The term “high tech” conjures mental images of gleaming buildings of steel and glass gleaming along the northern California coastline, or piercing through the clouds of lower Manhattan.

They probably don’t conjure thoughts of Iowa cornfields.

But John Deere is working to change that.

“We’ve gone through this tech journey to try to adapt ourselves from a traditional legacy manufacturing company to a tech company,” said Franklin Peitz, tech & innovation manager for John Deere. Those efforts include major activations at CES and now, a social media campaign with an influencer better known for his cellphone reviews than his knowledge of soil conditions and corn futures.

That’s entirely the point.

With so many people living in urban areas and having less interaction with the agricultural sector, many Americans don’t take the time to think of where their food comes from beyond the grocery store. John Deere wants to change the conversation from thinking of farmers are unsophisticated and old-fashioned to cutting-edge.

“These are highly complex businessmen and women that are operating across, at some points, 30 to 60 miles of farmland, and all these different pieces of equipment in different areas,” Peitz said. “There’s a lot of money invested in a farm to be profitable and productive and also sustainable. We’re trying to get that message out to the larger community outside of just agriculture in rural America.”

That’s where David Cogen, also known as TheUnlockr, comes in. With 770,000 YouTube subscribers and tens of thousands of subscribers each on Instagram and X, he’s best known cellphone reviews, though he also offers a series called Decodr, which offers deep-dive explainers on topics like how induction cooking works.

But he also has a deep passion for farming and food that he can trace back to his pandemic binge watch show: “Clarkson’s Farm,” headlined by “Top Gear” star Jeremy Clarkson.

“I started watching that show and just was fascinated by all the stuff that was happening. And it was shortly after that, John Deere offered me a trip to a farm,” Cogen told PR Daily.

That was three or four years ago. Since then, they’ve done several influencer activations together. And as John Deere’s influencer program grew, they kept getting one specific request: have an influencer do the farming rather than just visiting a plot.

“And so we thought of this idea: It’d be really neat to give someone the whole experience from soup to nuts, right from tillage all the way through planting and crop protection and then ultimately harvest to be able to understand agriculture, the challenges that our farmers face, and how they’re using our technology today to be more productive and profitable and sustainable,” Peitz said.

By May – or maybe sooner, as the Midwest has been unseasonably warm – Cogen will visit his temporary farm, 20 acres not far from Des Moines, Iowa to plant his crop. He’ll return several times over the growing season and be responsible for every aspect of the process, from what seeds to plant to applying herbicides, harvesting and even selling the corn.

He’ll be documenting it along the way with plenty of content for his social channels. He’ll also create both Instagram Reels as well as at least one longer piece for YouTube. Cogen is confident that even though his audience tends more to city slicker than field hand, they’ll find something to like in his farm-centric content.

“I think just following along the journey is valuable to everybody,” Cogen said. “And I think as long as I feel like I can capture the experience in a very authentic way, even through my bumbling and things that I’m going to not do well, because I don’t know what I’m doing.”

But he’s not alone in figuring out what he needs to do. In addition to John Deere’s experts, Cogen has also been teamed up with an actual farmer, who he refers to as his “phone a friend.” Chelsey Erdmann, a North Dakota farmer and rancher, will be Cogen’s mentor through the experience. Right now, Cogen says she’s helping him understand the complicated world of corn futures. As part of the PR campaign, she’s also helping John Deere’s message reach their legacy audience of agriculturalists with her own 80,000+ Instagram followers.

There is an element of danger here: Cogen could fail. And there is no plan B. But that’s just part of a farmer’s life, Cogen said.

“Regardless of whether I turn a profit or I don’t, the story is still there. And the things that I want to tell and show, it’s still interesting to for people to see it. Because it’s thin margins. And rain could change everything. It’s just fascinating.”

But there’s one payoff that Cogen is looking forward to even more than the possibility of a bumper corn crop: riding in the comfortable cab of a massive John Deere combine to harvest his corn.

“There’s a weird complex when you just sit in that giant machine, and you’re just like, ‘oh, have all of the power.’ It’s just fun.”

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post Why John Deere is targeting tech by sending an influencer to farm appeared first on PR Daily.

Tom Corfman is one of the customers looking forward to a $5 credit. He’s a senior consultant with RCG.

Any letter that promptly gives a refund to thousands of customers is a good letter, but some letters are better than others.

AT&T CEO John Stankey’s refund announcement on Feb. 25, 2024, just three days after a massive outage, was a masterful response to an intense, if short-lived, corporate crisis.

The prompt action was widely covered by the news media, shifting the coverage from customers’ troubles to the company’s action.

While his “letter to employees” got the job done, the writing didn’t match the brilliance of the strategy. We have five questions and edits that would have made the letter more effective. But first a little background.

No service
Stankey knows the phone business. The Pasadena, Calif. native in 1985 took a job out of college with Pacific Bell, which eventually became part of AT&T. He worked his way up, becoming CEO in 2020.

The outage began in the early hours of Feb. 22, with service restored by noon. The company hasn’t disclosed how many of its 90 million cellphone subscribers were affected, but Downdetector, which monitors disruptions, counted more than 1.5 million reports of problems.

Whatever the total amount of the refund, the comms giant says it won’t significantly affect its financial performance. Revenue was $122.42 billion last year.

The letter has some pretty good lines, such as this one, “This is not our first network outage, and it won’t be our last—unfortunately, it’s the reality of our business.”

Here are the edits and questions we would have proposed if we had been Stankey’s editor:

1. Who’s the audience? While called a “letter to employees,” much of it was meant for customers and the broader audience, and not just the refund offer. Writing internal memos with an eye toward external audiences is a sound practice considering how quickly things are spread on social media. But you must decide which audience is the primary target.

For example, if the primary audience is employees, they aren’t addressed until the seventh paragraph, which is well-written and begins, “Whenever a challenging or unexpected event impacts this company, I can always count on everyone to rise to the occasion and the last few days have been no exception.” Let’s move that up.

If the focus is customers, mention the refund earlier than the fifth graph, as journalists call them, and add three words to Stankey’s first sentence, “Thursday was a challenging day for our customers and our company.”

2. We screwed up. His second sentence is straightforward: “Our purpose is to connect people to greater possibility, and we fell short of what we typically do so well each and every day.”

His apology is clear but doesn’t come until the fourth graph, after a 129-word description of the cause and length of the interruption.

“No matter the timing, one thing is clear—we let down many of our customers, including many of you and your families. For that, we apologize,” he says.

The background is important but shouldn’t get in the way of the primary message.

3. How much? The amount of the refund was of keen interest to customers and the news media, but the company made everyone hunt for it.

Stankey never put a dollar amount on the refund, saying only it would be credit “for essentially a full day of service.” The amount is on a separate web page entitled, “Making it right,” which isn’t linked in Stankey’s letter or the news release posting the letter.

On that page, a footnote reads:

Credit does not apply to AT&T Business Enterprise and Platinum accounts, AT&T Prepaid or Cricket.

One $5 credit per account on your AT&T WirelessSM account.

Bill credits will typically be applied within 2 bill cycles.

Is this why they say you need to read the fine print on cellphone contracts?

4. Jargon jungle. Stankey’s had several high-level tech positions, which may explain his explanation for what happened: “the application and execution of an incorrect process used while working to expand our network.”

In plain English, please? A “software update went wrong,” according to ABC News.

Then there are these sentences:

We all know that our customers receive tremendous value and convenience for the nominal daily cost of our service, and outages sometimes have outsized impacts on some subscribers that may be greater than the face value of the credit. For that reason, I believe that crediting those customers for essentially a full day of service is the right thing to do.

I think he’s trying to say: Crediting our customers for a full day of service is the right thing to do, even though the service wasn’t down for an entire day. I recognize that the cost of the outage on some customers may have exceeded a full day’s credit.

Of course, no corporate communication is complete with an “implemented,” and Stankey works it into the next to last paragraph.

5. Tighten up. The letter tips the scale at 686 words, taking up a printed page and a half. Much of the letter reads like it was hijacked by the marketing department, detracting from the important message. It could be trimmed to 500 words by simply eliminating the fluff.

Every day
Stankey has had bigger headaches than this outage. Before he became CEO, he played a key role in ATT’s 2018 acquisition of media giant Time Warner for $109 billion.

Time Warner flailed about under its new parent. Stankey, promoted to CEO in 2020, gave up on the acquisition. In 2022, he merged the renamed WarnerMedia unit with Discovery, resulting in a $47 billion loss to AT&T shareholders, according to The New York Times. The company disputed the newspaper’s calculation, saying the transaction benefited shareholders.

In an interview on CNBC in September, Stankey was asked when the stock market would recognize the value of his business strategy.

“I’m accountable every day,” he responded.

Some days more than others.

Follow RCG on LinkedIn .

The post AT&T CEO John Stankey’s refund letter was a masterclass in corporate crisis. Here’s why. appeared first on PR Daily.

A Morning Consult poll found that trust in several specific, large-scale media outlets are beginning to rebound from the lowest depth of 2020’s crisis of confidence.

To be clear, it isn’t a massive surge in trust. Fifty-five percent of American adults reported at least some level of trust in these media outlets:

• ABC News
• CBS News
• NBC News
• CNN
• Fox News
• CNBC
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• NPR

That’s an increase of 4 points from its 2020 low of 51%. But what’s most interesting here is that Republicans, traditionally the most skeptical political party toward mainstream media, is beginning to regain some level of trust — and not just in Fox News.

Republican trust in these outlets still lags the overall population at 46% trust (comparatively, 69% of Democrats have at least some trust in these outlets). But each network has seen some growth in trust since the chaos of 2020, where mistrust in media became a campaign talking point — all save one.

Democrats have seen their trust in Fox News increase since 2020, likely in part due to actions including correctly calling the election for Joe Biden, increased fact-checking of Donald Trump and more. But likely for those same reasons, Fox News has not seen a rebound among Republican viewers. Granted, its credibility with those on the right still far, far outranks any other network — but it hasn’t yet reached the heady highs of the core Trump years. Similarly, Fox News is the most mistrusted network among Democrats, and ranks third lowest among all Americans, behind MSNBC and NPR.

The most trusted news sources among all Americans are the broadcast television networks, with ABC claiming the edge, followed closely by CBS and then NBC. The two newspapers polled for, the Times and the Journal, just edged out CNN in the trust department.

What it means for PR pros

Any time there’s increased trust in the media, it’s good for public relations practitioners. It makes it that much easier to get the right messages in front of an audience more inclined to believe those messengers.

But trust is still low, especially with Republicans. That means if you’re trying to reach an audience that skews white, older and Christian, you may have more limited options for trusted media. Fox News is still a safe bet, and you can find some success among network news, but outside that, it could be harder to establish trust.

While network news is most trusted across the board, it also presents meager opportunities for pitching, with fewer hours to fill than cable news. So, no practitioner can put all their eggs in that basket.

It’s also important to note that this survey is only looking at some of the top-line, biggest outlets in the country. Other surveys reveal that Americans of all parties generally have higher trust in general in local news, making that a viable option for communicating via trusted journalists. This presents other challenges as local news continues to wither in the face of scorching economic and industry headwinds. But where local TV and papers continue to thrive, it’s a worthwhile trust-building tool.

As we move into what’s certain to be one of the most divisive elections in American history, the media you choose to help tell stories will reflect on your organization. Consider your audience, their trust and your needs. Then, pitch with tact and care.

Good luck.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

The post By the Numbers: Trust in the media increases from 2020 lows. What that means for PR. appeared first on PR Daily.

Rhiannon Ruff is a co-founder of the digital agency Lumino and the author of the new book, Wikipedia & Crisis Communications.

Political campaigns are kicking into high gear as primaries conclude and general elections take shape. All these candidates and their teams have robust digital operations that include paid and organic social media, targeted email outreach      and sophisticated SEO.

The most important channel for many of these candidates, though, is arguably the one they don’t control — Wikipedia.

Voters turn to the online encyclopedia as a neutral source of information about candidates, ballot measures      and other topics in the news. And even though it’s still early in the year, we’re already seeing a surge in traffic on candidate pages on Wikipedia that will crest just before the fall election as voters continue to gather information that will inform their ballot choice.

During the Iowa Republican caucus, for example, views of Nikki Haley’s page shot up to nearly 350,000 per day — well above the previous daily average of several thousand. And by the time the New Hampshire primary came, her entry was suddenly getting 450,000+ views a day. Haley finished second in that race and established herself as the only serious challenger to the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

A wealth of academic studies have shown that Wikipedia pageviews are indeed related to electoral outcomes. A recent paper from Oxford Internet Institution researchers specified that while incumbents’ Wikipedia pages are more likely to receive higher traffic volumes during an election, pageviews for challengers are significantly more predictive of success — especially for candidates that voters perceive as “viable.”

Why voters turn to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is widely perceived as an impartial source of information about topics in the news.

A 2018 study by the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia’s parent organization, found that information-seeking related to current events was the second-largest driver of traffic to the site, behind only intrinsic learning. Both of these factors apply to voters researching candidates, especially newer candidates whose backgrounds and views on key issues are unknown. Wikipedia articles are remarkably detailed, and readers would expect candidate pages to feature both biographical information and policy positions.

