✅ Monday briefing: Horizon scanning and strategy
Media, insight, artificial intelligence, best and bad practice, and technology and platforms
Much of our work at Wadds Inc. this year has focused on helping management teams make sense of uncertainty related to the economy, AI and future skills, and the challenge of reconciling growth with the green economy.
Sarah Waddington CBE has written about management planning and foresights work. It’s a means of unpacking potential change drivers for your organisation or its clients and making informed decisions about the future.
The Three Horizons tool is a useful resource that looks at how strategic issues change over time.
Horizon One is the here and now and highlights issues usually central to current policy. Horizons Two and Three is where management teams should focus, looking at issues and faint market signals that are increasing in relevance over time.
The aim is to adapt organisational policy and strategy in advance of future need by identifying what is driving the change and reacting appropriately.
The Role of Public Relations in Strategic Planning and Crisis Preparedness, a report researched and edited by Sarah and published by the Institute of Directors and Chartered Institute of Public Relations, sets out the role of public relations for management in helping businesses navigate economic and political turbulence.
If you’d like to book Sarah to run a futures and foresight workshop for your agency or clients or are looking for an experienced non-executive director to bring diverse thinking to your team, please get in touch.
Media
🎧 SPOTIFY CUTS: Spotify is laying off 200 people, predominantly from its podcast division, consolidating Gimlet Media and Parcast into a new Spotify Studios unit. In a change of strategy it will no longer carry exclusive podcast content. Read more. (Source Alan Morrison, Washington Post).
🌍 CLIMATE JOURNALISM: France Télévisions is adding climate change explanations to its weather forecasts, creating a more informed viewership about environmental issues. It means that climate issues will be included as part of the daily news agenda. Read more. (Source Michael Greer, Covering Climate Now).
👶 CHILDREN’S MEDIA: Young people identify sponsored posts by celebrities on social media, but struggle to recognize more subtle forms of advertising. They primarily use social media apps for content consumption rather than social interaction and tend to trust and believe what they see. Read more. (Source Rhian Williams, OFCOM).
Insight
👮♀️ POLICE TRUST: Public faith in law enforcement has plummeted to its lowest level ever, according to a police watchdog report. Chief constables are being urged to concentrate on crimes that matter most to people and restore the abandoned policy of neighbourhood policing. Read more. (Source Charlotte Dimond, Sky).
📊 SYNDICATION STRATEGIES: Analysis by Buzzsumo shows media syndication as an effective strategy for content exposure, suggesting ways to exploit this for free. Newswires and newsgroups are cited as successful syndication strategies. Read more. (Source Stephen Waddington, Buzzsumo).
📚 CRISIS GUIDE: Amanda Coleman's Everyday Communications Strategies highlights practical approaches to managing corporate communication issues. The book includes helpful analysis, methodologies and case studies. Read more. (Source Claire Munro, Wadds Inc.).
Artificial intelligence
🤖 AI HYPE: A recent study found that only 19% of the surveyed 2,000 participants have used ChatGPT, pointing to slower-than-expected AI adoption. Google's Bard chatbot trails with a 9% of usage among respondents. Read more. (Source Andrew Bruce Smith, Business Insider).
⚖️ AI COPYRIGHT: Adobe’s Firefly generative AI is so adept at avoiding copyright infringement that the company is offering to handle any resulting legal costs. It is an important underwriting because of challenges around the legal status of generative AI. Read more. (Source Andrew Bruce Smith, Fast Company).
🤖 FILLER TEXT: Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang criticises the usefulness of large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, describing them as generating mostly filler text. Chiang’s criticism underscores the current limitations of AI-generated content. Read more. (Source Andrew Bruce Smith, Financial Times).
🔘 THE BUTTON: Google's new "Help me write" button on Google Docs is helping the challenge of confronting a blank page. The feature reflects AI's increasing integration into commonly used tools. Read more. Source Andrew Bruce Smith, One Useful Thing)
Best and bad practice
🚫 GREENWASHING BAN: The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has banned misleading advertisements from Shell, Repsol, and Petronas, marking a crackdown on greenwashing. This action sets an industry precedent for advertising by energy companies. Read more. (Source Stephen Waddington, Financial Times).
🚭 ESG OVERREACH: The claim by the CEO of multinational tobacco company Philip Morris International that it is transitioning to an ESG stock is patently bullshit. It raises important issues about the quality of public relations advice provided to organisations such as Philip Morris. Read more. (Source John Brown, PR Week).
⛳ GOLF WASHING: The LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger has reignited the sportswashing debate. It puts the new tournament on a global platform leading critics to claim that Saudi Arabia is using golf to rebrand its public image. Read more. (Source Teresa Fritschi, New York Times).
Technology and platforms
🔍 COMMS TECHNOLOGY: More than half (56%) of public relations practitioners believe they know about tools and technology but fail to adopt them. A new report highlights the industry's ongoing struggle to leverage new tools. Read more. (Source Stuart Bruce, PRovoke).
📚 TIKTOK TOOLS: TikTok has added new courses to its academy focused on engagement, content strategy, and campaign effectiveness. Read more. (Source Alan Morrison, TikTok).
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.
I’m a non executive director of Don’t Cry Wolf mentioned in a story in this week’s newsletter.