Archive for: PR

The PRCA has renamed its Diversity Network to the Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council (EIAC) to better reflect its aims to set benchmarks on Equity & Inclusion for the industry at large and build inclusivity through greater visible representation of the society PR serves.

The group will continue to encourage the growth of inclusive cultures in PR, launching monthly podcast Disability@thetable. Hosted by Mark Webb, the podcast will feature guests, best practice advice and the sharing of stories. Potential guest speakers and sponsors are invited to get in touch and more information can be found in Webb’s blog here.

EIAC Chair Sudha Singh said of the rebrand and new projects:

‘For the longest time organisations have been focusing on diversity as a way to correct institutional and historic inequalities. Referring to people as diverse actually ‘others’ those who don’t belong to the dominant groups. So, diversity had to go. We have also seen that this approach has not really worked, the pace of change has been glacial.

‘COVID-19 and BLM last year provided a springboard to accelerate action for changing the status quo. We want to use this momentum to help bring meaningful change within our industry. We want organisations to focus on the equity inspired designs for bringing about that change – to creating 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?

‘As an industry which has been striving for a seat at the table we should be able to speak from a position of knowledge and authenticity. That can only happen if we as an industry stop being tokenistic and become more intentional about our journey to equity and inclusion.’

Find out more about the EIAC’s mission, governance and key priorities here.

For more on the PRCA’s ongoing work to increase and support inclusion in the PR and comms industry, read our interviews with PRCA Race and Ethnicity Equiry Board members Barbara Phillips and Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah.

This is a guest post by Clarity PR’s managing director, UK and president, EMEA Rachel Gilley.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent rush to establish a 100% working from home model, has elevated the importance of wellbeing for individuals within organisations. Business leaders have had to adapt and evolve their workforces to ensure they provide both a safe and stimulating employee experience.

At Clarity, we are proud that we’ve been able to not only retain our employees but indeed grow our team significantly across 2020 and early 2021, with nine new staff onboarded remotely in our UK office alone during that time.

As a company that has always had a collaborative workplace, adept at working across geographically dispersed teams, we recognised the importance of continuing to build social ties while remote working became the norm. In a time where the word ‘Zoom’ could instill fear in the strongest of us, we have successfully leveraged the appropriate technology platforms while implementing new initiatives all with the aim of building a stronger employee experience than even pre pandemic.

Here are some of the initiatives we put in place to ensure we continued to build and nurture a winning company culture, at a time when there were no rule books or guidance for how best to succeed.

Nurturing our existing culture

Clarity’s positive culture is one of our most powerful competitive advantages and our transition to fully remote working during Covid has been testament to that fact. The technology sector we service has been particularly robust, representing brands who saw their businesses accelerate as they supported the world to manage the pandemic. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing and the agency’s existing culture – collaborative, kind, supportive – was essential in enabling us to continue to deliver on our aspirations, especially when the relentlessness of home working kicked in.

The flexible working policies and unlimited paid holiday benefits we offer have been vital in ensuring our team got the rest and recuperation they needed. Early on, we recognised we were going to have to push our teams to take time away from screens and the constant cycle of virtual calls and encouraged all employees to not only clock off on time (and yes, we were checking!), to put lunch slots in their calendars forcing them time out during the day and to book time off to avoid burnout. We might not be jetting off somewhere exotic, but we recognised that closing the laptop was extremely beneficial. Spotting the signs of potential employee burnout is harder when working remotely but I booked in individual calls with the team every second week, reminded them constantly of their holiday entitlement, reiterated the importance of taking breaks and encouraged the senior leadership team to embody these practices themselves, we had to role-model the right behaviour.

Staying apart, together

We’re a social bunch here at Clarity. It is why people join agencies; for the noise and the banter and the excitement that comes from working together. We will always find an excuse to celebrate with a drink or two, and that didn’t stop during the pandemic. The social team went into overdrive and the virtual event calendar was stacked up with Book Club, wine tasting, meditation, yoga, drag bingo and the unavoidable interactive quiz. We sent out fun care packages on special occasions and when restrictions were lifted we all met up in Hyde Park for a picnic.

A personal favourite was our ‘Glass of Clarity’ with a direct order to stop what we were working on every Thursday at 5pm, pour yourself a tipple of your choice and just have a natter with the team. When you’re not together you forget how much you use the office for general chit chat, so our Glass of Clarity was a chance to ignore work and debrief on the latest Netflix series and share tips and tricks on how to endure the boredom of lockdown.