The Nikki Haley entry, for instance, features a robust rundown of her political career as governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, along with a section titled Presidential campaign (2023–present) that includes a rundown of her stated political views (“Haley has proposed a TikTok ban, citing the app’s ties to the Chinese government.”) and efforts to distinguish herself from Donald Trump (“America needs a captain who will steady the ship, not capsize it.”)

Wikipedia articles like this also surface at the top of Google results. If a user searched for “political positions of Nikki Haley,” they would find a Wikipedia article with that exact title as the second result.

How political campaigns try to influence Wikipedia

Candidates are well aware of Wikipedia’s role as a source of information and, unsurprisingly, there have been many well-documented cases of campaign personnel trying to covertly edit their candidate’s page.

Perhaps most famously, a savvy operative in the John McCain camp polished Sarah Palin’s Wiki entry the day before the campaign announced that she would be the VP nominee, adding details like “she earned the nickname ‘Sarah Barracuda’ because of her intense play [in high school basketball]” that seemed likely to get picked up by the press.

This all may seem like old news, but the story never changes. Last May, shortly before announcing his candidacy for president, Vivek Ramaswamy paid an editor to remove information on his Wikipedia page that he thought might damage his candidacy.

With all of these cases, though, the “Streisand Effect” was fulfilled and the would-be stealth edits attracted additional public scrutiny and negative media coverage — in no small part because the campaigns clearly and blatantly violated Wikipedia’s conflict of interest rules.

Can campaigns succeed on Wikipedia?

Campaigns may think they have a “Wikipedia” problem, but their root issue is likely with media coverage.

Wikipedia doesn’t want the site’s community of volunteer editors adding information that comes from their own observations about a topic,  no matter their degree of subject matter authority.  Instead, the Wikipedia model is to outsource editorial judgment about what can be considered factual to reliable secondary sources like major media publications (The New York Times, The Wall Street, Politico, Bloomberg), peer-reviewed academic journals (Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine) or books from major publishers (Springer, Wiley, Oxford University Press). These sources are then cited in the text so that readers can confirm that particular claims are accurate.

The trouble Ramaswamy ran into was the type of information he was trying to remove from Wikipedia and how he went about doing it. In particular, trying to excise certain roles he had held (like being a member of Ohio’s coronavirus task force) and honors he had received (the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans), which were all well covered in the press and were thus mentioned on his Wikipedia article. When the editor Ramaswamy paid to scrub his page attempted to stealthily remove this information, other editors pushed back as the claims were all explicitly referenced in the cited sources. Not every factual claim from media coverage needs to be included in an      entry, of course, but in this case, the removals seemed suspicious.

Ramaswamy’s paid Wikipedia editor might have had better luck if he had followed the site’s conflict-of-interest rules and gone to the article’s Talk page (where editors hash out decisions over article content), stated that he was a representative of the candidate, and then made a case that, for instance, the reference to Ramaswamy’s role on the COVID-19 task force seems undue given that he has served on numerous task forces and this is the only one mentioned in the article. That argument may not have worked, but it would have been transparently presented and wouldn’t have produced the same level of backlash (and negative headlines) as stealth editing.

There are limited examples of this approach working in the past, though operatives would need to be quite Wikipedia savvy to understand how to effectively present requests and engage editors.

Another option is to develop a Wikipedia-friendly media outreach strategy. If, for instance, a campaign wanted a particular detail about a candidate’s career (such as legislative accomplishments) to appear in their Wikipedia entry, then they should try to get reporters at major publications to include the item in their profiles on the candidate. Wikipedia’s volunteer editors would then (hopefully) recognize that the details in question are significant enough to warrant inclusion in the article.

In short, it’s understandable when campaign operatives would be concerned about their candidate’s Wikipedia entry, but attempting to directly edit the article in question is a high-risk endeavor that carries a significant risk of blowback both on and off Wikipedia.

The post Why Wikipedia can be a PR problem for political campaigns appeared first on PR Daily.

Two chief executives at food and beverage industry giants have recently landed themselves in the public opinion doghouse for their comments on the price of food.

WK Kellogg CEO Gary Pilnick said in a CNBC interview that his company has found success suggesting cereal as an affordable dinner. “If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they otherwise might do, it’s going to be much more affordable,” Pilnick said. He pointed out that a bowl of cereal with fruit can cost less than $1 a bowl.

“Squawk on the Street” host Carl Quintanilla noted that that messaging might “land the wrong way,” though Pilnick quickly waved that away. “It’s actually landing really well right now,” he said.

That quickly changed.

Many news headlines compared Pilnick’s statements to “let them eat cake,” a flippant phrase wrongly attributed to Marie Antoinette. Users on forums like Reddit pointed out that cereal is no longer affordable, often clocking in at $6 a box for name-brand varieties like Kellogg’s. Additionally, cereal is not a nutritional substitute for a dinner with a protein, starch and vegetable, even if it is more affordable.

Pilnick’s ill-considered remark also smacks of former Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe’s statement in the 2005 documentary “We Feed the World” that the notion of water a human right is an “extreme solution.”

Fast food chain Wendy’s also ran into internet ire when CEO Kirk Tanner said during an earnings call that the restaurants would roll out new menu boards that feature “dynamic pricing.”

It was a passing comment during a longer earnings call, but media outlets seized on the phrase and interpreted it to mean “surge pricing” — a supply-and-demand model that explains why you pay more for an Uber when it’s raining after an NFL game ends.

Customers were indignant at the idea of a Baconator jumping in price at lunch time. Wendy’s quickly walked back the remarks with a statement that read, in part: “This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most. Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members.” The statement went on to stress that the dynamic pricing would offer discounts, not price bumps.

Let’s take a deeper look at why these CEO remarks, perhaps harmless on their face, landed so badly.

1. The moment matters.

Consumers are tired. They’ve endured years of inflation and price increases blamed on supply issues and the cost of labor. The Wall Street Journal reported that food is taking up more of the average person’s budget now than it has in 30 years, with eating taking up 11.3% of disposable income. Couple this with record-breaking rents and mortgage rates, and people’s wallets are feeling stressed.

Additionally, food costs are something we all must grapple with every day. From grocery store shelves to the drive-through, we all know what food used to cost and what it costs now. Meanwhile, food companies are reaping record profits margins as those prices grow higher and higher.

In other words, this is a uniquely terrible point in history to get cute with the price of food. People want the stability of knowing how much a Dave’s Single with Cheese costs. They don’t want to be told that a box of sugary cereal is an economically wise choice for dinner over meat and veg. Americans are already selecting less nutritious options out of concern for the cost of healthy meals.

It’s a pervasive enough problem that President Joe Biden has even slammed grocery stores for food costs.

Yes, CEOs have an obligation to make money for their companies. That’s their job. But making these comments so plainly, even in seemingly friendly arenas like CNBC, can rub salt in wounds for average consumers when they don’t also acknowledge the very real pain behind the economic choices being made today.

2. The messenger matters.

Neither Tanner nor Pilnick are average consumers.

The Guardian reported that Pilnick’s base salary is $1 million, with another $4 million in incentives. Tanner also has a base salary of $1 million, likely with additional incentives on top of that.

In other words, neither is going to be significantly impacted by changes in prices for a hamburger, nor have to eat a bowl of cereal out of financial necessity.

Messages coming from high-paid CEOs about price and thrift can come off as tone deaf. Plenty of people reading this story now have, at some point, had cereal for dinner, either because of its cost or because of its ease of preparation or both. It’s hardly a radical idea. Indeed, “Squawk Box” host Becky Quick admits in the same segment that as a busy mom, she eats cereal for dinner regularly. But it’s the tone and lifestyle of the messenger that makes the comments land so clunkily.

Kellogg’s marketing and social media posts could have made the breakfast-for-dinner point better than Pilnick could have.

3. Nuance matters in media.

The media may be greatly reduced in power from its glory days, but it can still take a PR message and turn it out of control in a matter of moments.

Simply by using the synonym “surge pricing” instead of the term “dynamic pricing” Wendy’s Tanner used, the story took on a different slant. But in the absence of more information from Wendy’s about how the program would work, it wasn’t an absurd leap for the media to make. The two terms are often used synonymously.

But because Wendy’s didn’t have more data ready to provide right away, the story spun out of its control. The narrative of paying more for a burger in peak times was cemented. The clarifying statement came late to the game, after the negative press was done, and it ended up sounding like backpedaling, even if it was their intent all along.

And the “let them eat flakes” framing that many media chose for Pilnick amplified his messaging in the most damaging light possible.

The media still has tremendous power. And in the absence of information — or in the presence of one damning quote — stories can take on lives of their own.

Be sensitive to the moment. Choose your spokespeople wisely. And be ready to respond to the media quickly and decisively.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post Kellogg’s, Wendy’s CEO blunders show perils of this economic moment appeared first on PR Daily.

Here are a few safe bets for 2024: AI will continue to grow in importance. The U.S. election will be an absolute mess. And PR pros will handle it all with grace and style.  

Everything else that might happen in 2024? That’s just a guess. But we’ve assembled some of the brightest minds in the PR industry to share their very best predictions for the year ahead. See what they thought, and see how accurate our 2023 predictions were. 

Wishing you all a very happy holidays.  

AI 

It’s more important than ever before to make sure our clients have consistent online coverage that sheds them in a positive, accurate light as we still don’t 100% understand where AI gets its data from.

Lindsey Stecki, president and founder of Palmer Public. 

Comms offerings and pros’ experience will be reassessed through the lens of, “Can’t AI do that?” Making the case for our value proposition will require stakeholder and business partner reeducation, business model rejiggering and skills development rethinking.  

Lynnea Olivarez, founder and community manager of Ticket to Biotech.

There is way too much chatter about using AI tools like ChatGPT as content drivers beyond basic outlines. As the legal industry more closely looks into the issue of AI and copyright, there will be some short-sighted organizations that will cross lines they shouldn’t and will be held up as trailblazing examples of how and where AI can be used to run afoul of best practices.

Rod Hughes, President, Kimball Hughes Public Relations.

Media relations 

PR pros will focus less on the medium and more on the message in 2024. Since our directive and expertise often lies in earning media coverage for our clients, we can silo ourselves to editorial publications as the sole medium for promoting key messages. Developing compelling storylines and mapping them to the appropriate medium — company blog, thought leader LinkedIn, contributor profile, etc. — will lead to more high-impact campaigns. 

Kim Jefferson, EVP at BLASTMedia.  

This is the first time we’ve had significant global conflicts in the age of social media and such open and fast communications platforms. It’s jarring to see how easily images, videos, and accounts of war can be shared. Public affairs and communications experts must determine how we can use these platforms to more quickly and accurately provide help and assistance, while sharing actionable insights for policymakers. In 2024, we will see a shift in policy media and conversations on social media platforms. 

Bonnie McLaughlin, vice president and public affairs lead at RH Strategic Communications. 

PR needs unity with all types of media. PR practitioners will have to be creative and resourceful to attain placements and, generally, rely more and more on a unified mix of earned, owned and paid media. There are several ways this can be achieved in the future, and it all boils down to creating fresh and useful content and finding where and how it can be placed to reach target audiences.

Vicki Bohlsen, president and founder of Bohlsen Group 

PR will continue to hone its seat at the mid-to-lower funnel tactic table. PR is no longer siloed as an awareness-focused tactic due to advances in measuring capabilities, making companies see the discipline’s value further down the consumer journey.

Nicole Gainer, AVP at Red Thread PR 

Social media 

While there are still some holdouts, the media and brand exodus from X (formerly and more respectfully known as Twitter) may seal the platform’s fate. Companies don’t want to be locked into high advertisement spending while still running the risk that some jokester can replicate their username and hurt their reputation, like Eli Lilly’s stock. HubSpot also cites in a 2023 report that Twitter has one of the lowest ROIs — in short, the bird has flown the nest and brands will decide they should too.

Jake Doll, VP of PR at BLASTMedia. 

Brand founders should feel as open and accessible as influencers. Instead of over-produced content, create organic short-form videos that show the brand’s personality. These also offer the audience a sense of who the founders really are. It goes back to authenticity.  Whether social content, a podcast interview, byline or blog post… offering your key audience a look under the hood is sure to be a hit and drive trust and loyalty.

Sarah Schmidt, executive vice president at Interdependence .

Gen Z are becoming more wary and less trusting of influencer marketing on social media, due in large part to a perceived over-saturation of these posts across all major social platforms. While engaging influencers can at times be an effective method for reaching Gen Z, brands that green light a scrappy social media strategy with clever references to trends in “meme-culture” will often have more luck generating awareness and trust with this generation – generally at a lower cost.

Becky Want, account supervisor at Ketchum.

Crisis comms

Corporate accountability will continue to increase. We are already seeing it as expectations have moved from simply ‘Has [Company] commented?’ to ‘Does what [Company] said have any actual impact or meaning behind it?’ I personally think this is a positive change and will further challenge companies to evaluate their actual impact and role in a crisis or difficult situation. Audiences are tired of companies simply providing lip service to a topic, and comms pros should be, too.

