Stephen Wagginton Ketchum chief engagement officer

5 essential PR predictions for 2018

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Many will look back on 2017 as a watershed year for PR.

The industry has changed dramatically over the past 12 months, with this transformation playing a key role in determining the year’s biggest winners and losers.

Influencer marketing has continued its meteoric rise. Over 400 million people now check Instagram every single day, and new ‘live’ and ‘story’ features are giving communicators even more ways to reach consumers through social channels.

The impact of fake news is being felt by everyone in the media. The phenomenon has had such a profound impact on consumer trust, the Collins Dictionary has named the phrase as its “word of the year”.

What’s more, a string of scandals have shown us that brand integrity and crisis management are more important than ever in today’s hyper connected world. Increasingly, people expect brands to promote good social causes.

These themes will continue to evolve as we move into 2018 and communicators look for ways to incorporate them into their comms strategies.

But it’s the brands that capitalise on new and emerging trends which stand to gain the most in the coming months. So, we’ve invited Ketchum’s Stephen Waddington to give his top five predictions for 2018 in this year’s final Cision webinar.

As the agency’s chief engagement officer, as well as a leading PR thought leader, Waddington is uniquely positioned to comment on where the industry is heading over the next 12 months.

Joined by Cision’s Philip Smith, he will outline the key issues that are shaping the sector – from changes in consumer behaviour to the impact of AI and automation.

“The skills technology and workflow used in media and public relations are converging,” he says. “Organisations are realising that they need to work in real-time if they want to be part of the conversation.”

“Executives that are serious about leading a modern organisation will invest in their social media footprint in 2018,” he adds. “There’s a growing recognition of the opportunity to use the social web as a means of engaging directly with a variety of stakeholders.”

This webinar is essential viewing for anyone looking to succeed in PR in 2018.

It’s your chance to get the inside track on the issues set to transform the industry – giving you the upper hand you need to capitalise on the year’s biggest trends.

So click the link below now to reserve your place and join us at 3pm on Tuesday 12 December to hear Waddington outline his vision for PR in 2018.

Register for ‘Five predictions for public relations in 2018’ today.

Discover Ketchum's Stephen Waddington's key predictions for PR in 2018

Alexander Mason: insights from Spinn Awards 2017

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Alexander MasonCision has had a long term commitment to promoting and supporting the PR industry, which means for the last five years, we’re proud to have been the main sponsor for the annual Spinn Awards.

During seven out of the last ten years I have had the opportunity to be part of the judging panel which crowns the winners, and it has been a genuine delight to read almost 200 PR case studies each year! Being on the panel has given me so many valuable insights into what great PR looks like, and additionally, it is an annual festivity that I always look forward to.

These are the main things that have changed over the last ten years:
Historically, only PR agencies used to enter the competition – today, it’s these consultancies as well as marketing, digital and advertising agencies who enter, often in conjunction with each other. This is an indication that the silos are breaking down between all the different marketing professions.

Measurement has evolved so much during my time on the jury. In the beginning, a lot of entries would talk about number of articles and reach figures. Today that is very seldom the case. Now, you need to prove business impact if you are to win prizes – as well as customers, and boy, are the agencies good at proving their impact!

Nowadays I read more about increased sales figures, traffic to websites or measurable changes in attitude to name a few parameters, as opposed to number of print articles. And as business impact has been proven investments in campaigns have increased. Surely that is basically how business works – show me the measurable results and your boss will increase the budget they’ll allocate to you!

Having said that, what did I think about this year’s entries? It is interesting to see how quickly we adopt best practices these days. What would have won the awards two or three years ago is now just seen as good PR work. So a lot of the entries are great craftsmanship but do not push the boundaries of great PR.

This year I had two personal favourites. The first one is “The Original Brushes of Edvard Munch” by Abby Priest for Adobe, which won the Best PR campaign for the B2B category. The campaign brought together the real world with the digital world with some time travelling. I thought there was brilliant craftsmanship and a great understanding of its target audience. It supported the underlying business and delivered business impact!

My other favourite was ”The unequal price” by ORD & BILD for Fotografiska. If my first favourite was an intricate campaign with many layers, this was the opposite. It was based on the simple idea that everybody is equal. However, this is not always the case and the campaign showed this in a simple and brilliant way.

The average difference between what a man and a woman in Sweden is paid for the same job is 13%. Fotografiska chose to increase the entrance fee for male visitors by this amount on International Women’s Day. Afterwards, it posted on Facebook and, without any sponsorship whatsoever, had a viral hit on its hands.

What impressed me most about the campaign is that simplicity, truth and courage works – something that in the era of big data, measurement and ROI, we sometimes forget. However, what unites my two selected campaigns is a deep understanding of the target audience. So whatever you do – make sure that you understand what motivates and engages the people you want to influence!

