Monday briefing #3: digital ad woe, fake journalists, workplace serendipity, tackling diversity, Zoom alternative, COVID-19 map, and more…
Research, future of work, tools, commercial break, industry news, book recommendations, and diary dates.
Good morning. My name is Stephen Waddington. This is a mix of articles from my own blog and content discussed in the marketing, media and PR community that I manage on Facebook. My thanks to all the contributors. Please let me know if you’ve any feedback or I can help your organisation.
Research
🔎 AD MARKET STUDY: The 400+ page CMA digital ad study concludes that a regulator is needed to govern platform behaviour and oversee the ad market to increase consumer choice, interoperability, and data access. Spotted by: Karan Chadda.
😞 MORE DIGITAL AD WOE: The digital ad market is a mess according to Forbes, characterised by fake websites and bots. It’s a market without constrains. My tip? Focus on outcomes. Spotted by: Andrew Smith.
😦 FAKE JOURNALISTS: An online propaganda campaign that used AI-generated head shots to create fake journalists has been uncovered by The Daily Beast. It placed op eds in Conservative outlets. Spotted by: Kerry Sheehan.
Future of work
🎆 SAFEGUARDING SERENDIPITY: COVID-19 has stopped chance meetings in offices, conferences or while travelling. Like algorithms it is having a reductive impact on creative thinking. But what’s the solution? Source: David Gallagher.
👥 TACKLING DIVERSITY: PR, like many other professional services, has a diversity problem. It’s an issue often levelled at recruiters. Opening up briefs would enable recruiters to help tackle the issue. Source: Rohan Shah.
🗞️ NEWSPAPER WOE: Reach, publisher of the Daily Express, Daily Star, OK! Magazine and a stable of regional newspapers is cutting 550 people, blaming falling ad revenue and circulation. Spotted by: Kerry Sheehan.
Tools
📏 MEASUREMENT TOOLKIT: It is no longer acceptable to say that you work in PR and you’re not a numbers person. AMEC tools include: the Integrated Evaluation Framework and the Measurement Maturity Mapper. Source: Richard Bagnall.
📺 MOVE OVER ZOOM: Mmhmm is a video conferencing collaboration tool born of the COVID-19 pandemic. It enables you to screen share while remaining in the frame. Grab an invitation. Spotted by: Andrew Smith.
🗺️ COVID-19 MAP: Software developer Russ Garrett has built an open data project that shows the weekly per-capita prevalence of COVID-19 by region in England and Wales for the last seven days. Spotted by: Paul Clarke.
👹 SOCIAL MEDIA RESISTANCE: Google Docs has become a tool for grassroots organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the police brutality protests sweeping the US. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.
Commercial break
📥 There’s lots of talk in marketing, media and PR industry this week about job woe especially among agencies and newspapers. But it's not all doom and gloom. Here's where to hunt for growth. Helping agencies tackle these issues is my day job. Source: Stephen Waddington.
Industry news
📻 PR INDUSTRY PODS: There are staff cuts to come in the PR industry according to the PRCA boss Francis Ingham. Meanwhile the CIPR’s Alastair McCapra said that the CIPR will never go back to an office. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.
🇭🇰 HONG KONG PR: After a long and troubled search for a PR agency, Provoke Media investigates Hong Kong's decision to hire an under-the-radar firm. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.
🏢 CORPORATE PR: WPP-owned Finsbury, Glover Park Group and Hering Schuppener are merging to form a new corporate communications firm to challenge corporate agencies such as Brunswick Group and Teneo. Spotted by: Matt Silver.
🛡️ SORRELL WATCH: Sir Martin, who made his fortune building holding company WPP, told PR Week this week that the model is past its sell-by date, calling out the complexity of clients, brands, geographies and operations. Spotted by: Andrew Smith.
Book recommendations
📚 BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE: Not a book but a list of books. Check out the Behavioural Scientist’s Summer Book List 2020. Spotted by: Sheena Thomson.
Diary dates
📅 15 July – 3pm to 4pm - Journalism, Power and Pandemic, London School of Economics. Spotted by: Debbie Sharratt.
📆 29 July – Podcomms 2020, The Annual Conference for Corporate Podcasting, Communicate Magazine. Spotted by: Andrew Thomas.