I’ve spent the past three years as Chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) in the north east of England. Last night the group held its 2015 AGM where we heard from the CIPR’s new national President Sarah Pinch – she came, she saw, she delivered – really interesting.
I had the pleasure of being present at the Institute of Directors HQ in Pall Mall last night for what felt like a really important night for the public relations profession.
The CIPR held a special event to reach out to other professional institutions, recognise some outstanding contributions from a couple of industry legends and unveil its 2015 manifesto as new CIPR President Sarah Pinch officially took up the reins for the year.
The event also marked ten years since the CIPR received its chartered status – in my view that is a huge moment on the road for the PR profession as it moves to become a truly professional function that deserves its place at the boardroom table.
The CIPR’s 2015 manifesto
reflects that maturity. It highlights seven important challenges ranging from data protection through lobbying to the gender pay gap that the PR industry is actively tackling and to which government should listen.
There were also much deserved Honorary CIPR Fellowships for Anne Gregory and Stephen Waddington for the incredible contributions they have made to securing, sustaining and developing the CIPR’s chartered status. I’m lucky enough to have worked with both through the CIPR and their accolades are well deserved.
As our new President (and Stephen’s successor) Sarah Pinch said “I have big shoes to fill, but my shoes are better.” Good luck @ms_organised – I’m looking forward to the journey
Chris
PS – I am also delighted to have officially rejoined the CIPR’s national council in what I am told is the quickest gap between leaving and joining ever!
My role on Council is to represent the English regions, and no, that doesn’t make me a member of UKIP. Seriously though, if you are a member of the CIPR or just someone who takes a passing interest in all things PR, who has a good idea, a question or something you want to get off your chest, feel free to email me at chris@dtw.co.uk or catch up with me on twitter @dtwchris.
DTW has received two nominations in the prestigious PRMoment awards 2015.
In the Public Sector Campaign of the Year category we have been nominated jointly with Hartlepool Borough Council for our work on the “Hartlepool – A Vision for the future” campaign.
We worked with the council’s economic development team to create a communications strategy for the Vision which used a PR-led approach to inspire local communities to get involved.
The campaign used video and mixed photography with futuristic artists’ impressions to create an image of how eight different sites across the town could look following development.
In just five months, the Vision project has led to the direct creation and safeguarding of 300 jobs in Hartlepool and attracted £1.75 million of new investment.
We have also been nominated in the Best Use of Video category for the “I am Coast & Country” video for Coast & Country Housing. The video has been used extensively as the centre of Coast & Country’s induction programme, internal communications and in broader external communications work.
Coast & Country Housing is the largest registered provider of accommodation in the Redcar and Cleveland Borough, owning and managing over 10,000 properties.
The PRMoment awards celebrate excellence and recognise and reward outstanding campaigns and exceptional talent in the UK PR and Communications sector. The awards attracted over 650 entries from 200 companies from across the UK.
#TeamDTW is looking forward to arriving in Manchester in style for the awards ceremony on 11 March.
The relationship between journalists and public relations went under the microscope today, as CisionUK broadcast a webinar examining how journalists use social media, and engage with PRs. The webinar focused on the findings of Cision’s 4th UK Social Journalism Study.
The results are refreshing. The survey conducted with the help of Canterbury Christ Church University, and which surveyed 466 journalists across the UK, made the key finding that PR professionals are the most important sources for journalists, followed by experts/academics and then other journalists and media outlets.
Interestingly, journalists valued news and information provided to them by public figures, government officials and the general public much less. It’s clear, when journalists want an informed view on an issue, they turn to professional communicators.
It also demonstrates when reporters need to cut through layers of bureaucracy, management speak and corporate jargon they still turn to PRs – the people who live and breathe communications. Great news for our industry.
But, the way PR agencies contact journalists is changing. As an increasing number of media outlets and journalists embrace social media, more and more of them graze the medium for their stories. Although more than a third of PRs still use the phone to pitch stories the number is falling. In 2013 the phone was used by 59.3% of PRs, but by 2014 that had fallen to 38.6%.
It’s a big drop and it’s clear that some of those communications are now done using social. The survey supports this shift, with 32.4% of PRs using social media as their primary communication tool in 2014, an increase from 18.5% in 2013.
