All-Party Parliamentary Groups

Are All-Party Parliamentary Groups something to worry about?

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This is a guest post by Gavin Devine, founder of Park Street Partners and member of the PRCA Public Affairs Board.

At the start of August, two newspapers splashed stories about All-Party Parliamentary Groups. First the Mirror claimed that a ‘Tory MP [had] handed paid roles on Parliamentary groups’ to a lobbyist; and then the Guardian said that ‘MPs serving on informal parliamentary groups while working in second jobs are facing scrutiny’. In both cases it was All-Party Parliamentary Groups in the spotlight. And each story revealed a whole bunch of misapprehensions about these Groups and also how regulation of them is actually working rather well.

First, the misapprehensions. It is standard fare for the media to overstate the importance of All-Party Parliamentary Groups, implying that they give some sort of privileged access or play a formal role in the legislature’s activities. Sometimes they are put on a par with Select Committees; as a former Parliamentary Clerk, this used to be pretty irritating. The fact is, they have none of these powers or responsibilities.

What APPGs do is bring together MPs with an interest in a particular subject to debate and discuss the issues, and perhaps even to work out ways to make their case to Ministers. But they have no formal role and their powers are no greater than an individual MP or Peer acting on their own. They have no access to public money, so the idea of doling our paid roles is a touch misleading. What these Groups do can be important, but it is really important not to overstate their influence.

Another misapprehension surrounds the ‘revelation’ that MPs who have interests in the subject matter often serve on these Groups – or even set them up. Well, that’s the point. Surely it can be no surprise that MPs from former coalmining areas dominate the Coalfield Communities APPG, or that those who have an interest in manufacturing or have relevant firms in their constituencies are part of the Aerospace APPG? And is it really unexpected that an MP who worked in the packaging industry for 30 years now has a role as Chair of the Foodservice Packaging Association and at the same time runs the Packaging Manufacturing Industry APPG? What is the Guardian’s point: that Mark Pawsey shouldn’t use his experience and contacts to ensure that an important industry is regulated efficiently and effectively?

Which brings us to the second point: that regulation of these matters works rather well. In fact, neither of these articles could have been written without the transparency engendered by the existing rules. We know that the various MPs cited by the Guardian have paid external roles, and even how much they are paid, because they have declared it in the Register of Members’ Interests. We know they serve on various APPGs because they have completed the very frequent returns required for the Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups. We can see who their fellow office-holders are and if anyone provides them with support in the same, available-to-the-public-on-the-internet, register. In this case, at least, Parliament’s rules and regulations really deliver.

It seems to me that what’s really bothering the media isn’t APPGs at all: it is MPs having second jobs or being too close to ‘business’. There’s a debate to be had about Members received money from outside sources; personally, I think it is entirely legitimate if it is declared for all to see. And the discussion about proximity to companies is a tired conversation about lobbying itself. I don’t know how many times it has to be pointed out that if Parliamentarians do not speak up for major employers in their constituencies or industries they used to work in or businesses they understand and support we will end up with bad laws and regulations devised by officials who can never have knowledge of every facet of the economy and society they oversee. Lobbying is all about ensuring that the legislative process is well-informed, and if APPGs play a role in that, great.

Sitting behind all this is the on-going inquiry by the Committee on Standards into the rules for and regulation of All-Party Parliamentary Groups. This will consider all of the issues raised by the two newspaper articles and much else besides. I hope that the Committee will put any prejudices about ‘big business’ aside and judge the work of APPGs representing industry in the same way as those that are ostensibly more ‘worthy’. And I hope too that it will reflect on the way that the existing rules already promote openness; and that without APPGs MPs and Lords with common interests would simply get together informally without any transparency at all.

Read more political analysis from the PRCA in this overview of the association’s investigation into unregulated lobbying from February of this year. 

For more on the intersection of PR with politics, check out this guest post from BDB Pitman’s Stuart Thomson Guilt by association and why we need to fight back. 

Why you should write a book to build your profile

Why you should write a book to build your profile

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This is a guest post from Lucy Werner, founder of PR & design consultancy The Wern and DIY PR and brand platform for small businesses HypeYourself.com. She is also the author of Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself (the latter available for pre-order, coming out 7 September 2021).

Lucy Werner

Gaining traction around your PR business is too often focused on (expensive) industry awards, good relationships with trade publications or appearing on senior panels that, while impressive to the competitive set, can be tricky for boutique agencies and don’t necessarily help you build sales. A niche communications book is not going to win you an international literature prize, but it can really help deliver against all of a company’s business objectives – to drive sales with the right clients. I wanted to share how my book helped me and could work a treat for you:

1. Raise your game
Controlling the personal brand narrative of your PR business should be a cinch for us. We tell people from celebrities, well-seasoned entrepreneurs, and influencers how to raise the profile to grow their business. It makes sense we should be setting an example and if we are going to be speaking about our own industry, we must make sure we are sharing from a wealth of experience and continually learning and evolving our practice. Once you leave the shop floor and become the manager/CEO, it can be easy to not be as close to the evolving trends and mixing with young and emerging talent. Keeping fresh is important for the survival of your own business and to maintain industry best practice. Writing a book is the ultimate showcase of your knowledge and helps to raise your own standards because you are committing your words to print.

2. Client connection
PR is so much more than good publicity. For me, the best public relations teams really understand the business and market challenges of their client and create a tailored publicity strategy that will directly make a difference against them. The process of drafting a proposal, pitching to a publisher and then doing the hard work to not only write, edit and then market your book has really helped me to gain a different level of empathy for many of my service and brand-led clients. It is also a process that many of them are interested by… which leads me to my next point…

3. New set of skills
In the digital era, the best publicists are not the ones with a rolodex of contacts. They are the ones that can pitch a story well, at the right time, to the right contact. Whether you are helping your client secure a brand partnership, sponsorship, retail distribution: they use all the same pitching muscles. Pitching a book has given me a brand-new set of pitching and relationship building skills from creating a book title, finding contributors, and crafting angles for sales. At the time of writing, I’m now in negotiation with a commissioning editor for a business book for one of my clients – something I wouldn’t have considered attempting before learning the process in my own book.

4. New business
Yes, I wrote my book as a DIY guide for small businesses for the academy side of my business but that doesn’t mean I haven’t attracted larger b2b clients and when you are a boutique agency you only need a few of those for the pay-off to be very lucrative. I can say with 100% confidence that all current clients on both PR and design of the business are a direct result of the book. I didn’t anticipate how much a PR book would drive work on the creative and brand side of the business internationally. We’ve worked on four different design projects with a French client based on her seeing my book cover on her Kindle.

I can’t recommend the experience of writing a book enough.

Find out more about Lucy Werner’s Hype Yourself and the upcoming Brand Yourself. 

Want to get reading before you get to writing? Check out our round-up of best books for PR professionals and then, if you’ve got time, six more of the best. 

Do your customers care about your political affiliations?

Do your customers care about your political affiliations?

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While your product in the hand of the right person can do great things for your brand, the grasp of someone you’d rather not be affiliated with can do great harm. In a time where ethics are demanded of companies just as much as they are of our politicians, is the combination of business and politics a good idea?

Whether political affiliations are welcomed or not, it’s very likely to happen at some point in the lifespan of a big brand. Remember ‘Milkshaking’? Since its inception in May 2019, throwing food and drink stuffs to make a political point has earned its own entry on Wikipedia as well as lots of laughs over social media, and it’s now unavoidably connected with particular makers of milkshake. As a police request to McDonald’s to stop selling the drinks during Nigel Farage’s visit to Scotland that year went viral on Twitter, Burger King countered with a reminder tweet to their Scottish fans that milkshakes would be sold in their stores all weekend.

The reaction towards each of the fast-food giants in relation to the Milkshaking phenomenon was very different. While the signage in McDonald’s was met with ‘urine it is, then’ joke tweets from the public, Burger King’s tweet was branded ‘irresponsible’ by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and criticised by political figures including Tony Blair. It had also, however, cannily positioned Burger King as politically engaged with the younger portion of its consumer base… and, very importantly, as a restaurant reliably stocked with milkshakes.

Reactions to political movements, campaigns and protest have the potential to lock consumer loyalties in, but we see it go wrong regularly, too. In the US in the 70s, there was the gay community’s boycott of orange juice in reaction to the homophobic stance of Anita Bryant, a figurehead for the Florida Citrus Commission. At the time, Bryant herself claimed that ‘sales are up 15 percent over last year’ due to retaliation from the ‘mothers of America’, but the commission’s PR spokesperson called for her resignation, and the impact of the boycott was felt for years (it also inspired some fantastic OJ-alternative Screwdriver cocktails).

Fast-forward to 2019, and a US brand looking to make a new home in the UK, Chick-Fil-A, was rejected by its new target consumer base due to its political affiliations. The Oracle shopping centre in Reading announced the closure of Chick-Fil-A’s first UK-based branch eight days after its debut following media outrage over the restaurant’s history of donating to anti-LGBTQ organisations, calling it ‘the right thing to do’.

The Chick-Fil-A brand is unavoidably entangled in right-wing politics to this day – as of July this year, Senate member Lindsey Graham even vowed to ‘go to war’ for the chicken restaurant as University of Notre Dame students protested the opening of a branch on their campus. Whether support from those who vote Graham’s way will bring good fortune to the brand, or further protests will cause a dent in its profits, it will be useful to note for brands who have not yet had to tackle unplanned-for political connections.

