Our 10 top PR and communications posts of 2022

As part of our focus on the successes and stresses of 2022 – as well as our look forward at what to be ready for in 2023 – here are the most popular posts from the Vuelio blog this year.

Want to keep up-to-date with news and trends in the PR, comms and media industries in 2023? Sign up to our newsletters here and get in touch if you have news of your own to share: [email protected].

1. Does the Research Excellence Framework (REF) have a sustainable future?

The results of 2021’s Research Excellence Framework – assessing over 76,000 academics at 157 universities – were revealed in May 2022, with the final ranking determining university funding for the next seven years. In this report, we analysed coverage in the UK media. Big stories – more diversity in the list at first glance, with hidden layers of inequality.

2. PR needs the BBC

Drawing criticism alongside kudos throughout 2022 was the BBC. At the start of the year, culture secretary of the time Nadine Dorries announced an end to the BBC licence fee – in this post, PRs across the industry shared their takes on the move as well as how important the British Broadcasting Corporation still is to the media and comms landscape.

3. How can PR and comms teams make recruitment fair?

As highlighted in our trends pieces for 2022 and 2023, recruitment in PR still has far to go to be equitable and fully representative of every audience we hope to reach and connect with. Recruitment experts Taylor Bennett Foundation’s Melissa Lawrence, Career Masterclass’s Bukola Adisa and Kinesso’s Dr Femi Olu-Lafe pointed out where companies should be looking for new talent, which initiatives are making a difference and how to speak to your Board about doing better.

4. 12 ways to maximise your B2B PR strategy

If B2B is a big part of your comms plan for 2023, catch up on this post from February which shared tips for planning. Advice came from Skout, Definition Agency, Spike, Leapfrog PR, Write Thought Communications and many more.

5. Top 5 measurement mistakes and how to fix them

Another big trends for next year in PR and comms is nailing down the use of data and making the numbers you have at your disposal mean something, pre and post-campaign. We took a look at five common measurement mistakes being made by PRs and offered advice on fixes.

6. Is the food and drink sector ready for the upcoming HFSS regulations?

For those working with food and drink clients and at big brands, the HFSS ad restrictions promised for October 2022 were a big concern. Would the UK ad landscape be changed forever, with no more sports personalities bigging-up yoghurts on TV? And would the changes actually help with the much-reported-on obesity crisis in the UK? In this post, PRs in the sector shared their takes.

7. What responsibilities does financial services PR have to its customers?

The financial sector also saw much change this year, and our white paper ‘Communicating the new immediacy of finance’ provided an overview of how this would impact those in the finance industry as well as their customers. Key insight from the paper included warnings against ‘woke washing’ and reminders of responsibilities to clients.

8. PRs: This is how journalists want you to help with their requests

What do journalists really want from PRs? An eternal questions that can only really be answered by journalists themselves. Here we gathered answers from the media pros interviewed for our Media Bulletin newsletter.

9. ‘Don’t talk to me! (Email me instead)!’ – How to work with Gen Z journalists

For what the up-and-coming generation of journalists want from PRs, it is quite simple: skip picking up the phone to get in touch, just email them. Journalists Zesha Saleem, Michele Theil and Hannah Bradfield talked about their work in our webinar ‘What’s Next? The new generation of journalists’. Want more on Gen Z? You can also download our white paper ‘The PR guide to communicating with Gen Z’.

10. Cost-of-living: How the top six British supermarkets are communicating inflation

A huge topic across every industry this year (and set to continue into 2023) is the cost-of-living crisis. This report investigated how the top six British supermarkets were faring in the press and with the public. For even more on subject, check out our white paper ‘Communicating the cost-of-living crisis… A guide for charities and the third sector’.

Have a specialist subject or best practice know-how you would like to share with your peers in a guest post in the new year? Get in touch: [email protected].

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