Demonstrating expertise to clients

Article by Connor Kinnear, Chief Marketing Officer, Passle

 

Most agencies and professional services companies are named after the individuals that founded the company. The reason for this is that the talent driving these companies is the asset that clients buy into. Saatchi and Saatchi was named after Maurice and Charles because, as advertising greats, they realised they were their own secret sauce and their communications should reflect that.

This poses a question for all agencies and businesses where the people are the asset that clients buy. How do you communicate the knowledge and expertise of the true experts in your business? The problem is two-fold. How do you access the insights of these people, given that they are going to be extremely busy and then how to distribute that knowledge?

Research conducted by Passle shows that the top 50 UK PR Agencies produced over 3,500 knowledge pieces last year. The number might seem impressive, but it amounts to only 0.72 pieces created in a year per member of staff. For comparison, the top 100 UK lawyers produced 0.75 pieces of content per staff in 2015! What is this world in which the famously reticent British lawyers are outflanking creative and engaged agencies that sell their ability to communicate?

These two points – that clients want to buy into the core talent at an agency and the industry’s surprising silence in communicating its knowledge – represent a huge opportunity for agencies across the world.

Enter, content marketing. Content marketing is a strategy that puts your audience first. It creates content to inform, help or entertain your audience. The opposite of content marketing is to sell at your audience. Content marketing takes many forms, from blog posts, to webinars, to, yes, social media updates.

If your agency is ignoring digital content marketing for itself, whether that be blogging or vlogging, you are making it harder for yourself to a) attract new clients b) maintain existing ones.  It’s such a shame not to make the most of it, when doing both doesn’t need to take much time away from your day-to-day or cost much money. Indeed, Hubspot’s State of Inbound Report claimed that “content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads”.

PR Agencies have all the skills required to excel at content marketing. They know how to create content that attracts audiences because they help their clients achieve this every day. They just need to create it for themselves now.

 

In Passle’s panel at the Global ICCO PR Summit on 29th September, we’ll be discussing what your brand, including the personal brands of your experts, says about your agency. If you would like to download Passle’s report into the content marketing habits of the top 50 UK PR agencies, and request a free personalised report, visit pr.rankmyfirm.com  

ICCO President appointed to the Board of PR Museum

ICCO President Maxim Behar has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Museum of public relations, announced yesterday in New York.

The Museum of Public Relations is a not for profit organisation and is the only public relations Museum in the world. It is based in New York City at CUNY Baruch College in the Newman Library Archives and Special Collections. The Advisory Board consists of top PR professionals with vast experience and significant achievement in the industry.

Shelley Spector, founder of the Museum said: “We are so proud to have such an internationally acclaimed public relations leader join our Board of Advisers. Mr. Behar will be able to provide much needed guidance, not only expanding the museum’s global presence, but how we can best serve and represent the growing number of PR communities around the world. Working with Mr. Behar and ICCO, we trust that the museum can begin its international outreach very soon!”

Maxim Behar said: “I really look forward to working hard to make our business, public relations, more popular and also more accessible to students and future generations. The history is an important part of our future and although business is changing very fast, there are many thing which we can learn from the past. I think collecting the best practice from all over the world, especially from the large professional networks, and distributing them in the smaller or emerging markets might be a significant task for the Museum.”

About ICCO:
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations representing 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms. ICCO provides also professional trainings, organises the largest annual Global PR Summit and presents yearly Global Awards recognising PR achievement.
www.iccopr.com

About PR Museum:
Founded in 1997, PR Museum is considered the world’s largest collection of materials documenting PR history. Among the organization’s possessions are more than 600 significant books, including many signed first editions, along with myriad artifacts, correspondence and photographs of historically significant industry people and events. Displays and exhibits include examples of old media technologies, a digital archive of videotaped interviews with influential leaders such as Daniel Edelman, Harold Burson and David Finn, and other artifacts that chronicle the evolution of the field of public relations.
The inspiration for the Museum is another great historical figure—industry pioneer Edward Bernays, widely recognized as the “father of public relations.” In 1919, Bernays opened one of the first offices as Public Relations Counselor in New York, and later taught the first PR course at New York University in 1923, and publishing the first groundbreaking book on PR, Crystallizing Public Relations, that same year. Visitors have access to dozens of books—many of them from Bernays’ own library—covering such subjects as psychology, social psychology, news media and political history. Authors include such well-regarded thinkers as Walter Lippman, Gustave LeBon, Everett Martin and Alfred Trotter.
www.prmuseum.org

