✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon replay, newsroom targets, trust in news declines, interview technique, dirty rosters, board operator, pricing dispute, brand backlash, BledCom report, and more...
Media, industry, best and bad practice, research and insight, and social media and platforms.
Here's the live replay from WaddsCon. Last week’s session focused on newsjacking and responsive media relations.
We heard from Andy Barr on the history of newsjacking; Clara Kelly shared practical tips from her experience of being both a public relations practitioner and a journalist; Paul Maher covered business-to-business; and Kate Hartley addressed areas of reputational risk.
WaddsCon is taking a break for the summer and will be back in September with a session on data storytelling. If you interested in presenting at a future event please hit reply to this email.
Media
✍️ NEWSROOM TARGETS: The 2021 Reach plc annual report includes performance indicators for its journalists alongside financial metrics (opens as a PDF, see page 30). It's an indicator of the pressure on journalists to generate page views. Customer registrations across Reach publications rose 82% in 2021 to 9.1 million, but page views were down 2% to 1.2 million per month. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith and Alan Morrison.
📉 TRUST IN NEWS DECLINES: Analysis of data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found a five-year decline in trust in UK news. The Times, The Telegraph and the BBC have seen the most dramatic falls. The Times was named the most trusted UK newspaper brand in 2018 but its reputation has fallen by a fifth. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
📞 INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE: Everything that you say during a press interview can be quoted and don't ask to approve quotes. Author, journalist and lecturer Chris Stokel-Walker has produced a useful guide to interviews from a journalist’s perspective. Source: Chris Stokel-Walker.
Industry
🤪 DIRTY ROSTERS: Edelman's announcement of a ZEO and so called Gen Z lab is a smokescreen for its work for fossil fuel clients according to Manifest boss Alex Myers. Edelman is noticeably absent from the 600+ signatories to the Clean Creatives initiative. It has previously been criticised by the group for its work for Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell. Source Alex Myers.
🏢 BOARD OPERATOR: Public relations practitioners have a range of skills to offer as school governors according to Katy Gandon. The theme of the contribution of practitioners to boards is developed by Farzana Baduel in an article about how to land a non executive role on a board. Spotted: Anna Pedroza and Farzana Baduel.
Best and bad practice
🍅 PRICING DISPUTE: Beans no longer means Heinz. The 1967 ad slogan may be one of the best known however Heinz branded baked beans, ketchup and salad cream no longer appear on Tesco shelves after a disagreement over price increases. Heinz has temporarily stopped supplying the supermarket after the pricing dispute went public. It’s reportedly a growing trend in the retail industry. Spotted Catherine Frankpitt.
🥫 BRAND BACKLASH: Brands increasingly need to make a values based call on who is a potential customer and who isn’t. It’s a point that was made by Kate Hartley during WaddsCon. Halifax has said that if customer don’t like the use of pronouns on its employees' badges they can close accounts. HSBC supported the move. Spotted Jenny Caven and Kate Hartley.
Research and insight
💌 LETTER FROM BLED: Topics covered among the 60 presentations at BledCom this year included information warfare, misinformation, internal comms, skills and the wellbeing of practitioners. Next year's programme will focus on sustainability. Source Stephen Waddington.
📖 BOOK REVIEW: You don't need an economist to tell you that trade wars exacerbate the gap between rich and poor but if you did Trade Wars Are Class Wars by Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis is a recommended read. It sets out the potential outcome of UK legislation to make unilateral changes to the Brexit deal. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🏦 INVESTMENT NARRATIVE: The Brunswick Digital Investor Survey (opens as a PDF) reports that communicators should replace overly optimistic, unclear messaging with transparent, direct, and articulated statements. The report explores how institutional investors access information, how they evaluate company communications, and the impact on investments. Source Marshall Manson.
Social media and platforms
🧾 WIKIPEDIA CONTENT: Google has agreed to pay Wikipedia for content displayed by its search engine, mirroring deals struck with news outlets in Europe. The Wikimedia Foundation, the charity that oversees the online encyclopaedia, said that Google was the first paying customer for its commercial venture Wikimedia Enterprise. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and community of practice for people studying and working in marketing, media and PR. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support. You’d be welcome to join.