Supporting health and wellbeing

During this period of increased pressure and anxiety, employee mental health and wellbeing was our very top priority. At a very basic level, we provided office equipment for those who needed help creating a comfortable working environment at home through to introducing weekly meditation sessions. No Meeting Fridays were introduced, a day when we asked both clients and the teams to cancel calls and we’ve since introduced Monday Call Free Mornings created to support the differing personal priorities and ways of working we had across the team.

As an agency lead, you know that you’re only ever as good as the people you hire. And I’m blessed to have the most superb team who are smart, creative and bursting with diverse opinions and mindsets. The supportive and collaborative nature of our employees meant we successfully onboarded new staff remotely, with the team wrapping their virtual arms around every new arrival, ensuring they felt part of the Clarity family as quickly as possible.

We also acquired two new agencies, which when you consider we’ve not yet met face-to-face through this period, and yet in both instances it has been a huge success, is extraordinary. Our buddy-up programme, which encourages employees to grab a virtual coffee with colleagues across all our global offices meant new bonds were created, with plans put in place to meet up IRL as soon as we can!

The path to the next normal

As we enter the next and hopefully final phase and restrictions ease, Clarity is working towards building a safe return to the office, something the team is universally keen to do. We’ll never return to the old ways of working, the new normal is a transition to a ‘next normal’ and it will come with its own challenges, managing the hybrid working model in 2021 and beyond.

What we do know is that it’s important to get the balance right. It will require testing different approaches; listening to the team and using that feedback to ensure we’re creating something special and strong that further enhances our values.

I’m incredibly proud that at Clarity we operate a flat management structure that calls regularly for the unique perspectives of the entire team wherever they sit in the business. The past year has reinforced for me that listening and then acting on that feedback quickly, means you move forward together, as one team, and that is so incredibly powerful.

For more on working remotely together, read this guest post from Middleton Consultancy Ltd’s Richard Middleton on leading different types of people while working remotely.  

Our latest accessmatters session for knowledge sharing among the media, comms and PR community was with freelance journalist and Journo Resources senior staff writer Faima Bakar. Sharing her experiences as a lifestyle writer on the Metro desk, and some of the lessons she’s learned since going freelance, Faima had plenty of advice for PRs hoping to get in touch with useful pitches.

Watch our accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here.

While the relationship between PR and journalism can get contentious when either side isn’t fully cognizant or respectful of the other’s duties and deadlines…

‘When I first started at Metro, I wanted to get lots of emails,’ shared Faima. ‘My colleagues were like: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’

…relevant content is useful – provided it’s delivered in the right way. Faima had advice for PRs who want to build relationships with the media and get results:

‘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.

‘Know your audience, too. For example, the Metro lifestyle desk is very body positive, so there’s no weight loss stories unless they have an interesting angle. Every Christmas we’d get articles about all the calories in Christmas dinners, and we’d never cover those stories because we don’t want to make people feel crap. Get to know the publications you’re targeting; read what you’re interested in.’

And is what you’re pitching interesting to you? If not, there’s a good chance it won’t be of interest to the journalist either, or their readership.

‘If you’re sending a story you’re not interested in, what’s the point?’ believes Faima.

‘For my work as a freelancer, I pitch things I talk about with my friends. There’s always a way to make a story more interesting.

‘For example, a PR friend of mine had a low-calorie ice cream client and needed a way to publicise them. She decided to take a bunch of journalists to a big park full of trapeze artists because the ice cream was “lighter than air”. It was a good way to be creative – thinking outside of the box – and it was fun.’

While Faima’s work as a freelancer now means less interaction with PRs – publications will have their own staffers writing up quick-turnaround pieces from releases they receive – she has developed good relationships over the years. Building connections and proving yourself to be a useful source for journalists in your field takes time as a PR, but there are a few short cuts. Number one: getting the journalist’s name right.

‘I get called the wrong name about once a week. And I get it – it’s easy to miss a letter. But if you’re emailing because you want coverage, it helps to show attention to detail. If you call me the wrong name, it gets you on the wrong foot. That’s not to say I won’t use your email if you get the name wrong, but it’s not the best way to start.

‘As a freelancer, I’m sending pitches out to people, and I get it wrong sometimes – it’s so easy to do. But have a quick check through of your email before you send it.

