27 May 2024

Welcome to The Advisory Club: Weekly Update, a quixotic attempt to summarize a live 24-7 set of conversations on WhatsApp among 701 media, communications, and marketing professionals from around the world, 20 May - 27 May 2024.

As this week's Update confirms, the medium really is the message; the takeaways from a live text chat are a lot different versus a newsletter formatted to the narrow constraints of LinkedIn. But we do what we can with what we have, right?

I generally use American spellings and European dates, because both make more sense to me. And apologies for typos.

Send me a note if you'd like to join the live discussion.

General Discussion

Snap Election

There are more Brits in the community than any other discernible nationality, judging (a) from the country codes of WhatsApp participants and (b) the onslaught of posts - more than a hundred - regarding the snap election called by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at midweek.

They took over the feed, and here's how it all went down:

1. Will he or won't he? Rumors started flying early on Wednesday that this would be the day to set the clock running for an election in five-week's time. My son Matthew Gallagher mentioned it to me first, around 8:30, but he's not in the chat and it was Shayoni Lynn FCIPR FPRCA who clocked the first post about Whitehall gossip, at 11:30, followed closely by Stephen Waddington wondering about X innuendo around 13:09. Tim Weber posted the initial link about two minutes later. A number of people guessed - incorrectly as it happens - that an election would not be called...
2. Yes, it's happening! A live press conference unleashed an hours-long volley of play-by-play posts, speculating about the date. Julio Romo got there first with the correct one - the fourth of July - which triggered a separate set of sub-posts about symbolism, irony and the correct spelling of "snicker."
3. Why is he standing in the pouring rain? I should point out I was on a plane during the press conference, so missed that AND the color commentary about the prime minister's decision to forego an umbrella and the choice of background music. There were a lot of posts about these decisions.
4. What next? There was a plea for civility and a lot of speculation about upcoming messaging and tactics, and some questions about the timing of a government announcement on emergency preparations. Lewis Iwu dissected the speech. There was another speech from the Titanic Quarter, and it really does make one wonder (thanks Nigel Sarbutts ). And my friend Mark Landler at the New York Times reminds us, the UK and US are not always in lock-step, politically.

And a few non-Brits wondered aloud if maybe the conversation could possibly mover over to the Politics and Policy group, which it mostly did.

And in other news ...

Substack woes. Does it have a Nazi problem? And is Ghost an alternative?

#dupe culture. GenZ thinks of product knock-offs differently. Should brands go along? Thanks Sarah Street .

Speaking out. Stephen Waddington and NewsWhip on taking a proactive stance on social issues in a polarized world.

Fatal turbulence. People worry way more about turbulence than I would have guessed. This got a lot of attention and commentary. Initial post from Tinu Cherian Abraham .

Geoblocking. Archie Bland argues that the UK Contempt of Court act, which exists to keep news articles from influencing a court case, needs an update.

More unsolicited advice. I can’t help myself. From journalist and chess enthusiast Sasha Chapin, 50 Things I Know.

Two stood out for me. First, mind-reading.

I know that people really and truly cannot read your mind. It’s easy to think that people are ignoring your wants or emotions because they don’t care about you. But it’s likely that they have no idea what those are. If you’ve told them, they’ve likely forgotten, and may need a reminder —?they have their own whole crowded bubble of consciousness going on!

And second, travel.

I know that travel is valuable because most knowledge can’t be written down. The most crucial info about a society is how it feels to be there—the rhythms of street life, where and when people eat meals, how gender works. You can read a million things about Japan without knowing the bodily experience of walking around in a truly high-trust society, for example.

For Stephanie Marchesi , it was the importance of frank discussions.

I know that most people overrate the difficulty of hard conversations, and underrate how good it is to have them. Conflict avoidance slowly rots your whole life, and many people are about eight awkward discussions from a much-improved existence. In other words, go squash all of your beefs. This book is a decent start if you have no idea how to do this.

