✅ Monday briefing: Radio change, C4 privatisation, PR job trends, youth media attitudes, media relations, Ryanair troll strategy, FIFA censorship, permacrisis, week in Twitter, and more...
Media, Research and Insight, Best and Bad Practice, Industry, Social Media and Platforms, and Tools
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.
We’ve been trying to make sense of employment data for the UK public relations industry this week. The market for PR jobs continues to grow with London, promotions, job hunters and freelancers all benefiting.
95,000 people are employed in the industry with 10,500 joining in the past 12 months, but only 1,500 in the past nine months. Employers and practitioners should prepare for the slowdown that’s coming.
Media
📻 RADIO CHANGE: The BBC has announced plans to reprioritise £19m from local broadcast services towards online and multimedia production. It will leave 39 local stations with just a breakfast and lunchtime show produced locally. Spotted Rhian Williams.
📺 C4 PRIVATISATION: The government is expected to shelve plans to privatise Channel 4. It is expected to be among low priority issues that will be scrapped under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🗞️ NEWS BUSINESS MODEL: Liverpool Echo editor Maria Breslin says parent company Reach’s ad-funded business model is working. However, she joined former culture secretary John Whittingdale and Labour leader Keir Starmer in calling for platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay for news. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Research and Insight
👶 YOUTH MEDIA ATTITUDES: Channel 4 research into younger audiences to celebrate its 40th anniversary finds the rise of young illiberal progressives; social media for good and bad; and a generation of big picture pessimists, little picture optimists. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
📞 MEDIA RELATIONS: Making a pitch relevant to a journalist’s role and publication is the best way to be successful. Content written by journalists is almost three times more engaging than other sources. Buzzsumo analysed its database of 600,000 journalists for its latest report. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
💻 B2B MARKETING: Half of business-to-business organisations plan to hire more content marketing resources in 2023; in person events have roared back; marketers are investing in online communities: and paid media budgets are down. These are among trends reported in B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Insights for 2023. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Best and Bad Practice
👎 RACIAL AD BAN: A Ministry of Justice paid-for Facebook ad showing a black inmate and a white officer has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) due to racial stereotyping. The ad showed "an imbalanced power dynamic” according to the ASA. Spotted Hayley James.
✈️ RYANAIR TROLL STRATEGY: The budget airline’s “crude call-outs of British Prime Ministers, digs at customers and general bucking of a typical brand voice are all part of its social media strategy. The trolling approach works according to the Washington Post. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
⚽ FIFA CENSORSHIP: The international governing body has written to teams competing in the World Cup asking them not to get drawn into ideological debates about host nation Qatar. It follows ongoing controversy related to Qatar’s stance on same-sex relationships, human rights record and treatment of migrant workers. Spotted Julian Christopher.
🌳 ACTIVISTS REJECTED: National Trust members have rejected motions attacking its participation in Pride and rewilding initiatives at its AGM. The motions were brought by lobbying group Restore Trust which has criticised the National Trust for being too political. Source Sarah Waddington CBE.
Industry
📒 MANDATORY ESG REPORTING: 330 business and finance institutions have urged world leaders to make biodiversity reporting mandatory ahead of COP27. The Business for Nature lobbying group consists of organisations from 52 countries with combined revenues of more than $1.5 trillion. Spotted Michael Greer.
📖 PERMACRISIS: Permacrisis is the Collins Dictionary Word of the year. The publisher said that it sums up how awful 2022 has been for so many people. Partygate and quiet quitting also make the top ten list of words and phrases chosen to represent 2022. Spotted Rod Cartwright.
🚫 ECO AD SANCTIONS: The ASA is tightening its grip on brands that overstate environmental credentials. Bambooi, an electric toothbrush maker, overstated recycling and biodegradable claims while The Pack, a manufacturer of plant-based dog food, was sanctioned for vague claims. Slavina Dimitrova.
Social Media and Platforms
🐦 WEEK IN TWITTER: Elon Musk has dissolved the Twitter board and is set to roll out a $8 per month subscription model. The company has laid off around 3,700 people, equivalent to half of its workforce. Advertisers including Audi, General Mills, Pfizer, and L’Oreal have left the platform amid concerns over brand safety. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith and Michael Greer.
⌨️ AI EDITORS: The UK Facebook news tab is set to become fully automated as Meta ends its contract with editorial service Upday. The platform is aiming to shift its focus away from news and towards short-form video. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Tools
🔎 GOOGLE LENS: A Google Lens button has been added to the Google home page. It enables users to ask visual questions by posting an image or sharing a link to an image. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.