Our approach – horses for courses – figure out how journalists like to communicate, and engage with them on their favourite channels. That’s what works.
#TeamDTW enjoyed a great night at CIPR North East’s annual PRide awards – we picked up a gold and two silver awards for our work during 2014.
The gold award, which we won jointly with Hartlepool Borough Council, was for our work on the Hartlepool Vision project.
We worked with the council’s economic development team and used video and mixed photography with futuristic artists’ impressions to create an image of how eight different sites across the town could look following development.
CIPR judges praised the campaign as “a fantastic example of a value for money, innovative public sector campaign – bringing the work of economic development and public relations together to achieve return on investment for the tax payer.”
We’re proud of the results – in just five months the Vision project has led to the direct creation and safeguarding of 300 jobs in Hartlepool, and attracted £1.75 million of new investment to the town.
We’re equally proud of the two silver gongs we won as well. One was for our community relations work with Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group, and the second was for our Internal Communications video for Coast & Country Housing.
#TeamDTW is off to the artistic surroundings of the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle this Friday for the CIPR’s annual north east Pride awards.
We’re chuffed to be shortlisted for six awards for some of the exciting work we’ve done over the past year with some great clients.
Awards are great but what’s even better is getting the feedback from clients that our work is delivering results for them on the ground.
We have so many tools and platforms available to use now when it comes to sharing stories and engaging communities and stakeholders that it is no wonder people get lost in the maze sometimes.
The number one tip for any successful campaign is to take a step back, think clearly and ask three questions?
Once you’ve got answers to those three questions you’ve got a good starting point.
If you want to see more about the results you can get when you ask the right questions please have a look at our shortlisted work.
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Vote for me! Yes, it is nearly time for another round of CIPR elections, except this year, it’s all different. Sort of. There will be a new-look slimmed down CIPR Council in 2015 which is a good thing.
But that has presented a challenge for current President Stephen Waddington and the new Chief Executive Alastair McCapra and their team in maintaining the links between the CIPR’s many sectoral and regional groups and the national Council.
So a new electoral system (yippee) and plenty of different options for CIPR members to use their vote – please do if you are a CIPR member – recent turnouts have been shockingly low.
So, as an added incentive to increase turnout (ahem) – this year you can vote for me.
Why would you do that?
Well, you can read my full statement (other candidates are available) on the CIPR website, but basically this would be a formal role representing the English regions on the council and an exciting new opportunity.
Why am I bothering? Partly to give something back, partly because I think I have something to offer and partly to work with some great fellow PR’s on the Council. The extract below is from my statement:
Almost all of the best people I’ve come across in this industry are CIPR members, whether you are in-house, agency and freelancers. In my opinion most members (especially those who have taken the time to read this) get why the CIPR has such an important role to play in our fast-changing industry.
To new members or those who haven’t really got involved in the CIPR before I would say come on, dive in, the water’s beautiful. It really is an organisation where the more you put in the more you get out.
The CIPR is a great institution. The industry has a great opportunity to be at the heart of good work to build trust and maintain reputation for years to come if we get this right. The CIPR matters. If you work in the industry you should be part of the solution.
It’s the holiday summer season so we asked the #TeamDTW about their best & worst holidays, top travel tips and why we don’t miss the soggy camping trips of their youth.
When it comes to favourite destinations, most of the DTW gang take the Pet Shop Boys advice and Go West. Yosemite National Park, Barbados, Florida and California are the most popular choices although MD Chris rates Australia as his favourite destination, while designer Sarah Bibby loved Skiathos in Greece.
Not every holiday is a great one though. MD Chris had an interesting time skiing in communist Romania, while Social Media manager Guy wouldn’t go back to Riga in Latvia if you paid him “The only city I’ve ever been to designed on an etch-a-sketch”. Director Hayley Stewart endured a nightmare time in Ibiza with her young son – more concrete than beach – while Account manager Karen Westcott and Administrator Jan Tyler were both kept awake all night by boozy brits abroad in Barcelona and Tenerife respectively.
Brits abroad behaving badly is a recurring theme, Sarah once shared a hotel with a family from Middlesbrough in Greece who were so awful she pretended to be foreign so they wouldn’t recognise her accent and try to make friends with her!