Natalie Maguire, VP of Comms, GIPHY .

The post PR professionals’ 2024 predictions appeared first on PR Daily.

America is at a political and cultural crossroads. 

While this statement has technically been true since at least 2016, many of the threads that have divided the nation seem set to come to a head in 2024.  

The U.S. presidential election will be a major flashpoint at which voters will need to consider where they stand on issues ranging from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine to an uncertain relationship with China, the rising volatility of a changing climate and a variety of culture wars centered around identity. 

Gravity Research surveyed top communications executives from Fortune 1,000 companies to better understand which of these issues most concern them in the year ahead. All together, the data paints a picture of a fractured nation — and a worried corporate sector. 

The DE&I concern

The biggest foreseeable event of the next year is certain to be the U.S. presidential election, the first since insurrectionists stormed the capital to protest the certification of current President Joe Biden.  

But the campaign process itself is likely to bring some level of risk to companies and their initiatives. 

The biggest election-related concern by far relates to its potential impact on affirmative action, DE&I and equity initiatives, with a full 88% at least moderately concerned about this impact. Of course, this plays out against the backdrop of the Supreme Court case that all but ended race-conscious admissions at universities and saber rattling from GOP attorneys general toward companies engaged in the practice. 

But this should not be interpreted as companies panicking or abandoning DE&I efforts. In a subsequent question, Gravity asked what specific actions companies had taken in the wake of the decision. Majorities of both B2B and B2C companies responded that at the moment, they’re in a wait-and-see holding pattern, likely until trial cases like that against the Fearless Fund, which gives grants to Black female entrepreneurs, are decided.  

Some companies are taking steps, such as building hiring pipelines with HBCUs in order to improve diverse hiring without running afoul of courts and legislators. Others are “de-risking,” as Gravity President Luke Hartig puts it, or revising existing programs and materials to achieve the same end goals with different language.  

Finally, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the definition of DE&I is expanding and refocusing on other areas, including religious inclusion.  

Foreign issues resonate at home 

World events have taken center stage in the United States. According to Hartig, Israel-Hamas remains a white-hot issue with Ukraine simmering amid concerns about whether the United States will continue funding the nation in its war against Russia. But in the background are concerns over China, especially around human rights issues and potential economic decoupling from the nation. However, Hartig stressed that the China concerns are in the background — but still present. 

“(Companies) figured out a mode or a process for China issues,” Hartig said. “And they haven’t necessarily figured that out yet on these other geopolitical issues.” 

One other wild card lies ahead for 2024: the Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris. We can expect some level of athlete protests on any number of issues — something that may complicate the plans of the corporations that sponsor both the games and specific athletes.  

Climate change: Caught between a rock and a hard place 

One of the most challenging issues for companies to navigate is climate change. On the one hand, progressive politicians and activists are pushing for accountability on climate pledges. On the other, conservative politicians and activists are fighting against the very concept of ESG. 

The data shows an interesting split between concerns for B2B and B2C companies. B2B companies are especially worried about outside critiques by activists over a lack of progress toward goals, while B2C companies, which are more likely to be household names, are worried about being hit by the GOP or shareholders.  

Undoubtedly, 2024 will hold challenges and curveballs for communicators — and for the nation as a whole. Rest up; we’re in for quite a year. 

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post By the numbers: What worries PR leaders most about the year ahead appeared first on PR Daily.

There are no easy years in PR, but even by the hectic standards of this field, 2023 was a doozy. 

Wars, both literal and cultural, deepened existing divisions between people of different social and political perspectives. Strikes, layoffs and an economy teetering between boom and bust upended the marketplace. AI threatened major changes and risks. And, of course, social media was madness as always. 

As this intense year draws to a close, let’s look back on some of the biggest PR stories of the last year, and how we can expect them to continue playing out in the year ahead. 

Israel-Hamas conflict 

Since Oct. 7, the terrorist attacks and ongoing war between Israel and Hamas have dominated the headlines around the world and pushed organizations of all kinds to the brink of disaster. 

While many businesses were urged — or simply chose — to make a stand, the repercussions of communications missteps have profoundly altered America’s universities, especially its most elite. 

U Penn’s president resigned just days after testifying before a Congressional panel in a way that many felt underplayed antisemitism on her campus. Others, including Harvard University, face the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars from donors. And while the politics here are deeply complex, faulty communications tactics exacerbated many of these problems. Not responding quickly enough, completely enough, compassionately enough caused cracks to form in the social foundation of these institutions that continue to deepen by the day.  

While colleges hold a unique place in public discourse, with many holding free expression as part of their core mission, their missteps shed light on just how contentious these issues are even half a world away from the war zone. Their struggles are a reminder to listen to stakeholders, to be as transparent as possible about decision making and to accept that sometimes, we can’t make everyone — or anyone — happy. 

Culture wars 

Trans rights became a major battlefield as right-wing politicians moved in to challenge medical, parental and educational practices and rights surrounding gender identity. And even as anti-trans laws are being passed in state legislatures, businesses are also finding themselves dealing with waves of outrage for their support of trans creators and causes. These clashes and controversies have sparked counter-protests from LGBTQ+ communities who find themselves pleading with organizations to stand their ground and continue to defend their rights and ensure they feel safe and supported. 

Dominating headlines amid this swirl of passionate emotions in 2023 were Bud Light and Target. Bud Light faced widespread boycotts and tumbling sales after a social media partnership with trans creator Dylan Mulvaney, while Target’s inclusion of a swimsuit suitable for trans women led to threats against store associates, fumbled reactions and hits to its bottom line.  

Those behind the anti-trans campaigns will surely be emboldened by their success in the year ahead — especially with that looming U.S. presidential election in November. Pride in 2024 could look very different than it did in 2023. We can expect some brands to take a step back from the celebration of the LGBTQ+ community altogether, or perhaps to shy away from fully embracing the trans portion of that acronym.  

Other brands will surely continue to support the trans community, whether during Pride or by engaging with trans influencers. When they do so, they must have a communications plan ready, including steps for protecting the physical safety of both their employees and any queer partners they engage with, as well as managing backlash against the brand itself. Bud Light reportedly did not reach out to Mulvaney during the crisis over their partnership, leaving her to fend for herself during a frightening time. 

Above all, know your audience. Issues related to gender and sexuality are deeply divided based on demographic factors. Depending on your audience, they may reward you for supporting these causes — or you may see backlash. Know what your organization’s purpose is, what it stands for, whom it serves, what you’re trying to achieve and how to protect both reputation and physical safety.  

A bizarre economy 

Are we in a recession? It depends on who you ask. The stock market is hitting record highs, but so are prices. Americans are earning more money but feel like they have less. And layoffs are rampant across high-profile sectors, most notably tech.  

All of this has created a difficult environment for the storytelling that public relations practitioners rely on. It’s hard to pin down the environment and create empathetic messaging that resonates with consumers or employees when the economy is so deeply mixed. While there are indications that we may be moving past the worst of inflation and high interest rates, there’s no telling how consumers –- and businesses — will continue to feel. 

Another contributing factor has been the resurgence of organized labor. Major strikes roiled within the entertainment, healthcare and auto industry, even as other industries fought to form their own unions. These battles have been fought in the media spotlight, with both employers, employees and union representatives all leaning heavily into PR to court public opinion and pressure their opposition. 

There’s no end in sight to this issue. Do you have a strike and/or unionization plan in your crisis playbook? If not, now is the time. 

Social media shakeups 

Social media is always weird and wild, but 2023 raised the bar, led in no small part by the antics of Elon Musk, who seemed bound and determined to change the platform’s tone, functionality and demographic — moves that made the platform an increasingly unstable place for brands to engage. From trading the iconic Twitter branding for the enigmatic X, reinstating controversial figures such as Alex Jones, swearing at advertisers, endorsing antisemitic conspiracy theories and downplaying concerns about ads appearing next to hateful, racist posts, 2023 may mark the year the platform truly died, even if it’s still available. 

Other brands have sought to move into the void, most notably Meta’s Threads, but no true replacement has yet taken hold in the buzzy, journalist-friendly way Twitter did for more than a decade. This closes some doors for both social media marketing as well as schmoozing with reporters on their platform of choice.  

TikTok has been the new social media darling for several years, but in 2023 it faced existential threats in the United States — including a five-hour hearing before lawmakers — as some governments have moved to restrict or even banned the app for its connections to China. While it’s more popular than ever, it’s yet another question mark in the social media industry. 

2024 will certainly be another year for staying nimble in social media — but then, isn’t every year?  

AI 

And of course, we can’t close out 2023 without discussing AI. The technology is evolving at a breakneck clip, forcing every other industry to evolve as well. It’s bringing increased efficiency to many in the PR space when it comes to pitching, writing and other mundane tasks, but also brings concerns over job replacement, deepfakes, misinformation and more. It also opens new avenues for creativity as AI avatars offer the ability to create AI spokespeople and entertainers or even to resurrect the dead.  

The ethical and legal considerations continue to pile up around this technology, requiring wisdom and empathy to navigate.  

And those are the traits we wish for you in 2024 above all: wisdom and empathy. 

To a happy and prosperous new year for us all.  

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The post The stories that defined PR in 2023 appeared first on PR Daily.

For communicators, crisis has become the norm, a reality that requires a state of constant readiness for controversies — and even emergencies.  

Randi Stipes, CMO at The Weather Company, is no stranger to crises. The organization’s commitment to keeping the public informed, not only of everyday weather conditions, but also during climate emergencies, means it is prepared to care for both its workforce and its users in the event of even the most devastating disasters. 

She spoke at Ragan’s 2023 Future of Communications Conference in Austin last week about lessons she’s learned on the job as a marketer and communicator whose work literally saves lives. These were some of the lessons we learned during her dramatic talk. 

A state of perpetual preparedness 

Even The Weather Channel, the consumer-facing product of The Weather Company, can’t foresee every storm or its impact, so setting the stage is critical to navigating a weather-related emergency — or any other crisis — when it strikes. 

“Every business needs a plan for crisis mode,” she said. “In today’s crazy world, it’s inevitable you’ll use it. … Having a solid comms plan that you can refer back to when things get hectic — that’s critical.” 

That plan’s foundation is its mission, and communicators must make an effort to wholeheartedly champion that mission. 

“You need to carry the torch to evangelize that mission across your organization and beyond,” Stipes told the audience.  

She said communicators act as the “compass and conscience” of their organizations, both internally and externally, a role that requires authenticity and transparency in order to stabilize another keystone in your metaphorical weather-proofing process: Trust.  

“Building trust not only with the media but the public is not a one-and-done action,” Stipes said . 

When the storm strikes 

You have your foundation, infused with purpose, authenticity and trust. But what about the moment itself — when the crisis has arrived and it’s all hands on deck? 

Stipes advised communicators to stay nimble. “Make sure your preparation playbook leaves enough room for agility,” she said. 

That’s where internal trust plays a role: The ability to get everyone on board and work in tandem to do what needs to be done and mitigate any damage. “Leaders need to empower their people to make decisions,” she said. “When we can steer through a crisis the right way, the pride we have for our team and the confidence we have in our own abilities is unmatched.” 

Powered by IBM Watson, The Weather Company relies heavily on technology to stay connected with millions of people during an emergency. Similarly, tech and communication tools can bepowerful allies for keeping organizations connected and on the same page when any type of crisis arises. 

However, Stipes said people will always be the ballast during high-intensity times. “We can’t solely rely on machine learning as we use AI in our comms,” she noted. “Our roles are nuanced and emotional. Humans will always play an essential role.” 

That humanity and empathy serves as the linchpin for survival and a guiding light during the darkest times organizations and employees face together, whether it’s the aftermath of a hurricane or interpersonal conflict during a war on the global stage. “Communicators have the responsibility and opportunity to impact communities by impacting conversations and dialogues,” Stipes said. “Understanding needs to underpin our craft.” 

Communicators who follow this organization’s lead will find they can weather any storm.  

Discover more lessons learned from Ragan’s 2023 Future of Communications Conference in these stories by Ragan’s editorial team: \

• Ragan’s Game Changers on the future of crisis management and employee engagement 
• Top Takeaways from Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference 
• Research: How CEOs influence the comms function 
• How communicators build multigenerational bridges 

Jess Zafarris is a content director, editor, journalist, speaker, social media engagement strategist and creator. Her 13 years of experience in media have included such roles as the Director of Content at Ragan Communications, Audience Engagement Director at Adweek, and Content Strategy Director and Digital Content Director for Writer’s Digest and Script Mag. Follow her on Twitter/Threads/IG and Tiktok @jesszafaris  and connect with her on LinkedIn.

The post Weathering a crisis: Lessons in emergency preparedness from The Weather Company appeared first on PR Daily.

Five hundred communicators gathered at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas this week to share and absorb wisdom about the future of the industry.

From the onslaught of AI to the constant drumbeat of crisis and the need to express empathy to all audiences, the challenges in communications are great — but so are the opportunities.

