This week in PR (21 June newsletter) - data and insights

There are 30 links in this week’s roundup. From these, let’s explore four themes.

CIPR annual report

We’re midway through 2024, but now have the CIPR’s 2023 annual report, looking back on its 75th anniversary year.

What are the KPIs, since the CIPR is not measured on profit and loss (it operated at a loss this year)? I always look at membership figures where they’re given. Past president Steve Shepperson-Smith reports:

Over the year, CIPR membership grew to nearly 11,000. This included 53 new Corporate Affiliate members - major government departments, leading national charities, universities, and PR agencies - taking the total beyond 200 for the first time.

This was later recorded as a 5.7% increase in net membership - but the key information is on the new corporate affiliate members. Historically, the CIPR has been an association of individual members while the PRCA has been an association of consultancy and then in-house teams, that latterly has welcomed individuals. This allowed the PRCA to gain (and to some extent claim) membership numbers three times that of the CIPR. Now there’s a level playing field it will be interesting to see how these numbers change over time.

Figures are also given on those gaining professional qualifications alongside a historical reflection:

As well as being the longest-standing PR membership body in Europe, CIPR is also the continent’s leading provider of qualifications and training. 416 individuals graduated with one of the Institute’s nine qualifications last year.

Problems facing public relations

Have you heard of World PR Day? No, me neither. Apparently it’s on 16 July.

In anticipation, Farzana Baduel has written a thoughtful piece on the future of public relations. There’s nothing to celebrate in this since public relations comes about in response to problems. No problems, no PR. Conversely, a world full of problems provides opportunities for PR advisers.?

Her overview spans misinformation, trust and the post-truth information space; geopolitical tensions; purpose and activism; and, of course, artificial intelligence. She concludes:

The role of PR will become increasingly multifaceted and strategic. PR professionals must be adaptable, forward-thinking, and deeply committed to truth and authenticity in a world characterised by rapid change and complexity.?

She’s right - but is she describing what should happen rather than what is happening or what will happen?

So what is happening? Evidence from two revealing and highly public current cases that casts a much more negative light on public relations. What’s shocking is that both case studies involved public sector bodies that might be assumed to serve the public interest. In reality, the Post Office in the case of the Horizon IT scandal seems to have closed ranks in order to protect the organisation’s short-term reputation at the expense of another stakeholder group (sub-postmasters) - and at the expense of the truth.

Then there’s the Countess of Chester hospital in the case of Lucy Letby where whistleblowing that could have saved children’s lives was resisted in order to protect the hospital’s reputation.

Details are still emerging and we await the final reports, but the evidence in both cases on the role of reputation management appears damning.

It’s on topics like these that practitioners and academics can have fruitful exchanges. Stephen Waddington summarises trends in academic literature including the shift from speaking to listening and suggests we’re moving away from a reputation management paradigm towards a relationship paradigm (and from a media perspective to a stakeholder perspective).

Those pioneering practitioners who started using the phrase public relations a century ago would have had no problem grasping that.

The Tiktok election?

Several commentators have picked up this theme this week, though Paul Hender and Dan Slee both rejected the notion that this should be described as the first TikTok election.

Daniel Hearne pointed to the irony of governments in the west seeking to ban TikTok while politicians and political parties are wholeheartedly embracing it in their campaigning.

He also pointed to a distinctive stance of TikTok:

Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok will reject any political adverts. This means the parties cannot pay to push adverts to potential voters who they want to see their election messaging. They must create compelling content that users engage with and share with their followers.?

Not only that, but they need to be there to counter the spread of misinformation, and take information to potential voters.

With attention spans getting shorter by the day, organisations cannot rely on people proactively visiting their websites or searching for their press releases. They instead need to communicate on the channels they know their audiences regularly use. For political parties trying to reach younger voters, that’s TikTok.

The battle for talent

How do you retain your best talent? Sarah Leembruggen cited a salary survey showing that wages are only increasing slowly.

Yet money isn’t everything. Many will be surprised at the strong preference for in-house roles over agency roles stated by those questioned for the survey. To compensate for this:

Agencies gave out more pay increases, averaging 6% compared to the 5% average uplift given in-house. Account directors were typically paid ￡40,000-60,000 five years ago and now that has shifted to ￡55,000-70,000. This is down to supply and demand – account directors are thin on the ground, which pushes their salaries above levels of inflation.

The Institute of Internal Communication’s IC Index, published yesterday, focuses on trust. This study suggests another factor in the battle for talent: those who rate their internal communication as excellent say they intend to stay with their employer for longer.

A senior leader was quoted saying:

As leaders, we need to ensure our people feel informed, engaged and empowered, so they continue to choose to be here. Communication is central to our ability to do that. We can’t deliver on our strategy and achieve our goals without a workforce that understands and cares about what they do, and that feels heard and cared for themselves.