Media outlets - job cuts and closures

Journalism job cuts and closure of publications

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BuzzFeed, HuffPost, The Pool, and Vice are just some of the outlets that have announced cuts and closures over the last couple of weeks, with thousands of media jobs already cut in 2019.

Across the UK, US, and Australia, BuzzFeed has cut editorial roles and closed BuzzFeed Spain entirely. In London, almost half of editorial roles have been cut, down 17 from an original 37. Roles being sliced are primarily across the Buzz team, but also the news and celeb teams. BuzzFeed has also made its head of quizzes redundant because free user-generated content is proving more popular.

The Guardian reported: ‘BuzzFeed founder and chief executive, Jonah Peretti, said the company would reduce headcount by 15 percent, or about 250 jobs, to around 1,100 employees globally.’

 

 

In the US, Verizon, owner of HuffPost, Yahoo and AOL, has reportedly announced cuts for up to 1,000 staff. This would trim seven percent from its media team across all brands. Verizon began by laying off 20 employees at HuffPost on 23 January, including opinion writers and political reporters.

CNET reported that in a memo to staff, Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media said: ‘These were difficult decisions, and we will ensure that our colleagues are treated with respect and fairness, and given the support they need.’

Next was Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, cutting around two percent of its workforce. Poynter reported on cuts that affected editors and senior journalists at local papers owned by Gannett in regions across the US. The New York Post reports that cuts affected as many as 400 people.

Last week, women-focused online magazine, The Pool shared the news of its closure on Friday, after almost four years.

 

 

Also on Friday, Vice Media announced cuts across the US, UK and Canada, laying off 10% of staff following reorganisation from new CEO Nancy Dubuc.

Business Insider reported: ‘Vice Media will reportedly refocus around its TV production unit, its international news team, it’s digital properties, and its original TV content.’

Press Gazette editor Freddy Mayhew said: ‘There seems to be no end in sight to redundancies at online publications.

‘If the likes of The Pool, Buzzfeed and HuffPost can’t make digital journalism pay when they’re the experts, who purely publish online with no print offering, then the industry truly is in crisis.’

 

As journalists move on to new roles and freelance careers, all changes and updates are made in the Vuelio Media Database.

Facebook market research

Facebook’s market research app accused of spying

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An Apple and Android app called ‘Facebook Research’ paid users, including teens, to provide access to the content they access on their phones.

Facebook is in the news once again for its use of data. Working through the Facebook Research app, the company has been paying participants for access to the content on their devices.

The app allowed Facebook to access the majority of a user’s device, including:

  • Private messages in chat apps including photos and videos
  • Emails
  • Web browsing activity
  • Logs of what apps were installed, and when they were used
  • A location history of where the owner had physically been
  • Data usage

Aimed at getting research from 13-35 year olds, the app has since been removed from Apple, however is still available on Android.

A spokesperson from Apple told TechCrunch that Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple.

Fortune said: ‘What was particularly eye-catching about TechCrunch’s report was the fact that the $20 monthly reward was on offer to users between the ages of 13 and 35, meaning Facebook has been paying teens to monitor their phone usage.’

A spokesperson for Facebook told the BBC: ‘It wasn’t ‘spying’ as all of the people who signed up to participate went through a clear on-boarding process asking for their permission and were paid to participate.
‘Finally, less than 5% of the people who chose to participate in this market research program were teens. All of them with signed parental consent forms.’

The Verge reported: ‘The Research app requires that users install a custom root certificate, giving Facebook the ability to see users’ private messages, emails, web searches, and browsing activity. That’s in apparent violation of Apple’s system-level functionality, which is intended to grant employers access to employees’ work devices. The policy prohibits developers from installing the certificates on customers’ phones.’

The Independent highlighted that participants were told not to share their involvement with others: ‘Users were recruited through sign-up pages that make clear the data is being collected to improve Facebook’s services and that they should not tell people about the project.’

Although the app was well labelled, the secrecy behind the project and the violation of Apple’s terms mean that Facebook is facing scrutiny once again for the way it uses data and conducts research.

Top 50 political influencers

Coming January 2019: the UK’s Top 50 Political Influencers

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Vuelio is renowned for its rankings, with the top blog rankings, compiled by our in-house media research team, famous the world over. To prepare for what could possibly be the most tumultuous year in politics, we’ve now turned our attention to political influencers from the world of media including broadcasters, editors, columnists, journalists and bloggers.

Launching in January, the Top 50 Political Influencers is being compiled using automated metrics as well as human intelligence. It will be the most comprehensive guide to media commentators, and those with the power of persuasion, ever produced.

Each entry in the ranking will be profiled, making it the who’s who of political media influencers of 2019.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the Top 50 Political Influencers – sign up to Vuelio political updates here.

Vuelio specialises in both media and political communications software, allowing a truly integrated approach to both stakeholder and reputation management. There’s an increasing expectation on many PR teams to also understand the political landscape, and those in public affairs to also understand the media.

Find out more about identifying, understanding and engaging with both media and political influencers.

Hijacking christmas

How to hijack Christmas

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The John Lewis Christmas advert has been a cultural phenomenon ever since a little boy couldn’t wait to present his parents with a mystery box in 2011. In recent years, it’s appeal has drawn increased competition from both traditional and new competitors all vying to be the season’s best. This year, the competition is as fierce as ever but now it’s the imitations, parodies and hijacks of the John Lewis [JL] advert that are stealing focus.

What are the benefits of a parody?
Due to the status of the JL advert in society, anything that is a pastiche, or at least alludes to it, has more chance to attract attention, allowing relatively low budget campaigns to ride the JL wave.

This is clear in a majority of the highest profile parodies that have come to light, including this single image from Lidl:

Topping 25K likes on Twitter alone, the image has everything – Christmas-themed border, a pun that works with Lidl and the JL advert and messaging that pushes the budget-friendly angle Lidl is famous for.

Parodies also work as part of existing campaigns. Iceland, who broke ranks early in the Christmas advert stakes and managed to gain a huge amount of coverage for its ‘banned’ advert, has since been maximising its palm oil/orangutan angle including this simple tweet:

In-house hijack
While everyone from Pizza Hut to Frank PR has made use of JL advert, perhaps the greatest parody of all comes from John Lewis’ sister brand, Waitrose. Part of its #TooGoodToWait campaign, Waitrose is hijacking the hijacks with this TV spot:

By showing awareness that brands parody the JL Christmas advert, Waitrose is effectively ‘giving permission’ for all other parodies while taking a friendly swipe at the JL ad’s place in society. This is a tactic Waitrose has used before but never so explicitly.

