✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon, media challenges, COVID-19 lessons, timesheet debate, value of public relations, B Corp and big business, shit posting, anti social strategy, non apology, and more...
Media, industry, best and bad practice, research and insight, and tools
WaddsCon last week included four sessions on building better relationships with journalists. The presentations and discussion were as follows:
Abigail Bennetts spoke about a behavioural approach to pitching journalists
Brenda Gabriel shared a framework and insights galore on pitching tabloids
Will Hobson talked about newsjacking for consumer and ecommerce brands
Fenella Rickards discussed a shared approach to media intelligence in a team
Here’s the replay. Thanks to everyone who joined us.
Next month we've got a session dedicated to newsjacking and responsive public relations with Andy Barr, Paul Maher, Clara Kelly and Kate Hartley.
Conference tickets cost a £5 or £10 donation to The Bay Foodbank. It's our local foodbank in Newcastle. We also make 100 free tickets available for each event for students.
Media
📰 MEDIA CHALLENGES: The three greatest obstacles for journalism in the next 12 months are: maintaining trust in the fight against fake news (32%); fewer resources and more work (16%); and declining revenue (16%). The Cision 2022 Global State of the Media Report engaged 3,890 respondents in 17 markets. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Industry
😷 COVID-19 LESSONS: The PRovoke Media 2022 Global PR Agency Rankings reported that the world's top 250 public relations agencies grew by 11% in 2021. The contribution of public relations was elevated within organisations during COVID-19 as it supported crisis response and transformation. Source Arun Sudhaman.
🕓 TIMESHEET DEBATE: Timesheets are a cultural and workflow issue, reflected through an agency's philosophy, its offer to clients and its relationship with its staff. Finn Agency's Raf Weverbergh and Hard Numbers' Darryl Sparey spoke in favour and against timesheets in a debate hosted by PR Cavalry. Source Nigel Sarbutts.
📈 VALUE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS: A fundamental public relations problem lies at the heart of public relations practice. There is limited quantifiable analysis of the contribution of public relations to value creation whether that be financial, sustainability, or societal. Studies typically seek a practitioner rather than a business perspective. Source Stephen Waddington.
Best and bad practice
👩 RECLAIM YOURSELF: Small but crucial investments in yourself can lead to dramatic results and an entirely unexpected future. Inspirational activist Jamie Klinger and co-founder of Reclaim These Streets was speaking at TEDxKingstonUponThames. Source Jamie Klingler.
📃 B CORP AND BIG BUSINESS: Faux outrage at Evian, Nespresso and others being B Corp certified is misplaced. We should celebrate large organisations that use the B Corp framework as a means of driving change. The community exists to change the economy by working with companies of all sizes. Source John Brown.
⚠️ SHIT POSTING: A TikTok post by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about the Online Harms Bill has been widely mocked. However the content created by Nadine Dorries has achieved widespread message coverage and reach by being so compellingly awful. Maybe that’s the point. Source Sarah Waddington.
🙅 ANTI SOCIAL STRATEGY: Northern Trains frequently block customers who complain on social media. It's an odd tactic for a customer facing organisation. A Freedom of Information request found that they don't provide any kind of report to management on social media activity. Source Kat Harrison-Dibbits.
⛴️ NON APOLOGY: P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite dodged questions from the BBC's Transport Correspondent Katy Austin about the human impact of his company’s reorganisation. It was the first interview since the ferry company sacked almost 800 employees without consultation or notice. It replaced them with foreign agency workers paid less than the minimum wage. Spotted Steve Earl.
Research and insight
🍻 PARTY FINDINGS: Sue Gray's report into parties at No 10 found evidence of repeated law breaking during lockdown. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has changed the ministerial code to remove the need for ministers to resign over breaches. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🤕 MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT: Despite progress in the public relations industry to understand mental health issues, there's still a long way to go to provide adequate workplace support. An ongoing project seeks to understand ways to help practitioners. (Apologies: we posted the wrong link last week). Source Steph Brown.
Tools
🛠️ READER INSIGHTS: News Consumer Insights is a tool within Google's Journalist Studio toolkit that provides actionable insights for publishers based on web traffic. It's a repacking of Google Analytics data but provides useful reader level insight. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
🖼️ TIKTOK TOOLS: TikTok has opened up its platform to third-party tool vendors including: Brandwatch, Dash Hudson, Emplifi, Hootsuite, Khoros, Later, Sprinklr, and Sprout Social. It will provide improved planning, content management and analytics on the platform. Spotted Alan Morrison.
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