Artificial Intelligence

For the first time since I started the weekly update, this was the second noisiest room ...

Special divisions. I've noticed agencies starting special departments or teams to package AI-related services and expertise. Social media redux?

Sorry, Scarlett. Oops.

AI bubble? Are we in one? Thanks Olaf Grewe .

Total recall. Microsoft's AI chatbot will recall everything you do on its new PCs. UK privacy officials are taking a closer look.

Soaring demand. Power grids creak as AI demands soar.

Booster effect. Also soaring: productivity in sectors most exposed to AI.

Safety first. Global AI companies agree to set of safety guidelines. From Catherine Arrow :

This seems a little like the foxes collectively agreeing the shape and form of the chicken coop - reminds me of the rooster and the fox fable. They’ll stay out - but only until they have tricked the rooster into losing its voice.

Executive enhancement. From friend and colleague David Armano - the AI-enhanced executive brand.

AI in the boardroom. A company in Abu Dhabi is adding AI to its board as an observer.

Broken deal. An argument that Google's AI Overviews breaks its "grand bargain" with publishers.

Hard work ahead. LinkedIn has released its Work Trend Index Annual Report. Thanks Jesper Andersen .

And with gratitude as always to Andrew Bruce Smith for keeping this conversation so well fed.

Mis/Disinformation

New propaganda war. From The Atlantic, how autocrats are working to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world.

Cambridge Disinformation Summit. Coming in July. Thanks Isabella Sherwood .

Solid accounting. Speaking of the Cambridge Disinformation Summit, here's our own Rafi Mendelsohn and one of the conference organizers, Alan Jagolinzer , on the use of accounting principles to fight disinformation.

One-on-one. A look at individual-level interventions to counter online misinformation, via Philippe Borremans .

Indian deepfakes. Voters in India are being bombarded.

Made in the USA. And from Federica Urzo , fake election-related accounts are proliferating on X, too.

Undercover Voters. The BBC's Marianna Spring disinformation correspondent has a new program featuring 24 fictional characters with social media accounts - all to help track what kind of information they're subjected to in the UK election. Thanks Jamie Klingler .

ESG & Sustainability

Avoiding burnout. Following a conversation last week about rising burnout by sustainability leads, Sarah Woollacott shared this from the Harvard Business Review.

Creatives For Climate. I’ve been following this group and their work to mobilise the creative community on climate action for a while now … interesting concepts and approaches. Here’s their latest impact report. Related, Jon Chin shares this.

Shein bright? The Chinese fast-fashion sensation presents a mixed bag for investors as it moves its IPO from Wall Street to the City. Thanks Véronique Schyns .

Creative Displays Of Brilliance

Great brand lines. The greatest taglines, broken. And explained.

Not a typo. A campaign to address autocorrect bias, via Jamie Klingler . Similar, People Like Us, thanks Armand David .

Heroic visualization. A collection of collections - resources from great thinkers in how to show things better…

And a clever campaign from South African food delivery business, Mr. D., from Dustin Chick :

Politics & Policy

The UK election dominated this chat, too, but in ways similar to those summarized above. Here are a few of the links posted, without comment. As someone said, all of this almost makes Twitter fun again.

• The CIPR's election manifesto.
• Umbrellas are woke.
• Barefoot on a train.
• Seven exponential policies.
• Social media presence
• Welsh football.
• Rishi's campaign diary.
• It's me. I'm the problem.
• A very hard day.

Push back. And - yay - a post about another (and very large) election, from Keren Darmon

Education

Theory and practice. Thoughts on AI and marketing and what's going to be needed, from Bob Pearson

Crisis, Risk & Resilience

After a suggestion from Jesper Andersen in Copenhagen and much discussion, we’re ready to share details of the group's very first (free) Symposium.

It will take place virtually from 1-2pm BST on Thursday 27th June and will be run by my former colleague - and a friend to many in this community - Rod Cartwright .