It also shows that the brands are very much linked, which is something they’re keen to promote as evidenced by their first joint advert in September.

Parodies and pastiches are a great way to make tight budgets go far but require quick, reactive teams. Being able to see what’s trending, especially among your competitors, allows you to join in the conversation as it happens, rewarding smart PRs.

Find out how Vuelio Media Monitoring can help stay up to date with your sector and keep an eye on your competitors.

As a special bonus, because it’s not a parody as such, here’s Twitter’s take on a John Lewis Christmas:

The future of social media for comms

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The way that PR and comms teams are using social media channels is changing, with more focus on paid campaigns and less on customer service.

Last week, the PRCA’s Digital PR and Communications Report found that the majority (55%) of marketing budgets is now being spent on paid social media advertising. Buffer’s 2018 State of Social survey found that businesses using social media advertisements are more than twice as likely to report social media marketing as ‘very effective’, which, on top of algorithm changes, may be why brands are more eager to spend more on social.

Social media being used for customer service had its biggest drop, to 35% this year – 11% down on 2017 and 21% since 2015. But it’s not just the way social media is being used, there’s also been changes in who is creating the content and where it’s being posted.

Who is creating social content?
Over 57% of respondents said their social media content is created by the PR and comms departments, an increase of 12% from the last two years. Dedicated social media teams are down by 28% from 2014, at just 12%, showing the move to more mixed-role responsibilities in PR. In the CIPR State of the Profession survey this year, social media relations was rated as an activity undertaken by 54% of respondents, 65% of those in non-managerial roles. This shows that it is definitely still an integral part of comms.

What are the biggest challenges?
The PRCA found that both lack of staff and lack of time have increased as reasons why brands are not using social media. Lack of budget and fear of attack from campaigners also remain high.

Which channels are brands using?
91% of agencies and 94% of in-house comms teams say they use Twitter, followed closely by Facebook. The use of Snapchat and Pinterest has dropped, while Instagram has increased to 56% in-house and 70% in agencies. In the next 12 months 78% of agency respondents expect to use the platform.

Looking at Google Trends, there’s been a decrease in people searching for the term ‘social media marketing’ since its peak in April 2017. Facebook marketing hit its high in February 2011, Twitter marketing in October 2014, and Snapchat marketing in April 2016 – although it’s always been relatively low compared with the others. Instagram marketing is the exception as it continues to grow in search volume.

Social media comms google trends

Social media certainly isn’t on its way out, but brands will need to adapt to make the most of the platforms.

Instagram is up, Snapchat is down. Platforms like Twitch will start to take the limelight as brands search for new ways to reach more engaged audiences. Social will be used more and more as part of integrated campaigns, and paid is likely to be more important than ever.

Ready to plan and implement your social media campaign? Find out how Vuelio can help. 

Twitter likes

Will Twitter replace the ♡?

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Social media sites continue to hit the headlines for not tackling fake news, especially since research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that fake stories spread faster than the truth on Twitter.

In response, Twitter recently released updates to its rules covering fake accounts, distribution of hacked materials, and the way it handles the enforcement of its terms. Twitter will now use more in-depth ways to identify and remove fake accounts. These include spotting inauthentic activity, stolen or stock profile photos and accounts sharing misleading information. Aliases for previous offenders will be found faster, and action will be taken on anyone claiming to have hacked information.

In addition to these changes, The Telegraph reported this week that Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said he was not a fan of the heart-shaped ‘like’ button and would be removing it ‘soon’. Twitter clarified that there are no immediate plans to get rid of the feature, however, it is rethinking aspects of the current service with hopes of improving the quality of debate.

The Twitter like replaced the star-shape ‘favourite’ in 2015 and provides a quick way of acknowledging a post or keeping track of content you want to come back to. When multiple people like a post, the Twitter algorithm sees it as more popular and pushes it out further in timelines and notifications.

Usually the aim of those posting fake news or unsuitable material is to get it shared and viewed by as many people as possible. Therefore, techniques like using bots to manipulate likes helps the content reach further.

Twitter users and brands shouldn’t worry too much about the demise of the like. If Twitter was to remove the button there is likely to be a replacement option. The company has already been testing a Bookmarks feature – letting users privately save Tweets for later – and alternatives similar to Facebook’s reaction buttons could also be a way forward.

Many users are unhappy with the news, but luckily journalists are on hand to provide Twitter with advice to save the situation:

Can Twitter find a way to allow users to express their feelings towards a post, while preventing inappropriate content from spreading? Let us know what you think @Vuelio (but please, no likes).  

#AIinPR CIPR

How much of PR and comms will be replaced by AI?

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Last week, Vuelio and Lansons co-hosted an AI in PR event as part of the CIPR Ethics Festival. Sessions were led by a broad cross-section of industry leaders, who discussed chatbots, automating comms channels and the latest AI technology. Appropriately, though, it was ethics that was the dominant theme throughout every session, as it is ethics that sets humans and machines apart.

Paul Miller, head of digital at Vuelio, used his sessions to ask, ‘How much of PR and comms will be replaced by AI’? One answer, unsurprisingly, lies in ethics.

There are many areas of PR and comms that could benefit from AI – from content creation and content distribution to engagement and automating processes – and there’s little doubt that the AI revolution will change the way everyone works.

Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, has described the potential disruption of the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (the rise of the machines) as being on a ‘much greater scale’ than anything experienced during the Industrial Revolution, which lasted some 200 years. Tabitha Goldstaub, founder of CognitiveX and the chair of the Government’s newly formed Artificial Intelligence Council, echoes Haldane, warning there is a ‘huge risk’ of people being left behind as computers and robots change the world of work.

Both have warned of social tension and greater inequality, so we’re all doomed, right? Well, maybe not.

The argument that computers are going to bring extreme unemployment in coming decades has been made before in the 1950s and 60s, and again in the 1990s. Despite years of rapid advances in robotics, computer power, network connectivity and artificial intelligence techniques, there isn’t mass unemployment in society – in fact, the unemployment rate is lower than it was 40 years ago, and we certainly have a larger population. So, machines may take or change our jobs, but they also create new jobs and the market evolves.

