✅ Monday briefing: Press freedom, best practice content, communication design, accessibility advice, audio branding, Sorrell on PR, ESG survey, Facebook manipulation and more…
Media, best practice, trends, research and insight and social media
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.
We’ve got a great line up for WaddsCon on 30 April. Details follow below. It would be great to have you along.
If you live in the UK and you’re wondering what to do and where to go this summer, Sarah and I have a campervan for hire. Check her out here. It’s our latest lockdown project.
Have a great week.
Media
💼 JOURNALISM JOBS: Reach has announced that it will have a local news brand in every county in England and Wales by the end of the year. The recruitment drive will create more than 50 new journalism jobs. Spotted Julian Christopher.
🙍 PRESS FREEDOM: Pavol Szalai, head of the EU/Balkans desk at Reporters Without Borders spoke out on press freedom last week after the murder of Giorgos Karaivaz in Athens. The shooting marks the fourth killing of a reporter in Europe in the past five years. Spotted Sarah Waddington.
Best practice
🎨 BEST PRACTICE CONTENT: The UK Government has published a best practice guide to planning, writing and managing content. It includes advice on understanding audiences, reading behaviour, structuring content and writing well for the web. Spotted Bridget Aherne.
💬 COMMUNICATION DESIGN: The Government Communication Service (GCS) has released updated its Modern Communications Operating Model (opens as a PDF). It’s built around four disciplines (marketing, media, international communications and external affairs) with strategic communication at the core. Spotted Stuart Baird.
🚂 ACCESSIBILITY ADVICE: National Rail changed the colour scheme of its website to grayscale as a mark of respect for the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh however it caused a range of accessibility issues. Understanding audiences and testing is critical to any form of communication and design. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Trends
🔊 AUDIO BRANDING: Audio branding is an emerging trend according to Wunderman Thompson. Organisations need to think about how they sound as well as look. BMW’s new electric car will play an interactive soundscape composed by Hans Zimmer and Ikea has created an audio-only version of its print catalogue. Spotted Kate Hartley.
🗡️ SORRELL ON PR: Brands need to promote themselves and their products but also need to protect themselves when faced with reputational challenges according to S4 Capital’s interim report. Sir Martin Sorrell’s business is building out a so-called PR 2.0 advisory service combining data, content and media. Spotted Andrew Smith.
Research and insight
📱 DIGITAL INVESTOR SURVEY: COVID-19 has driven the adoption of newsletter subscriptions and YouTube by investors according to a survey by Brunswick. Company investor relations pages are investors’ most used and most trusted source of information however presence on social media is also important. Spotted Alan Morrison.
🌳 ESG SURVEY: Dr Jon White and I are working with Vuelio to produce a briefing paper for PR practitioners that will set out what environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) means for leadership and management. Our goal is to explore the opportunities for PR to support management decision-making and action. We'd appreciate your input. Source Stephen Waddington.
🙅 WORKING WITH WIKIPEDIA: New guidance on Wikipedia published by the CIPR covers a range of practical scenarios including whether to create an article for a client if one doesn’t exist, the process of editing articles, and what to do if negative content is being added to articles about clients. Source Dr Paul Wilkinson.
Social media and platforms
👎🏾 MANIPULATION IGNORED: Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang says that the platform's failure to combat political manipulation campaigns are akin to Russia’s efforts to manipulate the 2016 US election. She cites multiple attempts by foreign governments to mislead citizens and manipulate both news and elections. Spotted Sarah Waddington.
📰 REGIONAL NEWS: Facebook is making further investment in the news ecosystem in the UK with the addition of a new local news section. It aims to help publishers drive additional audiences to their sites and connect people to the news that matters to them most. Spotted Andrew Smith.
🔧 POST OPTIMISATION: Facebook’s Organic Video Post Testing tool helps optimise combinations of thumbnails, edits, titles and more. It’s explained in a new primer. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Events
📅 APRIL WADDSCON: The April edition of WaddsCon takes place 1-2pm on 30 April features speakers from Reuben Sinclair, We Are North, Story and Omnicom on the current PR job market, creativity, storytelling and organisational purpose. Follow this link for more information, speakers and booking. Disclosure: Reuben Sinclair and Story are Wadds Inc. clients.