Just as brands hop on political bandwagons to make their ethics clear to consumers, politicians have been quick to align themselves with certain products to tap into new bases, too. Brands don’t get a choice in this; so is it better to accept it or distance from it? Fred Perry famously backed themselves away from the Proud Boys, and Nintendo updated its guidelines following the pull of Animal Crossing New Horizon’s into the US presidential race with a request to ‘please refrain from bringing politics into the game’ in November of last year.

One thing brands can’t do is ignore their connection to politics when it happens – in 2018, 64% of consumers chose to avoid or boycott brands if their stance on societal issues didn’t match their own, and there’s no doubt that number will be much higher following the last 18 months or so of increased accountability, questioning of big business and ethical consumer decisions.

If your brand becomes connected to a political moment and you’re preparing to lean in closer or break away, ask yourself first – will your customers, and future customers, want to be aligned with you?

Read more about finding the right connections for your brand in our previous piece on picking the right ambassadors and taking an ethical stance.

And make sure your PR strategy is aligned with your public affairs to understand the whole issue. Vuelio provides both in its platform.

Develop your relationships with stakeholders, regulators and government agencies using Vuelio Stakeholder Management.

accessmatters overview

5 accessmatters sessions to catch up on

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We launched accessmatters to encourage listening and the sharing of different experiences and best practice from across the industry. Here is a look back at five of our sessions, focusing on topics including disability, anti-racism, social mobility and burnout.

Allyship and disability
InFusion Comms managing director Sara Hawthorn shared her experiences as a deaf person working in the media and PR, the importance of representation and what goes into achieving Blueprint Ally status. Read our write-up or watch the full session.

Antiracism
Manifest partner and head of diversity and inclusion Julian Obubo spoke about creating inclusive agencies and how we can all be antiracist in our work and lives. Dealing with clients who use racist language is covered as well as how to better educate yourself. After the session, Julian also took the time to answer extra questions.

Mentorship
Taylor Bennett Foundation chief executive Melissa Lawrence explained the aims of the social mobility charity getting more BAME people into the PR and comms industry as well as the challenges of training and mentoring the future of our industry during a pandemic. Watch the session, read the overview and check out our previous interview with Melissa for more.

Social mobility
The Social Mobility Foundation’s chief executive Sarah Atkinson took us through the charity’s work to open up opportunities for young people who may not have the support networks and stability of financially-comfortable backgrounds or family connections to help them into the world of work. Here’s our write-up.

Burnout
KDP Coaching & Consulting founder Katie Phillips experienced burnout herself following a 15-year career in Government, corporates and startups. She talked about the launch of her consultancy helping to prevent others from going through the same and the key signs to look out for in yourself and those around you when things get tough. Read more from the session and check out extra advice from Katie here.

Find out more about our accessmatters initiative here.

Inclusion in public relations

Fairer representations of disability in PR: starting the conversation with Mark Webb and Sudha Singh

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‘It feels like disability is last to the table at any diversity discussion. If it gets there at all. And yet we’re the biggest minority’ – as the host of the PRCA’s new podcast Disability@thetable, Mark Webb is making sure hidden and visible disability is part of the inclusion discussions happening across the industry.

Launched as part of the PRCA’s recently-rebranded Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council’s new initiatives, Disability@thetable shares stories and best practice advice to push conversations forward. ‘It’s some peoples’ calling to chain themselves to railings to drive change. And there’s a definite place for that, but I’m hoping to help push the story from another angle,’ says Mark. ‘A happy, positive, “look what you’re missing” tone.’

Including everyone at the table
That PR and comms so often misses out consideration and representation of disability is a severe failing – not just of the audiences we seek to address and engage, but of our workforce and its future. As quoted in this 2016 piece from Ashley Phillips, PRCA’s UK PR Census that year found that just 2% of the 83,000 practitioners working in PR were disabled people. This isn’t representative of society at large and can be incredibly isolating, as InFusion Comms’ founder and managing director Sara Hawthorn shared in an accessmatters session last year about her own experiences as a deaf person in the industry:

‘I worked in the media on and off since I was 17. There was a point before starting InFusion Comms where I had never come across another media or PR professional with a disability or impairment at all, and I’d never spoken to anyone else in the industry who was going through anything similar. I thought; this must be something missing from our organisations. Who’s missing?’

While visibility is slowly increasing in some areas of the media – Channel 4 has promised that disabled people will make up at least 70% of its presenting team for the Paralympics this year (‘lovely,’ says Mark, ‘big, positive gestures can only help nudge the diversity and disability dials’) – there’s far to go.

‘Things are getting better’, says Mark. ‘But way too slowly.’

Authenticity over tokenism
‘The comms industry can only speak from a position of knowledge and authenticity if we stop being tokenistic and become more intentional about our journey to equity and inclusion,’ believes Sudha Singh, co-chair of the PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council (EIAC).

Rebranded this year, the EIAC’s new name reflects its new, more inclusive, purpose: ‘For the longest time, organisations have been focusing on diversity as a way to correct institutional and historic inequalities,’ says Sudha. ‘Referring to people as diverse actually “others” those who don’t belong to the dominant group/privileged groups. We deliberated on the name change – it now reflects our purpose – who we are and what we are trying to do.

‘We want organisations to focus on the equity inspired designs for bringing about that change – to create equitable workplaces where talented people can thrive, no matter where they come from, what they look like. And this will require organisations to actually identify the problem areas and it is not helpful if you are determined to treat everyone equally. Inclusion of course is an outcome and has diversity at its core – do people feel valued, can they bring their true self to work? What is their experience of the workplace? Do they belong?’

Initiatives and progress
The work to ensure everyone can belong within our industry is well underway – the EIAC recently hosted its first ever #ChangeforGood Conference, supported by APCO, with over 20 speakers covering Gender, Social Mobility, Race and Disability, with more initiatives and partnerships to follow.

For Mark, the Disability@thetable podcast will be leading the charge:

‘Dream guests that won’t happen? Michael J Fox, the Back to the Future legend, now with Parkinson’s and doing amazing advocacy and fundraising work. And – showing my age, here – Gloria Estefan. I worked with her briefly in the early 90s, just as my Multiple Sclerosis was about to start sneaking up on me. Her family has been impacted by MS too. Both great communicators!

‘Aiming high but vaguely feasible? The likes of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Rory Cellan-Jones, Frank Gardner. All of them living a good, positive, public eye life and not defined by their disability.

Booked in already? Talented, brilliant communicators and PR people either living with, or impacted by disability… And I’m hoping I can tease out others.’

While big brands are doing their own long-overdue work on inclusivity, it has to be done properly, something Mark acknowledges is likely to be difficult going for some:

‘It’s a horribly fine line for any brand to be treading,’ says Mark. ‘It’s a strange kind of gold-rush going on in the desperate bid to be inclusive, “politically correct” and all too often, tick-box. I will single out Lego positively, for their work across pretty much all flavours of diversity. And I dine out on stories of how brilliant the senior team at Dixons Retail, then Dixons Carphone, were with me. But listen to our podcasts for that!’

The first thing organisations can do to be more inclusive of disability within their teams, their campaigns and their creative? Join the conversation that’s happening now. ‘Consult with us, engage with us’, says Mark. ‘Don’t just assume job done by slapping a wheelchair into something you’re up to.’

Find out more about the Disability@thetable podcast and more PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council initiatives here.

For more experiences from people working across the comms industry, catch up with our accessmatters sessions.

What journalists want from PRs

5 PR tips from 5 journalists: lessons from ResponseSource media interviews

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Vuelio and ResponseSource are both part of the same company, and we regularly catch up with journalists taking on new patches, new roles and launching new publications for our Media Bulletin newsletter.

Sign up to the Media Bulletin for twice-weekly updates from the UK media.

Here are just a selection of requests for PRs from UK journalists at nationals, consumer and trade media, and podcasts featured in our media interviews this year.

The Sun’s technology and science assistant editor Harry Pettit
‘PRs are vital to the work we do, particularly on the tech side. I find PRs most useful when they can quickly connect me to a relevant expert for a story, though we also regularly use press releases pinged to our inboxes. Emails are definitely preferred to calls, and early in the morning is best – pre-9am if possible. One thing I will add, though, is that we almost never publish stories based on surveys. Please stop sending those.’
Read the full interview here for more on Harry’s work and what he’s hoping to bring to The Sun’s tech and science coverage.

Freelance journalist and author Andrew Don
‘Don’t [contact me?], unless you have really thought about it from my point of view. What is it that I want? Email me. I’ll come back to you if I think there’s something I can, or want, to do.’
Read the full interview here. for Andrew’s 30+ years in journalism and his new book The Bounty Writer.

HuffPost life journalist and freelancer Faima Bakar
‘Before selling-in, I would divvy up among your team who’s contacting who. Have a chat across your team and decide who’s doing what first. As a writer, I might be excited to pitch a story based on a press release you’ve sent over – it’s not good when I see another colleague is working on it already.’
Read the full interview here for useful intel on how you should be pitching to staffers and freelancers completely differently.

Techopian founder and editor Michael Baxter
‘Any information which has a ‘responsible use of tech’ theme would be helpful. And the usual stuff, not too ‘salesy’, to the point, contact details, social media handles of people referred to in PR material. Images would be useful.’
Read the full interview here for how the last year has changed our relationships with technology and the challenges of launching a publication during a pandemic.