Possibly of greater concern is the impact of automation on the structure of jobs themselves. Human beings and computers are going to be working together, more closely than ever, and we need to get the division of labour right.

The CIPR’s #AIinPR Panel has already identified irreplaceable work in categories such as creativity, professionalism and, perhaps most importantly, ethics.

Computers can’t do what human beings do naturally – they can’t turn information into knowledge or think creatively, conceptually or ethically. More than ever, in this world of FAKE NEWS, Cambridge Analytica and hacked democracies, we’ve seen that tech can be used for evil or for good, but that the tech itself is amoral. It needs strong moral guidance, from us.

AI, therefore, presents a huge opportunity for PR professionals, as the masters of reputation and communication, to play a leading role in the future of all industries and markets. AI needs a strong moral guide – AI needs PR.

If you’re ready to benefit from AI and use machine learning to make the industry a better place, you’re ready for Vuelio. 

Fred

How Vuelio improved Fred Marketing’s media outreach

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Fred Marketing is a full-service marketing agency based in Hull. We spoke to Mat Ombler, PR Account Manager at Fred, who told us how Vuelio is a ‘blessing’ for the agency’s media outreach, with accurate information in the influencer database and a responsive platform to help prove ROI to clients. 

Fred Marketing
One of our core services is PR and we distribute a lot of press releases as a result. We needed access to a database of media contacts that’s regularly updated with useful information to help us tailor any pitches accordingly. We also needed a responsive platform to help us pull coverage reports quickly and efficiently with as much detailed information as possible to show the value of our PR activity to clients. And we wanted to monitor keywords related to our clients and keep an eye on what other businesses in our clients’ sectors are up to.

The Challenge
We struggled with our previous media database supplier because the platform was very slow and unresponsive, making it very difficult to search for contacts as well as create and distribute press releases. We also found that contacts on the platform weren’t being regularly updated – in one case we discovered a reporter had left the publication we believed he was working at six months ago! Any problems we did report usually took a long time to get a response back to – at least two to three working days.

Since moving to Vuelio we’ve felt more in control of our PR and saved a significant amount of time. The team coded all of our press release templates into HTML, making all of our communications consistent and on-brand, as well as saving us time.

The Solution
The initial demo of the product was great and one of the main things that stood out to us was how detailed the information was on individual contacts on the platform. We were also surprised to see an editorial calendar containing feature lists for a variety of different publications, both offline and in print, saving us a lot of time for forward planning.

The account management and support overall has been fantastic, completely overshadowing our previous supplier. Any problems we do encounter on the platform are quickly resolved within a few hours. We receive a response within the hour for any enquiries we have– although it’s usually minutes! Knowing that there’s someone at the other end of the platform who is there to support you really makes a big difference and makes you feel valued. The onboarding process and training process for new staff members here has been fantastic too.

Benefits and Results
Finding the right contacts is now much easier than ever before and we no longer feel like we have to cross check every single contact with their social media platforms to ensure they’re still working at the place the platform says they are!

Because the platform doesn’t crash and works quickly, it’s saved us a lot of valuable time.

Vuelio is a blessing when it comes to media engagement, providing us with the information we need on who to contact, how to contact them and when to contact them.

 

Find out more about how Vuelio saves clients time and money here. 

shouldn't have missed

Five Things: The Circle, CIPR, GDPR, Evan Davis & Cathay Paciic

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This week’s Five Things covers a week of news (see what we did there?). We have a new social media warning, a new President-Elect, a new development in GDPR, a new presenter for Radio 4’s PM and a new job for the plane paint shop.

1. The Circle

The Circle

Is it another naff reality show or a comprehensive comment on modern society? Possibly both. The Circle sees a group of people isolated in their own flat within a block, only able to communicate through a social network called ‘The Circle’. While the personalities are loud, and some of the interface action quite annoying (the shouting at the ‘voice-recognition’ system, which is clearly an intern typing what’s being said, is quickly grating), there’s definitely an interesting point being made about social media and its role in modern life.

Not everyone is being themselves – for example, there is a gay man pretending to be straight, a man pretending to be a woman using his girlfriend’s pictures and an ad exec pretending to be an oncologist. All of it is being done in the name of being the most popular to win a prize, with regular star-ratings from the other Circle users (oh hi Black Mirror!). It’s hard to watch this without thinking about your own social media use, thinking you ‘know’ people online – and, inevitably, drawing parallels with the frequent ‘scandals’ hitting the influencer marketing industry. In an age of FAKE NEWS, ‘for the Gram’ and catfishing, The Circle may be just what everyone needs as a reminder that we really don’t know who’s behind the avatar.

And if you still doubt whether Channel 4 are using The Circle to troll social media every night for three weeks, check out the retweets of Ian Katz, director of programmes at Channel 4 (including some colourful language):

 

2. New CIPR President Elect

CIPR

The CIPR has named its President-Elect for 2019. Jenni Field, director of Redefining Communications and co-founder of The IC Crowd, will become President in 2020 when she takes over from 2018’s President-Elect Emma Leech.

Jenni has been a volunteer with the CIPR for several years and championed the work of volunteers in her candidate statement. She is going to use her tenure to find a way to further utilise volunteers in the organisation and grow membership. Find out more about her appointment and the CIPR’s 2019 Council here.

 

3. GDPR

GDPR Made simple

The first GDPR notice has been served by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). AggregateIQ (AIQ) – which has been linked to scandal hit Cambridge Analytica – has 30 days to cease processing ‘any personal data of UK or EU citizens obtained from UK political organisations or otherwise for the purposes of data analytics, political campaigning or any other advertising purposes’.

If AIQ fails to comply with this Enforcement Notice, or is unsuccessful in any appeal,

the ICO may serve a penalty notice requiring payment of any amount up to 20 million Euros or 4% of AIQ’s worldwide turnover.

It is the first time a GDPR notice has been served by the ICO, and while AIQ’s activities took place before GDPR came into force, it is still considered to be processing the data after the GDPR. All eyes are now on this story as it unfolds to see how GDPR will shape the future of data processing in the UK.

Vuelio helps its customers to comply with the GDPR – find out more about our extensive GDPR work here.  