 

Turkish communication industry bodies announce new principles and cooperation model

The Communications Consultancies Association of Turkey, IDA, has joined forces with other industry institutions in Turkey to draw up a set of principles to enable the public to access information, building a healthy working model for the sector. The ‘Principles of Communication and Media Relationship Management’ document was prepared and signed by the following communication industry associations:

  • Communication Consultancies Association of Turkey (İDA)
  • Journalists Society of Turkey (TGC)
  • Economy Journalists Association (EGD)
  • Online Media Reporters Association (BMD)
  • Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges Media and Communication Assembly (TOBB)
  • Advertiser’s Association  (RVD)
  • Corporate Communication Consultants Association (KİD)
  • Public Relations Association of Turkey (TÜHİD)

Parties who signed the document have also agreed to expand and monitor the implementation of these principles.

This cooperation model has involved the senior management and corporate communication executives of the institutions, communication consultancies and media members, setting set a good example to the sector in Turkey.

During the signing ceremony, Işıl Arıdağ, the President of IDA, stated:

“It is very important to join forces under the same roof towards the development of all professional organisations that play a major role in the communication sector. We believe that this cooperation platform provides a healthy and secure atmosphere, and will carry our industry to the future confidently. During the preparation stage of this document, actions were taken within mutual understanding and cooperation. This was as meaningful and precious as the document itself. We believe that the awesome cooperation in preparing these principles is a new and very effective start.”

For more information, please contact IDA General Coordinator, Müjgan Bayraktaroglu: mujganb@ida.org.tr

GWPR Global Gender Pay Gap Survey goes live

The very first international Gender Pay Gap and Work Life Balance Survey, from ICCO sector group GWPR (Global Women in Public Relations), has now gone live.

The survey asks a number of questions about working practices and seeks to provide important data on the state of play and views of those working in PR – be it in agency, in-house or as an independent consultant. The survey is designed to provide important feedback on equality and the work/life balance for both men and women working in the industry.

The survey has been facilitated by leading market research agency One Poll and is fully supported by ICCO (the International Communications Consultancy Organisation). Media partner The Holmes Report will be publicising the survey, as well as reporting the findings. The results will be published by ICCO at the Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford, September 29th/30th.

These are the links for the UK and US questionnaires:

 

UK: http://www.research365.net/survey/private/4fa91de192883d4b180639201c6a9c111035a183

US: http://www.research365.net/survey/private/2cd71df3d660bf7c8151d4d95b110f5b6e69fe96

 

Sue Hardwick MPRCA and Angela Oakes MPRCA, co-founders of GWPR said: “In the UK, women constitute two-thirds of the overall working population in the PR industry, however there is a widely reported gender pay gap. Quite simply, men and women in the UK PR industry are not being equally rewarded. We believe that this issue is not limited to the UK, but is affecting the majority of women working in PR around the world.

ICCO Chief Executive Francis Ingham MPRCA commented: “There is a global problem with the gender pay gap in PR, and we are very pleased that GWPR is seeking to address this issue. The existence of this gap deters entrants into our industry and encourages leavers from it. With GWPR now a member of the ICCO Board, we can work closely to shine a light on this incredibly concerning problem. And having shone that light, we can then take action to solve it.”

GWPR was launched last year, as an umbrella organisation, linking WPR national networking groups, so we can address key issues like this both for women and for the PR industry worldwide.”

The ICCO organisation is facilitating the global platform for the research. ICCO comprises PR trade associations representing over 2,500 agencies, in 48 countries worldwide.

 

If you have any questions about the research, or are interested in taking part, please contact Sue Hardwick sue@globalwpr.com or Angela Oakes angela@globalwpr.com

 

World PR Report launches next month – preview

The World PR Report published by ICCO and PRWeek will be launched at the Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford, United Kingdom on 29-30 September.

The report is the annual analysis of the international public relations industry including a breakdown of the top 100 global agencies, market analysis from regional leaders, and a report on agency growth and opportunity, investment plans and talent challenges.

