Tag: media relations

Finally, PR takes it seat at the boardroom table

Posted on January 4, 2013 by

I’ve just finished reading an excellent article in Management Today magazine. The piece focuses on the changing face of PR – and I don’t mean one shade of designer lipstick to another – no, finally it would appear that the industry is getting the recognition that it deserves and is taking a seat around the boardroom table.

Having worked in the PR industry for more than a decade and with a BA (Hons) degree in the specialism, I have long been an advocate of the merits of PR when it is practiced correctly and professionally.

As I see it there are problems with the PR industry in the same way that there are problems with any other; you have the good and you have the bad and it can be difficult to decide which is which. One will wine and dine you in fancy restaurants, while the other tells you the harsh truth and what to do about it – far less appealing than a good lunch but undoubtedly more beneficial in the long run.

The truth of the matter is that PR has always been about reputation – that has never changed and be it online or in print, what is said in the street or down the pub, it all goes back to the same thing; if you don’t know what people are saying about you, there is nothing you can do about it.

Businesses are thankfully coming around to the understanding that during any situation, good or bad, the first point of call is to make sure that you are communicating effectively with your audiences. In order to do this an organisation requires an advisor, a specialist, someone to rely on with their plans, aspirations and concerns.

The piece in Management Today very much focuses on the changes to PR based on the use of social media but I think there is more to it than that.

Tim Bell comments: “If you want to live in a transparent world then someone has to give the information about you. If you don’t want someone else to, you have to do it yourself. That’s what PR people do.”

Sure, social media and a desire by the consumer to share their thoughts and opinions with the world – plus having the ability to do so quickly and easily across a multitude of platforms – has meant that PR professionals have more to do but that is simply good practice and the evolution of an industry which spans hundreds of years.

The real change I think has come in a shift of mind set. People working in PR have thankfully taken a long, hard look at the industry and realised that as a discipline we were losing out. We weren’t taken seriously in our tottering high heels and we needed to toughen up and take our seat around the boardroom table.

Those who were serious about a career started to showcase their skills in the situations that deliver harsh recognition; a crisis without a communications professional who is experienced, able and capable of dealing with it can bring a business literally crashing to its knees.

In Management Today Jeremy Hazlehurst comments:

“PR the profession has changed beyond recognition in the past decade. Although media relations activities have burgeoned, involving the paper press, online publications, television and bloggers, it is only a small part of the job now. Press offices have been swallowed up by communications departments that deal with investor relations, analysts, shareholders, regulators and government. All are the guardians of the most precious and difficult to measure of assets – corporate reputation.”

I’ve never been ‘typically PR’ and have always felt that the discipline should be considered a necessity as opposed as a nice to have, not just because I work in the industry but because I see every day the benefits that it delivers, which are often measured less by coverage and more by ‘real life’ results and the situations which are in some cases avoided.

It’s no secret that I almost left the PR industry altogether before launching Open Communications with my business partner Emma because of the way in which some agencies work. I didn’t want to go to lunch or out to parties, I didn’t want to charge by the hour working on campaigns I knew were over-priced and wouldn’t deliver and I didn’t want to feel like I was doing the clients I was working with a disservice by not going that extra mile.

What I did want was to work with journalists so that my clients would hit the headlines, I wanted to use communication to generate business, really get to the heart of the companies I was working for and be a part of their success. I wanted to advise them in the best way possible and explain in no uncertain terms that as a direct result of my actions their business was stronger and that was down to reputation, which was driven by PR and communications.

Thankfully I can now do all of these things. I have always been a champion of ‘real PR’ but I am pleased that others are now recognising the merits to working with agencies and practitioners.

Cynical or otherwise when you look at the organisations that have failed over recent years in many instances arguably the banks have been at fault but it is also interesting to note that many of them were lacking in direction, their customers and prospects weren’t aware of exactly what they offered and this was down to poor communication. As a result they weren’t selling and in turn ceased to exist.

I hope that this new attitude to PR continues and that businesses recognise the value of the services that practitioners and agencies offer.  The truth of the matter is that PR should be at the heart of any business model and in order to get it right you need to rely on a professional.

 

A hoax too far

Posted on December 11, 2012 by

The recent news about the untimely death of a hospital worker who had unwittingly answered and transferred a hoax call from an Australian radio station sent a chill down my spine. Not only do I think, like many others, that this was a tragic waste of a life but that it will also go on to affect many others including the presenters involved, who we can presume are soon to be unemployed.

When the news first broke about the transfer of the call from reception through to the nurses who were responsible for the care of the Duchess of Cambridge I have to be honest, I was beyond shocked. My first reaction was to wonder why appropriate measures weren’t in place to ensure that this couldn’t and wouldn’t happen?

The hospital is used to dealing with high profile patients and should be accustomed to taking calls that may be obscure or even unsolicited. It strikes me as strange that even at 5.30am there was no process in place to manage this.