 

4. Evan Davis

Evan Davis

Evan Davis has left Newsnight to become the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. He was at Newsnight for four years and was previously a presenter on the Today programme as well as the BBC economics editor before that. On his appointment, Evan said: ‘Having survived several years of people saying “you’re not as good as Jeremy Paxman”, I now look forward to people saying “you’re not as good as Eddie Mair”.’

Eddie left the BBC earlier this year to join LBC, where he now presents his own afternoon show.

Evan takes up his new role later in the autumn; a Newsnight replacement is yet to be announced.

 

5. Cathay Paciic

Cathay Pacific

Sack the sub! Cathay Pacific were left with red faces after the livery on one of their planes missed out one of the 13 letters that makes up the company’s name. As any PR knows, you proof, proof and proof again. Then you get someone else to proof, then you proof again – because once it’s done, it’s done.

Cathay Paciic were good sports about the whole thing tweeting:

As was pointed out on Twitter, no Fs were given that day.

 

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

Bidding

Auction for Sky – sold to the highest bidder

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The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has announced that the takeover of Sky will now be settled by auction. Both Fox and Comcast have been attempting to take over the broadcaster for some time, with rival offers driving up the company’s value.

The Panel says all parties have agreed to the terms, which will see a maximum of three rounds of bidding between 5pm on 21 September and the evening of 22 September.

Sky’s share price jumped after the announcement.

The procedure, as laid out by the Panel, will see a first round where two bids are submitted and the lowest may then increase theirs. In the second round, the other bidder is allowed to increase their offer. If there is an increased bid in the second round, a final round will commence where both parties will be able to increase their bids.

Fox first announced it would purchase Sky in December 2016, with an initial offer of £10.75 per share. Throughout the bidding war that has commenced over the last two years, the bid has risen to £14.75 per share. The share price currently sits at £15.80 (at time of writing).

The BBC reports this latest development in the Sky takeover saga with the help of media analyst Alice Enders. Alice describes Sky as a jewel in the crown, thanks to its 23 million pay-TV subscribers. It is these customers that will be hit by the takeover though, Enders suggests whoever wins, it’s likely to lead to higher prices for customers so the winning bidder can recoup its costs.

Comcast is by far the biggest company in the competition with assets nearing $200bn, compared to Fox’s $52bn. Disney, which is going through the process of acquiring Fox, has assets valued at $96bn.

Nigel Milton

How Heathrow used an integrated campaign to win its third runway

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Nigel Milton, director of communications at Heathrow Airport, recently spoke at the CIPR’s Influence Live event and explained how the airport went from being called ‘Heathrow Hassle’ to having its third runway approved by Government.

Heathrow airport is the busiest in Europe, with some 78 million passengers passing through it in 2017. It’s also recently had plans for a third runway approved – fulfilling the UK’s need for increased air traffic capacity.

But getting to this point wasn’t an easy journey; while a third runway was initially supported by Gordon Brown’s Government in 2009, the policy and politics all changed when the coalition Government came to power and immediately scrapped it.

Milton told Influence Live that when he joined in 2010, the airport already had the reputation of a ‘national embarrassment’, with ‘Heathrow Hassle’ in the lexicon. This made finding political supporters almost impossible.

So, how did they manage to turn it around? With the help of an international event, the London Mayor and an integrated campaign like no other.

In 2012, London hosted the Olympics and Heathrow became the official airport of the games. For Milton, it was an opportunity to reset the dial as the Games could effectively make or break the airport’s fortunes. In Milton’s own words, they ‘nailed it’.

Part of the success was leaving nothing to chance. Not only did Heathrow prepare for the oddly-shaped luggage carried by international athletes (oars, bikes, racquets etc), it also increased spending on toilet maintenance because, bizarrely, the number one factor that makes a difference to someone’s opinion of an airport is the cleanliness of the toilets.

Major incident-free, the London Olympics were a huge success for Heathrow and, what’s more, the Government had changed its position on the need to expand UK airport capacity. This policy reversal was, in no small part, thanks to the London Mayor at the time, Boris Johnson.

While Johnson may have more recently been elected as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip with the promise there would be no third runway at Heathrow, he was at the time considered the airport’s champion politician – Milton said, ‘Without Boris, we wouldn’t have secured a third runway’. Johnson had argued that London needed more airport capacity, favouring the creation of an island in the Thames. While this wasn’t realised – his desire for more capacity was and so the long road to an extra runway began again for Heathrow.

The success of the Olympics put Heathrow in a strong position for its runway plans, as it could now trade on its national and international reputation of excellence, making it the frontrunner for expansion.

Milton’s approach was two-fold, a public relations campaign was designed to bring everyone, from its staff and local residents to Scottish businesses, on board and a public affairs campaign to gain political support.

The airport’s four business priorities were at the centre of its PR campaign:

  • Mojo – getting staff onside by making the airport a great place to work and risk-free when increasing staff numbers
  • Service transformation – proving it can deliver the best service for passengers and airlines
  • Beating the business plan – staying ahead of its plans so it could meet deadlines and expectations
  • Sustainable growth – working with local communities to impact them negatively as little as possible and positively as much as possible

The campaign was complex, with thousands of stakeholders to be considered, influenced and managed. It required a national strategy, and the airport reviewed both passenger and freight journeys, so it could prove that it wasn’t just London’s airport, but Britain’s airport. It got Scottish business to back the plans, explaining the benefits locally because, Milton explained, ‘My accent saying Heathrow expansion is good for Scotland, in Scotland, means nothing compared to a Scottish accent saying it’.

The PR fed into the public affairs, Heathrow using the wins up and down the country to gain additional political support. It also polled politicians to show MPs they were not alone in their support. With a comprehensive integrated campaign that took everything into consideration, Heathrow was successful and a third runway has now been approved.

But the challenge isn’t over yet, as Milton is all too aware. When Vuelio asked if he was planning for a change in Government, Milton responded that yes – administrations and policies change and Heathrow was still preparing for every eventuality.

Do you want to run successful campaigns that combine public relations and public affairs? With Vuelio, everything you need is in one place, on one platform. Find out more.

Just Do it

Nike, Kaepernick and reputation

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Nike has launched a new campaign, celebrating 30 years of ‘Just do it’. While some of the stars in the campaign, such as Serena Williams, are unsurprising, the inclusion of Colin Kaepernick has sparked huge conversation, and in some cases backlash, online. The campaign asks a bigger question of all communications professionals: how much should you be pushing your business or clients to make political stands and talk about the issues that matter to the public?