Speakers from both internal and external communications took the stage to share insights and forecasts.

Whether you joined us or looked on with envy, here are some of the big ideas to guide your communications strategy in 2024 and beyond. Because, as keynoter Sam Jordan, a futurist with The Future Today Institute said: “Know what is plausible so you can know what is desirable. You have to have a vision to have a roadmap.” 

Technology 

• “If you’re going to invest in the tool, you have to invest in the training. Not just the theoretical training, but the actual use case training,” Megan DiSciullo with PwC said.  
• “Data without insights is chaos,” Trovon C. Williams with the NAACP said. 
• Haley Correll of the American Red Cross on social media: We are users first, communicators second. Challenge your team to use and learn a new program before investing more time.
• Embrace the creator mindset, Jeff Meltz with Square said. You have to treat it like an athlete. Upskill slowly but surely
• Gina Anselmo of Red Path throws the gauntlet: You should be able to read an employee newsletter in 60 seconds 

DE&I and purpose 

• Organizations without a DEI emphasis risk losing their influence and power going forward, as without it you won’t have a lot of the next generation wanting to work for or with you, said Emily Graham, Omnicom 

• “All generations hold their employers to a higher standard than ever before,” Kathryn Chappell, Fleishman Hillard, said.  

• Don’t let something at the front of news and social feeds distract you from the business of the business, Elliot Hoff with APCO said.  

• ERGs are great discussion spaces for staff and places to gain insight on more challenging topics – but less mature ERGs may not be ready to provide that perspective, Makini Nyanteh of AIR said.  

Crisis and empathy 

• “Every business needs a plan for crisis mode. In today’s crazy world, it’s inevitable you’ll use it,” said Randi Stipes, The Weather Company
• But remember, there’s a difference between a crisis and an issue, said Valessia Patton-Burrell with Denny’s.
• Still, empathy can help lead the way through any crisis: “Every day can’t be business as usual when there are horrible things happening in the world,” said Halley Knigge with REI.
• “Laughter and humor can help humanize leadership and create a situation with more focus on empathy,” said Steve Cody, Peppercomm
• “Brands are so much more than what you sell, it’s who you are and who your employees are,” Lou Dubois said. 

The post Top Takeaways from Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference appeared first on PR Daily.

And one opportunity she says you must embrace in the year ahead.

Morgan Painter-Effron is VP of Corporate Communications for NBCUniversal. She has been with the company for seven years, steadily climbing the ranks from her job as digital content manager to her current leadership role.

She  began her work life in public relations for Gogo, working in media relations and overseeing communications strategy. 

To honor her recognition as a Gamechanger, we asked Painter-Effron to reflect on her career and offer advice to a new generation of up-and-coming communicators. 

What is one challenge communicators should be prepared to face in the next year, and what is one opportunity they may be able to embrace? 

With the introduction of AI and rapidly evolving technology as well as social media and misinformation that can spread like wildfire, communicators need to be diligent in getting the facts right instead of being first. This makes our roles more important than ever to storytelling with purpose and great responsibility. 

The field of communications continues to evolve more and more with various platforms introduced regularly. In terms of opportunity, really getting to know and understand your audiences – where are they spending time, what content are they looking for and engaging with, and most importantly – using that to create content that resonates with them. I love seeing brands lean into their fanbase or audiences to create engaging content with their audiences in mind. 

What do you think will be the most important skills for communicators to master in the next five years? 

Shorter attention spans and more platforms to consume information will make it harder to get eyeballs. Being creative when it comes to storytelling, leveraging engaging video content as well as making your stories stand out can help. Focusing on what is unique about your brand or business that engages your audiences to spend a little bit longer consuming your content. 

What’s your best tip or piece of advice for communicators looking to pursue leadership roles? 

Ask questions. When I started my career, I felt like asking too many questions made me look like I wasn’t prepared. There’s no way I could have known half of what was talked about with little to no experience. The more information you can retain from leaders to gain an understanding of what they are working on, what they may be prioritizing and how you can help contribute to those goals, the more successful you will be. 

What is a mistake you’ve made in your career, and what did you learn from it? 

Recognize that making mistakes is human and nobody is ever going to get it 100% right all of the time. We all work and move in such fast-paced environments. I make it a priority to take the time to reflect on why the mistake was made and how to avoid it in the future. As a leader, it’s also important to own my mistakes and create an environment where my team knows we can try and fail on occasion and that’s all a part of learning. 

The post VP of Corporate Communications for NBCUniversal on the power of asking questions appeared first on PR Daily.

Internal communications leaders often share the same operational grievance — because they work so well across functions, even when they are such good collaborators and relationship builders, it  feels as though endless requests keep coming.  

It’s easy enough to maintain an editorial calendar or use project management software, but creating and protecting an artful, strategic cadence becomes harder when things come down from on high, from across the room, or from partners that comms has no visibility around. 

How can communicators safeguard their workflows and refine the art of saying “not right now, here’s why?” We spoke to two Ragan Communications Week board members to learn how they realign expectations to stay strategically focused while remaining helpful cross-functional partners. 

Aligning goals from the get-go 

When asked to create something seemingly ad hoc, the best place to start is by asking questions about goals.  

“Sometimes, because we’re all so busy, we don’t ask ‘why’,” said FREYR Battery SVP of U.S. Communications Amy Jaick.  

“You know, ‘Tell me more about what you’re trying to achieve’. Because sometimes what people are asking for is not the only solution. And sometimes I’m able to find efficiencies or synergies in that way.” 

Jaick supposes there may be a time when someone comes to you and asks you to write a press release, which you could engage by prompting a deeper conversation about who they are trying to reach.  

“’Is it broadly appealing, are you trying to reach the masses or is this better as a very targeted social post?’” Jaick might ask. “’Can we make this an internal announcement, take some of the language from that and social post very targeted, you know, or can we make this an internal announcement and then we take some of the language from that and share it in a different way?’” 

“Part of the solution is understanding what people are trying to achieve from the get-go, not just what they‘re asking,” added Jaick. “And once you have an understanding of that, do you need to create this?” 

Moving away from single-use comms 

Jaick’s question as to whether something must be created net new each time or whether it’s better to work with something you already have, then reshape or reform it, is a matter of each time and energy investment. 

Danielle Brigida, sr. communications director at The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), believes that we shouldn’t be creating very many one-off pieces of communication as a rule.  

“You just don’t have time to do something that you can only use for one purpose,” Brigida said. “Single-use content is like single-use plastic. You should avoid it whenever possible. “ 

“We’re rewarded as communicators for outputs,” she continued. “Especially the cheap outputs, the things you don’t have to work as hard on but get you a lot of exciting feedback. It’s about balancing that with strategy… like skiing downhill and taking the paths that already exist versus the ones you have to carve out on your own.” 

So how do you make sure the proactive paths you carve out on your own aren’t one-and-done?  

Brigida recently reframed a request for a video promoting an upcoming conference from being strictly focused on the conference to instead covering the bigger question of why, in this case, tigers are important to biodiversity and how they benefit people, too. WWF will be able to continue using this content well after the conference, but it can still be helpful with conference promotion.  At the end of the day, creating helpful content that serves multiple purposes is one way to benefit many areas of work. It’s an extra step to think through your communications this way, but it’s well worth it.  

“When we’re resource-constrained, we’ve got to figure out how to repurpose as much as possible,” she added with a wink and a nod to a classic sustainability slogan. “I think ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ is a good comms strategy.” 

Embracing a tiered structure of support  

When one is overwhelmed, it’s easy to get defensive and say ‘no’ to new requests. While this tendency is natural, learning to say, ‘yes, but’ is the more diplomatic approach. 

Jaick understands how communicators can tier the systems of support that they provide. Using a premise wherein another function needs social media support and your team is overwhelmed, Jaick saw three scenarios.  

In one, her team helps them directly craft those posts and they work on it together.  

The second is when her team gives them quality examples for similar situations, “where we’ve seen this happen enough times that I can kind of give you a structure that you can take and make your own,” explained Jaick. “It’s sort of prefabbed—it’s not custom, but there’s enough there that you can take from it and create your own.” 

In a third scenario, you simply provide a couple of examples of teams who have done it well. 

“It’s ‘yes, and’ or ‘yes, but’ where you’re not saying no entirely,” Jaick said. “’Yes, I can help you and this might be a good way’ or ‘Yes, I can help you but we’re not able to devote all this time to a campaign — here’s a framework.’”  

How are you repurposing content and level-setting around asks by tying them back to goals? Let us know, and don’t forget to join us in Austin for Ragan’s Communications Week and the Future of Communications Conference. 

The post Reduce, reuse, recycle: Setting reasonable expectations when comms is asked to do everything appeared first on PR Daily.

Ragan’s Communications Week 2022, held Nov. 1-7, was overflowing with takeaways to inform the communicator’s 2023 playbook. Peer-to-peer conversations were abundant during this important industry week, which included the Future of Communications Conference in NYC.

CommsWeek Co-Chairs Diane Schwartz, CEO of Ragan, and Tiffany Guarnaccia, CEO of Kite Hill PR and founder of CommsWeek, share their top gleanings from the week:

Diane Schwartz, CEO, Ragan Communications

Guarnaccia: Congratulations to Ragan on a fantastic Communications Week. One of the big takeaways from me was the power of storytelling. Now more than ever, the best communicators are storytellers. Some of the sessions touched on how to make sure your story is worth telling internally and externally. The world’s best communicators know that employees are our number-one brand advocates. We need to engage them.

Schwartz: So true. And it should go without saying, but I’m saying it: transparency with employees is critical. We heard from so many speakers that employees can handle bad news better than uncertainty. Communicate early and often, and when it comes to storytelling – don’t be boring!  A popular tweet during Communications Week was that storytelling is data with a soul. I love that. Tiffany, what else struck you during the Future of Comms Conference?

Guarnaccia: Measurement is an evergreen topic that emerged again at Communications Week 2022. We are constantly evaluating new strategies and emerging communications channels and the new measurement techniques. When thinking about the value of PR, many communicators are rethinking what that means. Some agency leaders, like the president of MikeWorldWide, Bret Werner, pointed out that we need to rethink top tier. Traditionally, when you think of top tier, you think of outlets like the WSJ, CNN or NY Times. Today, a placement on a key blog or a mention on TikTok could attract the right audiences and drive results, especially for consumer brands.

Schwartz: Back to internal communications for a second, I find this stat from one of our sponsors Staffbase rather illuminating: 75% of internal communicators spend the majority of their time “getting stuff out” – this underscores how communicators must move from order taker to strategist. They need to Meet the Moment – the theme of this year’s CommsWeek – and make sure they’re spending more time on strategy beyond their own department.

Guarnaccia: So true, Diane. They need to be more fluent in the business. This is an area Ragan promotes heavily to its audience.

Schwartz: Yes, business fluency is one of the most important competencies of comms leaders – understanding how your company operates, what drives the top and bottom lines. You can take small steps like spending time with your CFO and asking questions that might take you out of your comfort zone but will put you on the right footing as a business partner.

Tiffany Guarnaccia, CEO, Kite Hill PR

Guarnaccia:: CommsTech was another hot topic and it will grow in importance. I touched on this in my session. We addressed the new comms tech stack and the importance of embracing agility. We need to be agile in theory and in practice. Successful comms programs require a high degree of agility and ability to pivot quickly based on the news cycle or in response to a crisis. At Kite Hill PR we leverage a workflow that models agile development. It was interesting to see that some attendees are taking a similar approach and adding project management software platforms to their own comms tech stack.

Schwartz: I enjoyed moderating a session with Chief Communications Officers from Dow Jones (Jennifer Thurman), US Chamber of Commerce (Michelle Russo) and Columbia Business School (Amy Jaick). Amy pointed out something I think all communicators should keep in mind, which is that some of the best comms strategies are invisible. The absence of crisis and chaos, the story that didn’t run, the CEO that didn’t have to take the hot seat — these are to the credit of savvy communicators.

Guarnaccia: I completely agree with that statement. Investing in a continual human-powered effort to build trust and maintain and enhance a corporate reputation is critical to a business’s long-term success.

Schwartz: During Communications Week, there were a lot of ideas shared and curiosity around the role of Comms in ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) efforts. I thought Catherine Blades Hernandez of SAIC said it best during the fireside chat when she said ‘ESG is a way to show your trust is earned.’”

Guarnaccia: No better role in an organization than Communications to lead the way.

Schwartz: That’s a great way to cap off this conversation, Tiffany!

Mark your calendars for Communications Week 2023 the week of Nov. 6-10. Go to www.commsweek.com for early updates.

The post Storytelling, business fluency, employee comms among top lessons of CommsWeek 2022 appeared first on PR Daily.

In any business, communicating about the work you’re doing with the public and your internal stakeholders is critical. At the closing keynote panel of Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference last week, a panel of communications industry leaders discussed how communications professionals can better position their efforts and have a tangible role in decision-making company-wide. Hosted by Ragan CEO Diane Schwartz, the discussion featured thoughts from Michelle Russo, chief communications officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Amy Jaick, chief marketing and communications officer at the Columbia Business School and Jennifer Thurman, chief communications officer at Dow Jones. Each panelist had insightful approaches about how to further integrate communications functions into critical decision-making processes.

