✅ Monday briefing: Front page campaigning, image rights, reputation tracking, #PlattyJubes creative, burger troll, #Justice4Grenfell, online safety, AP stylebook, cookie replacement, and more...
Book for WaddsCon June on newsjacking and responsive public relations
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.
Each of the speakers for the WaddsCon June will share best practice approaches to newsjacking and responsive public relations. We'll explore ways to land press coverage by incorporating a brand, organisation, or individual into the news cycle.
Here’s our line-up for 13:00, Wed, 29 June.
✅ How public relations invented newsjacking - Andy Barr, 10Yetis
✅ The newsjacking toolkit: best practice - Paul Maher, Positive Marketing
✅ A journalist-led approach: lessons from JOE - Clara Kelly, Legacy
✅When a brand should newsjack and when it shouldn't - Kate Hartley, Polpeo
Media
📰 FRONT PAGE: The New York Times repeated the same headline “Authorities said gunman was able to obtain the weapons legally” 15 times on a recent front page and ran a powerful cut and paste mass shooting editorial. It spotlighted the repeated failure of US legislators to act following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas. Spotted Kristian Hoareau Foged.
🔒 NOT MOVING ON: Activist group 38 Degrees ran ads across the front pages of five regional dailies. A mosaic image of the partying Prime Minister was shown made up of crowdsourced images from people who stayed home during lockdown. Its aim is to demand higher standards from the Prime Minister and people in public office. Spotted Stuart Bruce.
Industry
🖼️ IMAGE RIGHTS: Photographer Paul Clarke highlights the complexity of image rights in the UK after Bloomberg used a Getty image in a social media post of a woman who complained about its usage. He calls for more case studies to help understand this complex area of media law. Source Paul Clarke.
📈 REPUTATION TRACKING: The businesses with the highest public approval rating were those that acted swiftly following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The five highest scores were not necessarily the companies to go furthest and announce a complete withdrawal from Russia. Source Steve Leigh.
Best and bad practice
🐛 CATERPILLAR BATTLES: Cuthbert the caterpillar celebration cake is back with attitude. Aldi took a #CuthBack campaign poster van to M&S retail sites in a campaign to spotlight its courtroom cake win. M&S accused Aldi of ripping off its Colin the caterpillar cake. Spotted Niki Hutchinson.
👑 #PLATTYJUBES CREATIVE: Winner: Paddington at the Palace. Losers: Burberry’s floating meadow on a Thames River barge and Ann Summers’ Jubilee-themed sex positions. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🍔 QUARTER POUNDER TROLL: Aldi renamed its quarter pounder burgers in response to the UK Government’s consultation to switch back to imperial measurement. It wound up Twitter by using the incorrect metric weight for a quarter pounder burger. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🏳🌈 PRIDE MONTH: FIFA’s claims that the upcoming World Cup tournament in Qatar “will be a celebration of unity and diversity” received a heavy backlash. Its plan to celebrate Pride month by changing its social media branding to rainbow colours was also ridiculed. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🖼️ #JUSTICE4GRENFELL: The street party table set for the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster was a powerful image of the Platinum Jubilee weekend. Justice4Grenfell is campaigning for justice for those responsible for causing the fire almost five years ago. Spotted Sarah Waddington.
Research and insight
⚠️ ONLINE SAFETY: Social media firms are failing to keep women safe online according to OFCOM’s Online Nation report. Women are less confident about their online safety than men and more affected by discriminatory, hateful and trolling content. CEO Dame Melanie Dawes says tech firms must listen and act on safety concerns of female users. Spotted Michael Greer.
📝 AP STYLEBOOK: The 56th Edition includes a new chapter on inclusive storytelling and guidance on writing about people with disabilities and disabled people. It also includes updates on immigration, the coronavirus, gender and race-related coverage, including the capitalisation of Black and expanded use of singular they. Source Sarah Waddington.
ℹ️ COOKIE REPLACEMENT: Nine out of 10 marketers are experimenting with cookie replacements but only 12% reported they are prepared for a post-cookie future. The adoption of first party data is mixed according to research by MMA Global and Boston Consulting Group. Half of marketers plan to stick with cookie-based solutions for two years. Source: Andrew Bruce Smith.
Social media
🪦 MASS SHOOTING ARCHIVE: Wikipedia is tracking the victims of mass shootings in the US. It lists 269 incidents accounting for more than 300 deaths. Mass shootings are defined as incidents involving several victims of firearm-related violence. The data is collated by The Gun Violence Archive. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
👎 LEAN OUT: We learnt that Cheryl Sandberg is not a future CEO of Meta after she announced her departure this week. Her legacy includes helping Facebook become a $117bn digital advertising behemoth. The Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, disinformation, and the proliferation of hate speach have also taken place on her watch. Spotted Sarah Waddington.
🎞️ REEL UPDATE: Meta is adding new creative tools to Reels for Facebook and Instagram. You can now create, edit and publish Facebook Reels from your web browser through Creator Studio. You’ll also be able to schedule your Facebook Reels this way. Source Alan Morrison.
Tools
🔍 SEARCH INTELLIGENCE: AnswerThePublic has been acquired by Neil Patel's tool Ubersuggest. AnswerThePublic provides insights into the 3 billion search queries entered by users every day. Ubersuggest said that the addition of the search listening tool will enhance data visualisation and presentation. Spotted: Stephen Waddington.
Events
🔰 BOOK TOUR: Oxford is the next stop for the Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication book tour. Ralph Tench and I will discuss some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing public relations practice, and explore the future of the industry at 1pm on Wednesday 8 June. Source Stephen Waddington.