Rod will take us through the key findings of the report he released last week - 'Reputation, Risk and Resilience: where are we now and what happens next?' - in which he summarises and analyses eight major global publications from the past 12 months on these interlocking themes.

He will also explore the ten cross-cutting themes running through many of the publications and ten highly practical key questions for leaders to address.

For anyone who has worked with Rod, you'll know this promises to be a thorough session, so just click on this Eventbrite link and get a seat.

Capital Markets - Brand New!

A new chat - suggested by Anastasia Ivanova - for those interested in money matters - financial communications, investor relations, venture capital, private equity, etc.

Shrug. Does Wall Street care about AI mistakes?

Shareholder pressure. I think this could be an effective tactic for forcing boards to deal with the implications of continued operations in conflicts areas like Russia - Ukraine. The resolution ultimately failed, but 30% of shareholders supported it, challenging CEO Dirk Van Der Puts's assertion that they don't "morally care" and putting the issue back on the table. Thanks Richard Stazinski and by way of transparency, we're both involved with B4Ukraine , the group quoted above.

Turned on its head. Friend and colleague ?? Steffan Williams on the Talking Markets podcast.

Education

Theory + Practice. Bob Pearson shares his panel notes from a session at Theory + Pracrtice in Marketing, held this year at The University of Texas at Austin (hook'em!) in partnership with the International Journal on Research in Marketing. Topic: artificial intelligence, of course.

Neurodiversity

ADHD and Leadership. Podcast episode from the PRovoke Media team and Paul Nolan .

50+

Two chats curated respectively by Sonya Cullington and Nina Arnott Rogers are diffcult to summarize here. The Job Board includes job openings and resumes/CVs from people looking for the next opportunity, and there are simply too many for me to list - plus people come back to me directly for more information, and I just don't have it.

And In-House Discussion is built around queries and recommendations for people working in-house rather than agencies (although I suspect there are a fair number of agency-lurkers ...) so there aren't always links to share.

But there are occasional overlaps in themes from the two groups, including recently discussions about the challenges associated with finding senior roles - and whether this reflects built-in ageism, faded experience and/or something else. Paul Middleton wondered aloud about this on his own LinkedIn feed, and then Chris Daniels wrote about it here. ?

So, do we need a chat focused on this? Or an actual organization?

The Library

Back Of The Napkin, by Dan Roam. An oldie but a goody, reviewed here as in my original post and again here, way back in 2008, by Andrew Bruce Smith .

Sustainable Marketing: Industry's Role In A Sustainable Future, by Paul Randle and Alexis Eyre. Recommended by Mark J. : "If tackling the role comms/PR/marketing/advertising play in driving climate change is your thing, I thoroughly recommend this book. It doesn't make for pretty reading, though ..."

Meet-Ups

I was in Madrid for part of the week and spent time with some of the all-time greats of the Spanish communications world. Regrettably I failed to get a photo with any of them, but I do want to acknowledge my gratitude to them all.

I got to know Higinio Martínez Gracia when we created OmnicomPRGroup Espa?a back in 2016, which he and his team run today as one of Iberia's most strategic and creative consultancies. I'm sorry I ate all of the pan con tomate, jefe.

And when I first arrived from the US a million years ago, Teresa Garcia and Tony Noel - then running an agency called SEIS, later Ketchum Spain - took me under the formidable wings and tutored me, as best they could, in the subtleties of European business culture. I'm forever indebted to them both - I was not an easy student. And thanks for another great evening on the terrace.

As for the rest of the community , I know a lot of them met up in person in various settings but for some reason mainly posted photos of their cocktails. Luckily, Richard Bagnall, Hon FCIPR, FPRCA, FAMEC , Jesper Andersen and Rafi Mendelsohn did have the presence of mind at least briefly to snap a pic from the AMEC conference.

Gracias!

If you'd like to jump into the live conversation, drop me a line for a link, and thanks as always to those who contribute each week.