Changes in approach during COVID

Life has changed so much since the outset of the pandemic, and the last few years have also informed the way the panelists approached the roles of their communications departments. For some, the need for clear and frequent communication during uncertain times helped place more value on the comms function.

“One of the opportunities that came out of the pandemic was a firmer seat at the overall table of the organization,” Russo said. “It made things very clear in terms of what was important. Comms pros do a lot every day, but our main missions became readily apparent.”

In addition, the panel discussed how communicators helped spread a message of wellness during some of the lows of the pandemic.

“There is an element of psychological safety that some organizations didn’t place emphasis on at the outset of the pandemic and you can see the after-effects,” Jaick said. “We need to help encourage wellness at work as communicators. It’s easy to let go of when the pace of work quickens, but we do better in reaching the proper audience when we have teams that feel their best at work.”

Influencing the C-suite

The function of communications, in the simplest of terms, is to tell an organization’s story both internally and externally. However, there’s a great deal that goes into getting that story told the right way, including lots of outreach, research and experimentation. Since perception of a company is such an integral part of how they’re able to function in the larger world, it then makes sense that communications should have some say in how decisions are made within the C-suite. Sometimes making this happen just takes an adjustment in tactics.

“When I came to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, it was very D.C.-centric and reactive. I modernized the team to make our communications department more proactive business partners within the overall organization,” Russo said. “The team had been trained to be order takers, and it was all about output. It’s important that we focus on the outcome rather than the output. We need to determine the strategy rather than just making it about putting a message out there because we have to. It’s important to show up really ask what you’re trying to achieve with your message.”

What lies ahead

Although the panel spoke at length about the many ways that communications is gaining more perceived value from organizational leaders, they also discussed how to keep the trend of comms as a critical business arm moving along.

“My CEO hired me because I’m a strategist. I want to have a seat at the table to communicate not only the decisions that have been made but have a say about the decisions themselves,” Thurman said.

Additionally, the panel noted that backing up research on comms trends and patterns can help sway the powers that be.

“I think sometimes there’s a misperception that if you put your message out there, the audience will or read or interact with it,” Jaick said. “That’s not always the case. But when you can say what the research behind a decision is, or point to a shifting trend the C-suite should be aware of, it gives the powers that be the confidence to know that your input is highly valuable.”

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night. Follow him on LinkedIn.

The post C-suite advice for comms success appeared first on PR Daily.

The 2022 Future of Communications Conference gathered hundreds of communications professionals at the Edison Ballroom in New York City, New York to refine and align their strategies around moving from order takers to strategic advisors whose judgment is material to the growth and success of their organizations. Attendees had the opportunity to brainstorm, reconnect with colleagues, make new friends and learn real-world tips and tactics from dozens of leading communicators.

If you missed out on all the action in real time, don’t worry we’ve got you covered with some of the biggest lessons from the two-day conference:

1. Communications isn’t a separate function of the organization. It’s just a pure reflection of how the organization functions.
2. If you’re doing comms without a business or representational goal, then you’re not doing it correctly.
3. When trying to convince your boss or the C-suite on the metaverse, get them into it. Don’t try to explain it based on a slide.
4. Crisis used to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but the pandemic brought on the idea of the ongoing crisis. So, make sure you don’t have a crisis person but rather a crisis team.
5. Lean on your brand’s voice and values when you’re thinking about the message you’re putting out in the world on social. Remember, your reputation is your revenue at the end of the day.
6. ESG is a way to demonstrate that the trust you’ve built is truly earned
7. It’s easy to say that your company is a great place to work – it’s much more impactful to actually be a great place to work and tell those stories. They’ll ring much truer to the audience and will make employees more likely to share their own stories.
8. Build real relationships with journalists — and not just reporters. Knowing who can help with a troublesome headline can be a gamechanger.
9. When building a comms tech stack, get employee buy-in — from the bottom and the top — at every step in the process.
10. Psychological safety is different for every employee, and we need to listen to our employees to know how to make them their best selves at work. Listening should use both qualitative and quantitative approaches for the most holistic approach.
11. When you’re building a great culture, there should be many touchpoints along the employee journey to help people feel like they’re part of the larger picture. If they get the organization’s overall strategy, they’re more likely to feel like a part of the bigger mission.

Communications Week continues through Monday, Nov. 7 with lots of opportunities to still participate virtually and in person. To check out all the upcoming events, visit here.

Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn

The post 11 biggest takeaways from Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference appeared first on PR Daily.

As the comms industry continues to chart its path in the wake of the pandemic and so many other changes, Communications Week promises a vital conversation on the future of the profession.

Leaders from a wide range of sectors and locales are joining the Communications Week 2022 Advisory Board to discuss how they and their colleagues are shaping the future of comms by examining increased digital transformation, the future of work and the ongoing ramifications of a multi-year pandemic response.

The Comms Week board joins our other advisory boards, both the Ragan Editorial Advisory Board and the PR Daily Editorial Advisory Board, in helping to guide our focus and set the agenda for our coverage. This board will focus on our Communications Week programming, culminating in our Communications Week events Nov. 1-4.

Here’s a look at these distinguished industry leaders:

Diane Schwartz, CEO, Ragan Communications

Diane Schwartz is co-chair for Communications Week 2022 and has led Ragan Communications since joining in May of 2019. Before Ragan, she served for 23 years at Access Intelligence, where she was senior vice president of the media communications division and oversaw the growth of brands including PR News, Social Shake-Up, Cynopsis, AdExchanger, Admonsters and many others.

Schwartz has launched more than 100 conferences, training programs, awards competitions and subscription products that put customer and premium content front and center. A former journalist, Schwartz is a frequent guest lecturer at universities nationwide and a board member of the Institute for Public Relations.

Tiffany Guarnaccia, Founder & CEO, Kite Hill PR

Tiffany Guarnaccia is the co-chair for Communications Week 2022 and is the CEO of Kite Hill PR and the founder of Communications Week. Under Guarnaccia’s leadership, Kite Hill has grown to become recognized as one of the top tech PR agencies in the US. Tiffany continues to set the bar high, and most recently in 2019 launched the PR Sprint Workflow, an agile model for the industry.

Previously, Guarnaccia was at The Huffington Post as senior director of communications to launch their streaming platform, HuffPost Live, and expanded her role to include PR for Huffington Post Media Group. She has held positions at companies that represented the industry’s reinvention: as the spokesperson for LimeWire in the Arista Records v. Lime Group case, and as the director of PR and communications for LimeWire Store, previously eMusic.

Brandi Boatner, Manager, Digital & Advocacy Communications, IBM

Brandi Boatner is the social and influencer communications lead for global markets for IBM‘s Global Technology Services in New York. She oversees a holistic digital ecosystem across platforms (including websites, blogs, social media sites and mobile devices) and people globally. Boatner’s responsibilities include developing and driving digital communications and content that supports the way IBM engages external audiences and enterprise IT professionals on topics such as hybrid cloud, enterprise mobility and business continuity.

She is a former national president of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and is a social media co-chair for the PRSA Technology Section.

Andrew Bowins, SVP of Communications & Public Affairs, Entertainment Software Association

Andrew Bowins is known for his work in large, complex multi-national organizations managing difficult and highly sensitive brand, reputation and communications issues.

With a proven track record in issues management, he has led teams through high-profile crises including the Samsung Note7 recalls (phones on fire), Samsung Home Appliance recall (exploding washing machines) and Supreme Court appeals (Apple vs. Samsung) in 2016.

He has worked with Fortune 100 companies including Amazon, Dell, Nokia, Samsung and MasterCard, and now represents the interests of the interactive entertainment industry through his work with the Entertainment Software Association in Washington, DC.

Danielle Brigida, Senior Director of Wildlife Communications & Strategy, World Wildlife Fund

Danielle Brigida, before joining World Wildlife Fund, served as the deputy director of digital strategy for the U.S. Department of the Interior and leading social media roles for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She has been lauded as one of the “10 Most Generous Social Media Mavens” by Fast Company, one of the “75 Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter” by Mashable, and one of “10 People to Follow Who are Saving the World” by Mother Nature Network.

She’s been interviewed about her social media experience by USA Today, The New York Times, Fast Company, Washington Post, and Mashable. She loves spending time outside and sharing curiosity and wonder with others.

Laura Brusca, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Forbes

Laura Brusca directs strategic corporate communications, thought leadership, issues management, media relations and internal communications for Forbes. An accomplished and award-winning communications executive, she exerts influence that shapes the modern-day narrative at one of the world’s most-storied media brands. Brusca brings nearly 15 years of corporate communications and reputation management experience, gleaned from in-house and agency roles where she worked with established global brands.

Prior to joining Forbes, she worked in the corporate communications practice at Ruder Finn, directing communications for well-known brands including Novartis, Kering (parent to Gucci and PUMA) and H&M.

She is a graduate of Denison University and was named to PRSA NY’s “Exceptionals Under 35.”

Jenny Caven, Consultant

Jenny Caven was formerly the director of external affairs at Slimming World where she was responsible for developing strategy to strengthen and protect the company’s reputation with external stakeholders. She led a talented in-house team whose role was to build awareness of the brand, communicate brand values and establish trust in the company’s program and methods.

Caven started her career in international journalism before moving into corporate communications. She has a keen interest in health policy and public affairs and working collaboratively to support effective behavior change.

A CIPR Chartered PR Practitioner, Caven is a keen promoter of professional standards, knowledge and ethical practice. Above all, she’s passionate about creative problem solving and demonstrating the value of PR and communications to organizational success.

Steve Cody, President, Peppercomm

Steve Cody is the founder and CEO of Peppercomm, a fully integrated strategic communications firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco and London. He’s responsible for everything from implementing strategy and counseling clients to leading business development and bringing new products and services to market. He’s also the current chairman of the Institute for Public Relations, a longtime member of the Arthur W. Page Society and a member of the advisory councils of the College of Charleston and the University of Florida.

Michelle Delery, Director, Corporate Communications, Entergy

Michelle Delery advises senior leaders on communications strategy, branding and reputation management, and crisis communications at New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.

During her 20-year career at Entergy, she has directed employee communications strategy during major crises and companywide change initiatives including hurricanes Katrina and Rita, various mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, companywide reorganizations, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is a New Orleans native and holds an MBA from Tulane University, M.A. in mass communications from Loyola University, and a B.A. in journalism/advertising from Louisiana State University.

Paul Dyer, President & CEO, Lippe Taylor

Paul Dyer entered the PR industry as one of the first people to make social media his full-time job. He then spent eight years at W2O Group (now Real Chemistry), where he was responsible for re-organizing the PR firm into an integrated marketing communications structure while building the agency’s analytics and integrated media capabilities.

In 2017, he joined Lippe Taylor as president and became CEO in 2020. At Lippe Taylor, Dyer architected an overhaul of the agency’s creative and digital capabilities, transforming them to be fully integrated while maintaining the integrity of the firm’s iconic reputation and excellence in earned media. In five years, the agency has quadrupled under his leadership.

Dyer holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas and is the author of the book “Friction Fatigue.”

Sandra Fathi, Chief Strategy Officer, Gregory FCA

As president and founder of Affect, a public relations, marketing and social media agency, Fathi successfully led the company with consistent growth since the agency’s inception in 2002. In 2021, Affect was acquired by Gregory FCA, one of the nation’s top B2B public relations and marketing firms.

Fathi started her career as a reporter for a division of Ziff Davis and IDG Tech Network. She went on to work at a number of leading technology firms and one of the top global PR agencies. Her clients have included Apple, EDS, Ericsson, Nokia and Microsoft, as well as innovative start-ups.

She has served on the board of the PR Council, as chair of PRSA’s Tri-State District, as president of PRSA-NY and as president of the PRSA Technology Section.

Lanita Withers Goins, AVP, Employee Communications Services, Arch Capital Services

With the voice of a storyteller and the mind of a strategist, Lanita Goins helps organizations craft a cohesive narrative of who they are and where they’re going through effective communications.

Goins oversees editorial content for the Arch Capital’s global intranet, manages a team of talented internal communicators and plans and executes companywide communications that help employees connect with the company’s purpose, vision, values and strategic initiatives. She also serves as an advisor to senior executives and employee leaders, creating and refining communications that take strategies beyond words on paper and into messages able to capture the hearts and minds of audiences.

Prior to Arch, she worked in higher education communications and started her career as journalist for a mid-sized regional newspaper.

Emily Graham, Chief Equity & Impact Officer, Omnicom

Emily Graham drives Omnicom’s vision to achieve systemic equity across the holding company’s global network, which spans more than 1,500 creative agencies and 5,000 clients. A seasoned corporate communications strategist, Graham also serves as global head of diversity & inclusion communications at Omnicom. She also counsels an array of Omnicom’s largest clients on DE&I matters, including AT&T, General Motors and Microsoft.