Podcaster, journalist and author Francesca Specter
‘What I write about is either Alonement-based topics or certain things that are related to Alonement so anything pertaining to self-care, which is a huge industry at the moment, or anything pertaining to mental health and also physical health and wellness. I do have a background in writing for health as I was a features writer for two years at Healthy magazine. I also write a lot of beauty features for publications like Healthy and Top Sante so any beauty-related content would be great. Also, partnership and sponsorship opportunities for Alonement the blog and the podcast and the newsletter.’
Read the full interview here for more about Alonement and the importance of taking time for yourself.

Check out more updates and interviews from the UK media industry over on the ResponseSource blog.

Want to watch the full accessmatters session with Faima Bakar? Check it out here.

Choosing the right brand ambassador

Seeking: the right brand ambassador for long-term engagement

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Is there a public figure you just can’t stand? Or a celebrity you’ll go and see in anything, even if it’s likely to be terrible? Are you more likely to give a new product a go if it’s introduced to you by a face you know and trust?

Parasocial relationships – ‘that feeling of closeness and authenticity’ you can build with a person you don’t even know, as YouTuber: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars author Chris Stokel-Walker put it – are a powerful part of modern-day brand awareness and engagement. There’s no escaping its influence if you engage in media of almost any type.

Type ‘George Clooney coffee’ into Google, for example, and you’ll find that People Also Ask ‘Does George Clooney own Nespresso?’, ‘How much does George Clooney get paid for Nespresso?’ and ‘Why does George Clooney do Nespresso?’. No, he doesn’t own Nespresso, but we associate him with the brand closely since he began working with them in 2006, and he is said to have earned over $40million from a recent campaign. Why? Because brand partnerships can pay off, for everybody involved.

The financial pay-off for brands, and their ambassadors, is undeniable – ‘parasocial interaction mediates the relationship between celebrity images and purchase intentions […] It has significant implications for marketers and academicians,’ reads a study from the University Business School in India from May. ‘Status affect[s] the strength of parasocial relationships, source credibility, and evaluation,’ finds a report published in the International Journal of Advertising earlier this year.

For which brands are making smart choices for their ambassadors – and potential subjects of parasocial engagement – right now, you need only watch the adverts between shows on TV/before YouTube videos/in pop-ups. We’re mid-Olympics 2020, and Dina Asher-Smith is busy creating with Muller. Lynx has teamed up with boxer Anthony Joshua, YouTubers Calfreezy and Chunkz, and rapper Aitch. Tapping into niches, subcultures and fandoms can also attract consumers to a brand – Subway is acknowledging its passionate-about-plant-based clients by teaming up with vegan Grime artists, and Star Wars’ Adam Driver is doing brand ambassador duty in a new campaign for Burberry Hero.

The consumer, the follower – those watching and engaging – can benefit from brand ambassadorship, too. It’s the consumers’ choice, after all, whether or not to engage in a one-sided, fully-voluntary parasocial entanglement with Tom Hiddleston over breakfast – plenty of consumers were happy to be the recipient of a plate and a Centrum from his hand, just as others suddenly weren’t very hungry, actually.

Studies show that parasocial engagements like these provide feelings of companionship, as well as ‘affection, gratitude, longing, encouragement, and loyalty’. It’s that careful back-and-forth that makes ambassadorship so powerful for building long-term relationships with a customer and a reliable, resilient consumer base.

Understanding which media personalities would be most likely to engage an intended audience, and keep on message authentically, was a key part of Zero Waste Scotland’s Scotland is Stunning – Let’s Keep It That Way award-winning campaign of last year. ‘Influencers were essential to this campaign, in particular for the under-25 audience,’ said communications programme manager for the campaign Claire Munro. ‘We wouldn’t have been able to reach them as directly or persuasively via traditional media channels, stakeholder channels or traditional toolkit. They gave the campaign real pop.’

‘When deciding on an ambassador for your brand, look at who their audience is and what kind of content they use,’ says Claire. ‘Does that marry up with your values and your objectives?’

It’s an important question to ask, as ‘authentic’ personalities, and the choices they make, can cause real problems. There are plenty of examples where brands and ambassadors didn’t make for ideal mixes. While Scarlett Johansson claimed to have ‘no regrets’ over her decision to work with SodaStream (a company headquartered in Israel with a factory on the West Bank) in 2014, the Hollywood actress stepped down from her ambassador position with Oxfam following its criticism of her affiliation with the drinks brand. Popular YouTuber Shane Dawson, who had found success across a range of mediums and with many brands, over many years, was swiftly dropped by both Target and Morphe after controversy surrounding his older videos resurfaced.

‘It’s important that PR people fully appreciate who they’re representing, their personality and what is a good or bad endorsement for them,’ says Stokel-Walker. ‘An influencer’s stock in trade is their authenticity, but any bad decision an influencer makes to support or endorse a product will be picked up on very quickly.’

Want to start your own meaningful relationships with perfect brand ambassadors and a loyal – perhaps parasocially-tinged – customer base? Make sure you pick the right people, that share your purpose, aims, ethics, moral outlook and your brands’ plans for the future. After all, it could be the start of a long and meaningful relationship, to everyone’s benefit.

For more on influencer culture, read our feature on Chris Stokel-Walker’s YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars. Find out more about choosing the right brand ambassador for your campaign with our interview on Zero Waste Scotland’s campaign ‘Scotland is Stunning – Let’s Keep It That Way’. 

Understand how your PR compares to the competition and prove ROI with Vuelio Media Monitoring.

 

communicating a summer of live events webinar

In the event of an emergency – communicating a summer of live events

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The past 18 months have hit many industries hard but live and in-person events have felt the impact like no other. With the majority of Covid restrictions in England coming to an end on 19 July, large-scale events are finally returning.

In our latest webinar, “In the event of an emergency – communicating a summer of live events”, we talked to the people behind these events to discuss the challenges they’ve faced, their plans for returning to ‘normal’, and the positives from the pandemic (yes, there are some!).

We were joined by Bairbre Lloyd, PR and communications manager at Cheltenham Festivals and Hannah Mursal, founder of ME Travel.

Fill in the form below to watch the webinar. 

CIPR's PR in a Pandemic report

CIPR releases #PRinAPandemic report

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The CIPR’s latest report #PRinAPandemic shows that the good reputation of the PR and comms industry cemented over the last 18 months is likely to stay.

The report on how the PR industry has fared throughout the COVID-19 pandemic gathered around 1,400 responses from those working across a variety of ages, roles and seniority. Positives include strong performance and an increase in influence, but they have come with the negatives of overwork and strains on mental health.

Key findings:
• Nearly three-in-five PRs in a client-facing role expect their client base to grow.
• Industry professionals are five times more likely to say that their mental health has deteriorated, rather than improved, over the past 12 months.
• More junior practitioners expect their working hours to increase compared to those with more seniority.
• Almost half of independent practitioners experienced a decrease in income.
• While female-identifying practitioners were more likely than male-identifying colleagues to have worked increased hours throughout the pandemic, male-identifying PRs were twice as likely to have experienced a decline in income.
• While many publicly-funded organisations were unable to make use of furlough schemes, fewer than one-in-five public sector practitioners were furloughed. Other organisation types furloughed over half of all their PR workforce.

‘This research provides a wealth of data and through it, tells us the many stories and experiences of the last few months,’ said CIPR President Mandy Pearse. ‘If there is a common theme it is the feeling of optimism and stature amongst practitioners, perhaps not something many would have predicted earlier in the pandemic. That is entirely down to your hard work in the most challenging of circumstances and has earned us that influence.

‘A bright future does not mean we ignore the trauma of our past and success can be celebrated only if we recognise the hardships many of our colleagues faced. I’m delighted to see predictions of teams and client bases growing and hope efforts to improve business performance are matched with efforts to improve the experience of working in public relations.

‘We’re starting from a great position of being able to build on our achievements rather than having to build back up from the bottom. Let us take this opportunity to improve and grow with purpose, success, and compassion.’

Access the full report here.

For more on how PR and comms has flourished during the pandemic, catch up on our look at 2021 trends so far in PR and communications featuring insight from thought leaders including Sarah Waddington, Stuart Thomson, Shayoni Lynn and more.

2021 in PR and communications so far

2021 trends so far in PR and communications

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Back in December, we asked a selection of thought leaders working across PR and communications for their predictions on the big trends coming up for the industry in 2021.

Ethics, fake news, the growth of digital and opportunity in disruption were some of the topics that came up at the time, so we caught up with Sarah Waddington, Shayoni Lynn, Stuart Thomson, Kerry Sheehan, and Tolu Akisanya to see how things have panned out so far…

Upcoming areas of opportunity – healthcare, policy and change
‘COVID is nowhere near over and businesses have never needed professional comms support more. Specific industry experience will be a huge boon as the economy opens up further. Those with experience in healthcare comms and economic development will continue to do particularly well.’
Sarah Waddington, Astute.Work and #FuturePRoof

‘It seems that, under Boris Johnson at least, interventionist governments are here to stay. There are very few areas of life that the Government doesn’t seem to have an opinion, or policy, on. The big opportunity, and threat if not addressed, is for organisations to engage with Government to ensure the policies work. There will be no more obvious policy area where this applies than climate change. With COP26 coming, the Government will need to make some big policy announcements to accompany the impressive targets it has set. Engagement will be critical throughout and beyond this time.’
Stuart Thomson, BDB Pitmans

Digital data is an essential part of the modern PR toolkit
‘Data, digital and understanding of human behaviour will continue to be an important driver for effective, strategic communications. Why are we doing it? What do we want people to do? How will be measure it?’
Shayoni Lynn, Lynn PR

‘Because of the pandemic last year, brands and organisations have had to shift their attention to digital; I think there will be a conscious effort to continue this, with a focus on building online communities. There’s an opportunity here for strengthened loyalty, genuine interaction, and not just for our clients but also with peers and the wider industry. Ariatu PR’s work with new authors is a great example of this; working with new authors, from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds, raising awareness for these authors (that statistically would have been overlooked in the past), creating new communities and reaching new audiences. The organisation also has built a great interactive community online, with other PR professionals, journalists, and the wider industry and created a strong reputation of being knowledgeable, approachable and impactful.