Colin Kaepernick is famous for being the first NFL star to kneel during the national anthem, exercising his first amendment right to free speech to protest police brutality against African Americans. His protest angered many in the US, including President Trump, but other players followed suit and the issue continues to divide the nation.

As reported by the BBC, Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since last year and is suing the league, arguing that team owners have deliberately frozen him out because of his activism.

The Nike campaign has caused a backlash from some online, with the general protest against Nike’s advert being to burn or destroy Nike clothing owned by the protester:

Many others have pointed out that this form of protest is particularly illogical as it is actually protesting someone’s right to protest:

It’s also burning clothing you’ve already paid for and explicitly making Nike true to their campaign words; Nike believes in something – even if it means sacrificing everything (or some customers).

The Nike campaign arrives on the same day as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s new research tracking public attitudes towards business.

The Everyone’s business tracker: Public attitudes report reveals 92% of the public want businesses to speak out on key issues impacting society. The report suggests that in UK, an increased focus on gender pay reporting, GDPR and Brexit has encouraged businesses to speak more openly about the challenges they face.

The CIPR has welcomed the report, with President Sarah Hall linking the news to Nike’s Kaepernick campaign. She said: ‘There is a clear demand for business to operate with social purpose. Just today we’ve seen Nike launch an advertising campaign with the former NFL player and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick.

‘Public relations professionals have a key role to play in guiding these decisions and encouraging businesses to align their interests with their audiences. We have the opportunity to ensure clients and businesses operate ethically and responsibly with the beneficial outcomes that result in terms of reputation and brand loyalty.’

The research also warns of the impact of high profile failures, which has tarnished the broader reputation of business, with 56% of the public believing the reputation of business is good, down 9% since October. The report suggests the collapse of Carillion and the Cambridge Analytica scandal have had a negative impact on the reputation of business and highlight the need for firms to commit to corporate governance and fulfil their social responsibilities.

 

Ready to fulfil your social responsibility? Or perhaps you just want help managing your reputation? Either way, Vuelio has you covered. Find out more. 

BBC Radio 2

Chris Evans leaves Radio 2 for Virgin Radio

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Chris Evans is leaving Radio 2 after 13 years with the station. The presenter of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show is rejoining Virgin Radio, the broadcaster he left in 2001.

Evans announced on his Monday morning show that he is to depart, with his last broadcast for Radio 2 set for December. However, the news was quickly followed by rumour and then confirmation that the star will be joining Virgin Radio.

The Radio 2 Breakfast Show is the most listened to radio show in the UK, with a weekly audience of over nine million. This compares with the Virgin Radio breakfast show’s 413,000 weekly listeners.

Evans is one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars, earning in excess of £1.6m a year, however the Mirror suggests the move will lead to a significant pay increase.

On leaving Radio 2, Evans said: ‘As Sir Terry said before me, there’s never a right time to leave something you love but there might be a wrong time if you hang on too long. I honestly think The Breakfast Show is currently as positive, useful, sunny and inclusive as it has ever been. In fine shape for its next custodian. Whoever that turns out to be, I wish them all the very best, they are in for an absolute blast.’

And on joining Virgin, he said: ‘In many ways Virgin Radio is my spiritual home. I see nothing but exciting and ground-breaking opportunities ahead. In a medium that is changing so quickly on a daily basis, the potential for growth is unprecedented. Our plan is: to give it all we’ve got, see where we can get to and have the most possible fun along the way. It makes me smile every time I think about it.’

His time at Radio 2 has been marked by many highs, not least a peak audience of 9.91m in 2014. Evans has raised millions of pounds for Children in Need with his annual CarFest events and other fundraising activities, and he launched the 500 Words children’s story-writing competition that, this year, received over 130,000 entries.

Lewis Carnie, head of Radio 2, said: ‘Over the past eight years on Breakfast, Chris has built an incredibly close relationship with the Radio 2 audience. I’d like to thank him, on behalf of them all, for becoming their friend via the airwaves. We look forward to launching a brand-new Radio 2 Breakfast Show early in the New Year.’

His first stint at Virgin Radio was tumultuous at times, with a 2001 Telegraph article quoting Evans as saying: ‘It looks like it’s all over – £600 million has come off the share price of the company and they have to blame someone and it looks like it’s me. I haven’t been sacked yet but it looks like it’s going to happen.’

Now Virgin is welcoming him back with open arms. Scott Taunton, CEO of Wireless, which owns Virgin Radio, said: ‘We are beyond thrilled that Chris has chosen to come back to Virgin Radio. He is the biggest name in radio and is synonymous with the brand. He has the most exciting Breakfast Show in the industry and has an energy that captivates audiences.’

Evans is not the first big name BBC Radio star to join a commercial station. Chris Moyles famously departed his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, which had a regular audience in excess of six million, and joined Radio X, where he has a weekly audience of 859,000.

All eyes will be on listening figures to see if Chris Evans has the star power to draw a significant audience or if his replacement at Radio 2 will be able to keep the audience.

Elton John

What PR did on its holidays – 6 inspirational campaigns from the summer

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Summer is over, the Hogwarts Express has departed Platform 93/4 and it’s time to go back to school. But getting back into the swing of things can be daunting after the holidays, and it is often difficult to find the inspiration for an excellent end to the year.

Not everyone was on holiday this summer and many PRs have been truly outstanding while creating brilliant campaigns. We’ve rounded up 6 of the best to give you the inspiration you need to have a killer year.

1. The celebrity campaign – Snickers and Elton John
Snickers has bagged one of the biggest names in pop (ever) as part of its ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaign. The video features Elton John in a rap battle, singing his own song, until he eats a Snickers and turns back into the rapper he actually is. It’s simple, it’s consistent with the existing campaign and it’s quite funny. The agency is AMV BBDO – check out the video below:

 

2. The reactive campaign – Kit Kat’s proposal
Back in June, Kit Kat inadvertently became the subject of a viral tweet:

Kit Kat – and its agencies Ketchum and Anomoly – got in touch with the boyfriend and together they planned a Kit Kat-themed marriage proposal using a custom-made Kit Kat ring box. Thankfully, #SheSaidYes, and the campaign was completed less than a month after the original tweet:

 

3. The undercover campaign – Will Smith, JUST water and Boots
Will Smith working in Boots. No, really. Will Smith dressed as a Boots employee and promoted his son’s JUST water brand in the Westfield branch. The campaign generated a heap of public attention within the shopping centre and an amazing video.