Alexander Mason
Commercial Manager for Cision Scandinavia

Alexander Mason is a frequent lecturer on earned digital marketing with close to twenty years’ experience in the industry. He has been part of the Spinn jury for seven years as well as hosting Cision and Sweden’s largest pod about earned communication, called “Passion för kommunikation”.

Equinox and jamjar PR win big at Welsh CIPR PRide Awards

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Welsh comms agencies Equinox and jamjar PR each took home four golds at the CIPR PRide Awards ceremony in Cardiff’s City Hall last week.

Equinox’s haul included the ‘Outstanding PR Consultancy’ prize and three awards for a campaign with Cadw, the Welsh Government’s environment service.

Launched on St David’s Day, the campaign brought a tale of two dragons to life through multi-channel storytelling and helped generate over £5 million for Cadw.

Jamjar PR took home two gold awards for #JoinCwmTaf, a campaign that boosted recruitment for nurses for Cwm Taf University Health Board.

BrandContent secured the prize for ‘Outstanding Small Public Relations Consultancy’, while Confused.com walked away with the ‘Outstanding In-House Public Relations Team’ prize.

John Wilkinson was named Wales’ ‘Outstanding Independent Practitioner’, while Elrha’s Liz Rawlins won the ‘Outstanding Young Communicator Award’.

Eoghan Mortell, the CIPR’s Cymru Wales chair, said: “It’s a huge encouragement to all of us involved in the PR industry in Wales to meet fellow professionals at the annual PRide awards and compare notes on the high-quality work that has been going on.”

He added: “As usual, there are plenty of really impressive campaigns and excellent examples of how PR is proving its worth in many sectors of the economy and society. Warm congratulations to all award winners and finalists”

A full list of this year’s Welsh winners can be found here.

  • Pictured:  jamjar PR at the 2017 Welsh CIPR PRide Awards
Hill Balfour to handle comms for travel shows

Hills Balfour to handle comms for travel shows

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Exhibitions specialist Upper Street Events has appointed Hills Balfour to manage PR for its portfolio of travel shows taking place in January, February and September next year.

Hills Balfour’s remit focuses on media relations and a press office function, as well as work on a number of creative concepts. The agency will work collaboratively with exhibitors as part of its PR activity.

The agency will look to highlight seminars and tours at January’s Adventure Travel Show, while also promoting Upper Street Events’ London and Birmingham Cruise Shows.

Thiago Alves, event director for the Cruise Shows and Adventure Travel Show at Upper Street Events, said: “We look forward to working with Hills Balfour to achieve this by widening the pool of attendees and attracting more holidaymakers to the adventure travel and cruise sectors.”

Jonathan Sloan, managing director at Hills Balfour, added: “I am extremely proud that we have been selected to represent the Adventure Travel Show and the London and Birmingham Cruise Shows. Following a competitive pitch, we are excited to have the opportunity to support Upper Street Events’ mission to increase the number of visitors to the shows.”

2017 Global Comms Report

Why the time is right for PRs to connect comms to business results

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Robust attribution is a challenge for all marketers. But we know it is vital for communicators to prove what works if we are to truly assess – and prove – the full value of earned media.

Once communicators can prove the value of PR, we will secure the budgets we need to give PR its proper place in the marketing mix.

But how many PRs and communicators see this challenge as a priority? The 2017 Global Comms Report – which Cision has just published with market-leading industry title PR Week – sheds some light on the situation.

As ever, you can see the findings as both good and bad news.

Communicators are struggling to “join up the dots”

First, the bad news.  The study shows how communicators across the globe are struggling to connect the dots between their work and the actual business results successful comms and marketing content produce.

It surveyed 425 communicators from the UK, US, Canada, China, Germany, France and Sweden – and all over the world, the story was much the same.

Globally, 63% of the CCOs, CMOs, SVPs and client-side presidents who responded, said the inability to measure PR impact effectively is one of the three most difficult challenges they currently face.

In the UK alone, some 70% of respondents said they felt the comms industry can do a better job at measuring and proving its business objectives.

Pressure to justify existing spend (let alone increase budgets) is another of the key challenges identified in the 2017 Global Comms Report. Some 65% of respondents said the tightening of budgets is a barrier to growth in PR.

How communicators can break down these barriers to growth

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The report also shows that 36% of respondents globally are collecting data to help establish this connection between comms and business success. They say they devote between 10% and 20% of their overall budget to collecting data to understand the impact of comms.

Historically, this kind of data has been hard to come by. But thanks to the latest technological advances, it’s finally possible to demonstrate the impact comms has on web traffic, lead generation – even revenue.

What’s more, the report suggests comms is owning content creation in business. Two thirds of those surveyed ranked content creation as one of their three most important activities. It was ranked most important by 32%.