Commenting on the talent challenges in the Asia Pacific market, Lynne Anne Davis, President – Asia Pacific at FleishmanHillard said:

“PR’s massive transformation as an integrated, socially-centric industry was enabled by the introduction of non-traditional roles and expertise from other industries. That must never stop in order to continuously innovate, expand influence and supple the rising demand for PR services – especially in Asia where local companies are aggressively disrupting categories, exporting brands abroad and creating new spaces.”

Colin Byrne, Weber Shandwick’s UK & EMEA CEO comments on strong growth in the market, but also the challenges ahead:

“Macro-economic issues include economic downturn in BRIC and other emerging markets, security and political issues, the uncertainties around the US election and, yes, Brexit and associated recession warnings, are challenges for us and our clients.”

Loretta Ahmed, Grayling’s CEO of Middle East Africa & Turkey analyses the developing markets of the Middle East and Africa:

“Less risk averse than many parts of the world, the Middle East is coming of age and it is good to see more and more world-class work emanating from the region and being recognised in global award schemes.”

“In Africa in particular, communications professionals are able to achieve CEO level client access at a far greater frequency than in other markets – while this comes with a far greater ability to influence decision-making it also creates the need for strategic communicators to feature heavily in the team mix – a challenge for agency heads looking to field local teams.”

Commenting on trends in the European PR industry, Pascal Beucler, Chief Strategy Officer at MSLGROUP said:

“Another trend we can see everywhere in Europe is the need for more integration, particularly for big, global clients: wasting energy, time and money because of having too many people from different networks/holdings around the table is really something they don’t want anymore. They say they want one team, as diverse as possible but belonging to the same P&L and led by one single, global manager. Such alignment allows better, faster, clearer decisions and action plans.”

Full analysis and commentary of each of the markets is available in the World PR Report, launched at the Summit, and subsequently published by PRWeek online and in hard copy.

Francis Ingham, Chief Executive of ICCO and Director General of PRCA UK & MENA will be presenting the findings at the Summit, and copies will be shared with attending delegates.

 

For more information on the Global ICCO PR Summit visit www.iccosummit.org

CIPRA and ICCO strengthen relations and cooperation

The China International Public Relations Association (CIPRA) and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) have decided to strengthen ties and to exchange information, visits and experience. This agreement has been reached during a visit by ICCO President Maxim Behar to Beijing where he met with senior representatives of CIPRA and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As part of his speech at the Annual CIPRA Summit, Behar said: “ICCO has long history in its relations with Chinese colleagues and now we have the historical chance to develop them in a way where the organisations will establish much closer professional relations, and their members will benefit from this”.

“We officially invite our Chinese friends from CIPRA to send a big delegation to Global ICCO PR Summit in Oxford this September, and before that we hope to reach an agreement for CIPRA to join ICCO as a full member”, Behar added.

During his stay in Beijing Behar had official meetings with the President of CIPRA, Ambassador Li Daoyu, and also with the Secretary General Zhao Dali and Honorary President He Luli. In all meetings the parties underlined how important it is that the achievements of the Chinese public relations business be promoted on an international level, and that the exchange of experience will be the productive motivation for success in the current dynamic world.

Zhao Dali, CIPRA Secretary General said: “We highly appreciate the visit of ICCO President Maxim Behar to Beijing and his inspiring speech at the opening of our Summit. CIPRA management now feels that our positions are closer professionally, like never before, and we hope that in the future we may have effective projects together.”

About ICCO:

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations representing 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.

iccopr.com

About CIPRA:

The China International Public Relations Association (CIPRA), set up in April 1991 as a corporate body headquartered in Beijing, is a national organisation aimed at international cooperation in the field of public relations. Its mission is to strengthen the management of the PR industry, engage in PR study, practice and strategy-making for the industry in China; raise the social position of the PR industry and practitioners, and protect legitimate rights and interests of PR practitioners. The association also provides comprehensive services and training programmes for its members, and promotes the cooperation among PR organisations both at home and abroad.

 cipra.org.cn

Assorel Award launches with new international eligibility

Entries are now open for the Assorel Award, the celebration of excellence in PR and communications organised by the Italian Association of Public Relations Agencies, Assorel.

For the first time in the 19 year history of the award, both Italian and international campaigns are be eligible to enter.

The award is open to all communications campaigns that have run between January 2015 and May 2016 and supported companies, brands, associations, public and private institutions in developing a positive reputation, content, storytelling and successful events to build engagement with their target audience.