‘Some other great examples over the last few months include the fantastic Weetabix x Heinz Twitter thread, and Marcus Rashford’s School Meals campaign, both of which started online and went on to captivate the nation, lead to wider discussions offline, and ultimately changed behaviours.’
Tolu Akisanya, Ariatu Public Relations

Accountability and ethics
‘For public affairs as a profession, there is no doubt that the texting habits of politicians, for example, have adversely impacted on our reputation. The rules that he [David Cameron] put in place, which everyone said were lacking at the time, did not prevent him from doing whatever he wanted without fear of retribution.’
Stuart Thomson

‘There has been an increased expectation for accountability. Last year, there was pressure for brands and organisations to be seen saying the right (socially conscious) thing, this year they have been asked to show the work behind their public claims. It’s no longer enough to pay lip service to global issues, organisations and brands be must be seen to authentically follow up with real-life changes and examples, and not just performative PR activities, they must work much harder now to be genuine and transparent to build trust and relationships with their audiences.’
Tolu Akisanya

The fast pace may not ease up
‘We’re returning to urgent planned and unplanned work, and supporting organisations, businesses and brands to move to a place of not only surviving but thriving in their evolved ways of doing things and their accelerated transformation and innovation as a result of the pandemic.

‘Some are still trying to fathom this out and even though some economies have seemingly bounced back to a better than anticipated place at this stage, we are seeing behaviours continue to adapt and change at a faster pace than before. This continues to be a big challenge for us to ensure we can land our communication right to ensure the compliance, buy-in, take-up and so on we require.

‘There has been no let up. There never will be. Working at pace is the norm now.’
Kerry Sheehan, Business innovation and communication advisor

Big surprises of 2021 so far?
‘The refocus of gaining coverage in alternative media – which I love! Over the last year or so, one of the biggest challenges was being able to effectively cut through the global stories dominating the news in hand with changes in content consumption. Many practitioners were able to quickly pick up on this and pivoted, to utilise smaller, more localised and niche media outlets, to reach their target audiences.’
Tolu Akisanya

‘The way that the Government has tried to shift the Covid-19 public inquiry off until mid-2022 is surprising given that another wave of infections are widely expected for later in 2021. The political imperative of putting the findings of a public inquiry off until some future date seems to have outweighed the potential health benefits of learning lessons sooner rather than later. If you want a prediction for 2022 then it will be how much the inquiry will dominate public life as the evidence starts to be heard.’
Stuart Thomson

‘The amount of communicators tuning into and building on their emotional intelligence, and using this to build relationships. The need for emotional skills, the cornerstone of employee and audience engagement but also competitive advantage, will continue to grow and could even outpace the demand for cognitive skills in the future.’
Kerry Sheehan

PR continues to show its value
‘COVID-19 may be one of the worst natural disasters global society has faced in recent years, but it has been good for the public relations industry which has been able to pretty bullishly demonstrate its value to business, not least through stakeholder engagement and internal comms. The biggest challenges have been managing demand and helping the hardest hit industries get back on their feet, closely followed by a talent shortage at the account manager level. The ongoing concern is how to keep PR in front of management teams so they continue to appreciate what it delivers and invest appropriately.’
Sarah Waddington

‘Public sector comms teams continue to knock it out of the park with COVID-19 comms – huge respect to everyone working through this tirelessly, especially colleagues in public health. This has contributed to our excellent vaccination numbers with more people than expected taking up the vaccine, helping us all move towards some sort of ‘normalcy’.’
Shayoni Lynn

‘Some of the biggest achievements for the industry this year – embracing change, mastering the art of the pivot, and finding new ways to be creative and communicate our products/services and clients. Despite starting the year in the middle of a pandemic we’ve really been able to highlight our value in our ability to adapt, be creative and deliver effective PR campaigns. The #GettyMuseumChallenge is a great example of pivoting, increasing brand awareness, and building a community of art-lovers from user-generated content on instagram.’
Tolu Akisanya

‘I am continually impressed by how resourceful people have been during the continued lockdown, on a personal and professional level. We all need picking up sometimes and my network across PR and comms has always been there. It is fantastic how many organisations really are thinking about the wellbeing, especially the mental wellbeing, of their people.’
Stuart Thomson

Looking for more from our PR and communications trends predictors?

Interview with Stuart Thomson about his PR & Comms Best Influencer win at the 2020 Online Influence Awards

Sarah Waddington’s #FuturePRoof Five

In the event of an emergency webinar

In the event of an emergency – communicating a summer of live events webinar

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For our latest webinar we spoke to the people behind the planning as we ready for the return of in-person events. Sharing the big challenges from the last year were Cheltenham Festival’s PR and communications manager Bairbre Lloyd and ME Travel founder Hannah Mursal, who have successfully battled through cancellations, changing restrictions and internationally-inconsistent rules on travel and event attendance.

Part of the relaxation of social-distancing rules in the UK is the uncertainty over what is to come over the next few months. Read on for practical advice on how to prepare for every eventuality regarding events.

Challenges of the last 18 months
‘It’s been tricky!’ said Hannah. Looking after every element of booking for ME Travel’s entertainment clients, their bands and their crew has required increased flexibility as well as patience.

‘In the UK and across Europe, it’s been quiet – people have been doing music videos and virtual performances instead of touring. In the US, it’s been more focused on domestic travel. They haven’t really stopped; people were still travelling to do gigs. We’re looking at the bulk of events coming back in September. It’s been a waiting game to book tours in and find new venue dates.

‘Restrictions are changing constantly, but it all depends on who’s going where. I’ve got Jamaican artists, but their crews are American, English, German. There are times where you could only get half of the crew there.
‘You have to know what every country is allowing in. Do they need forms, vaccination – you can’t really book in advance, either. You can’t book today to fly next week, because it will change by mid-week.’

Plus points of the pandemic (there have been a few)
For Bairbre, juggling different priorities has brought positives as well as challenges.

‘When you’re a location putting on a festival, you can make your own decisions but you have to think about the audience if you want people to come.

‘Some of our speakers were delighted to get out of where they were, and others were… not so keen. What it has opened up to us is the idea of dialling in. Our Literature Festival was a hybrid of a socially-distanced audience and streaming online. There were people on stage while guests from the US were able to join digitally. That will have repercussions in the future – when this all finally lifts. It’s another string to our bow. It worked for us.

‘Like a lot of our fellow cultural organisations found, there was a huge appetite for us to provide support for the community. Our Science Festival was a godsend to lots of parents schooling from home. Our audience has increased enormously and that’s something we want to develop.

‘It has been difficult, but it’s jump-started our digital ambitions. We had to do all of this in five weeks – it would otherwise have probably taken us about five years.’

Lessons learned
‘We were making decisions as late as possible to have maximum flexibility – we were on tenterhooks waiting for the go-head for things,’ said Bairbre.

‘While we brought in lots of technology, there wasn’t really time to test it. We could have done with more user experience for next time. It worked, but it was hairy.’

For Hannah, the importance of communication and relationships has been a main takeaway:
‘We were all in it together, we became a family – I know how my clients’ mums are doing, their dads. It was panic stations in the beginning, so it was good to keep that communication going. In terms of hotels, the entertainment reps were the first to lose their jobs. My contacts all got made redundant. It was important to keep in the loop of what everyone was doing.

‘It was useful to know when someone was in the studio recording – it tells me when things lift, they have an album to tour. Building these relationships lets me know when are going back to work.’

Contingency plans
‘We’re planning for a full capacity without social distancing for our next Literature Festival in October – we made that call fairly early on,’ shared Bairbre.

‘I think if restrictions are put back in place, however, we will go back to what we’ve done before. This will be the eighth festival we’ve done in lockdown – we can bring in distancing and Covid-secure measures. Our senior management team will be in HQ cooking up plans. We were lucky last year because we slipped in between lockdowns. And I think we were the first literary festival to do a hybrid version.’

‘Not to sound complacent, but I’ve done so many cancellation announcements that we have our contingency plan for if it’s needed. If you’ve got a plan written and ready to go, you roll that out; you know that it works. Having those comms ready to run, is the key for me.

‘People are still going to be a bit insecure with events. One of the things we were conscious of were that some people were going to be really gung-ho and ready to come out, some would be more cautious. You need to be really clear with everybody with how you’re managing your event. If the audience knows what to expert – that they’ve got to sit in bubbles, wash their hands, have e-tickets and wear masks – they will accept it. It’s the not-knowing that makes people angry.’

Practical tips for planning events during COVID-19
‘Have your communications plan ready in advance,’ advises Bairbre.

‘We went through looking at scenarios, what negative reactions we could potentially have to safety onsite. We thought about all the things that could be picked up on and made sure we were proactive with our safety measures. And with sending comms out, make sure your stakeholders are onboard and informed – artists, staff and suppliers.’

