✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon, Reach investment, fossil fuel PR, conflict of interest, cost of living survey, eBay trolls, GA breaches GDPR, GCS misinfo toolkit, creator tools, CommsHero and more...
Last call for tickets for WaddsCon on Wednesday - creating and pitching data stories to the media
This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from conversations in the House of Marketing & PR Community managed by Wadds Inc. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support. You’d be welcome to join us.
This is the last call for tickets for WaddsCon on Wednesday this week from 1-2pm where the topic will be data driven media pitches.
Four speakers will share examples of using public and owned data, tools, and case studies for b2b and b2c data storytelling.
The session takes place via Zoom.
Here’s our line-up.
Understanding food poverty through disparate datasets - Emma Thwaites, ODI
A framework to turn spreadsheets into stories - Rebecca Moss, JBH
Data tools, accessing data, and examples of data journalism - Sophie Smith, North
Three b2b data storytelling case studies - Amy Stone, Hard Numbers
Tickets cost a £5 or £10 donation to The Bay Foodbank. It's our local foodbank in Newcastle. If you can't afford a ticket, please hit reply and we'll sort you out.
Media
🗞️ REACH INVESTMENT: Reach is hiring more than 25 journalists and production staff around the UK as it readies for the launch of a new title aimed at the 25-to-35 year-old market. The new team will also provide content for the publisher’s regional news output. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Industry
🛢️ FOSSIL FUEL PR: Clean Creatives has published the F-List 2022 of 230+ agencies that work for fossil fuel clients. Its goal is to highlight the role of advertising and public relations agencies in misleading the public, downplaying the urgency of the climate crisis and overstating the work that their clients have done to find a solution. Spotted Michael Greer.
👊 CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Should public relations agencies that deliver campaigns be able to mark their own homework? It’s a debate kickstarted by the announcement of an evaluation project for COVID-19 work delivered by agencies on the government roster. Spotted Sarah Waddington CBE.
💰 COST OF LIVING: Socially Mobile is surveying practitioners in the public relations industry to understand the impact of the cost of living crisis. The team would appreciate your input. The survey is aimed at anyone working in the UK. Source Stephen Waddington.
🤔 LOBBYING QUESTIONS: Liz Truss is paying a lobbying company for the services of her chief of staff in a move the Institute for Government describes as unusual. Mark Fullbrook has reportedly struck a deal to run the Tories’ next General Election campaign. He is already in the spotlight over an FBI interview in connection with alleged corruption in Puerto Rico. Spotted Sarah Waddington CBE.
Best and bad practice
👹 EBAY TROLLS: Seven eBay employees have pleaded guilty to harassing Ina and David Steiner. The couple who publish EcommercesBytes received offensive material via the post and were trolled online after being critical of eBay. An upcoming trial will investigate the chain of command within eBay and how offenders should be punished. Spotted Mark Stouse.
💩 CV SPIN: The Scottish Conservatives have withdrawn the appointment of a special advisor after claims that he embellished his CV. Craig Paterson said that he'd worked as an adviser to former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Murphy says they’ve never met. Spotted Rob Bruce.
🪦 IN MEMORIAM: Paying respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II became an art form for organisations during the period of official mourning. Examples include the closure of a bike rack in Norwich and Morrisons turning down the beeps at self-service checkouts. @GrieveWatch on Twitter is worth a look. Spotted Sarah Wolf.
Social media and platforms
🔍 SEARCHING FOR BENEFITS: A reminder that press releases don’t have any benefit for search engine optimisation but the earned media they have the potential to generate has a high impact. An article in Search Engine Journal could have been written anytime in the last ten years. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
⚖️ GA BREACHES GDPR: Denmark has joined a list of countries declaring Google Analytics non GDPR compliant. The issue relates to the processing of data on servers outside the EU. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
💤 PLATFORMS TURN DULL: The so-called Bootleg Ratio is the threshold where original content creators on a platform are exceeded by creators chasing popularity. TikTok has reached a tipping point. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
Tools
⛏️ GCS MISINFO TOOLKIT: The Wall of Beliefs is a new Government Communication Service (GCS) toolkit for understanding false beliefs and developing effective counter-disinformation strategies. Rebuttal and myth busting alone are not enough to counter fake news it says. Spotted Stuart Bruce.
💻 G4 MIGRATION DASHBOARD: Digital Analytics consultancy KS Digital has published a tool which enables you to compare metrics between GA3 and GA4 properties for the same site. There is an accompanying video that walks you through the various tabs on the dashboard. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
👨💻️ CREATOR TOOLS: Google has published a learning and development community for creators. It covers key principles of content management, building a content strategy, engaging a community and making money. Spotted Karan Chadda.
Events
🤝 AGENCY FOUNDERS: Wadds Inc. hosts a subscription peer-to-peer community for independent agency founders and managers. We’ve a meeting this week in London with Dr Stephanie Hare, a leading thinker and doer on the future of technology and society. Numbers are limited but we’ve currently got two spaces. If you’re interested please hit reply. Source Stephen Waddington.
📅 COMMSHERO WEEK: The annual virtual event takes place from10 to 12 October. Session’s cover climate, crisis, the economy, sustainability, and more. Sarah Waddington CBE will be speaking about managing overwhelm, and I'm talking about how to increase your earning potential. Source Asif Choudry.