The jury, which includes ICCO President Maxim Behar, will award campaigns in categories including communication for public administration, marketing and product communication, crisis management, internal communications, financial communication and corporate social responsibility, amongst others.

Special awards will also be given for “best storytelling”, “digital media”, “innovation in measurement” and “best creativity”.

The awards ceremony will be held in Milan, Italy in November 2016.

For more information about the Assorel Award, please email segreteria@assorel.it.

AMEC launches industry first Integrated Evaluation Framework

A new PR measurement framework which uses digital technology to help the user through a step-by-step process was launched by AMEC at its International Summit on Measurement in London – and to instant acclaim from the PR industry.

The Framework “operationalises” and shows how to implement Barcelona Principles 2.0 and links organisational objectives to comms objectives, to outputs, outtakes, outcomes and organisational impact. The Framework measures across all P.E.S.O. channels. AMEC is launching the Framework with a comprehensive supporting website of resource material.

The new AMEC Framework has been deliberately developed as an interactive tool to deliver a step-by-step user process with tool tips for information and follow-on resources for the user. The digital team at LEWIS created the tool as a pro bono initiative on behalf of AMEC.

It is also compatible with the thinking of the UK Government Communications Service with whom AMEC has a strong relationship for “taking measurement mainstream”.

Richard Bagnall, CEO of Prime Research UK and an AMEC Board Director, led the working group which developed the tool. He said: “”We wanted to take the pain out of measuring communication in what has become an ever more complex world. This interactive tool allows organisations of all sizes to easily plan and measure their integrated communications activity, proving the value of their work in a meaningful and credible manner.”

Jeremy Thompson, Chairman, AMEC and Managing Director, Cision EMEA, said: “We believe this is a break-through tool for PR and communications professionals and we encourage you to embrace and adopt it as we look to drive best practice and common standards.”

Francis Ingham, PRCA Director General & ICCO Chief Executive, said: “This new approach from AMEC is exactly what the PR industry has been waiting for. What I like about the AMEC Valid Metrics 2.0 Framework is its simplicity; I’ve seen the methodology and like the logical step-by-step process. I trust AMEC to have got it right, too. “The PRCA and ICCO have a strong history with AMEC, we both challenge and support each other and that has to be the healthiest of relationships. This is how important I judge the new AMEC Framework to be: I commit that ICCO will recommend to all 48 country PR associations in our membership to work hard to get their 2,500 agencies to adopt this new AMEC framework.”

A key part of the development work was the contribution of Jim Macnamara, Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology, Sydney and the feedback of the AMEC Academic Group he chairs for AMEC. As a result the Framework incorporates business process measurement techniques ensuring that communications can now be measured using the language of business. Reaction was overwhelmingly positive from the communications research and PR industry.

David B. Rockland, Ph.D., Partner/CEO, Ketchum Global Research & Analytics and the Immediate Past Chairman, of AMEC, said: “I think this new interactive tool is fantastic and a hugely valuable tool to the industry. “It takes the theory of the Barcelona Principles into a reality of setting goals, establishing KPIs and implementing measurement programmes. It is something I can see using all the time with many of our clients and account teams.”

NEWS 2 Rob Brown, President of the CIPR, said: “Measuring and evaluating PR campaigns has never been an easy task, historically comparing editorial values to their advertising equivalents seemed like a seductive idea. We put a monetary value on what we do and people bought into it, but it was nonsensical “The Barcelona Principles of 2010 and 2015 recognised the need for measurement of real outcomes rather than just outputs it was a huge step forward for public relations and evidence of an increasing commitment to professionalism.”

Giles Peddy, Group Managing Director UK at LEWIS, whose firm helped develop the interactive framework and was on stage for the launch urged clients and PR consultancies to embrace and adopt the new model. He said; “The new interactive framework gives users a clear methodology and taxonomy to develop a clear, measureable communications plan, and evaluate its success.”

Kevin Read, Executive Chairman and Partner, Bell Pottinger, said: “AMEC’s new metrics framework is a formidable piece of work that anchors powerful, relevant and useable thinking in a practical and easy to follow way. For Bell Pottinger the new Framework is particularly helpful in laying out a pathway that our consultants can follow. It is helpful for conversations with clients on how to establish, plan and report on the effectiveness of campaigns.”