Graham leads Omnicom’s OPEN team, 30+ dedicated DE&I professionals responsible for driving DE&I strategy company wide. Previously, Emily was chief diversity & inclusion officer at FleishmanHillard, the first in the agency’s history. While at Fleishman, she was a senior partner, global client leader (GCL) and member of The Cabinet – the firm’s executive leadership team. She also founded and led True MOSAIC, a global communication consultancy dedicated to driving DE&I to the center of corporate strategy.

Prior to that, she led the firm’s professional and financial services sector in the Americas. She held previous roles at MWWPR and Burson-Marsteller.

Meredith Klein, Head of Consumer & Product Communications, Pinterest

Meredith Klein leads the communications strategy behind Pinterest’s biggest initiatives and launches, working closely with cross-functional partners to uncover consumer insights to create compelling campaigns and stories that support the brands’ innovative products, bringing inspiration to people around the world.

Prior to her appointment at Pinterest, Klein was the director of PR at Walmart, leading its acquired brands portfolio, including Jet.com, Bonobos, Hayneedle, ELOQUII, Moosejaw and Art.com.

Before formally joining Walmart, she served as the director of media & public relations for Jet.com, Walmart’s acquired eCommerce site. As the first communications hire for the company, she established Jet’s communications practice and press strategy and was responsible for all aspects of communications, from corporate and consumer communications to social influencer strategy.

Jessica Kline, Director, Internal Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, Blueprint Medicines

Jessica Kline has held various roles across communications in both information technology and biotechnology. In 2019, she joined Blueprint Medicines to design its internal and brand communications capabilities and today is continuing a focus on all things employee, change, executive and brand while developing Blueprint’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

Prior to Blueprint, Kline worked on the global communications team at Dell Technologies where she held various roles across internal communications, digital communications and executive communications, including working on the integration team for the Dell-EMC merger and driving 360-degree communications for the president of Dell Technologies’ largest organization. Jessica has a B.S. in business administration from Bryant University and an M.S. in corporate and organizational communication from Northeastern University.

Margery Kraus, CEO, APCO Worldwide

Margery Kraus is founder and executive chairman of APCO Worldwide, a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy headquartered in Washington, D.C. She specializes in public affairs, communication and business consulting for major multinationals. Kraus founded APCO in 1984 and transformed it from a company with one small Washington, D.C. office to a multinational consulting firm. In September 2004, Kraus led a management buyout of her firm, making APCO one of the largest privately-owned consulting firms in its field in the world — and the largest that is majority women owned.

Kraus’ achievements have been recognized over the years through a number of prestigious awards, including the PRWeek U.S. Power List (2020), Enterprising Women of the Year Award (2019), and PRWeek Top 20 Most Influential Communicator (2018) award. She is chairman of the board of the Women Presidents’ Organization, serves on the international advisory board of Tikehau Capital, and as a trustee of American University, the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation and the Institute for Public Relations. She serves as interim chair of the WAMU Board of Advisors.

She is the author of “Roots and Wings: Ten Lessons of Motherhood That Helped Me Create and Run a Company.”

Lisa Lansperry, SVP, Synchrony

Lisa Lanspery has a range of experience in public relations, issues management, storytelling and brand positioning. At Synchrony, a Fortune 200 financial company, she has worked on multiple change management programs including a CEO transition, COVID-19 communications, acquisitions and other corporate reputation projects.

Prior to joining Synchrony, Lanspery was vice president of communications at IBM where she led a global team of internal, external, executive and social media leaders to help tell the company’s cloud and systems hardware story. She also held public relations roles at GE and at barnesandnoble.com where she took the company through an initial public offering. She started her career at Burson-Marsteller.

Lanspery was part of the team that won the PRSA Silver Anvil award for IBM’s Centennial “IBM at 100: Modernizing the Way the World Sees Big Blue.” She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University.

John Looney, Vice President, Internal Communications, Mass General Brigham

Prior to joining the Mass General Brigham executive leadership team, John Looney held senior level roles at several Massachusetts-based health care organizations including Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Lahey Health, Winchester Hospital and Jordan Hospital, which is now part of the Beth Israel/Lahey Health system.

Looney holds a bachelor’s in marketing and organizational development from Boston College, a graduate public relations certification from Emerson College and a master’s in management from Bridgewater State University. He has served on the board of directors for the New England Society for Healthcare Communications for many years and is also a member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development.

Howard Mortman, Director of Communications, C-SPAN

Howard Mortman is communications director for C-SPAN, the public service providing television coverage of the U.S. Congress. A veteran of Washington, D.C. media organizations, he has observed Congress from positions at MSNBC, National Journal’s Hotline, the Broadcasting Board of Governors and New Media Strategies. Mortman’s first book was just published: “When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill.” He graduated from the University of Maryland and has appeared on stage performing stand-up comedy at the DC Improv — although the two aren’t related.

Sarah Plaster, Senior Director, Change Management and ESG Communications, SAIC

Sarah Plaster is responsible formalizing and accelerating SAIC’s environmental, social and governance communications, as well as leading major change management communications for the company. Previous to her current role, Plaster spent more than 11 years at Aflac in a variety of roles. As the director of ESG communications, Plaster was responsible for advancing the reputation of Aflac’s ESG objectives and leading the communications that supported of the company’s objectives in this area. As the director of organizational communications, she was responsible for communications to all internal audiences and, as a member of the corporate communications leadership team, led strategic efforts such as acquisition and crisis communications. She was also involved in the development and leadership of the Aflac WorkForces Report, a thought leadership employee benefits study examining trends and attitudes, for 10 years.

Before joining Aflac, Plaster spent 11 years with financial services and insurance forerunner USAA, leading both internal and external communications functions. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communications research from Ohio University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Purdue University.

Daniel Roberts, Head of Communications, BrightDrop

Daniel Roberts leads communications for BrightDrop, a start-up created by General Motors with a portfolio of products and software designed to decarbonize last-mile deliveries and reduce congestion. He oversees a team focused on both internal and external communications.

Before this role, he was the global innovation & growth communications lead at General Motors, where he led the communications team focused on GM’s Global Innovation incubator that creates new startups for the company and GM’s Global Connected Services. He previously served as head of state policy communications at Facebook, where he led the policy communications strategy across all 50 states and served as a spokesperson for tech issues at all levels of the U.S. government.

Before Facebook, he led East communications at Lyft where he managed PR firms in various markets – D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami and others – while overseeing the execution of national campaigns at the regional level. Prior to Lyft, Roberts spent time at Viacom Media Networks, Edelman and the Obama White House.  Roberts holds a B.A. in public policy leadership from the University of Mississippi.

Ayanna Robinson, Chief Client Officer, Porter Novelli

Ayanna Robinson has more than 26 years of experience with public relations, issues management and behavior change campaigns. She serves as Porter Novelli’s chief client officer leading the company’s commercial approach and ensuring clients experience the best of Porter Novelli.

Robinson has worked across industry sectors leading cross-functional teams for clients including Bayer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Habitat for Humanity International. She is adept at building successful integrated communications campaigns that achieve impact. As CCO, she continues to counsel senior leaders in today’s ever-changing communications environment.

Robinson has a master’s in public policy, specializing in social policy, from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

David Shackley, SVP, Internal Communications & Consumer PR, Marriott International

In his current role as senior vice president, of corporate communications at Marriott International, David Shackley oversees multiple groups including global consumer PR, creative services and internal communications

His path to Marriott includes a stint as executive producer of global launch events at Apple where, among other noteworthy feats, he worked on the launch for the iPhone 7 and the first waterproof Apple Watch. From 2013-2015, he was the president and chief creative officer at RedPeg Marketing, driving creative and agency social and digital departments while working with Geico, NBA, Mercedes and producing over 1,500 live events. Before RedPeg, Shackley was head of marketing and communications at Mark Burnett Productions, chief marketing officer at Discovery Channel, the world’s number one non-fiction media company, and vice president, global events and promotions at AOL, producing their highest profile projects including the Super Bowl, SXSW, Nascar and the Live 8 concert series.

Esther-Mireya Tejeda, Consultant

Esther-Mireya Tejeda was formerly the chief marketing & communications officer for SoundExchange, the premiere music-tech and royalties solutions company in the U.S., building the future of music through technology innovations to create a more simple, efficient and fair industry across the globe. Tejeda oversaw the brand strategy and marketing, global communications and public relations, industry engagement, and government relations and public affairs functions as part of the company’s executive leadership team.

A seasoned veteran of the entertainment industry, Tejeda has held executive posts at Audacy, Univision, PepsiCo, Diageo and others. Prior to joining SoundExchange, she founded Audacy’s communications practice and led the communications strategy for its acquisition of CBS Radio and launch of digital streaming service, Radio.com.

Among other career accomplishments, Tejeda built the communications practice for Univision’s sports business, and led Univision Deportes to national recognition during its 2014 partnership with FIFA World Cup. She was also instrumental in reimagining the marketing communications for the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2012 and 2013 and was key in launching Pepsi’s first-ever global marketing campaign in 2012.

Tejeda has a B.A. from Brown University, a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from The New School and an executive certificate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Valerie Barker Waller, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, YMCA

Valerie Barker Waller is a seasoned marketing professional with marketing strategy, branding and integrated communications experience across a variety of brands and industries. Waller is currently responsible for creating opportunities to strengthen the Y brand through strategic marketing and communications efforts, national partnerships, public engagement and collaboration with YMCA locations across the country.

Waller came to Y-USA in 2016 after leading local marketing and communications for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago.

Prior to joining United Way, she led brand marketing communications at United Airlines, served as director of marketing and communications for Chicago 2016, and held leadership roles with the Museum of Science and Industry, Ameritech and Leo Burnett. A Chicago native, Waller was recently appointed to the Roosevelt University Board of Trustees. Her civic and professional leadership has included board membership with Chicago Community Land Trust, Women Employed and Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in Chicago, in addition to national work with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Ad Council.

Bret Werner, President, MikeWorldWide

As president of MikeWorldWide, Bret Werner oversees all practice groups and geographical markets to ensure best-in-class client service and integrated creative strategy. He has spent the last five years at the agency implementing an insights-driven approach to creating earned-worthy content that moves the needle for businesses across all sectors, with specialized brand-building expertise in the food and beverage, sports and entertainment, and alcohol categories for brands including Barefoot, Under Armour, Subway Restaurants, MET-Rx and Vitaminwater.

He has earned campaign recognition from top industry award programs and has been recognized for noteworthy contributions to his organizations, clients and industry at large.

Kari Wethington, Executive Communications Director, Procter & Gamble

Kari Wethington builds company reputation through thought leadership strategies and supports C-suite executive communications in her role with P&G. Prior to her current work, she led external communications at Scripps, Rockfish and Central Park Conservancy. Kari started her career in journalism at the Cincinnati Enquirer and ELLE. A graduate of Oberlin College, she resides in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Jim Ylisela, Senior Partner, RCG

Jim Ylisela is a co-founder and senior partner of Ragan Consulting Group, as well as an award-winning veteran Chicago journalist and former publisher of Ragan.com. He brings more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, communications research and consulting.

Ylisela has designed and organized newsrooms for many organizations, including Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he served as a faculty member and co-director of Medill News Service from 1988-2001. He works with communicators to create brand journalism news sites, organize and train writers and editors and restore reporting (and creative storytelling) to internal and external communications.

The post Communications Week welcomes comms leaders to 2022 Advisory Board appeared first on PR Daily.

Communications is often a misunderstood discipline. It seems to have loose ties to a company’s bottom line, and it’s apparently far from the corridors of corporate decision-making.

But in the last two years, during a trifecta of crises (public health, social, political), the communications department has been placed front and center, deftly handling essential stakeholder information and prioritizing employee well-being and engagement.

Yet, most communications and PR departments are not tied to revenue. Often seen as a cost center, they tend to float in the organizational chart under Marketing or HR.

The time has come for a change.

Communications is one of the most powerful revenue generators for a company.

And communicators are the architects of a brand’s story, the messengers of critical information, and the stewards of an organization’s reputation and community relations.

The communications department does generate revenue through its campaigns and initiatives. You just don’t hear much about it.

No longer a nice-to-have, a communications department is a must-have for organizations that understand the dynamics between employee and brand, between customer and corporate purpose, and behind trust, transparency, and mission.

Although the chief marketing officer is a common title in most midsize to large organizations, the chief communications officer is a unique find. The lack of CCOs on org charts is reflective of short-sighted organizational thinking and strategy permeating corporate America.

The PR perception problem

PR execs are often not invited into boardroom conversations or strategy and budget meetings because they are seen as supportive, not additive, to revenue decisions. Those on the inside, in employee/internal communications, lament the order-taking role they find themselves in and struggle to find the KPIs that matter most to the C-suite.

Even those at the highest ranks of the PR/communications profession operate without a budget to directly manage. A well-regarded senior executive who recently joined a multinational shared her excitement with me about her finally getting a P&L to manage. After 25 years in communications at Fortune 100 brands, she is now responsible for revenue generation.

Another executive, a VP of internal communications, told me she has never reviewed a budget, and she wanted to find a new job where she would have some fiscal accountability. She is an executive responsible for overseeing communications for arguably the top customer at every organization: the employee.