The most explosive experience, literally, happened to Karen on her honeymoon in Hermanus, South Africa. The lodge she was staying in caught fire and burned down destroying most of their clothes and her new husband’s expensive new watch. They were rescued by the team from Jackass who were staying at the same place and kindly let them stay the night in their accommodation until help arrived. The charred remains of the watch are now framed on the wall at home!
We all have a lot of affection for the UK and holidays at home throughout the team though; even rainy camping trips in Scotland from our childhood are fondly remembered with the distance of time. The wide-open landscapes of Wales, the rugged coastlines of Scotland and Cornwall, the beauty of the Lake District and the relentless fun of Centre Parcs are all on our collective itinerary for this summer.
We’re a diverse bunch when we get to where we’re going to – designer Paula Dickinson likes walking and exploring the local sights, Hayley enjoys her pool and beach time as well as the relaxing evening meal as does MD Chris. Keen readers Jan and Sarah won’t leave the house without their holiday books or Kindles. Sarah read as many as five books on her last holiday while Guy likes taking in the local culture when he’s away – “going to local sports if any are on or even watching a bit of foreign TV to try and work out what the adverts are for”.
Happy Holidays from #TeamDTW!
World Cup Fever is in full flow at DTW and while we haven’t been laid low yet, even the non-football lovers in the office are definitely looking a bit peaky.
Early World Cup memories trend towards the iconic rather than the mundane – Account Manager Chris Sealey watching the acrobatic Hugo Sanchez scoring a trademark bicycle kick for Mexico in the 1986 competition; Director Pete Whelan remembers David Platt’s injury time swivel volley against Belgium in 1990 while MD Chris Taylor and Social Media Manager Guy Bailey had just opened their bottles of American cream soda when Bryan Robson put England ahead of France in 27 seconds in 1982.
Italia 90 looms large in our collective favourite tournament although the revisionist views says that unless you’re English, Irish or German, it wasn’t one for the ages although Pete Whelan now understands that this tournament was the exception not the rule for the boys in White or Red. Chris Sealey bravely stated that Brazil 2014 would top the lot but he did reply before Luis Suarez turned up.
Most impressive team seen at a championships tends to gravitate towards the winners with the French vintage of 1998, the current Spain team (again written before the Holland and Chile games) and the boys of ’66 although everyone’s favourite other team – Brazil 1982 gets a nod.
We like our ball-playing midfielders at DTW with Gazza, Steven Gerrard, Zico and Sergio Busquets getting votes for favourite players on the biggest stage and we thought the winners would come from a narrow field of Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Colombia – Guy Bailey enjoying the vicarious thrill of an outsider coming in on the rails.
Regardless of how the rest of the tournament turns out, we all hope that at the end of the day, football is the winner. Unless it’s Uruguay, in which case they can bloomin’ well stage the whole thing again.
Happy lunchtime – it’s been a cracking morning at the CIPR’s 2014 Northern Conference over in Manchester.
Joanna Halton from McCann has just kicked off by reminding the room of PR people that it is our job to create the content and tell the stories that engage and enthuse people.
Couldn’t agree more – the PR industry, ably being led by @wadds who delivered this morning’s intro session with a sterling vision for the future of the industry – Mr. Peston take note – is in a great position to lead the way for brands, organisations and communities when it comes to telling and sharing a compelling story about ourselves.
Joanna picked out content, social signals, online links and reognisable brands as being four key factors that all influence Google and guess what – us PR people should be standing up and grabbing that – we do it all, and we do it better than anyone else.
Starting at the end I’m moving back to the other focus of this morning – data, data and more data.
There’s loads of it, big, small, good, bad. It’s numbers, it’s scary. Us PR types are less good at that (which is why we invented inforgraphics – nice pictures to share!) but we can’t ignore it any longer.
That data should be informing everything we do – great PR is about being customer focused – that’s where the journey should start and end, not at the CEO’s in-tray.
Drew Bevine from Bellenden and James English from the BBC both built a compelling argument for why any PR team’s next hire should be a data analyst – at least – that’s what I took away from it.
Drew talked about a colleague whose career path went from good old fashioned PR to social media to becoming a data analyst.
She won’t be the last, and if data just makes you run away then just think about the added value that we as PR people should be bringing to our clients and projects and that you as an individual can bring to your employer.
PR will never secure a meaningful place around the boardroom table if we don’t embrace and take the lead on data.
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