‘Insurance has been huge in my world,’ Hannah added. ‘It’s hard to get event insurance that covers COVID now. Make sure you’re covered with your suppliers.’

‘Be prepared; have that contingency plan. The rug may be pulled from under you at any moment.’

For more trends to prepare for when it comes to getting back outside, download our white paper PR & Media Travel Trends 2021.

Simon Mouncey Transport for London

‘Start by speaking the same language as the person you are talking with’ – Simon Mouncey, Transport for London

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Everyone in society is different and has different experiences of the same things. This is a fundamental truth that everyone in PR must accept in order to design the right comms strategy and speak to the right audiences in the right way.

In this guest post, Transport for London’s communities and partnerships specialist Simon Mouncey shares the importance of listening to your audience and taking on new approaches to embrace inclusivity.

‘I’ve been in PR for as long as I can remember, indeed long before emails, when you used carbon paper and did things in triplicate. I even remember a training session on how to put the paperclip on the right way round so it didn’t catch with all the other memos in the tray. Thankfully most priorities have changed since then, from how you did things to making change happen. I can now say I have changed people’s lives for the better. That’s a nice feeling. It’s nice being able to say you did the right things than just did things the right way.

What is the right way now anyway?

Something we’ve learnt over the past year is there is a disconnect to what we believe to be true and what others know is true. This has turned into a discussion on inclusive leadership. Whatever you think inclusive leadership is, the bottom line is that you cannot possibly know what it is like to be judged unless you too have been judged the same way. So, decisions affecting people’s lives need to be made by the people whose lives are being affected. Call it Ivory Towers or call it what it is, a systemic failing in our society based on opportunities and therefore positions of power reserved for those who look and sound like the people who are already in those positions.

No amount of unconscious bias training or other gestures will change how you are hardwired; it is just another easy tickbox. As a society, we surround ourselves with people who reinforce our beliefs, values and prejudices. Real unconscious bias training will parachute you into a life totally alien to you, an escape room, where you have to find new friends and allies to achieve your aim. Maybe, subconsciously, that’s why escape rooms are so popular. But to be effective you will need to be with total strangers, randomly picked from society.

The place to start is speaking the same language as the person you are talking with. The only way you can do that is to let them do the talking and listen and learn. So, don’t restrict them to a survey with questions based on your own experiences, views, opinions, perceptions and so on. But also amplify their voice. If they have no experience of being listened to then you have to bring them up to the same level as you, in knowledge of what your outcome is, and skills in making it happen.

I learnt this very early on, when I was charged with implementing national policy for people with learning disabilities. I think being naïve back then I was given it not as a challenge but as something everyone else had turned down (I was asked to become a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate after that and turned it down, but that’s one of life’s crossroad moments). The policy was that adults with learning disabilities should be able to decide their own lives. They had new personal care packages known as Independent Living allowances, which is an income they could spend on what they wanted, like ice cream and holidays. But how do you know what they want if they have never been listened to before, been institutionalised, and had other people make decisions for them? Many of those living in institutional care had never had a voice and therefore never developed speech well enough to have a conversation. There are many aspects of society where that is still true today. Well, in this case a pictorial language was developed, that meant they could say what they wanted in a conversation and their voice was heard for the first time, unfiltered by other people who had their own values and opinions.

Zoom (pun intended) forward to 2021 and many have woken up to the realisation that so many are excluded from society by their voice being excluded from decisions and have therefore developed their own communication methods. That can be rage, a protest, a counter-culture or just opting out of society. All of them, whatever your perception or judgement is, are methods of communication because they aren’t listened to the way the decision makers will hear. I call it prismatic thinking, where all the colours of the rainbow are there but when you apply your own filter to it you see just one colour. When decision makers say ‘limit the right to protest’, they are in effect masking those voices. And glass isn’t just in ceilings, it is all around us, and we see what we want to see based on our own reflections.

What I’m looking for in someone to communicate for me when I can’t is sincerity and authenticity. They need to believe in the message and what they are trying to achieve, and they need to tell it how it is. And when they look for what comes back it needs to be unfiltered. When people talk about a Green future what they mean is panic; we are feeling the effects of climate change now and it will only get worse, do something now. Relate that to what we are doing to make people’s lives in London better. What is better for them? Is it to be treated fairly and equally, a home, a job, a future? So there is a disconnect between getting more people cycling and walking and what we really mean is that all our futures are at risk if we don’t panic.

As professionals we need to get across to decision makers that everyone is starting from a different place and you can’t apply the same policy to everyone. Someone reminded me recently of the big tent idea. Where, in our western colonial culture, we get all the friendly like-minded experts together to agree what needs to be done. When in fact the name originates from native Americans where to deal with threats, like to their way of life, they would bring all the tribal leaders together, most of them enemies, leave their weapons outside and not be able to leave the tent until they agree what they need to do.

I’ve always advocated for local decision making, so you give the problem to a local community, you give them the skills and opportunities to become leaders (which by default is inclusive leadership), any risks, constraints and a framework to reach a consensus – in other words, everything you do to reach your conclusion – and you help them make a decision. It has become known as Citizen Assemblies. But call it what it is; people deciding how they as individuals and members of a wider society will achieve the same future as everyone else wants. That could be cycling where you can, it could be driving just for essential trips, it could be anything the individual can and knows they need to do. But to get there you need to abandon the structures and processes put in place that limits their voice. Amplify the hardest to hear and turn the volume down on the loudest heard all the time.

Take the example of going cashless on London Buses. Just like when I was in social care policy, I leapt at the chance to do it. Only then was I told TfL had been trying to do it forever and no one had attempted it in case in went wrong. My first thought was what was ‘going wrong’; it shouldn’t be about image. Failure to me was someone being hurt because they were carrying cash. Or someone trying to get somewhere just in time only to have to wait for people paying their fare with pennies. Or the person who is just a few pence short but trying to get the bus to get away from being hurt. So it was presented to people as, these are your friends and family, your neighbours, your community. We will help you engage with them so you can tell us what you’ve agreed. We helped communities find their leaders and supported them. I called it Co-Production.

In a later project involving a school, the headteacher told me I had changed the life chances of the students involved in the project, their confidence, hopes and aspirations and how they had just expected to leave school with nothing but were now planning a degree, career and a future for themselves, as lawyers, engineers and business leaders to help their communities.

I don’t have any plans for the future; I’m a water sign so go with the flow. Who knows the next thing around the corner. Another pandemic, certainly. The warnings were given years ago that with the climate and ecological emergency there was likely to be more diseases jumping species. And then there have been record after record tumbling on temperature, drought, rain. My advice would be, be nice to people, open your heart and that will open your mind. Make friends with people who are really different from you. Take a leap of faith and trust people to do the right thing. Forget the hashtag and campaign slogans. Give them your knowledge and skills and watch people reshape society in everyone’s image.’

For more on communicating with different audiences, read insight from this year’s PRFest on keeping PR sustainable. 

Leadership styles that work

Types of leadership styles that work (and those that don’t)

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Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, David Brent from The Office – toxic styles of leadership have been immortalised on the screen through the decades, but none of them can compare to the horrors of bad leadership in real life. And when it comes to unrealistic demands, unachievable targets and damaging work environs, the creative side of industry has been an ideal breeding ground for particularly nasty styles of management over the years…

We asked our PR network for some of their own stories (names removed to protect the innocent):

‘An old boss of mine was the definition of The Devil Wears Prada. She once commented that I would have to charm with my personality since my looks let me down. During the launch of a restaurant she insisted we all walk around with our hands on our hips in case a photographer caught us with a devastating case of Sausage Arm…’

‘…my first ever job was for a well-known trade publishing house in the early 1980s – one of my bosses would verbally abuse me and occasionally hit me over the head. One of the other editors said I needed to stand up for myself (I was 18), so the next time the chap started on me, I told him not to. He said ‘make me’, so I stood up and swung a punch at him. I missed almost completely and ran off…’

‘…controlling, insulting, demeaning. She got violent and used to throw things. The receptionist bought my boss the wrong kind of roll from the bakery once. Thankfully, she had great reactions and ducked just in time…’

PR, marketing, advertising and media have been known as a haven for bad and outdated leadership styles and truly awful workplace superiors – if you’ve been in the business for a while and don’t have a related anecdote that springs to mind immediately, it’s very likely someone you work with does. This history of crappy leadership is understandable. In these creativity-focused sectors powered by financial targets, lead generation and, above all, the bottom line, unconventional working styles and abrasive personalities can reign free… if they are seen to get results.

‘The reality is that all sorts of bad leadership approaches may be tolerated by companies if the person is generating commercial value or has specialist, hard-to-replace skills,’ says Access Intelligence’s Head of HR Kate Fraser, who has worked with her share of big (for both the good and the bad) characters in important roles.

‘At least now it is normal for both managers and team members to talk about the impact of individual management styles on company environment.’

Approaches to management and leadership have – thankfully – changed drastically since ‘Management Science’ came in the wake of ‘Mass Production’. Even since the 1990s, where bosses loudly calling their employees The C-Word during frustrating projects – another example shared by a former pro who worked with a certain big brand during the decade of fax machines and pub-as-office – wasn’t so frowned upon.

Beyond the anecdotal, old-school cruelty at work just doesn’t really… work. A survey from Businessolver this year found that 92% of employees would be more likely to stay in their job if their bosses would show more empathy. An OC Tanner study showed that 79% of employees who quit their job left because of a lack of appreciation. Cruel leadership styles can even impact physical health within teams, as found in a Karolinska Institute report that showed links between leader qualities and incidences of heart disease in the workforce.