Of course, that’s just a taste of the findings uncovered in this exclusive report. It paints a clear picture of how the comms industry can break down key barriers to growth in 2018 – making it essential reading for everyone from junior PRs to company CMOs.

So, enter your details into the form below and download your copy of the 2017 Global Comms Report today.

Incorrect information? Clear the form.
  • Philip Smith is the head of content marketing and communications, EMEA, at Cision
W used World Mental Health Day and a partnership with Topman and Love Island's Chris Hughes to promote CALM's message to men that it is okay to open up about the problems they face.

PR Case Study: W – #DontBottleItUp

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W used World Mental Health Day and a partnership with Topman and Love Island’s Chris Hughes to promote the CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) message to men that it is okay to open up about the problems they face.

Campaign: #DontBottleItUp
Client: CALM
PR Team: W
Timing: 10 October 2017

Summary

Working at the heart of a multi-disciplinary inter-agency group, W helped launch the #DontBottleItUp campaign on World Mental Health Day with CALM, Topman, and Chris Hughes to show men it’s okay to open up rather than suppress their emotions.

Objectives

The partnership between Chris Hughes, CALM, and Topman had the following mission:

  • To drive fame and awareness of CALM and their core messages around opening up
  • To engage as wide an audience as possible on World Mental Health Day using humour, talent and the power of the brand

Strategy and Implementation

Even though mental health is being talked about more and more in the media, suicide remains the biggest killer of men under 45 years old in the UK and 76% of all suicides are male.

CALM’s latest research showed that 84% of men in the UK bottle up their emotions and this devastating stat was what the campaign needed to challenge: a masculinity that impedes men’s ability to seek help when they’re low or in crisis.

W knew that if it could create a compelling context, we would be able to supercharge the impact of our activity and help us cut through on World Mental Health Day.

So on 9 October, with BMB, W launched with a provocative debut of “L’eau de Chris” – a premium mineral water bottle infused with Chris’ own tears; confident that his celebrity status would effectively capture the attention of mainstream UK media and consumers. And it did.

For twenty-four hours celebrity culture went crazy – everyone was talking about it. Twitter went wild. Media covered both the story, and the public’s reaction to it.

Then, on World Mental Health Day at a press conference at Topman’s office, with the spotlight firmly on Chris, he revealed that “L’eau de Chris” was actually “Ludicrous”. He wasn’t selling his own water.

The tear-infused water bottle symbolised the disturbing research that showed 84% of men actively bottle up their emotions on a daily basis. It was here that Chris was officially announced as CALM’s newest ambassador and face of the #DontBottleItUp campaign, encouraging men to defy traditional norms of masculinity and talk openly about their emotions.

Results

During the #DontBottleItUp campaign, traffic to the CALM website climbed by 485% fuelled by 95% new visitors and 18 times more 18-24 year olds visiting the site, showing the campaign succeeded in tackling a major barrier to addressing the issue – actually getting young men to talk about their problems and feelings.

In the days following the campaign, awareness that suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 25 rose from 33% in November 2016 to 41% in November 2017. These powerful figures show that if men are able to ask for and seek help, hundreds of suicides could be prevented.

#DontBottleItUp delivered over 100 pieces of print, online and broadcast coverage, and had a total reach of over 3 billion across all social, OOH, digital display, and print channels.

  • Pictured: (L-R) Compere Matt Johnson, Love Island’s Chris Hughes, James Scroggs, chair of CALM, and Jason Griffiths, marketing director of Topman.
PR News in Brief

This week’s PR news in brief (20-24 November)

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Here’s our round-up of essential PR news stories and features from the past week, including the key insights from Cision’s latest webinar, account wins for Cherish PR, RKM and Stand Agency and the winner of the Cision PR Influencer Award 2017.

Opinion

Jason Nisse from The Nisse Consultancy and Munch’s Lizzie Earl discussed how smaller agencies are primed to disrupt the PR industry in an exclusive Cision webinar.

Nadine Causey, Guinness World Records’ SVP for EMEA and APAC, considers what lessons communicators can learn from this year’s record breaking PR campaigns.

Interviews

John Higginson, Higginson PR’s co-founder, discusses why he and his wife Clodagh set up their own agency, the growth of the business and how comparable the role is to his time in journalism.

Huw Turbervill, managing editor at The Cricketer, elaborates upon the magazine’s loyalty to its readers, the upcoming Ashes series and why he will always be welcoming of PRs.

Account wins

Electric street racing motorsport series Formula E has appointed CSM Sport and Entertainment to handle its global and local PR following a competitive pitch process.

Wealth management company European Wealth has appointed Redleaf Communications to handle its corporate, financial and trade PR ahead of its rebrand to Kingswood PLC.