Boots has partnered with the eco-friendly water brand for its UK rollout and benefitted hugely from the celebrity connection. Obviously, this campaign is easier if your dad is one of the most famous actors on the planet.

 

4. The stunt – NOW TV’s #JurassicJeff
This campaign was fairly basic in its creation and execution but, as is always the way with communications, simple is best. NOW TV placed a giant statue of seductive Jeff Goldblum next to Tower Bridge to celebrate 25 years of Jurassic Park. The oversized model hit social media during a quiet news spell and managed to generate lots of coverage in the mainstream press. Not bad considering NOW TV were just promoting the fact they stream the film:

 

5. The print campaign – Stabilo’s highlighters
Print campaigns sometimes trend on social media for all the wrong reasons, but Stabilo’s ‘Highlight the remarkable’ campaign went viral for all the right ones. The simple campaign displayed historical photos with a yellow highlighter picking out a significant woman from a massive human achievement. The campaign hit all the right buttons, championing amazing women from history who are so often overlooked, while showing the simplicity of its product. The agency was DDB Germany, and the ads can be seen on PR Examples.

 

6. The political statement campaign – Trump balloon
The campaign from 13 July already has its own Wikipedia page. The ‘Donald Trump baby balloon’ was flown above Parliament Square to protest the visit of the American president in the UK. Paid for through crowd-funding (raising £16,000) the six-metre tall Trump blimp (Trimp?) drew a massive amount of attention online and in print, extended by the fact it followed the President to Scotland as he took a rare break to play golf.

The balloon upset many who believed it was disrespectful. A group crowd funded £58,182 to create a Sadiq Khan in a bikini copycat campaign, possibly expecting it not to be approved.  It was and Sadiq Khan even joked about it, so that campaign fell rather flat.

Whether this is now the new ‘floating something down the Thames’, remains to be seen.

 

How are you planning your campaigns? How are you informing the press, measuring your coverage and results, and presenting this to the board? Whether it’s a PR stunt, political campaign or reactive tweet, Vuelio has everything you need on one platform.  

Five Things

Five Things: Trump vs Google, bullying, WPP, Bake Off and May dance

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This week, Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed includes Trump vs Google, three bullying stories, WPP’s new chief exec, the return of Bake Off and Theresa May, dancing queen.

1. Trump vs Google

TrumpThe President of the United States has attacked Google twice this week for ‘bias’. The first time, Trump said the search engine had rigged results to the search ‘Trump news’, so that they were negative against him. He tweeted: ‘96% of results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!’

He also suggested his administration might regulate Google – though this would likely violate the first amendment (free speech).

The second attack came with a tweeted video along with the hashtag #StopTheBias:

The video shows how the Google homepage allegedly linked Obama’s State of the Union address each year on its homepage but stopped when Trump came to power. Google hit back, saying that Trump’s first speech had been to Congress and was therefore not a State of the Union address and also provided evidence that the video was not accurate, as reported by BuzzFeed News.

Trump attacking negative views, opinions and facts against him is nothing new. Trump attacking businesses and companies is nothing new. But the most powerful man in the world attacking the most powerful search engine in the world could change the face of the internet as we know it. Though actually, this will probably go nowhere – with the midterms on the horizon, Trump has bigger fish to fry.

 

2. A trio of bullying

Now MagazineStacey Solomon, Tess Holliday and Kim Woodburn – all three are considered to have been publicly bullied this week.

Stacey Solomon called out Now magazine for its cover, which used tweeted comments to describe her as ‘boring’, ‘desperate’ and ‘cheap’.

Solomon’s response generated huge public support, leading to an apology from the magazine. However, this wasn’t good enough for Solomon, who rejected the magazine’s apology on Loose Women.

In the second bullying story, Kim Woodburn appeared on Loose Women to ‘reconcile’ with Coleen Nolan after the pair fell out on Celebrity Big Brother. With Janet Street Porter playing ‘judge’, the pair argued and Woodburn left the set, leading to over 3,000 complaints of bullying against her to Ofcom.

Finally, Tess Holliday, plus-size model, has appeared on the front cover of Cosmopolitan in what many are calling a huge step forward for body positivity. Tess received a swathe of negative responses, which were widely shared on social media, so Cosmopolitan followed it up with an article titled: ‘Why the feedback to our Tess Holliday shoot proves this is the magazine cover we all needed’.

 

3. WPP to appoint Mark Read as chief executive

WPPThe FT has reported that that WPP is appointing Mark Read, currently co-chief operating officer at WPP, as its new permanent chief executive after deciding against an external appointment. Read has been in charge of WPP since April, when Sir Martin Sorrell resigned. His appointment has not been confirmed by WPP but could come as early as Tuesday when WPP reports its interim results, or later in September.

The FT also reports that Roberto Quarta is expected to move back to a non-executive role, after he became executive chairman following Sorrell’s resignation.

In an April interview, Read said: ‘The key task is to restore growth in the business and that is what we will focus on’, though whether he can stave off competition from Google, Facebook AND Sorrell’s new S4 Capital, while streamlining the unwieldy WPP, remains to be seen.

 

4. Bake Off is back

Bake off

The Great British Bake Off returned on Tuesday with the same judges and hosts, 12 new contestants and overnight viewing figures of 6.1m. Though this is down on last year’s opening of 6.5m viewers, the programme managed to capture 57% of the 16-34 audience, making it the most-watched TV show for this age group in 2018 outside of the World Cup. That means it’s more popular with ‘young adults’ than Love Island.

Full consolidated viewing figures are yet to be released, but as more people now watch TV on demand or via catch-up, it’s very possible the opening show will be more popular than it was in 2017.

In terms of the content, the show stuck to a familiar format, though there was noticeably less innuendo from the days of Mel and Sue.

 

5. Theresa May: Meme-tastic Happy Feet

Prime Minister

Theresa May has been filmed dancing several times this week, while on her whistle stop tour of three African nations. Surprisingly, Twitter redubbed the videos to different music. Enjoy:

You get the idea.

 

Seen something we missed? Let us know on Twitter – unless it’s another version of May dancing. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen a lot of that.

Ethics in PR and comms

Global PR associations agree new ethics code

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A task force of public relations and communication management organisations has identified 16 principles for ethical practice that they deem to be universal and fundamental to the practice of PR and comms.