‘Human nature hasn’t fundamentally changed, whether we are talking about employees in the 50s or employees in the 90s or now,’ says Kate. ‘People have always valued development opportunities, autonomy, recognition and meaningful work, and good leaders have always understood the value of adapting their approach depending on individual competencies and personalities.

‘There are two key things to which leaders and managers have needed to adapt in the past decade or so which are not easy to get right. Employees expect meaningful experiences that have a purpose going beyond money or even self-development, in which the positive reputation (as opposed on to commercial success) of companies is important. And work is often undertaken/achieved through networks and influence rather than through role authority.’

Exerting control through rank-pulling and tyrannical rule (a la Katharine Parker in Working Girl, or, perhaps one of the worst film bosses of all time, Darth Vader) is out – or, at least, it should be – and supportive leaders that allow creativity and good ideas to flourish are what can make modern teams work.

New people-first initiatives – like Bumble’s week-long closure back in June to give staff experiencing burn out a break, job sharing for senior roles at the BBC, KPMG’s voice-only meetings on Fridays, and the Human Givens approach being used at Splendid Communications – are positive changes and, hopefully, signs that aggressive and outdated leadership styles will go the way of those fax machines and printed media directories – relegated to the past.

‘…Every day I wanted to crash into the central reservation on the motorway just so I would have a good enough excuse not to go into work. I left to work in-house for a global brand. Guess who made contact with me two weeks into my new job? Nice as pie, telling me she knew I’d go on to great things and did I need a PR agency? I had great delight telling her that while I was working there, she would NEVER make it onto the approved supplier list and to never contact me ever again. That’s the last I heard from her.

‘I see her name pop up from time to time and it makes me think back to my early days in the industry. As hard as it was, it shaped me into being a better boss. I’d never want anyone junior to me to feel how I did. For that, I’m grateful.’

For more on maintaining mental wellbeing at work, watch our accessmatters session with KDP Consulting’s Katie Phillips on spotting the early signs of burnout and how to protect yourself and your colleagues.

Heard Mentality CIPR and PRCA

CIPR and PRCA launch ‘Heard Mentality’ campaign

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The CIPR and PRCA have joined forces to launch their first combined campaign ‘Heard Mentality’, which aims to push mental health conversations forward across the PR and communications industry.

The #HeardMentality campaign will focus on encouraging leaders to listen to their colleagues and speak constructively with their teams on mental health issues. The PRCA and CIPR will issue conversation starter packs to organisations and individuals to prompt conversations during the week of 13 September among those working in-house, agency-side and independently.

How to take part:
1. Your or your employers can organise a face-to-face or online ‘Heard Mentality’ conversation during the week of 13 September.
2. Get a conversation starter pack by completing this form.
3. Use the #HeardMentality hashtag across social media.
4. Get ready by thinking about how your colleagues are doing, what changes could be made in the workplace to support mental health as well as your own experiences.

Research from the CIPR and PRCA due out later in 2021 shows that 90% of PR professionals have reported poor mental health in the last 12 months.

‘For too long we’ve accepted that high stress is just the way it is, but it doesn’t need to be that way,’ said CIPR Health Group chair Rachel Royall.

‘The cost of poor mental health is too high from a human and a financial perspective. We can do better and take action to improve the environment our industry operates in and in turn respect diversity and help talent to flourish.’

PRCA director general and ICCO chief executive Francis Ingham said of the importance of the initiative: ‘I’ll be candid – there have been times over the past year or so when my own mental health has hit rock bottom. I’m not embarrassed to say so. We need to speak honestly and openly about this. It’s time for a step change in how we address mental health. This campaign can be the start of meaningful progress – we need to stop, listen and act on the concerns of our colleagues.’

The #HeardMentality campaign is just the start of the collaboration between the two industry bodies focusing on mental health. Both are also supporting the establishment of a mental health charter with PRWeek and have mental health resources that can be accessed on their websites.

Find out more information and support the Heard Mentality initiative from the CIPR and PRCA by completing this form.

For more on mental wellbeing, here are seven ways to protect your mental health while working in PR and communications and advice on how to prepare for a return to in-office working.

Your team are key stakeholders too

Stakeholders aren’t just clients or suppliers – don’t forget your team!

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This is a guest post from PRFest founder and Aura PR‘s Laura Sutherland.

If you’re not familiar with the term ‘stakeholder’ then just assume anyone with an interest in your business or organisation is one. They have an opinion about your brand and they also have the power to influence other people’s perceptions.

Too often we think of customers and shareholders as the main stakeholder groups and all too often the people who keep the business running are left off. Your team!

Often staff is considered a challenge rather an asset. What if staff were nurtured as stakeholders? What if staff were fed them with learning opportunities and watered with the chance to feel empowered to take on challenges and solve problems? I say that mindset is 75% of the battle.

Staff is one of, if not the most important stakeholder group. Don’t forget them. Include them. Nurture them.

This isn’t all the responsibility of the CEO. Line managers/middle management, have a large role to play and they need supported in order to nurture the team.

So, what key things do line managers need to do, to effectively support the team and give them these opportunities?

1. Genuinely get to know staff members
2. Listen and observe – be present
3. Regularly have 1-2-1 discussions with the team – it’s not always work challenges you can help with
4. Ensure the exec team is communicating with middle management regularly
5. When there is a challenge, ensure there is an action plan developed to try and overcome it
6. Celebrate good work – notice it and ensure it’s acknowledged
7. Communicate with the exec team when there is a challenge and you need support
8. Set up internal recruitment schemes to offer progression within and bespoke perks
9. Develop a programme for innovation where staff feel empowered to solve problems
10. Be genuine
11. Be aware of your own style and be open to constructive feedback

As a result, your team members will want to help you succeed and will be more productive, participative, caring and hold themselves accountable. Most importantly, they’ll be happier!

It comes back down to the basics of PR. Build relationships by genuinely caring and that’s when trust and respect is earned and given.

Find out more about Laura Sutherland’s work and this year’s PRFest here.

How to nail your PR story to awareness days

How to nail a PR story to an awareness day

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This is a guest post from Jamie Wilson, Lead Publisher at Bottle PR.

Pitching a story to the media around an awareness day can sometimes feel a bit like planning your perfect New Year’s party: there’s a lot of pressure to have the best day ever but there’s always the risk that the expectation ends up greater than the reality. Oh, and don’t forget the FOMO – or in this case the fear of missing out to one of your competitor’s campaigns…

There’s no doubt that awareness days can provide brands with a timely hook to elevate a key message or align themselves with a particular topic or discussion. But with over 1,500 awareness days taking place over the course of a single year, identifying the ones that are worth your time and effort can be tricky and time consuming.

The biggest challenge you’re likely to face is working out the ones that journalists will be interested in covering that year. From the widely recognised household names like Mental Health Week, there are a few heavyweights that every editorial team will be aware of.

Then you’ve got the more humorous ones – the Gorgeous Grandma Days and the Lost Sock Memorial Days. Often designed to amuse and delight, these can make for great social content, but you shouldn’t be too quick to discount them as a possible media hook.

While you can’t predict which of the awareness days will be taking a journalist’s fancy, you can be your best PR-self and ask yourself a few important questions before creating an associated story.

Does the awareness day align with longer-term brand messages?

Inclusive PR isn’t about selling in stories at various points throughout the year because you want to be part of a wide-reaching conversation. It’s about building a brand that consistently shows a target audience what you stand for. Remember, the topics that are important to that audience are just as important to you as a brand. Many brands are being called out now for marketing rainbow-coloured products just to be associated with Pride Month. But in reality, the LGBTQ community seek support and recognition every day. Be selective with the awareness days you want to tell a story around and be certain it tallies up with your other PR activity.

What relevant assets do you have in your content bank?

The simple mantra to keep repeating to yourself is ‘do I have something new and exciting to offer?’. Too many brands simply jump on the bandwagon with lukewarm content that’s pre-destined to get lost in the noise. Remember, an awareness day is not a story in itself. Therefore, if you want a journalist to cover your content, you need to have something worth covering. This could be new research, the launch of a campaign, or simply doing something out of the ordinary.

What angle are the competitor brands likely to take?

You should also remember that you’ll be competing with other brands on the day. Therefore, preparation becomes key. Identifying the most important awareness days for your client should be first up on the agenda. Then beaver through what your competitors’ key PR messages have been in the last three months, say. With your PR head on, you can probably work out what theme they’ll write their story on, so you can sense-check you don’t double up (and worse, lose out).

Have I left enough time to nail this awareness day or am I panic-reacting?

Prep and pitch your story at least a couple of weeks in advance. This means you stand a better chance in cutting through on your chosen awareness hook. And of course, pipping those competitors to it. With that (good) story prepped, pitched and secured ahead of the day itself, not even a Hollywood actress or the latest politician fumble (as I almost lost out to around World Bee Day), can get in your way.

In such a crowded arena, and with no guarantee of success, pitching your story or campaign around an awareness day can be a daunting task. However, that’s not to say it won’t be worth it. On the contrary, a lot of homework and elbow grease, mixed together with a dash of good luck, can bring big results.

The lesson here: nailing a media story on a global awareness day takes serious graft. Give yourself as much time as possible: those few extra weeks can be make or break when it comes to long-lead journalists. Rest assured, though – with a truly unique story and the right preparation, the day will be one worth remembering!