Online marketplace Florismart has appointed Stand Agency to provide PR support for the UK tour of its floristry education bus. The bus, known as “Florence”, aims to raise awareness of floristry skills and provide advice and support to florists.

Energy supplier OVO Energy has chosen Influence Digital to provide strategic advice on its social media activity. The agency will work closely with OVO to evolve its social media content and campaign strategy across multiple business objectives.

Taylor Wimpey’s Bristol and Southern Counties business units have selected integrated comms agency One to manage PR for its new developments in the two areas following a competitive pitch.

Purpose Europe has appointed RKM Communications to manage PR for health campaigns Help Britain Breathe and Clean Air Now. The agency will help raise awareness of both campaigns to drive action on air pollution in the UK.

Cherish PR has added online lottery Lottoz to its technology PR portfolio. The agency will handle UK media outreach and manage online media and influencer relations, digital promotions and partnerships for the company.

Agency news

Hanover Middle East has signed an agreement to acquire the shares of Bell Pottinger Middle East in Dubai and its operating licence in Abu Dhabi. The acquisition will add 14 consultants to Hanover Group’s 125-strong EMEA team and will take its 2018 fee income to over £20 million.

Cognito has launched its Communications and Marketing Survey for 2017/18. The survey found that firms are investing in data analytics and technology to improve measurement, created content is respondents’ biggest budget winner and major financial media has grown in importance as credibility is challenged by fake news.

AI transcription service Trint has appointed former Microsoft marketer Donna Opzoomer to help expand its UK business. The tech start-up is also working with PR agency The Wern to drive awareness across the UK.

People news

Stir has appointed Jo Vyvyan-Robinson as its new managing director. She will oversee management of the agency as well as masterminding new ventures to drive growth.

Financial services, energy and technology comms agency Aspectus has promoted Tim Focas to lead its capital markets sub-sector. Focas will be responsible for providing strategic comms advice to existing capital markets clients and driving new business opportunities in the sector.

Influence Digital has announced a number of team changes. The agency has hired Stacey Townley as senior account manager to work across the agency’s fashion and lifestyle clients, as well as promoting Carlos Rodrigues to general manager and Natalie Clarke to head of client services.

HROC has made five new appointments as part of its growth strategy. Katja Benischke joins as a PR account executive, Katie Brown as social media account manager, Loukia Koumi as digital account manager, Ian Baker as digital account executive and Joshua Hollyoak as video production editor.

Awards news

Viktor Frisk was crowned Sweden’s most influential PR consultant at the Cision PR Influencer Award 2017. Frisk is head of social media at a PR bureau, which he combines with being a successful pop star and a highly respected social influencer.

“This award is indeed a sign of the times, showing how we work in an ever-changing business that never stands still,” said Alexander Mason, commercial director of Cision Scandinavia. “We have hosted this award for many years and if someone would have told me five years ago that a pop artist would win, I wouldn’t believe what I heard.”

Read the full write-up here.

Global tech comms agency GingerMay PR won the Fastest Growing Company of the Year and Women-Run Company of the Year gold awards at the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Bristol City Council took home two highly coveted gold awards at Friday’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Awards for the South of England and Channel Islands. A full list of winners can be found here.

PR events

Time is running out for you to join CNBC International’s Noelle Murbach-Lami, head of news and programming, and Cristy Garratt, head of social media and digital video, at Cision’s final media briefing of 2017 on Wednesday 6 December.

Murbach-Lami and Garratt will reveal how the team likes to work with PRs, the best ways to pitch them ideas and exactly what stories their audience loves to hear about.

You can reserve your place at the exclusive media briefing here.

JBP appoints Steve Anderson-Dixon as CEO

JBP appoints Steve Anderson-Dixon as chief executive

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Strategic comms and engagement consultancy JBP has appointed Steve Anderson-Dixon as its new chief executive.

Anderson-Dixon joins to support the company’s future growth ambitions. He was previously chief operating officer at Trinity Mirror’s regionals division, where he was responsible for the development of the company’s leading regional new brands including the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo.

He will take over from current chief executive and founder Jennifer Bryant-Pearson, who will fill the new role of founder director and focus on client development. Managing directors Chris Lawrence and James Turgoose will continue to oversee the Bristol and London businesses respectively.

Bryant-Pearson said: “Steve has been a board director at JBP for a number of years and has an extensive track record in the media, as well as significant commercial acumen, which will help support our strategic business plans.

Anderson-Dixon added: “I’m pleased to have joined at a great time for JBP following a number of significant wins to complement our growing client base. The opportunity for further growth is really very exciting as we accelerate our strategic plan for what is one of the UK’s leading businesses in the PR, stakeholder engagement and public affairs industry.