✅ Monday briefing: From Ukraine with love, comms response to Ukraine, support independent media, Russian sanctions, job support, climate misinformation, ECM survey, and more…

Ukraine, industry, social media and platforms, and events

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

Today is my 52nd birthday. This article that I wrote about middle age seven years ago remains spot on. If you enjoy the Wadds Inc. community, my blog or want to buy me a pint for my birthday I’d appreciate a donation to this Ukraine fundraiser.

Ukraine

♥️ FROM UKRAINE WITH LOVE: Nataliya Popovych founder of One Philosophy, a 70-person agency in Kyiv wrote a letter from Ukraine about Russia’s invasion. She calls upon the global PR community to support Ukraine as a nascent democracy defending both itself and the rest of the free world. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

⛑️ COMMS RESPONSE TO UKRAINE: The Ukraine government communications team has developed a website, including information, key messaging, visuals and official channels for information and donations. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sought offers of external support. Source Maja Pawinska Sims.

📰 SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA: A crowdfunder has been set up with the aim of showing independent news about the war in Ukraine to Russians using digital ads to counter censorship. The Kremlin has shut down independent media and social media as Putin continues to promote propaganda. Spotted Rebecca Elisabeth Taylor.

⛔ RUSSIAN SANCTIONS: A checklist created by law firm RPC provides useful guidance for anyone working with clients and management teams on Russian sanctions. It sets out practical steps to manage compliance with EU, UK and US sanction lists. Spotted Sheena Thomson. 

👊 FIGHTING PROPAGANDA: Lynn PR’s Misinformation Cell has created a propaganda toolkit to help spot Russian propaganda and hit back with counter narratives and content. Source Shayoni Sarkar Lynn and Stefan Rollnick.

💻 JOB SUPPORT: The EU has granted residency rights to Ukraine citizens escaping the war and heading to Europe. Please support displaced colleagues in communications and public relations looking for work if you’re hiring. Source Nicky Regazzoni and Stephen Waddington.

🏬 BRAND REACTION TRACKER: Adweek has created a live digest of how consumer brands and industry groups are offering aid to Ukrainian refugees, boycotting Russia and otherwise contributing to efforts aimed at ending the conflict. Source Stuart Bruce.

Industry

🌳 CLIMATE MISINFORMATION: The latest IPCC report makes it clear that we have a brief window of time to avoid some of the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. The PRCA called on the PR industry to stop greenwashing and to start acting with intent by asking the right questions of organisations, claims and campaign briefs. Source John Brown.

ℹ️ ECM SURVEY: The European Communication Monitor addresses topics such as the challenges of diversity and inclusion, empathetic leadership in communications teams, CommTech and digital transformation, and quality in communications consulting. Your contribution would be much appreciated. Source Alexander Buhmann and Teela Clayton. 

🚪 BRAND VALUES: Estee Lauder fired John Demsey, a senior executive who posted a meme last week on his personal Instagram page that contained a racial slur and a joke about COVID-19. The company said the posts had caused widespread offence and conflicted with its inclusivity efforts. Spotted Nafisa Ali Shafiq.

Social media and platforms

📝 LINKEDIN NEWSLETTERS: Jems Polomski has created a searchable Google Data Studio dashboard of the around 11K+ LinkedIn newsletters currently being published. Martin Waxman is the highest ranked PR related newsletter with 336k subscribers. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith and Martin Waxman.

👫 TWITTER COMMUNITIES: Twitter Communities enable users to connect and share content around topics. Tweets in communities are public but only others within a community can engage and participate in a discussion. Spotted David Gallagher.

🖊️ INSTAGRAM VIDEO CAPTIONS: Instagram feed videos now include auto-generated captions by default. It’s an accessibility boost for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Instagram uses speech recognition technology to automatically create captions, which appear as text at the bottom of the screen. Spotted Alan Morrison.

Events

📅 BOOK WADDSCON MARCH: Each of our speakers at WaddsCon in March has an important story to tell about how they worked with the media to engage the public in an important conversation. Topics include: women's safety, taking on Britain's slave past, building a legacy from 9/11, and grassroots community football. Source Stephen Waddington.

📣 COVID-19 COMMS: I'm speaking at 5pm tonight at a London College of Communication event along with Dr. Anca Anton, Dr. Alenka Jelen, and Dr. Raluca Moise. During the session we'll explore how COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the public relations industry. You’d be welcome to join us. Source Stephen Waddington.