Find out more about monitoring coverage of your brand, competitors and the issues that affect you in print, broadcast, online, blogs and social media.

Extra answers on building better relationships between PRs and journalists

Cut for time: extra answers on building better relationships between PRs and journalists

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Our virtual event Building better relationships between PRs and journalists featured advice and insight from the freelance journalists behind Journo Resources, Jem Collins and Faima Bakar, and Freelancing for Journalists, Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson.

Watch Building better relationships between PRs and journalists here.

We ran out of time to answer all of the questions that came in during the session, but Jem, Faima and Lily have very kindly taken extra time out of their busy schedules of freelance commissions and supporting the freelance journalist community to give their take on them. Read on for their perception of PRs, why pitching over the phone is a no-go and where to find what journalists are actually looking for.

What is your perception of PRs in general? Do you find them helpful, or a hinderance to your work, when they show up in your inbox?

Jem: To be completely honest, a lot of time it is a hinderance. I have a separate inbox for my freelance journalism work, and honestly, it’s just like a constant avalanche of press releases. Right now, there are 786 unread emails in there, and I did a clear only the other day. Realistically, there is no way I can read all of these (let alone reply to them) and get anything else done, and the majority really aren’t relevant.

This isn’t to say that I think badly of PRs, it’s just the mass send out approach I find frustrating. The PRs I have the best relationships with are the ones who actually send me a personal email and really know what I do. I do appreciate that is a lot more work, and sometimes you do just have to get something out, but I really would stress how important the personalised approach is to building a relationship that actually works.

Faima: It depends on what they’re offering me – unsolicited PR emails can be annoying but sometimes they’re useful, I was more likely to read PR emails as a staffer as I was able to pick up stories of product launches/weird/quirky news which I can’t do as a freelancer. So there is no point sending the same things to freelancers as you would staffers. Now, these emails end up in my bin as they are just not relevant which can feel like a hindrance. However, they are helpful when they listen to what I’m after – which is interesting and unique case studies, and new research that can be turned into a feature.

Lily: If I am completely honest, I would love to go back to the times when you could talk to people directly, but that’s not the world we live in so I acknowledge that I need to work alongside PRs and they can be incredibly useful at times.

The best way a PR can work with me is to respond to my calls for help rather then fill up my inbox. I just don’t read these emails. Recently I put out a call via #journorequest on Twitter for an article I am writing for a running magazine. The PRs that got in touch were great at putting me in touch with exactly the right people to speak to. This was the ideal situation where PR worked well for me. Had they sent me a press release at any other time of the year the chances are I would have deleted it straight away. I get 50 to 100 PR emails a day, so I have to be pretty ruthless.

Do you think pitching over the phones is outdated? Would you prefer to be contacted via email?

Jem: Personally, I hate being pitched over the phone, but I think a lot of that is down to me being a freelancer and working from home. When you’re calling a newsroom, there are loads of people around and whoever isn’t busy will pick up the call, so it works. When it’s just one journalist at home, constant phone calls are just really distracting and you don’t get anything done. It’s especially frustrating when it’s not even a story on your beat – as a freelancer and business owner I do a lot of different things in a day and it’s actually just really intrusive. This isn’t to say that I’m not open to a chat, though – but I’d much rather someone send me a personalised email and ask to schedule in a time for a chat or a coffee.

Lily: I actually don’t like PRs pitching me ideas. My job is to find and report on stories not to be promoting the work of an organisation, so for me this actually undermines journalism. By all means work with me on a story I am developing but don’t tell me you have a story – you have something to promote, not a story.

For somebody that has joined the field mid-pandemic, do you have any tips on how to reach out to journalists and build relationships when communication is so difficult? What advice would you give to PRs for approaching a freelance journalist that they haven’t met/spoken to before in order to start building that relationship?

Jem: While I would very strongly urge against people pitching stories via Twitter DMs, I do think Twitter is quite a good way to get involved in the Twitter conversation. We all spend way too much time on The Bird App, so just getting involved in the conversation and being friendly will help me remember your name and come to you when I need anything. I’m forever grateful to the PR who saw me having an eczema flare up on there and sent me some cream that actually worked!

I’d also recommend the No 1 Media Ladies Facebook Group – they have a dedicated PR hours where you can intro yourself and your clients and it’s a really lovely community where people actually chat to each other and help each other out. You’re also very welcome to our Journo Resources Facebook Group, too! It could also perhaps be worthwhile coming along to some of the virtual workshops and events which are on at the moment – it’s a good way to not only get an in and connection with people, but also to see the kind of issues journalists are having at the moment.

Faima: Go for a personalised approach, ask them what their interests are, Google their work beforehand, see if your clients line up with their interests, show them how the two can work together. Maybe chat over a coffee?

Lily: It’s all about being useful to journalists and giving them what they need. Respond quickly to call outs and come up with the goods. Most of all: be honest and reliable.

Any tips on making sure that our emails are read by the journalist? For example, subject line, bullet points in the email, images?

Jem: The main thing for me is just being as clear and to the point as possible. As I mentioned before, I get a lot of PR emails and I don’t even work in a big newsroom. So, for me to open your email I need to know exactly what it’s about from the subject line of the email alone, otherwise I probably won’t get around to it. The other thing I would avoid is pretending something is personalised when it’s not – it really irks me when someone says this would be a perfect fit for my beat, or that they’ve tried to give me a call about it when they’ve not looked at my beat or tried to give me a call. Journalists just see through those kind of tricks and get annoyed!

Faima: I would put the most interesting thing in the subject line; is it an invite, is it new research, what’s the hook? Include images if you’re talking about something visual and links! The amount of times I’ve received a PR email, wanting to know more but they don’t provide links for more info, leaving me to Google information – which is not what you want.

Lily: Think like a journalist, not a PR. Write a headline that a journalist would write. Write a press release like a news story, not a press release. It might go against everything that you know/have been trained to do but journalists actually don’t like press releases and most of them are really badly written.

Be helpful when they are looking for information or sources. That really is your best way in. Emailing and asking to meet for a coffee will probably not work. Also never assume they are in London, that really winds a lot of freelancers up because many don’t live anywhere near London.

Do B2B and B2C journalists differ in what they want from a PR?

Jem: I’ve not really worked in B2B newsrooms, but I do genuinely believe the basics of good PR are basically the same. We’ve all got the same pressures, so we just want people who take a personalised approach, and are clear, concise and reliable.

Are you having the same types of conversations with journalists, or do they tend to be more structured/more formal? Do you still have relaxed chats and catch ups to chew over/discuss what’s happening?

Lily: Freelance journalists have informal chats, rants and moans in lots of online communities, especially on Facebook.

Aside from a media database (obviously!), would you recommend any websites or tools for finding the most relevant freelance journalists for the stories you’re wanting to pitch? And do you think PRs underestimate the importance of a freelance journalist in an age of where they have a greater role?

Jem: I definitely think that some PRs I’ve worked with haven’t quite realised the long game you get from working with a freelancers. Sometimes the requests I send out are for smaller places, and then I get very few people offering to help. But those are the people I’ll then go back to when I do get a bigger opportunity. A really lovely PR helped me out for a piece for a niche website on freelancing, for example, and when I got my next commission at The Big Issue, I went back to her first as I knew she was reliable, so I think it’s about seeing a bit more of the long game for your clients and coverage. Plus, freelancers mean you have the opportunity to pull in even more wins when it works out – we’re not just tied to one newsroom, we can go anywhere!

Faima: I would keep an eye out on the #journorequest tag on Twitter, and then go through that writer’s profiles to see what they cover. Usually when writers send out a request, they’re inundated with DMs/emails but usually they’re not relevant – so again, make sure you’re offering someone they can actually use. And remember that freelancers don’t need to stick with one publication, use that to your advantage – if your story is interesting, they can pitch it to a wide range of publications.

Lily: It is tricky as there are no comprehensive databases specifically focused on freelance journalists and it takes quite a bit of detective work checking bylines and social media profiles. MuckRack can be handy for seeing what journalists do and if they are freelance. And, yes freelance journalists play an increasingly large role in shaping the media landscape particularly in securing exclusive stories. Plus, they like to get more than one bite of the cherry from a story so if you work with them, an article could end up in multiple publications.

Is Twitter where journos put out requests most often? Are there any other places we should be looking for requests?

Jem: You do see a lot of stuff on Twitter, so would definitely be across that, but I’d also say the same for Facebook Groups too. I know I’ve banged on about them a lot today, but they are super useful! I also use the Journalist Enquiry Service a lot if I need an expert, so being across that can often be a quick win, and I do try and include as many people from there that I hear back from as possible.

Faima: Look out on Facebook Groups, I put out a lot of my requests on journo-friendly pages. I also read them on, as Jem mentioned, the No 1 Media Ladies Facebook Group.

Lily: Definitely keep track of #journorequest on Twitter. I also use niche Facebook sites but I will be looking for individuals and actually don’t want to do it via a PR in this instance. I also use the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service quite a lot when I am looking for experts.

What’s the best way to find out specific interests of freelancers other than trawling through publications?

Jem: Journalists are pretty big on self-promotion (we can’t help ourselves) so I know it sounds simple, but a flick through social media is really helpful. When I do a news shift, I have to write eight stories a day, but I wouldn’t tweet them all out, because they’re not all stuff I’ve spent ages on, I just tweet the stuff I’m really proud of, so having a look at social can give you a good steer on what they’re actually really interested in. Similarly, looking at portfolio websites is also a good shout – again, people will just include their best bits and often have a line or two about their main beats.

