✅ Monday briefing: Ukraine PR support, WaddsCon March, crisis communication, agency bite back, not so Innocent, LinkedIn newsfeed changes, fake agency, ad fraud, and more...

Industry, media, best and bad practice, social media, research and insight, 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.

We've published the WaddsCon schedule for 2022. Over the year we'll be exploring how public relations practitioners work with journalists and earned forms of media. We’ll discuss pitching, newsjacking, data storytelling, the relationship between owned and earned media, promoting coverage, integrated marketing, and reporting and measurement.

WaddsCon is a monthly conference in which four people present on a contemporary area of media, marketing, or public relations. Its goal is to provide a platform for original contributors to cover a diverse range of topics. It is high energy, fast paced and fun.

In March each of the speakers has a story to tell about how they worked with the media to engage the public in an important conversation. You can register now. I hope that you’ll join us.

Thanks to CommsHero, PR Cavalry, Reuben Sinclair, and the PRCA for their support.

Industry

😂 AGENCY LIFE: Comedian Rob Mayhew’s TikTok account is a must follow for anyone who has ever worked in an agency. Brainstorms, copy amends, pitching, all agency meetings, and lousy management have all been given Rob’s humorous treatment. Spotted Tamara Littleton.

🚨CRISIS COMMUNICATION: A CIPR report tells the story of how public relations has been successfully used by organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s an uplifting record of the profession’s work told via a series of 21 case studies. Source Stephen Waddington.

Media

💻 WEBSITE VISITS: Tech firms (Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft), the Government, NHS, and media (BBC, Reach and Mail) were among the top ten UK websites for January according to UKOM Ipsos iris. Media sites BBC, Reach, and Mail have an audience of 39.0 million, 38.7 million, and 33.0 million respectively. Spotted Alan Morrison.

Best and bad practice

🪙 AGENCY BITE BACK: Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo called out Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on Twitter for claiming its Superbowl ad was produced in-house. In fact, the ad was lifted from a deck that had been pitched to Coinbase by Cavallo’s agency. It’s good to see an agency defend its work. Spotted Scott Guthrie and Stuart Bruce.

🧃 NOT SO INNOCENT: Another week and another case of greenwashing marketing being called out. Innocent ads have been banned after the ASA ruled that they misled customers. The regulator said the ads implied buying Innocent drinks would have a positive environmental impact when it was not the case. Spotted Alan Morrison and Andy Oliver.

Social media

📣 NEWSFEED CHANGES: LinkedIn is giving its users more control over the content that appears in their newsfeeds following feedback. Updates include supressing irrelevant content and connections and the ability to follow community conversations. Spotted Alan Morrison.

👨‍🔬️ COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT: Guild has published a guide to community strategy in the form of a Periodic Table. It sets out ten elements to building and managing a healthy online community. These include setting goals, management roles, and membership value exchange. Source Michelle Goodall.

Research and insight

🤯 FAKE AGENCY: The story of how over 50 employees were tricked into working for a creative agency during the pandemic is told in a BBC documentary called Jobfished. Journalist Catrin Nye investigates how dozens were hired by MadBird, a made-up company fronted by self-proclaimed influencer Ali Ayad. Spotted Rob Bruce.

🌍 AD FRAUD: The value of digital advertising spend lost to fraud will reach $68 billion globally in 2022; rising from $59 billion in 2021. A report by Juniper Research identified the top five countries (US, Japan, China, South Korea, and UK) most impacted by advertising fraud which together account for two-thirds of losses. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

🗣️ ACCESSIBLE COMMUNICATIONS: One in eight people globally has some form of disability that impacts how they access digital content. The PRCA’s updated Accessible Communications Guidelines include detail on video and animated graphics, thoughtful use of language and representation, and hosting physical and virtual events. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

Events

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