I would have expected that all calls would have been managed in a similar way to how a PR agency would manage a crisis. When we work with clients we put a simple but effective procedure in place to ensure that all calls are handled professionally and efficiently. It works and it means that we are able to respond in a timely fashion – but at the same time it also takes the onus off the receptionist or internal team, leaving them to get on with their day to day roles.

In this case it would seem that this was not possible, leading to the most devastating of outcomes.

The more serious side to this ‘prank’ was that it should never have been discussed never mind considered to be a good idea. I’ve laughed at prank phone calls before, you know the ones:

Caller: Can I speak to Ivor please?

Person on the line: Ivor who?

Caller: Ivor Biggan

Person on the line: Ivor Biggan, does anyone know Ivor Biggan…

I would be lying if I didn’t think these calls made me giggle but at the same time they are by all intense and purpose completely harmless. The difference with a call to a hospital is that for one you are calling an establishment knowing that people are there for a reason – because they are ill. That can never be funny.

By the time the call was made the world was aware that the Duchess was pregnant but also that she had been admitted to hospital with a potentially serious illness, which has been known in cases to lead to the loss of a child. Now, call me overly sensitive, but that can never be funny!

In my opinion the call was inappropriate in the first instance but the presenters took it one stage too far when asking after the health of the Duchess. What if something terrible had happened? What if she had suffered a miscarriage and as a result of this misguided joke these presenters were the first to find out? I fail to see the humour in that outcome, which at any time during this situation was a very real possibility.

The presenters in this case are likely to regret their actions for the rest of their lives and their hoax call will certainly go down in history – but for all the wrong reasons. This story just goes to show how powerful the media can be and the obligation that broadcasters have to consider the outcome of any fun they choose to have before going ahead.

There must be a producer involved in this case somewhere, although they appear to be keeping their heads down. This is a sad case of bad judgement which has led to the Christmas of at least three families being ruined. Let’s hope other ‘pranksters’ will take note and think twice before acting on an impulse.

And finally…

Posted on September 25, 2012 by

The phrase ‘And finally…’ was often used by national and regional broadcast news channels to feature a positive story at the end of a programme. More often than not it was intended that this heart-warming feature would leave people with a smile, after the more serious updates from the day.

It would appear that this practice is less common than it used to be, possibly because there seems to be more bad news to report than good, leaving little chance for producers to include a light hearted piece to end on.

So why are we all so keen to hear bad news? Is it absolutely necessary that we surround ourselves with the disasters that face our daily lives? Is it not just as important to share in the good news and to keep our spirits up? And isn’t that what a balanced news agenda is all about – not necessarily just two sides of one story but some good and some bad?

Today there are some really positive stories hitting the headlines not least the announcement from Cancer Research UK reporting that deaths from certain cancers will fall by 17% by 2030. This is a great achievement and I’m pleased to note that it has ‘hit’ many national titles, as well as broadcast media.

Other good news today is the announcement of a new publication that has been launched called ‘The Positive’, which plans to only share good news. What a great idea – but the question remains, will it work?

I have to admit to being cynical about its chances of success because the simple fact of the matter is that people are more inclined to search for bad news than good. I remember a couple of years ago there was a paper which launched in Wakefield called the Wakefield Guardian and the idea was that it would share good news from the district.

Needless to say that the paper didn’t last and closed around 18 months after launching, which was a real shame.  I only hope that The Positive will have better fortune and that people will take the time to share good news. Sometimes I think we all need a good up lifting story to get us all going in the morning – and I intend to read The Positive and will tweet the best story from the day to share it with those who follow me.  In fact I might just add a hashtag #andfinally – who else is going to get behind the publication and join in?

Don’t presume to know that you know it all

Posted on September 20, 2012 by

This morning I had the opportunity to attend a Yorkshire Mafia event; Business Breakfast, Write Your Own Headlines delivered by Mary Askew, a former news writer and BBC broadcast journalist. 

People may be wondering why a PR professional with more than 15 years of experience would need to know how to write a press release and what to look out for when working with the media. Well, I will explain. It’s because I don’t believe you can ever know enough about the industry you work in and I’m always interested to hear what other professionals have to say and how they deliver to an audience.

As it happens the event was interesting and insightful, better still it was jargon free. I thought Mary did a great job of keeping the audience interested with examples, imagery and anecdotes. Geoff Major, a businessman and charity ambassador that many of you will know, was even interviewed live to camera. The presentation was clear and concise and I found that some of the ideas were an interesting take on what we already do here at Open Comms. It never hurts to try new things and we will be putting some of the lessons learnt into practice.

I also thought that although I didn’t agree with everything that was said – let’s be honest for a PR and journalist to agree on everything would be a little strange – I did understand the points and why they were being presented.