Faima: Check out their websites – a lot of the more established journalists have their own websites or Linktrees. I have a Linktree of my most cherished articles which gives a good idea of what I’m interested in. You can search a writer’s name and type Linktree – it will come up if they have one.

Lily: You do need to do the work yourself in the same way that freelance journalists have to trawl through social media to identity commissioning editors to pitch to. Keeping track of the Freelance Writing Awards nominations could be a good way to start making a list of relevant freelancers.

Watch the full virtual event Building better relationships between PRs and journalists or read our round-up for more from Journo Resources and Freelancing for Journalists.

To find out more about the Vuelio media database and the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, check out our services and how they can help you in your work here.

Allegory report on Corporate Digital Responsibility

Allegory launches report on Corporate Digital Responsibility

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A framework for dealing with Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) issues has been launched by Allegory as part of its report Corporate Digital Responsibility: What You Need To Know Right Now.

A panel of experts, academics and industry professionals from organisations, think tanks and associations convened to work on the report in April 2021, including Office for National Statistics deputy director of communications Karen Campbell-White, Open Data Institute learning & business development director Stuart Coleman, Academy for Board Excellence CEO Janhavi Dadarkar, Huddersfield University chair of corporate communication Anne Gregory and ODI director of communication & marketing Emma Thwaites.

CDR, which shares many elements with ESG (Environment, Society, and Governance), is a major trend within PR, comms and corporations this year. According to the report, comms practitioners can play a significant role in its adoption.

‘Communications professionals have a pivotal role to play in the process of making organisations CDR-fit,’ says Allegory CEO Charlotte McLeod. ‘To do so, they need to be fully immersed in the issues surrounding data management and processing in their organisations to offer the best professional advice and support possible.’

Allegory’s report posits that C-suite leaders and communicators, with support from data governance experts, should approach CDR as a strategic issue and as an opportunity to play a part in tackling larger worldwide issues such as climate change, diversity and sustainability.

Navigating data ethics, including assessing and identifying potential ethical issues associated with data and digital tech, must be part of a multi-function, multi-stakeholder approach, according to the report. With both data and digital responsibility embedded within an organisation’s culture, everyone within a business can consider it part of their role and responsibility.

The framework for adopting a CDR plan within report includes six steps to support leaders with planning and communication:
1. Landscape analysis and audit
2. Comms planning
3. Community of practice
4. Horizon scanning
5. Internal communications
6. Stakeholder engagement underpinned by open and transparent communication

‘Communications professionals often get involved when a crisis arises, but this is too late,’ added Charlotte on the need for the report.
‘They need to take part in early conversations to address potential and existing issues related to data and digital within an organisation in collaboration with C-suite executives. This is a collective action needed to future-proof an organisation, safeguarding its reputation and profits.’

Download the full report Corporate Digital Responsibility: What You Need To Know Right Now.

Lessons from PRFest on keeping PR sustainable

Lessons from PRFest on keeping PR sustainable

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This year’s PRFest took ‘The Sustainable Future of the PR and Communications Industry’ as its key focus, but if you thought ‘sustainability’ = environmental issues only, think again:

‘By sustainable I don’t just mean environment and sustainability practice,’ said PRFest founder Laura Sutherland in her introduction to the five-day virtual festival. ‘I mean: how can we stay relevant? How can we thrive?

‘I would like our industry to start thinking positively, so we can start planning for the future; recognising change and embracing it, rather than running away from it.’

To catch up on sessions focusing on social innovation, upskilling, underrepresented voices and more with speakers from across the industry, passes to the recorded webinars are available here. For a taster, here are some of the insights from day one’s session: ‘How will PR pros need to adapt and what are the learnings from COVID?’

1) Think local
‘Stupidly, I used to think that if there’s a national message being put out, while we might not like the creative, we should accept it – why would we try to recreate it? The pandemic has made me change my view. Local organisations know their people best; messages do have to be tailored to very specific communities. You really understand how important local knowledge and local insight is, now – localism really does work.’
Zander Mills, corporate communication manager for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

2) Get to know your audiences
‘The understanding of community has had to get so much deeper. We’ve worked on vaccine hesitancy in Hackney, why some of our communities don’t trust the NHS – when you listen to black women talk about the enormous disproportionality in terms of maternal death during pregnancy and childbirth, how can you expert them to trust vaccinations?

‘Another example: we consulted our behaviour and insights team on connecting with the members of our community who aren’t technically-savvy. We ended up calling them on their landlines, and that’s something we wouldn’t have considered doing before. Community insight has helped us connect with different people in different ways. It will help us to be better communicators for years to come.’
Polly Cziok, strategic director, engagement, culture, and organisational development for the London Borough of Hackney

3) Turn your camera on (yes, really)
‘It’s great being able to IM people on my team. I found digital transition hard at first; I didn’t know if I should IM particular things; I didn’t want to bother my manager. But people made themselves available, and that made me make sure I was as helpful as possible to my colleagues, too. I felt closer to my team, even though I was further away. But for that to happen, I had to put in effort. Putting my camera on in meetings, speaking up. People can be very anti putting their cameras on, but you can read body language, people can see that you’re authentic with what you’re saying.’
Naomi MG Smith, account executive for Westco Communications

Watch all the recorded sessions from this year’s PRFest with a catch-up pass, available here.

You can also read more about the aims of this year’s PRFest from founder Laura Sutherland and get more tips on sustainability in our write up of this year’s CIPR conference Climate Change and the Role of PR.

Corporate Purpose Summit

‘Comms always thrives in a crisis’: Helen Dunne on the upcoming Corporate Purpose Summit

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The CorpComms’ three-day Corporate Purpose Summit starts on 29 June and we’re delighted to be partnering with the event to offer a number of tickets to our network at no charge.

To secure a place (one ticket per person), fill in the form here – but first, read on to find out more about the event’s packed schedule and roster of speakers from brands including Marks & Spencer, Aviva and Penguin Random House UK.

‘I have had an idea for a summit for some time,’ says CorpComms editor and event organiser Helen Dunne. ‘Corporate purpose is a subject that really intrigues me, because it is so multi-faceted. Most corporates now acknowledge that their stakeholders, including ESG investors, want them to do more than simply make money. The events of the past year have also exacerbated that.’

Speaking at the summit to share best practice, as well as their successes and the challenges of the last year, will be:

• Gillian McGill, former global internal and social communications director, Aviva
• Matt Carter, founder of Message House
• Maeve Atkins, external communications manager, Budweiser Brewing Group
• Rupert Gowrley, director of corporate affairs, Bupa Group
• Victoria McKenzie Gould, director of corporate communications, Marks & Spencer
• Miguel Veiga-Pestana, head of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer, Reckitt
• Greg Dawson, director of corporate affairs, DS Smith
• Yasmin Diamond, executive vice president global corporate affairs, IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Greg Sage, director of corporate affairs, Greene King
• Rebecca Sinclar, MD, audiences, brand and communications, Penguin Random House UK
• Hilary Berg, responsible business adviser, Iceland Foods
• George Ames, director of client services, Forster Communications
• Christine Crofts, founder of Kinetic Internal Communications
• Danielle Jones-Hunte, head of employee advocacy, global, BP
• Katja Hall, chief corporate affairs and marketing officer, Capita
• Rosemary McGinness, chief people officer, Weir Group
• Innis Scott, head of engagement, Weir Group
• Esme Knight, head of corporate affairs, Costa Coffee
• Kerry Parkin, director global communications, Zip
• Asad Dhunna, founder of The Unmistakables
• Matt Bell, director of corporate affairs, Grosvenor Group
• Pia Huusfelt, business leader for IKEA global innovation, Inka Group
• Steve Butterworth, chief executive, Neighbourly
• Amanda Powell-Smith, chief executive, Forster Communications
• Nigel Prideaux, director of corporate affairs, NatWest Group
• Roger Barker, director of policy and corporate governance, Institute of Directors
• Matt Young, co-founder, Apella Advisers

Securing such an impressive line-up of experts for an event is tough any year, but in 2021? Even tougher, says Helen:

‘We’ve had many false starts along the way. I don’t envy people who put on summits full-time! But luckily, I have managed to secure a fabulous list of speakers through their kindness and also with the help of my sponsors, Message House and Forster Communications.’

While the full impact of the pandemic on the communication industry and the audiences it serves is yet to be seen, there have undoubtedly been opportunities alongside the new pressure points:

‘Comms always thrives in a crisis,’ believes Helen. ‘Internal comms really stepped out from the shadows during the pandemic as companies put their people first, which meant that, ironically as they were often in remote mode, in many companies employee engagement levels were at record highs. There is a new respect in many organisations for their internal comms people, and I’d like to think that will continue.

‘If purpose is currently on your ‘to do; list, the summit should spark inspiration. But there is something for everybody – including discussions on diversity and inclusion, inclusive capitalism, brand activism, sustainability and even how purpose strengthens the position of the corporate affairs director.

For whether the lessons learned regarding purpose-driven communications and corporate responsibility will last, Helen isn’t certain. But being ready for what comes next will be vital:

‘Inevitably, as business returns to normal, old practices will come back into play. But I think where comms has been integral to the corporate response to the crisis, it will be hard to go back.’

Find out more about the Corporate Purpose Summit and secure your place here on the CorpComms website.