✅ Influence through insight
A week in management, media and public relations
Today, we’re publishing a report commissioned by NewsWhip, a predictive media insights platform. It asked us to investigate the role of public relations and corporate communications in supporting management with planning and insight.
We interviewed 20 senior communicators at organisations including Accenture, Adobe, BP, BT Group, Deloitte, Ford, Legal & General, Microsoft, Oracle, PayPal, Shell, Shopify, and Workday.
We’ve uncovered some original insights, particularly in relation to organisations taking a position on societal issues and a shift from public relations and corporate communications as a cost centre to a value creator.
Here’s a summary of the findings.
The outside-in view - The view of the corporate communication function is sought to provide a wider stakeholder media and public perspective. This is important as it frequently challenges the prevailing management view of external stakeholder perspectives.
Balancing business and society – Views are polarised within the corporate communication function on whether organisations should take a stand on social issues. There is a growing backlash against the expectation of the organisation to take a public position.
Measurement of the contribution to organisational success - The corporate communication function has traditionally been viewed as an operational cost. There is a growing case to support its financial role as a net contributor of value to the organisation.
Importance of data and insights - External perspectives are presented to management as data. A growing range of skills and tools enable this to be translated into actionable insight to support planning and decision-making.
Practitioner skills and competency - The modern corporate communication practitioner has unique strategic, analytical and technical skills. These are supplemented by business acumen, emotional intelligence, data literacy, cross-functional credibility and issues management expertise.
On a personal note, I'm really pleased with this project because it has uncovered some original insights and helped move me forward with my own PhD research. The relationship between public relations, corporate communication and management is under-researched.
As a next step, we plan to work with NewsWhip to investigate the business challenge of organisations taking a position on sensitive political and societal issues. It’s an issue that is highly relevant for corporate communication in the UK and US, with upcoming elections and public opinion increasingly polarised.
NewsWhip is a brilliant partner in its funding and support for this type of work. I also appreciate the time and insight of the individuals and organisations that participated in the project.
Have an excellent week.
Media
🗞 NORTH EAST LAUNCH: A new online-only North East regional title called The QT launches on Wednesday with a core team of five journalists led by former Journal editor Brian Aitken. The subscription-based site will provide local coverage of regional affairs and culture free from political spin, media bias and social media toxicity. Source: The QT.
🖼 DEFINING IMAGES: The iconic photoshoot has defined British politicians, from Margaret Thatcher posing in a tank to Boris Johnson stuck on a zip line. A Guardian photo essay captures monumental political events and amusing gaffes and reveals how visual imagery can powerfully shape public perception of political leaders. Source: The Guardian.
Industry
♀️ GENDER IMBALANCE: The PR Population Report is a grim read from a gender perspective. 66% of practitioners below director are female, and 34% are male. The situation is reversed in senior roles. 54% are male and 46% are female. Female practitioners don’t get the support to progress to senior roles and leave practice mid-career. Source: Wadds Inc.
Management
🗒 BOARD BLUEPRINT: Good corporate governance with regular productive board meetings improves company performance, risk management, resilience and growth. Creative agency boards should meet four to 12 times per year for two to four hours to review finances, operations, HR issues and progress on business goals. Source: Wadds Inc.
🏢 BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP: Labour's Plan for Business, published this week, focuses on economic stability through fiscal rules, backing British business through industrial strategy and support for innovation. Its overall goal is to partner with businesses to create stability and set a long-term strategic direction. Source: Sarah Waddington CBE..
📂 EXPANDING ROLE: A report published this week by Cision called Elevated & Evolving makes the growing case for corporate communications and public relations supporting management. Supporting growth, strategic counsel, data and analytics insight, crisis management and earned media are all cited as assertive areas for practitioners. Source: Cision.
Artificial Intelligence
🕵 BARD UPDATE: Google is upgrading its AI assistant Bard with its new Gemini mode and introducing free image generation to help visualise ideas in English-speaking countries. These upgrades make Bard more capable of understanding, summarising, reasoning, coding and planning. Source: Google.
✨ AI IN PR SLOW: The adoption of AI tools in public relations workflow is slow due to issues including a lack of clear processes, scepticism about quality and value, and hype versus reality. Sharing best practice more broadly could accelerate meaningful integration of AI capabilities into public relations workflows. Source: Bruno Amaral.
↪️ AI PARADOX: The House of Lords report on AI is something of a paradox. It called on the government to focus on opportunities for LLMs and prioritise open markets, but also give copyright holders a better deal and address areas of risk. Source: House of Lords.
Thank you to the following members of the House of Marketing & PR community of practice for sharing and debating stories covered in the newsletter over the past week: Mairi Clark, Robert Fias, Tim Hudson, Richard Leyland, Gemma Moroney, Alan Morrison, Andrew Bruce Smith and Sarah Waddington CBE.