‘Being a lifestyle reporter and now a freelancer, my interests were and are quite wide. I developed a good relationship with quite a few PRs – there are some I’ve never actually met, but we’ve been emailing back and forth for years.’

‘If there are journalists you want to work with, find out what works for them.’

Watch the full accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here and check out our previous sessions on the accessmatters hub.

The COVID-19 PR Agency Startup report released by Wadds Inc. this week has encouraging news for the industry with findings that over fifty PR agencies were founded in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with an exploration of why so many agencies launched over such a short and challenging time-period, the report includes profiles of startups including Second Mountain Communications, BB Partners, Little Mesters, Hard Numbers, Inpulsus, Look After, Happy Yolk and CommsRebel.

Two-fifths of agency startups were founded during the first lockdown between February and July, pointing to redundancy and furlough as being key drivers for new launches and career redirections. While the pandemic proved that London-based working isn’t a requirement for business success, two-thirds of the startups were located in the UK capital.

Those interviewed for the report celebrated support for their new agencies from the industry and pointed to innovation as an area for opportunity in modern business – startups featured focus on services, business model or specialisms, and propositions centre on data, creativity and lead generation, with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), fintech and healthcare particularly popular markets.

‘The report is dedicated to anyone who has founded an agency during the COVID-19 pandemic,’ says Wadds Inc. managing partner Stephen Waddington. ‘It celebrates your work. It’s also intended as a source of inspiration for anyone considering setting up their own agency.’

PRCA director general Francis Ingham is encouraged by the data: ‘It’s hard not to feel optimistic about the future of our industry after reading the findings included in the report. The PR industry has adapted remarkably well to the pandemic and the explosion of new agencies is testament to the strength of our practice.’

Read the full report here.

For more from Stephen Waddington download our whitepaper The ESG Opportunity for PR, co-authored with Dr Jon White and featuring insight from Rebecca Zeitlin.

‘One of the comments on social media in reaction to our report, ‘The Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) opportunity for public relations’ was “actually, you lost me at ESG”,’ said Dr Jon White on our webinar with Stephen Waddington, Rebecca Zeitlin and Michelle Goodall yesterday.

While Environmental, Social and Governance is a main trend in PR in 2021, the meaning of the term is still vague for many and, as found in our recent study, two-thirds of PRs still don’t have an ESG strategy in place.

Download ‘The Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) opportunity for public relations’ report here

Here’s the video for those who were unable to attend the live event explaining the practicalities of ESG and the opportunities for the PR industry.

It was a wide-ranging discussion about a large and complex topic, but here are some of the key takeaways.

What is ESG?

As summed up by Dr Jon White, it’s ‘a new way of referring to a set of concerns that have been with us for many years. “The triple bottom line” is how it was referred to in the 90s.

‘ESG as a label has been in use for about 20 years now, and the term has been given new force by the Covid pandemic. It’s how business will need to adapt.’

‘ESG – that acronym explains less that any previous terms we’ve used in comms, actually,’ believes Jon. ‘We do have a real task of explaining what’s involved. Our practice loves jargon. We have to work against that as far as we can in this area, especially now…’

As summed up in the report, it is, at its core, ‘a call for companies to account for and report on their contribution beyond financial metrics within their scope of operation’.

ESG is a combination of environmental and social risks.  For example, the business supply chain and its environmental impact, how employees are treated and human rights acts compliance.

It also includes business governance – from how legal issues such as bribery and corruption are monitored and managed through to ensuring that the board act fairly for all shareholders.

What is the difference between ESG and CSR?

The complex of concerns grouped as ESG are significantly more far reaching than the Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR programmes.

‘Corporate Social Responsibility is a class of initiatives that’s typically led by a marketing function,’ explains Stephen Waddington. ‘The challenge there is that it’s sometimes seen as masking other activities – it can be a veneer that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Fortunately, we’re moving on from that.’

‘ESG considers in the absolute whole – the financial value, and environmental and societal value, also.’

Why is ESG so much more important now?

‘ESG undoubtedly one of the primary issues facing PR at the moment,’ believes Stephen Waddington.

‘This conversation was spearheaded by the UN, but why it’s so important in the last 18 months? Covid. PR has shown itself in a leadership position to help organisations integrate with complex stakeholders through difficult transitions, like moving to working from home last March, for example.

‘Covid has highlighted flaws in the use of financial metrics to measure the health of an organisation. Everyone in society has been impacted, and that impacts how companies are managed.’

