✅ Monday briefing: Media warning, housing fail, Treasury trolled, cost of living, strategic value of PR, levelling up skills, PR and management, COP out, and more...
A thank you letter to Richard Bagnall
This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from our 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 us.
Richard Bagnall is the recipient of this year's AMEC Don Bartholomew Award and the CIPR President’s Medal. Richard is one of my oldest friends in the industry. We’ve seen each other through the professional highs and lows of multiple startups, booms, recessions, and exits.
In the last week I’ve spoken and corresponded with colleagues and friends who have worked with Richard over the past 30 years. We want to thank you Richard for all that you’ve done and everything that you continue to do.
Media
💻 BUZZFEED DECLINE: Buzzfeed's ability to reflect and amplify cultural moments has been hit by a double blow. Changes to the Facebook algorithm favour video while TikTok has brought a new wave of creators into its space. Buzzfeed has lost revenue for the past 12 months. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
🚨 MEDIA WARNING: Big tech is bad news for news media according to Ofcom. A new study raises concerns about Apple, Google and Facebook's stranglehold on new access. Two-thirds of citizens access news via an intermediary and are unaware of the influence of these gatekeepers. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Good and Bad Practice
❌ HOUSING FAIL: A coroner concluded that a toddler died from exposure to mould in his home after his parents raised concerns. Landlord Rochdale Boroughwide Housing said everything but sorry in response to the coroner’s announcement. The CEO has subsesquently been fired. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
💷 TREASURY TROLLED: A Discord channel created by the UK Treasury as an alternative to Twitter sparked a torrent of abuse from users despite comments being blocked. Trolls used usernames, welcome messages and emoji reactions to post abuse. The channel was pulled as a result. Spotted Sarah Waddington CBE.
World Cup
✈️ UNIFORM U-TURN: Weeks after announcing a “fluid approach” to its crews’ uniforms, Virgin Atlantic has now said its gender-neutral uniform policy does not apply on flights to Qatar during the World Cup. Virgin Atlantic said the uniform was being rolled out in countries "more accepting of non-binary identities". Spotted Andy Oliver.
⚽ SHREDDED REPUTATION: Joe Lycett shredded £10,000 of his own money after David Beckham failed to respond to an ultimatum to resign as an ambassador for Qatar. Lycett said that Beckham’s support for Qatar is an insult to his gay fans. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
Industry
👨🏫️ LEVEL UP SKILLS: Socially Mobile has opened applications for a new cohort starting in January 2023. The 10-week executive education programme aims to support practitioners in realising their earning potential. It’s a specific intervention aimed at helping build management skills. Here’s how to apply. Source Stephen Waddington.
ℹ️ STRATEGIC VALUE OF PR: The Institute of Directors (IoD) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) are collaborating on a research project to understand how well the contribution of public relations is understood by directors. Please share this survey with your management team. Source Sarah Waddington CBE.
😠 COP OUT: The COP27 climate conference failed to reach agreement on increased targets to reduce carbon emissions. It did reach a deal on a fund to compensate vulnerable nations that are suffering from climate change. COP28 will take place in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023. Source Stephen Waddington.
Research and insight
📑 PR AND MANAGEMENT: Dr Jon White and I have written a paper for Vuelio called Elevating the role of public relations in management. It sets out the operating conditions and potential for public relations to support decision making, planning, and the management of relationships to build trust, and ultimately value. Source Stephen Waddington.
📈 COST OF LIVING: Public relations practitioners are seeking salary rises (48.3%), promotions (25.2%), and job hunting (25.2%) to increase their income. Practitioners report using foodbanks and seeking second and third jobs to supplement their income, indicating that in-work poverty is impacting the profession. Source Stephen Waddington.
🔮 AGENCY PREDICTIONS: The PRWeek Top 150 Consultancies revenue forecast predicts that UK agencies including Brunswick, Edelman, FTI and Weber Shandwick could all hit £100m turnover by mark by 2026. It predicts that the aggregate income of the UK’s Top 150 agencies will exceed £2 billion within 12 months. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Social media
📅 SCHEDULE LINKEDIN POSTS: LinkedIn is rolling out native post scheduling. It is initially available for individual accounts. You can tag people and companies. Scheduling can be done between an hour and three months in advance. Scheduled times can be changed once a post is queued. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
🥤 BRANDS ON TWITTER: Social Element recommends that brands pause paid and proactive Twitter engagement but continue to respond to comments and customer queries. Organisations should monitor for brand reputation issues such as fake accounts. Source Tamara Littleton.
🐘 MORE ON MASTODON: Mastodon is emerging as an alternative to Twitter but it is very different. Help is at hand in the form of: A guide to getting started; a guide for public relations; and an open source list of people working in media, marketing and public relations, to help you build a network. Source Stuart Bruce and Stephen Waddington.
Tools
🗞️ TOOL ACQUIRED: Factmata has been acquired by Cision to help its customers manage brand protection and risk. The tool uses social and news media monitoring and analytics to identify and track narratives. Source Andrew Bruce Smith.
Vuelio, mentioned in this newsletter, is a Wadds Inc. client.