21 October 2024
A few things we discussed last week in a large, usually congenial and never dull WhatsApp community of PR and media people from around the world …
Actually a few things we discussed over the past TWO weeks, as I was unable to get a summary out on the 14th. But here we go again, and in a new snackable format!
#Manelgate. A contributor noticed a photo from the ICCO summit in Istanbul earlier in the month featuring an all-male panel. A manel. “Anyone else notice this?” they asked. “Everyone should just walk out of the conference,” someone responded. “The only way to respond is with rage,” said another.
I get it. It’s 2024 and everyone, especially PR people, should mind the optics of putting only men on stage. But rage? Frustration, I can see. Even disappointment. Rage seems a little OTT, especially for a global volunteer-led organization that strives to present content and speakers balanced not only by gender and race, but by country of origin. Not easy (and yes, I’m a past president and board member of the group, so I’m a little biassed).
Anyway, the conference organizers apologized, promised no more manels, and we moved on.
Speaker fees. Somewhat downstream from the manel uproar was a discussion about the practice of many conferences in the communications space to ask most if not all speakers to present for free, effectively limiting content to those who can afford to produce it and travel to present it, gratis.
Speakers should be paid for their time and thinking, several in the chat argued, not unreasonably. And “the industry should pay for it” one member suggested. I’m not sure who the industry is in this case, but we agreed there’s room for disruption in the PR conference space.
Enshittifcation. We revisited the process of enshittification, in which according to a Wired article digital platforms perish: “First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.”
For more information, here’s the Wikipedia write-up, kindly supplied by Vannessa Esmeralda.
I don’t remember how it came up, but for the avoidance of doubt: no plans to enshittify the WhatsApp community or this newsletter.
Job help. It can feel a little rough out there for those looking for work in communications, but things seem to be looking up. Maybe? Alice Weightman and Katie Simpson from Hanson Search took on our questions for a full hour on how to work with recruiters, stand out on LinkedIn and generally keep calm and carry on. You can watch it all here, with the password: 2r@qMYB%
Tech support. Regular contributor Stuart Bruce released his 2024 Global CommTech Report.
AI tools and support, from the community:
The basics. Andrew Bruce Smith on AI Skills Every Marketer Should Have.
Webscraping. A little technical, but worth watching.
Visual workspace. A look at Cove from Philippe Borremans.
Text to visual presentations. I’m finally figuring out Napkin.ai
Over 40. Jenny Nicholson: "I made a satirical text adventure game about being over 40 in advertising that is also a game that writes itself in real time as you play. It's pretty neat."
It is! Here’s the link to her post … and this touches on wider and serious points: what happens to people in the creative industries as they move through their 30s and beyond, and how do we create something interesting with them? I hope to catch up with Jenny next week on this - have already spoken to a few others, too - and welcome ideas in the comments.
Venture capital. Julio Romo looks at strategic and reputational insights from the Pitchbook Q3 report.
Media fail. Like the author I try not to get too bogged down in how the media is or isn’t covering the US election. But still…
And media blitz. A listen (podcast) on the Harris campaign’s media frenzy.
Threat to business. Regular contributors Rod Cartwright and Shayoni Lynn FCIPR FPRCA on the risks to business posed by disinformation.
Return on responsibility. “In a complex and fast-evolving global landscape, and an often-polarized political environment, businesses are taking an increasingly cautious approach to climate communications and advocacy. However, our research shows that it is much better to lead responsibly and speak confidently on climate action.” Thanks Caroline Behringer.
Madam President. Congrats to one of the founding contributors of this community, Farzana Baduel, on her election to the CIPR (UK) presidency.
Folgate Advisors. And finally, Dave Scott, Mark Hume and I launched a new venture to help agency founders and leaders improve the business of communications - leveraging our own experience and that of a network of heavy-hitters and wonderful people we’re building as quicly as we can. Thanks for all of the encouragement and interest!
Ah... Missed the discussion about "paid to speak". Was asked to present at a global conference of PR agencies recently. Would have meant traveling (+5 hours), stay there and then fly back. I mentioned my (very reasonable) speaking fee but that was not possible. So yes, we should get paid for our insights and time but there's work to be done in our own industry as well. Thanks again for the great community you created and the overviews you publish.