rod Cartwright, Mark Dye and Nigel Sarbutts.

Tools

🔢 PDR SELF ASSESSMENT TOOL: I’ve used the Global Alliance Capability Framework to create a self-assessment tool for learning and development. It benchmarks 37 capabilities in 11 areas and sets out three high level capabilities of PR and management communication. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

🗒️ PRODUCTIVITY APPS: The market for personal organisation platforms is crowded. GQueues, Microsoft To Do, Notion, Todolst and Trello were all cited in a community discussion about personal productivity tools. Aim for a single source of truth. A notepad and pen also works. Source: Stephen Canning and various.

Social media and platforms

😧 COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRESS: Former social media account manager and social strategist Christina Garnett discusses the mental health impact of the role. The feisty nature of social media results in stress and anxiety for practitioners. Spotted by: Liz Bridgen.

💬 PARLER BOOM: Twitter alternative Parler was the most-downloaded app in the US last week. Conservative supporters have flocked to the self-styled free speech app after the US election following a disinformation clampdown by Twitter. Spotted by Mark Dye and David Gallagher.

🗯️ FACEBOOK NASTY TALK: Since the US election an internal Facebook metric has tracked a rise in violence and incitement on the platform. The metric, based on tracking hashtags, keywords and conspiracy theories rose by almost 50% last week. Spotted by Emma Ewing.

👨‍⚖️ SOCIAL MEDIA REGULATION: A report by the Forum for Information and Democracy calls for freedom of opinion and expression including the right to reliable information on digital platforms. It recommends the creation of a "statutory building code" which describes mandatory safety and quality requirements. Spotted by: Steve Earl.

🔔 COVID CUT THROUGH: In his latest COVID Comms update Dan Slee suggests that if you want to cut through on Facebook you need to focus on community groups and share local news, local data, and celebrate frontline workers. Discussions start with rich content rather than text posts. Source: Dan Slee.

Events

🗓️ DIARY DATES: Here are two great free events for your diary led by agencies that I support. Don’t Cry Wolf’s John Brown is hosting a discussion about B Corps on 6pm on 17 November. Meanwhile Lynn PR’s Shayoni Lynn is running a session on the practical application of behavioural science in PR on 25 November. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

Food bank fundraiser

🍝 If you find this weekly newsletter helpful please consider donating to my food bank fundraiser. £5 would be great, £10 would be fantastic, and £20 would be amazing. We’ve raised £8,245 including gift aid and match funding. I’m aiming to make it £10,000. Thank you.