The organisations, which includes the UK’s PRCA, based the principles on an analysis of the most prominent codes of ethics in public relations and communication management to build on the 2003 global protocol on ethics, the recent Helsinki principles and the IABC code.

Francis Ingham, of the ICCO and PRCA, said: ‘Less than a year ago, we expelled one of our most high-profile members from the UK Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) because of a breach of ethics. Building on that decision, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) developed the Helsinki Declaration – our global principles of ethical practice. We warmly welcome these complementary principles from the Global Alliance. Seen together, our collective work represents the new gold standards of ethical public relations practice.’

The principles are split into two parts – guiding principles and principles of professional practice:

Guiding principles

  1. Working in the public interest
  2. Obeying laws and respect diversity and local customs
  3. Freedom of speech
  4. Freedom of assembly
  5. Freedom of media
  6. Honesty, truth and fact-based communication
  7. Integrity
  8. Transparency and disclosure
  9. Privacy

Principles of professional practice

  1. Commitment to continuous learning and training
  2. Avoiding conflict of interest
  3. Advocating for the profession
  4. Respect and fairness in dealing with publics
  5. Expertise without guarantee of results beyond capacity
  6. Behaviours that enhance the profession
  7. Professional conduct

Jose Manuel Velasco, chair of the Global Alliance, which represents more than sixty organisations, said: ‘We are happy to announce that the members of the Global Alliance and IABC have agreed on sixteen principles that should be covered in every code of ethics for our profession. We are also happy to announce that these principles have the support of ICCO, the PRCA UK and PRCA MENA.

‘Our combined efforts will help elevate the profession and promote ethics from a position of strength.’

Project lead, and GA past chair Jean Valin said: ‘As communicators and public relations professionals, we have the potential to influence economies and individuals. This carries obligations and responsibilities to society and to organisations. Ethics must be at the core of our activity. In our world of fake news and concerns over privacy as artificial intelligence ramps up, we are at an ethical crossroads. There is no public relations/communication profession without ethics.’

All members of the Global Alliance (sixty plus organisations) will be reviewing their codes of ethics to determine if they align with the new global principles within six months. The Global Alliance has updated its own 2003 code to reflect the new global principles.

Members of the task force included representatives from:

  • Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
  • Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS)
  • Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ)
  • Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA)
  • International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO)
  • International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
  • Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) United Kingdom and Middle East North Africa

Recognising the importance of putting principles and codes into practice, the task force has also assembled a repository of critical resources such as case studies, podcasts, newsletters and advisories culled from the members of the Alliance and other organisations, which is available here.

If you’d like to add anything to the resource list, please contact Jean Valin directly.  

Five Things: BDC, Netflix, Dec, Brexit and Fabricant

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This week’s five things includes the Corbyn’s proposal for a BDC, Netflix acquiring the rights to the Bake Off, the new Ant, pick your own Brexit and Michael Fabricant in a whipping.

1. BDC

Corbyn

The Edinburgh International Television Festival is on at the moment, which always throws up a multitude of gems. For example, Ian Katz, director of programmes at Channel 4, today revealed that Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? is the first Channel 4 series to have a bigger audience on All4 than live TV.

However, the story from the festival that has grabbed all the headlines is Jeremy Corbyn’s Alternative McTaggart lecture. The leader of the opposition used his speech to propose a British Digital Corporation (BDC), that would, as reported by The Guardian, ‘commission online TV, offer easy access to archive material held by public sector institutions and operate a social networking arm that could play a role in direct democracy’.

While his full speech explains some of the functions of the BDC, it’s unclear how it would be funded to compete with the likes of Facebook, Google, Amazon or Netflix (all would be direct competitors), nor how it would be different from the BBC (which presumably it would be sharing the licence fee with, or perhaps the aim is to replace the broadcaster).

The BDC is not Labour policy but the leadership is committed to the proposals as part of its plans to reform the media.

 

2. The Great British Baking Show

GBBO

Netflix has acquired the rights to air the Great British Bake Off in the US. The streaming giant will show last year’s series (the first from Channel 4) on 31 August, with this year’s series showing later this year. It has also secured the rights to a third future series, which will stream next year.

The show will be streamed under the title ‘The Great British Baking Show’, which is what it is known as in the US. The previous BBC series aired on PBS.

Let’s be honest, this story is included so I can remind everyone that this year’s Bake Off starts on Tuesday. Exciting.

 

3. ? and Dec

Ant and dec

Ant McPartlin will not feature on the next series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, as he is recovering from his addiction to prescription drugs. While it had been assumed Dec would be presenting the show alone, Kevin Lygo – director of programmes at ITV – has revealed at the Edinburgh TV festival that Ant will be replaced.

Different outlets are suggesting different presenters are favourite to fill the space, with Scarlett Moffat and Holly Willoughby the most likely frontrunners and David Walliams, Vicky Pattinson, Philip Scofield and Cat Deeley also in the mix.

 

4. Bloomberg’s Pick Your own Brexit game

Brexit

It’s hard to write a great deal about this, you really have to play it. Bloomberg has created a choose your own adventure game with two options for each round. Your aim? To get a Brexit outcome, whether that’s hard, soft or not at all.

 

5. Michael Fabricant’s whipping

Michael Fabricant

Michael Fabricant MP ‘hit’ the headlines after publishing a video explaining what the Government Whips are and do. Above is a picture of him whipping someone with a shoe horn. Below is the full video:

Five Things: influencer marketing, Google in China, Alex Jones, Scottish papers and Heat

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While everyone in the office is trying the Dele Alli challenge (easy when you know how), here are the stories you probably missed, but shouldn’t have.

This week, Five Things includes the CMA influencer marketing investigation, Google staff protesting censorship plans, Alex Jones banned (again), Scottish papers to merge and 1,000 Heat magazines.

 

1. CMA launches influencer marketing investigation

CMA influencer marketingThe Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into celebrities and social media stars who aren’t disclosing paid-for content. The CMA has identified the practice as a major issue and has written to a number of users to find out how they are working with PRs and brands.

We spoke to leading industry experts to gauge their reaction to the announcement, with the overwhelming response being in favour of anything that standardises practices across content creators and their collaborators.

 

2. Google staff protest China plans

CensorshipOver 1,000 Google employees have signed a letter to protest the company’s plans to a build a censored search engine for the Chinese market.