Fortunately, the dynamics are changing because marketers, HR execs, and the C-suite are starting to see that the communications department is not a loss leader. If you look at brand reputation through a different lens, you can see that Communications generates revenue.

CEOs highly value their communications leaders. CCOs’ most important contributions, according to research that Ragan Communications and HarrisX conducted in October/November 2021 with CEOs and communicators in North America, is protecting the reputation of the company, making data-based decisions, building relationships, and critical thinking. Although CCOs and SVPs of communications also rank those competencies highly for themselves, they gave more weight to empathy and integrity than did the CEOs who were polled.

Of the skills deemed most important by CEOs, team leadership, project management, and data analysis ranked highest, whereas for CCOs writing, media relations, and team leadership ranked highest. The good news is that CEOs and communications leaders were mostly aligned on their opinions of current contributions.

Four steps forward

Communication leaders should take four major steps to work toward being seen as part of business generation and to change the narrative around their role.

1. Prioritize data and measurement

Whether in relation to PR or internal comms, there are metrics that matter to senior leadership. Understand what those are and accept them as the North Star guiding the communications effort. Then measure, iterate, and share those metrics with business leaders, including a straight or dotted line to revenue.

2. Speak up

Ironically, communicators can sometimes lean back out of deference or habit, allowing Marketing, HR, or other business units to speak on their behalf.

Most communicators are excellent at packaging and presenting information—for their peers, especially. Time to expand the audience to include the C-suite, the board, and other stakeholders.

3. Get in the driver’s seat around DEI and ESG

Unpack the alphabet soup of corporate priorities, from diversity, equity, and inclusion to environmental, social, and governance. Communicators are in a prime position to craft strategy around those priorities because they recognize both the need for change and the impact such initiatives have on talent retention, brand reputation, and the bottom line.

Although DEI and ESG initiatives should be co-owned by many business units, communicators need to carve out their ownership piece now.

4. Defend the value of the employee

Businesses continue to grapple with office reopenings, vaccine mandates, the Great Resignation, and more employees’ working from home and demanding a more equitable work/life balance.

Workplace culture is being redefined in ways unforeseen just three years ago, and the dust will not settle for years to come.

In the middle of that are communicators, who have the opportunity to amplify the voice of the employee, create a workplace that keeps employees engaged and motivated, and prove that a healthy workplace equals a healthy business.

Communicators as business leaders

Communicators should not sell themselves short. To be seen as business leaders like their marketing counterparts, they must lead with a business mindset, not a communications mindset. They need to be viewed by leadership as business executives first and communicators second.

Reading a balance sheet and budget, understanding their company’s ecosystem and business dynamics, being fluent in business and economics—those are critical competencies for any communicator who wants to be heard and heeded.

Reputation management, employee communications, media relations, and community engagement are bedrocks of communication, and they do not need to be a revenue line item to be viewed as a revenue generator. The communication department needs to change the narrative and make sure that its value proposition is connected to organizational growth and health.

That is the bottom line for communicators.

This story was originally published on MarketingProfs.

The post How communications is proving its value to the C-suite appeared first on PR Daily.

Editor’s note: This article is a re-run as part of our countdown of top stories from the past year.

There’s an old saying that I think it’s time for us to retire, particularly with regard to the world of the communicator: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Take a look around you: How we work, where and when we work, what skills and knowledge we need in order to do our work, who can help make our work the most accessible, relevant and effective as it can be; all of these factors and more are transforming professional, cultural and social climates in real time.

Framing and defining this shift is the fact that communications professionals are increasingly influential at all levels within their organizations. For example, Edelman’s recent The Future of Corporate Communications research study found that 77% of CCOs surveyed say perceptions of the role of communications as a strategic business driver shifted within their organizations in 2020.

Moving forward, communicators need to think more holistically about how and where we can continue to make (as well as expand) our impact. With that in mind, here are a few tips on what we’ll need not only to keep our seat at the table, but maybe to even add an extra chair or two:

1. Tech talk. Digital transformation, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, the metaverse. These are just a few of the areas in which communicators will need not only to be knowledgeable but able to provide guidance, strategies and best practices. Gartner projects worldwide IT spending to hit $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021, so the future is…now.

2. Data points. KPI. ROI. What are the best ways to assess the effectiveness not only of what we do, but the tools we use to obtain the results? Seventy-two percent of communications professionals say that their top challenge is measuring business impact, according to a Muck Rack survey. We need to ensure that we know what success looks like.

3. Brand purpose/social justice. Fifty-nine percent of Americans say it is no longer acceptable for companies to be silent on social issues, and 49% say they assume companies that remain quiet on social justice issues don’t care, per the 2021 Porter Novelli Business & Social Justice Study. Our clients and audiences are watching closely to see if we really mean what we say, and this will continue to be a crucial element of any comms strategy. It’s not a fad.

4. DE&I sooner, not later. As communicators, we must understand the cultural nuances of our target audiences, which means making DE&I in all its forms part of the organization’s DNA. A recent Diversity Action Alliance survey found that 78% of employees within the communications profession are white, and only 21% identified as racially/ethnically diverse. Among companies as a whole, it is estimated that fewer than 5% of companies consider the employee experience of those with disabilities, according to a Global Disability Inclusion/Mercer study representing 12M+ global employee responses. As with social responsibility, progress in improving DE&I will continue to be a key indicator of how an organization is perceived and whether it can be trusted.

5. Remapping where we work. The concept of “where we work” as we knew it as little as two years ago continues to transform. A recent The Future of Work study from Accenture found that 83% of those surveyed favored a hybrid work model, but there’s no one definition for what that looks like, and flexibility will continue to be key.

6. Internal comms affects external outcomes. Make sure your internal team understands the role comms plays in the organization and their roles within that framework. And take advantage of their knowledge and experience to help inform what you do as everyone’s learning curve continues to grow.

So, it’s time to coin a new truism: The more things change, the more urgent it becomes to recognize and embrace those changes to ensure that things don’t stay the same. As the world continues to open up, some are anticipating a “new normal,” but I prefer to see it as an ongoing healthy and rewarding transformation.

Michelle Olson, APR is the PRSA Chair for 2021. She is managing director and partner at Lambert, a full-service communications firm with offices in Michigan, New York and Arizona.

Make sure to catch PRSA’s session “Lesson from the Past That Shape Our Future,” Nov. 19, part of Communications Week for 2021.

The post 6 ways communications can keep its seat at the table appeared first on PR Daily.

Editor’s note: This article is a re-run as part of our countdown of top stories from the past year.

As remote and hybrid work arrangements blurred the boundaries of work/life balance, internal communicators have struggled with how to address burnout—and communicate solutions up the corporate ladder.

The most strategic internal communicators created pulse surveys, listening sessions and feedback loops that allowed workers to communicate directly with leaders. Some leaders showed they were listening.

Aflac’s 2021-2022 WorkForces Report offers insights about what organizational practices are contributing to burnout—and shines a light on the role communicators have to play in promoting internal culture and worker health.

Ahead of her panel at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference on Nov. 17, we caught up with Sarah Plaster, director of organizational communications at Aflac, to learn what resonated most with her from the report—and what surprises the data has revealed.

Ragan: This week marks the release of the 2021-2022 Aflac WorkForces Report. What insights from the research stuck out to you as part of a larger trend?

Plaster: Every year, we learn a few things about what’s on the minds of employees and employers when it comes to benefits. This year, we found personal mental health negatively affected the job performance of a third of the U.S. workforce over the past year—1 in 3 employees. And for those of us who lead people or make decisions about employee health and wellbeing, we need to pay close attention to what we can do as individuals and as decision makers.

Ragan: When it comes to employee trends, were there any other insights that surprised you?

Plaster: There were. They center around time away from work and are related to mental health, too.

Employees facing burnout are looking for more time …whether that comes in the form of flexible scheduling or paid time off. It is far more common for employees to feel their company cares if they had the time and flexibility they needed. Employees facing burnout rank those two things—flexible scheduling and paid time off—ahead of EAPs, permanent remote work, on-site and virtual mental health, holistic wellness programs, group counseling and more.

Positive perceptions of paid leave at work are linked to employees’ belief that their employer cares for them. Unfortunately, just half of employees say taking personal time off is viewed as positive at work, and only 39% say taking a leave of absence is viewed positively.

The bottom line: Employee perceptions of how PTO is viewed at their organizations are strongly associated with their beliefs of whether or not their employer cares about their mental and physical health. I think it is fair to say companies that are providing flexibility and generous PTO are helping their employees cope with burnout if taking time off is seen as a positive thing in the culture. As leaders, we need to use our time off and talk about it to reinforce that time off is provided by the company to use.

Ragan: That really informs emerging ideas about what it truly means to engage your employees, and why that engagement may begin with listening but needs to go further to encompass higher, individual touch, especially in a virtual environment. How does that become a practice?

Plaster: The reality is there are many supervisors, managers and leaders who intuitively know and regularly reach out to individual teams members—and they were very quick to pivot in a virtual setting to that same kind of care. But there are far more [for whom] this higher-touch approach is not natural or “wired in” and virtual work amplified that deficiency. For most supervisors and leaders, we need to have leaders ask them to do specific things and model it.

Our CEO asked leaders to write personal letters of thanks to high performers. Other leaders have asked managers to call all team members. And slowly, people started to figure it out.

Ragan: Any observations about engagement and the pandemic that particularly surprised you, or may be contrary to widely held assumptions?

Plaster:  Yes. Our virtual events have been received as more inclusive and this will inform our path forward.

As a company that has made several acquisitions and has many different geographic locations, virtual events were open to people across the company, and it has actually helped with employees from the new subsidiaries to feel part of Aflac much more quickly.

Check out the 2021-2022 Aflac WorkForces Report, and hear more from Sarah during Ragan’s Future of Communications virtual conference, Nov. 17., the signature event for Ragan’s inaugural, recently-acquired Communications Week. Learn more and register here.

The post Why leaders must erase the stigma against taking time off appeared first on PR Daily.

Communicators are on a never-ending mission to earn respect for their craft and a more influential seat at the decision-making table.

The turmoil of COVID-19 has revealed the indispensable nature of clear communication and demonstrated the immense value of these often “hidden heroes” who craft timely messaging, but are top-level execs taking notice? If so, what traits, talents and tactics are they looking for?

The HarrisX/Ragan CEO-Communicators Competencies Survey of 552 CEOs and other high-ranking communications officials conducted online in the U.S. from Oct. 22-Nov. 15 revealed how each of these leaders view the other’s role and responsibilities—and what they value most in their interactions.

There are areas where the two agree—employee comms and reputation management are high-value—but there is a discrepancy when it comes to staffing and budget. CEOs say communicators have enough resources to accomplish their goals while communicators say they do not.

The insights are illuminating for our current moment of pandemic limbo—and certainly instructive on where priorities should shift moving forward. In a Nov. 17 session at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference, Ray Day of Stagwell Group and Dritan Nesho from HarrisX delved into the survey’s key findings:

1. CEOs see themselves as responsible for all major communications, while communications leaders see a division of duties.

• Communication leaders say the CEO is responsible for defining the company purpose and speaking to employees.
• Communication leaders believe they are responsible for employee and external communications, and reputation.

2. CEOs at companies of different sizes see their role in communications differently.

• CEOs at small companies hold themselves responsible for external and internal communications.
• CEOs at medium and large companies report they want their CCO or head of people to take on these duties.

3. The most valued communications competencies vary by size of company and role within company.

• CEOs of small companies value listening above all else.
• CEOs at medium/large companies value experience, strategic planning, risk management, creativity and flexibility.
• Communication leaders most value critical thinking, relationship building and judgment.

4. CEOs from companies of all sizes say the skill in a communicator they value most is team leadership. Project management and data analysis rank highly, too.

• Meanwhile, communication leaders rank writing most highly.
• Both groups agree that executive and employee communication and reputation management are high-value areas.

5. CEOs do not see eye to eye with communication leaders when it comes to staffing and budget.

• CEOs overwhelmingly say the designated communicator has enough resources to accomplish goals.
• Yet 3 in 10 CCOs and half of SVPs/VPs say they do not have enough resources.

Setting yourself up for future success

Despite the well-earned rise of communicators’ profiles and reputations amid ongoing COVID-19 crises, this data shows there’s still work to do to ensure your seat at the table.

Download your copy of the Harris X/Ragan survey here.

The post HarrisX/Ragan survey reveals leadership is the No. 1 skill CEOs value in communicators appeared first on PR Daily.

When is influencer marketing a worthy investment?

For Bilal Lakhani, communications and marketing director for Thorn and formerly Procter & Gamble, if you’re still asking if the tactic is a good idea, it’s probably not. That’s because influencer marketing’s success is closely aligned with how well you have defined your strategy.

And to understand influencer marketing strategy, Lakhani brings out the trust sales funnel. “Imagine consumers in a consumption funnel,” he says. “On top is an awareness—then you have consideration, and then there is conversion at the bottom.”

His message to the audience at imre’s Communications Week panel “How to Make the Most Out of Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns” is to focus on consideration.