I don’t want to give too much away because I would recommend that people take the time to go to a session with Mary if they get the chance but needless to say if you need the basics, and a little bit more, then it’s worth a couple of hours out of the office.

Once again, a great session offered by the Yorkshire Mafia and an event that genuinely adds value to smaller businesses who want to manage their own PR and generate their own headlines.

Sometimes to say nothing at all makes most impact

Posted on September 14, 2012 by

The French edition of Closer magazine has decided to print pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge topless while on a holiday. My first point has to be does anyone really care – I have no burning desire to see her breasts and can’t imagine for one second why anyone else would want to either.

My second point is that Closer magazine (and it’s important to get across that this is the French edition not the UK based publication) will sell out on all newsstands if not for the fact that they have these ridiculous images but because the British media are making such a fuss about it.

If the truth be told the very best way to handle this would have been to keep quiet and say nothing. The publishers will be rubbing their hands together in glee and doubling the print run to meet with demand and all because people are talking about something, which for all intense and purpose, has no news value what-so-ever.

Closer in France couldn’t have paid for this profile or the exposure that they get. Right or wrong there is definitely some truth in the fact that all publicity is good publicity.

Even Jeremy Vine has got in on the act, asking if a Princess should go topless at someone else’s house on his prime time afternoon show – I go back to my original point, who cares? She is a beautiful married woman who was on holiday. If she wants to sunbath topless at a private resort then it is her right to do so.

I’m not one to bang on about human rights and I do agree that when someone becomes a public figure they have certain expectations placed on them but there has to be a line drawn and this photographer, in my mind, have crossed it.

The best thing we could all do now is never mention the sorry incident again. Rather than giving the ‘story’ more kudos, we should simply ignore it and rise above it. No more statements, no more comments issued and certainly no more mention of the rag in question. I just hope that those who are responsible don’t earn enough money to retire as a result of a few tasteless pictures.

BUILDING FUTURE SUCCESS

Posted on September 12, 2012 by

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed that the tides seem to be turning for developers in the Yorkshire region. Iconic sites such as the Lumiere in Leeds and previously mothballed  master plans, which have been on hold for a number of years, are now getting the attention and funding that they need to move forward.

This is fantastic news for our region. Not only will this turnaround means a greater experience will be had by visitors and shoppers, as well as there being more opportunity for those looking for residential properties in the cities, but it will also create jobs for the many labourers, developers, construction workers and bricklayers who have found recent years particularly difficult.

I have a real passion for development and was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on two major projects earlier in my career; Bradford, the birth of a new city and Leeds Leads, the marketing of Leeds as a city to those outside of the region.

Working on two major areas within our region and promoting them to other cities throughout the UK, Europe and the World was hugely exciting. I had the chance to work with leading developers, to see sites as they unfolded and to witness and experience the evolution of a brown field site to a masterpiece, a mill building to luxury apartments and a run-down and deprived area to a community hub attracting people of all ages to work, visit and enjoy.

I arranged and managed a number of journalist visits during this time – we refer to them as familiarisation visits – with journalists from national and international papers coming to visit each city in turn. It was interesting to see their imaginations come to life when they were made aware of the projects that were planned.

Double page spreads featured in titles including the Guardian, Independent and Observer. The interest was astonishing, particularly as many of these journalists were based in London and at the time it could be difficult to drag them away from their desks to visit our humble region ‘in the sticks’

Two recent stories that have hit the headlines, which support the shift to greater levels of investment in property and development, are the proposed sale of the Leeds Victoria Quarter for £136million to Hammerson and the multi-million pound scheme to regenerate the neglected Gateway to Wakefield, which is close to the award winning Hepworth Gallery.

Both of these developments will have a huge impact on the areas that they are in. Hammerson are proposing an extension to the Victoria Quarter (let’s get saving ladies!) and the regeneration of the Wakefield Gateway will once again put the city on the map and reiterate that it is a place to work, visit and enjoy. Wakefield suffers from a lack of outside attention, which the Hepworth has certainly addressed, however this must continue.

Building and development to me is about more than bricks and mortar, it’s about more than high rise flats and iconic designs. The regeneration of our area needs constant marketing support and a sustainable communication plan which takes our messages to those who live outside of the region. We need to ensure that we attract the attention of those who will come into our cities to stay and most importantly to spend.

Regeneration needs to meet with objectives – we don’t want a beautiful collection of towns and cities that stand empty. We want a hub of excitement, which delivers shopping, leisure, art, creativity, socialising and what we are famed for – a friendly welcome.

The next few years will be very interesting. Buildings are already going up and with the Leeds Trinity Walk project underway there is already a feeling of anticipation in the city. I hope that I will be joined by others in celebrating the hard hats which are being dusted off and put firmly back on the heads of those who will make these changes happen before our eyes.