As reported by The Guardian, the letter calls for executives to review the company’s ethics and transparency – the latter point referencing the secrecy of the project codenamed Dragonfly. Google staff demand to know what they are building and why.

Google, which left China in 2010 due to censorship and ‘state-sponsored hacks’, has made only vague references to the project and claims it is ‘not close to launching a search app in China’.

 

3. Alex Jones banned from Twitter

Alex jonesObviously wanting its own headline in Five Things, Twitter waited a week to join every other major social network in banning right-wing conspiracy theorist, and Info Wars owner, Alex Jones. The platform appeared in last week’s edition defending its decision to leave Alex Jones’ account running as he hadn’t broken any rules.

Now the account has now been considered to have broken to rules against abusive behaviour but the punishment is small; Alex Jones has only been banned for one week and a majority of his tweets remain on the platform. The Independent suggested Twitter, which often faces criticism for its handling of abusive users, was responding in the most ‘minimal way it possibly could’.

 

4. Daily and Sunday paper to merge

HeraldsGlasgow’s Herald is merging its editorial team with the Sunday Herald, as the publisher seeks to save on costs. Plans being mooted include rebranding the Sunday Herald as the Herald on Sunday, and making the papers share the same editorial line and broadsheet format.

As The Guardian points out, The Sunday Herald was the only paper to back independence in the referendum, a move which saw the paper’s readership double in 2014. It has since declined, though, as many pro-independence campaigners accuse the paper of turning on the cause.

The news is just the latest blow to the print industry, which continues to suffer in the digital age.

 

5. 1,000 Heat magazines

100 issueHeat magazine is celebrating its 1,000th issue this week with a bumper edition, including a mini mag that features all the original content from its first issue in 1999. While the magazine boasted a massive print circulation of nearly 600,000 copies back in its 2006 heyday, now it has fallen to less than 120,000.

However, as the Press Gazette reports, thanks to its app, radio station, website and social platforms, the brand claims to reach 4.3m, keeping it relevant to a modern audience.

Marking the thousandth issue, a Heat spokesperson said: ‘Like the Queen and a cup of builder’s tea, Heat is a much-loved British institution – and one that has entertained millions of loyal readers over the years and is still going strong, outperforming our competitors on a weekly basis.’

 

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter.

Five things you shouldn't have missed

Five Things: Alex Jones, online TV, Twitter Tories, Queen portraits and Ed Balls

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This week’s Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed includes a high profile social media ban, the rise of online TV, the very shy Tories, Australians going mad for portraits of the Queen and Ed Balls being Tased. Scroll to the end for that video.

1. Social media bans Alex Jones

Alex jones

Alex Jones, the far-right US conspiracy theorist who owns InfoWars, has been banned from nearly every major social media platform. Apple removed five podcasts by Jones and Infowars, a move which was almost immediately followed by Facebook unpublishing four pages run by Jones, YouTube deleting his account and Spotify removing all of his podcasts.

Of the major platforms, only Twitter has left Jones untouched. Co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted his explanation:

The other platforms all claimed violations of some sort against their company rules, often linked to hate speech or glorifying violence, apart from YouTube who banned Jones because he ignored a 90-day ban.

The move has sparked a ‘free speech’ debate in the US, where the first amendment is held in high regard and often creates confusion for people who don’t understand that the right to free speech does not include the right to be listened to.

 

2. Online TV use soars

Online TV

Nearly half of all adults have watched Netflix, Now TV, Amazon Prime Video or a similar service in the last three months. The data comes from the Office for National Statistic’s Internet Access and Use report.

The huge rise, up from 29% in 2016, compounds the findings from last week’s Ofcom Communications Market Report 2018, which found that the revenue for online TV continues to rise, now up to £2.3bn from £1.8bn.

Other findings from the ONS report show that weekly internet use is broadly the same year-on-year; the number of over 65s shopping online has trebled in the last decade; 25% of adults who use smartphones do not have smartphone security; and 70% of employed adults need computer skills for their job.

Oh, and yes, you do recognise the woman in the middle of the above picture.

 

3. Are there Tories on Twitter?

TM MP PM

MPs from all political parties are on Twitter, with nearly every MP having their own account on the platform. Some MPs’ party allegiance is easier to identify than others, which hasn’t escaped the notice of Gizmodo’s Gavin Whenman, who trawled through every single MP account to find out if they declared their party in their bio.

Nearly every party has proud members: 100% of MPs from the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and Green party identify their party in their bio, as well as 91% of MPs in Labour and the SNP. In Northern Ireland, 89% of the DUP declare and 85% of Sinn Fein do.

So, what about the Tories?

Just 42% of Conservative MPs declare their party affiliation on Twitter. Whenman posits a number of theories, suggesting they keep it secret because Twitter abuse in the run up to last year’s election was mostly directed at Tory candidates, or perhaps they hide it on purpose in order to hoodwink people into sharing their content.

Whatever the explanation, Twitter is clearly now home to the Shy Tories.

 

4. Australians request portraits of the Queen

Duke of Edinburgh

Australia has official rules that allow citizens to request ‘nationhood’ material from their MP. This material may be an Australian flag, a recording of the national anthem or portraits of the head of state – Queen Elizabeth II. It seems this was a little known rule until a Vice story exposed it and now hundreds of Australians have made requests for portraits of the Queen.

MPs’ staff have been busy fulfilling orders that also include portraits of the Duke of Edinburgh. Tim Watts MP said most requests for portraits of the Queen were due to a case of ‘excellent trolling’. Terri Butler MP said: ‘I’ve been talked out of providing a photo of Beyoncé to constituents whose correspondence does not adequately particularise their request for a picture of the Queen’.

In other news, it’s silly season.

 

5. Ed Balls getting Tased

Ed Balls

Did we mention it was silly season?

How to create an award winning campaign II

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How do you create an award-winning campaign that challenges consumer perceptions?

Creative PR specialist Tin Man knows how – as its recent win at the CIPR Excellence Awards shows. Its #ISeeMore campaign tackled the challenge of getting young girls to consider careers in engineering for The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Join Mandy Sharp, founder and CEO of Tin Man, and Hannah Kellett, External Communications Manager, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, as they explain why the campaign worked, what it takes to win awards and what lessons can be taken from their success.

Award Winning Campaign II