Hybrid Air Vehicle’s Rebecca Zeitlin agrees that crisis has led change:

‘Obviously, crisis is an accelerant. But even pre-Covid, we saw massive change during 2019 in how people were perceiving aviation for pleasure, for example. A lot of this was driven by climate-related concerns and humanitarian issues, right through to emissions; that critical mass was building anyway.

‘In this time of crisis, PR has become aware of its potential – it hasn’t realised it yet

Whilst there has always been socially responsible investment, there has been a marked change in the investor community and the number of investors considering ESG issues will likely lead to more complete investment analyses and better-informed investment decisions.

2020 was the year that ESG investing came of age. According to data provider Morningstar, by the end of 2020 total assets held in sustainable funds hit $1.7trillion – a 50% rise on where they started the year.

What are the risks of not engaging with ESG concerns?

‘Environmental damage, exploitation of labour – the risks are enormous,’ warns Jon. ‘A large percentage of organisations will not be prepared.

‘The opportunity for public relations is alerting those making decisions to the broader range of risks that need to be considered.

‘There’s new kind of stakeholder capitalism, new demands on management. For years, we’ve been saying that you need to consider all stakeholders, or you’re running huge risks.’

Practical advice on getting started with ESG?

Hybrid Air Vehicles is already on its ESG journey, and Rebecca had some advice for the two thirds of PR leaders who don’t yet have a strategy in place:

‘Scrutiny will be on a whole company and there are so many factors to consider – you have to find the most important ones, then maintain that framework throughout the scaling process. Pick the things that matter and work on them first; you can’t do everything at once.’

Research for the report found that ESG was led by the Head of Communications/PR in 19% of the organisations surveyed.
Should comms leaders take charge on this?

‘My argument is that PR practitioners, as senior advisers, should absolutely be involved,’ said Jon.

‘In the past, it’s true that it’s been managed by issues management external departments. I would say that’s now passe. The absolute key thing from the PR point-of-view – they should be involved in these discussions.’

Rebecca added that everyone has to be on board, company-wide: ‘Your CEO must be a figurehead for this as well and your whole organisation has to have buy-in. PR owns a lot of the relationships involved in this, but be aware that these conversations have to go beyond you.’

How can PR professionals contribute to ESG?

The ‘The Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) opportunity for public relations ’ report covers 8 ways that public relations can contribute to an organisation’s strategic response to ESG planning and risk.

Stephen pointed out that anyone attending the webinar and reading the ESG report are already contributing by raising their knowledge.

‘In the survey data, we had a whole range of responses – I think you’ve got to start small with each of the dimensions. Any organisation has to recognise the reach and opportunity it has. We put together a framework in the report where we suggested where you could become part of these conversation, ranging from strategic planning and risk assessment. This has to reside and be owned by leadership and board level. But PR as a department can be a conduit to bring stakeholders together.

‘Much of the work of ESG involves reporting within an organisation transparently and plotting the journey and framing meaningful metrics. It’s important that any metrics an organisation sets are meaningful and then held accountable to those through reporting via the comms team.’

What about ESG and the PRTechstack?

Stephen and Michelle discussed the importance of having the right tools in your PRTechstack to benchmark, scan, monitor and measure ESG concerns in the media and from various stakeholders and publics.

‘A shout for Vuelio. Your interest in this area is you provide media intelligence to help organisations understand both earned media and conversations in the public sphere as they relate to organisations. So that ‘horizon scanning’, both from a risk assessment and an operational perspective, is important.’

Michelle added ‘Pulsar [our sister platform] can provide early warning signs around issues and activism through all forms of social media, and that’s important because, particularly with a younger, more diverse audience those conversations are no longer just taking place in one or two of those social platforms. They’re taking place on TikTok, Instagram and the list goes on.’

How to get employee engagement on ESG?

‘Every organisation has values – values help staff make decisions,’ Rebecca believes. ‘We as communicators need to bring that to life; we have to help staff understand what their role is. We’re organisational glue and can help glue those layers together. I think we can also be a more visible and accessible champion for the cause – when your executives are further away, comms can make things real.’

Download The ESG opportunity for PR report by Stephen Waddington and Dr Jon White here.

Looking for more on current trends in PR and comms? Here are ten more from industry thought leaders including Ronke Lawal, Sarah Waddington, Ella Minty and more.