It’s this commitment to making our cities more appealing for us and those who come to visit that will keep Yorkshire firmly on the map.

Business down but PR win for Britvic

Posted on July 20, 2012 by

Today’s headlines report a profit fall in Q3 for soft drinks manufacturer Britvic leading to a loss of approximately £15 – £23m. Now before we all take a sharp intake of breath, the business reports that this is as a result of the poor weather and more significantly the product recall of the brands Fruit Shoot and Fruit Shoot Hydro bottles, using a new sports cap.

Whereas most people will be looking at this story and wondering how the brand will recoup the losses, I read it very differently. Within the story, which I read first on The Business Desk, the journalist chooses to use the words ‘well-publicised product recall’.

As a communications agency that commends great work and is not too proud to take our hats off to those who do it well – I would personally like to say congratulations to the team responsible for managing the communication for the recall.

Before you think I’ve finally lost my marbles let me explain.

Ok, so it wasn’t the best story that Britvic will ever have to deal with, no one wants to come into work and have to fend off questions about safety issues, particularly not for food and drink products and let’s be honest it shouldn’t have happened in the first place – but it did, so as a press team you have to get on with it.

Overall I think the situation was well managed, handled appropriately and did the job. Everyone was aware of the product fault and why the brand was recalling the items. The statement was clear and the call to action made sense – you weren’t left wondering if the bottles had been tampered with or if little Jonny’s pack up was more of a danger than a snack at lunchtime.

It can be a difficult call when you have to make decisions like this, but Britvic seem to have made their mind up quickly and as a result they deserve the respect of their consumers. The money that went into advertising the recall, as well as relying on the support of a PR team, won’t have come cheap, so when you add that to the loss of a potential £23m it is enough to make your eyes water but before you go dashing for the hankies turn the situation on its head.

A well-managed crisis situation can do a brand the world of good and not only does it get consumers taking about you, it also puts you in the spot light when it matters most. Today’s press are full of interviews, comments and quotes from Britvic, reiterating their concern and commitment to the consumers. They play down the recall as something that happens to all brands, yet do not dismiss the seriousness of the situation.

This is exactly why it is imperative for brands to have a committed and experienced PR team to deal with crisis situations. It isn’t a game when you get a call to recall a product it is make or break and I am pleased to see some businesses getting it right.

So, once again, well done Britvic. It’s hit you hard this quarter but it won’t stop me from purchasing your products and I’m sure others will feel the same

 

 

A tale of two very different headlines

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

There have been two very different stories which have hit the headlines recently yet both have led me to ask some questions about their positioning within the media. Both seem somehow, in some way, to have missed the point.

The first is the Leveson inquiry. Unless you have been living in a hole for the past six months plus, you will know that phone hacking, ‘close’ relationships, text messages and Christmas / office parties have all been discussed at length during this trial, leading to days of coverage across all media.

The inquiry itself is enough to shock and presumably has led many to question what has been going on and how the media machine ever thought it would be possible to carry on regardless, knowing how information was being ‘researched’.

It isn’t the political element to this story that shocked me most – but the fact that the presenters on the news on Friday morning were questioning how Rebekah Brooke would cope when asked direct and ‘difficult’ questions.

No one seemed to realise that as former editor of the News of the World she is one of the best trained people to handle this situation. She was surrounded by high profile comments and good and bad practice to call upon, while also being media trained to within an inch of her life. If there was anyone who was perfectly capable of dealing with this fall out it was her.  People who work in the media are perfectly aware of the way it works and there was never any doubt she would provide very factual comments, which would go into as little detail as possible, while ensuring she ‘answered the question’.

The second story to catch my eye was the final of Britain’s Got Talent. I have to admit that this show is my guilty pleasure. I think the auditions are simply hilarious and the talent is something that we should all be proud of. Although I thought all of the final acts were deserving of being there – I don’t believe that dancing dog Pudsey should have won.

Before you get cross and ask what I’m talking about – of course a performing pouch and their adoring owner should take first place – what got me was the way that a reference to animal abuse was used not once but twice during the judging.

Although I find animal cruelty abhorrent, I didn’t think the reference was necessary and would go as far as to say that as a result more votes were generated for that reason than for the talent itself.  In my opinion Charlotte and Jonathan were outstanding, a true celebration of British talent and two young people who for all the right reasons deserve to be rewarded for their efforts and their amazing performance.

So what do you think? Is there news value in questioning a former editor’s ability to cope with serious but direct questioning and what about that dancing dog – it will be interesting to see how both stories continue to hit the headlines and what angles are taken forward from here.

There will be little doubt that Rebekah Brooks will trend again across social media today as she finds out if she will face charges but what about that dog. One suggestion is that as a result of half a million Pudsey will finally drop his owner and take to the circuit as a solo act. Hey, it can’t be any more bizarre than some of things that are currently hitting the headlines!