The classic example of a brand using influencers to get consumers to consider their brand is for a legacy or big-name brand where younger consumers have no attachment with their product. If a consumer demographic thinks, “That’s my mom’s brand”—well, that’s a good time to turn to influencers.

For brand awareness, Lakhani argues, there are cheaper alternatives for getting your name noticed by a broad audience. And for conversions? Well, Lakhani says that there aren’t any precisely defined metrics that can tie sales to your influencer marketing efforts.

“There are proxies that you can look at to get an idea directionally, but there’s nothing that you can get definitively,” he says.

There are exceptions to this rule. For example, brands in a niche market might have success building awareness with an influencer that is embedded with their target audience. There are also some influencers who specialize in selling and would be worth the investment for a strategy that was looking to only convert customers. But those are exceptions.

“By and large, you want to use influencers to tell stories that the brand can’t tell on its own,” Lakhani says.

Measuring success

If you are clear in your strategy, measuring the success of your influencer marketing can be remarkably easy.

Lakhani argues that you can boil it down to one metric, depending on your goals. If you are looking to build brand awareness, all you need to measure is reach. If you are trying to drive consideration of your product, he recommends measuring engagement rate.

How much are audiences engaging with a post? How many shares and comments? Engagement metrics can be defined a bunch of different ways, but Lakhani says the specifics don’t really matter as long as you stay consistent over time.

And while there is plenty of data to help you evaluate, Lakhani also recommends a qualitative analysis. If you have defined the consumer community you want to reach and persuade, you can extrapolate an experience based on a smaller sample size.

This is particularly potent when trying to convince an audience that doesn’t believe in your product or service for some reason. You can identify that group and three to five influencers who will help “bust the trial barrier” and get skeptics to try your product.

“It’s easy to go for the influencer that already believes in you,” Lakhani says. The real movement happens when you move a skeptic into an advocate, and when you do that, you have a sharp reason for using influencers, beyond chasing a social media trend.

How do you find knowledgeable influencers?

Masha Snitkovsky, vice president of influencer marketing at imre and a co-lead for the webinar, says all marketers should be immersed in their niche before taking on an influencer. If you are steeped in the product and market, you can make the call on whether an influencer speaks to you as an insider.

“Is this someone you would follow yourself?” she asks. “Do you like their content?”

Of course, you should vet any influencer thoroughly to check if they have fake followers or spammy content. There are also tools out there that can offer a “health score” for influencer accounts—but Snitkovsky says it isn’t rocket science. “It’s pretty easy to find this out on your own.”

How can you target specific geographies?

Don’t make assumptions about where an influencer’s audience is located, the panelists warn.

“An influencer can be located in Atlanta, but their followers might not be there,” says Lakhani. “First, you have to make sure where their audience is based. If it’s a really specific audience, consider going after it with paid media.”

Snitkovsky agrees that paid media is an important piece of the influencer marketing puzzle. “There’s a lot that paid media can do as well,” she says.

Does the tactic make sense for B2B companies?

There is value, but the type of influencer the company is targeting changes. For B2B, you are not looking for a lifestyle influencer, explains Lakhani. Instead, think about the audience you are trying to influence.

What content do decision makers at a company consume? Who are the influencers within that space that they would listen to? Maybe the content is not a social media post, but an op-ed in a trade publication.

“The journey works in a similar way, but the output will be different,” Lakhani says.

How can nonprofits work with influencers?

Influencer marketing can be a great fit for nonprofits and charities, argues Lakhani. It’s great that you have nothing to sell, and even better that you likely have a big story to tell about your organization. Influencers love storytelling and a cause—but don’t expect them to work for free.

“Even as an NGO, you should not have the expectation that you will get free labor, Lakhani says. “There is some level of support you should be willing to offer the influencer.”

Snitkovsky adds that your value offering to an influencer doesn’t have to be cash. “Is there an experience/event you can offer in lieu of money?”

Above all, make the influencer feel like a partner who is included in the strategy of your organization. If they feel personally invested, they might just volunteer to take a bigger role in advancing your mission.

The post For influencer marketing to succeed, the strategy must be sound appeared first on PR Daily.

Sonia V. Diaz, senior vice president of Balsera Communication, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm based in Coral Gables, Florida, and president of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), has been nominated a “Transformational Communicator” by the association. The designation is apropos to the theme of Communications Week, being held Nov. 15-19, of which HPRA is a partner.

Why Diaz? Here’s why, according to Communications Week partner HPRA:

A five-time award-winning PR executive, Diaz has dedicated her career to advancing multicultural communities across the nation through her professional work in public affairs, public outreach and community grassroots campaigns.

She has brought this to the HPRA network, transforming the organization by ensuring the talent pool reflects the multicultural composition of its diverse audience.

As HPRA president this year, Diaz has propelled the expansion of new chapters for both professionals and students, streamlined operations as a basis for expansion and heightened HPRA’s visibility through public speaking and partnerships.

Dedicated to professional development that fosters future leaders, her vision for a national scholarship came to fruition this year with a $25,000 contribution that was announced during the organization’s annual ¡Bravo! Awards, recognizing the most innovative and effective campaigns in Hispanic PR across the country.

Congratulations to Diaz on her nomination and her dedication to the future of the organization and its talent pool.

The post Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) nominates Sonia Diaz a ‘Transformational Communicator’ appeared first on PR Daily.

Industry leaders gathered Nov. 16 in New York City to celebrate Communications Week, this year highlighting the transforming role of comms leaders in their organizations.

After nearly two years of pandemic crisis, changing workplace dynamics and economic disruption, communicators have risen above mere messengers to become essential counselors. Their guidance has helped leaders navigate new workplace norms, address changing expectations on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and champion authentic communication.

But what does the future hold for the comms role?

Some industry leaders attempted to answer that question as part of a panel discussion led by Justin Joffe, Ragan’s director of strategic programming.

Amy Jaick, chief marketing and communications officer with Columbia Business School, highlighted the ways organizations were getting more comfortable letting others tell their story. Whether through employee advocacy or user-generated content from customers, many organizations are looking to engage a community of storytellers now—as opposed to telling their story to a captive audience.

“There is a shift towards allowing employees to tell their stories,” Jaick shared, “even encouraging it.”

For Jill Davison, senior vice president of brand communications at Mastercard, the most important trend of the last few years has been the increasing need for direct, authentic communications.

Several panelists noted the changing media landscape and what that means for PR pros who work on earned media campaigns. Bret Werner, President of MikeWorldWidePR, noted that newspapers were at their lowest circulation levels since the 1940s. His point: Communicators must be creative to meet their audiences where they want to consume stories.

But even for external communications, the rise of the employee as an organization’s No. 1 stakeholder has dramatically changed how they approach their messaging and work.

Allison Michels, product marketing, employee engagement at Microsoft, shared how this trend was epitomized in the shift for communicators to be “interested” rather than “interesting.” Apart from the need for two-way communications, Michels also argues that leaders must show authentic caring for their audience, rather than prioritizing pizzazz.

“People can really tell the difference when someone else is writing,” she said. “They can spot when a leader didn’t write the email.”

Members of the Ragan team at Comms Week

And as communicators rise in stature, they have to adapt. Davison argued that one of the biggest shifts on the horizon for communicators is how they must become better general managers.

“There’s a lot to get our arms around,” she shared, noting several big technologies that promise to disrupt the communications function: blockchain, internet of things (IOT), smart speakers, and more.

There’s an exciting future for PR and communications, the panelists agreed, but it is a future of rapid change and innovation.

Get more on the future of communications by following the conversation with Communications Week.

The post Industry leaders from Mastercard, Microsoft and more discuss future of comms appeared first on PR Daily.

The conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion has changed in the past two years.

For PR pros, the focus on showing results has forced practitioners to get involved beyond the messaging and work with internal stakeholder to drive change. After many organizations made sweeping promises to improve DE&I within their organization and invest in underrepresented communities, PR pros are tasked with showing the results—and offering some accountability.

Part of the DE&I equation for PR pros in 2022 and beyond is cultural relevancy, which is the focus of a panel for Communications Week in partnership with the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), titled “Cultural Relevancy for Diverse Communities.” Be sure to check out the free event Nov. 15 from 12-1 p.m. Eastern time.

We spoke with Sonia V. Diaz. HPRA national board president and senior vice president for Balsera Communications, ahead of the event about how PR pros must embrace cultural relevancy.

PR Daily: How has the conversation around representation and diversity changed for PR pros?

Diaz: Over the past year, there has definitely been a shift, with an understanding that more meaningful action has to be taken because the numbers for both minorities and women in PR haven’t changed much at the senior executive level.

I believe organizations are starting to implement action plans that address the diversity issue from many different angles, including ensuring a more diverse talent pipeline and supplier/vendor chain and implementing meaningful executive training in addition to diverse external relations. Very similar to the way we would approach developing a communications plan, there needs to be a 360-degree surround sound approach to increasing diversity in the workplace and in the industry as a whole.

PR Daily: What questions aren’t being asked that lead brands to overlook diverse communities?

Diaz: The best place to start would be: “What are we doing as an organization to be more inclusive and diverse?”

Like most things, real change starts from the inside out and from the top down. To understand this better, they should ask themselves, “How does our corporate structure and culture contribute to a more diverse mindset?” “Do we have a clear vision?” “What are our objectives and strategic imperatives?” “How can we track our success, be accountable and follow up over a sustained timeframe?”

Once they better understand where they stand as a brand, their outreach can be aligned with those values and should be approached in the same way.

Diaz:: We know that having a diverse team leads to more cultural relevancy, but how can we ensure diverse voices are being heard in the room?

Diaz: When you speak to minorities who hold high executive positions, there are several themes that consistently come up. The first is that they often feel that as the minority in the room, they are tasked with being the person designated to solve the organization’s diversity issues. Companies cannot expect the few in the room to take on the responsibility of better recruitment or rolling out programs in addition to their regular tasks.

The second theme that is often mentioned is the fear of retaliation, particularly if they are in an environment where they are constantly the only person to speak on these issues. Organizations have to create a space for people to share if they are serious about solving this issue. Both of these themes underscore the need to establish an environment that embraces the concept of diversity rather than having it as something that needs to be checked off of a list.

PR Daily: What’s your advice for future PR pros who are coming from underrepresented backgrounds? How can they make an immediate impact?

Diaz: First and foremost, find mentors.

I am often shocked at how few people have mentors or people they can tap into to be their sounding board. Believe it or not, mentors become much more important as you move up in your career and you begin to navigate the complexities of doing business. Having people who you trust to guide you is imperative and will save you a lot of heartache, especially since most that come from underrepresented communities never had anyone in their own surroundings to model themselves after and tend to be the first in their families to break down those barriers.

They need to tap into their professors, join industry associations like the Hispanic Public Relations Student Association (HPRSA), and try to constantly expose themselves to a diverse group of people from all areas of the industry.

The great thing about PR is that it is so diverse in its offerings—and we have the opportunity to constantly learn from others.

PR Daily: What makes you hopeful about the future of PR and communications?

Diaz: A couple of years ago, we established HPRSA with our founding chapter at the University of Florida. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of visiting the students at UF and getting to spend some time answering their questions. I was so impressed by how bright and inquisitive they are. They have so much energy and excitement.

This year, we had four new campuses reach out to establish their own chapters and they all have the same energy and excitement about their future and about making their mark on our industry. To me, that is the best indicator that we are headed in the right direction.

The post How the conversation about cultural relevancy has shifted for PR appeared first on PR Daily.

Kathy Tunheim, founder and CEO of Tunheim, a public relations firm in Bloomington, Minnesota, is a true visionary, according to Julie Exner, IPREX global president, and senior vice president with Fahlgren Mortine. As such, IPREX nominates Tunheim as a “Transformational Communicator,” apropos to the theme of Communications Week, being held Nov. 15-19.

What makes Tunheim ‘transformational’

Here’s what Communications Week partner IPREX had to say:

Tunheim joined agency leaders from around the world to invest in IPREX—a global communications network. She served as global treasurer and then president over six years.

As IPREX grew, Tunheim successfully worked with countless clients with global requirements and understood that the network sat at the intersection of emerging needs and opportunity.

With that in mind, Tunheim envisioned a more seamless solution to connect her 80+ partners around the world. She foresaw an opportunity to put each agency’s people and their unique experiences within easy reach for all partners. Tuned in to the rise in platform technology, Tunheim worked with software developers to create the communication agency equivalent, investing its own resources to create a robust electronic platform comprising over 1,000 IPREX professionals. Through this tool, partners can find solutions for needed staff and expertise, and communicate with one another in real-time.

In 2020, the platform was adopted as the IPREX Professional Network (IPN) and set the foundation for global collaboration at scale. Daily, partners share opportunities and find answers through the IPN. IPREX partners say working with a partner across the ocean feels like working with a colleague down the hall. The IPN makes that simpler than ever. Congratulations to Tunheim on her nomination and in envisioning and creating IPN.

The post IPREX nominates Kathy Tunheim a ‘Transformational Communicator’ appeared first on PR Daily.