Alex Aiken, Executive Director of Government Communications, UK Government, said: “Evaluating communications effectiveness has never been more important. Across the UK Government, the AMEC Barcelona Principles have helped us to make sure we are measuring what matters. The Barcelona Principles need to be applied in practice so I welcome this new AMEC Interactive Framework which brings these Principles to life in a user friendly way. “It’s great to see the industry moving to reflect the integrated nature of modern communications and providing a framework for all levels – not just experts – to apply strong evaluation principles.

The new AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework is available now for free download at www.amecorg.com/amecframework

 

A postcard from Cannes, written by Francis Ingham

Article written by Francis Ingham, Chief Executive, ICCO

So Cannes comes to a close for another year. The assembled mass of the UK PR industry swings its weight to Nice airport, many of them resolving to go home via a polling station. Pretty much all of them resolving not to drink any more Rose for a good while.

And what are this year’s takeouts as our American cousins would say?

The positive are these -there were more PR people present than ever before. Practitioners of every nationality were here, many of them making a home in ICCO’s House of PR

More PR agencies entered the awards too, and displayed the most creative of their work to their international peers. The Young Lions competition ICCO hosts was a great showcase of young talent -Ogilvy’s American team won Gold; Silver went to Hungary; and the UK’s Hotwire took the Bronze. Great results for ICCO and PRCA members.

But let’s be realistic. This was not a stunning year for PR in Cannes. We took home fewer bits of metal than last year. Fewer in fact for than quite a while. And as an industry, we have to ask why. And we have to decide what our response is…

Why?

First, we are still simply not as good as the admen at put together video. Maybe that’s no great surprise, but in this format, it really matters.

Second, I think they are simply better at boasting about their success -we need to stop being falsely modest.

Third, maybe this year just wasn’t our year -there wasn’t a ‘Like A Girl’ campaign. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up. Some you win. Some you lose

But….. I hate to lose. And so does our industry. So what’s the response?

Well we could just say ‘screw it. We are taking home our toys’. We could. But I think that would be wrong.

We need instead to do this: Keep on entering -in fact, enter more. Keep on coming -in fact, be here in 2017 in even bigger numbers. And keep on engaging.

I think the Cannes definition of PR is simply wrong. It references ‘reputation’: great. It also references ‘sway’. Sway? I’ve never heard that word in any description of our discipline. In fact, in typing this piece, my phone changed it to ‘away’. That’s how often I’ve even *written* the word. So we need to engage and change the system.

We also, obviously, need to improve our video skills. That’s pretty clear.

One final thing we need to do is this; we need to embrace evaluation. Time and again, jurors cited massive, overwhelming numbers.

Millions and millions of likes and retweets. That mean nothing. Oh yes. And plenty of AVEs.

To make their jobs easier; to improve our winning chances; to make the process more transparent; to make the playing field level with advertising, we need to engage with Cannes to agree some valid, simple metrics. I’ll be approaching AMEC to make that engagement a unified one. It will be in all of our interests.

And when we’ve done those things, we can make sure that our suitcases are so weighed down with trophies that we have to pay great big excess luggage fines.

And on that note, it’s time to pack up. To banish the shorts for another year. And to come back to rainy old London Town.

A bientoit!

 

USA’s team of Ben King and Michael Di Salvo win the PR Young Lions Competition 2016

ICCO is pleased to announce that the USA team of Ben King and Michael Di Salvo from Ogilvy Public Relations have won the gold award at the Young PR Lions Competition 2016, sponsored by ICCO and partners Ketchum, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy Public Relations, Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard.

The team won the accolade at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2016 which is currently taking place. The PR Young Lions competition saw 20 teams send their selected teams of two PRs under the age of 30 to Cannes. On Saturday 18th June, the teams were each given a brief by Nikhil Seth, Executive Director, United Nations, and on the following day had 12 hours to create a creative and effective campaign.

Winning the silver award was Norway’s team of Scott Olav Allan and Henriette Frølich Holte of Gambit Hill+Knowlton Strategies; and winning bronze was the UK’s team of Paul Stollery and Matt Watson, Hotwire PR.

Francis Ingham MPRCA, Chief Executive, ICCO PR, said: “It is with great pleasure that we applaud Ben and Michael’s win and the placing of both Gambit Hill+Knowlton and Hotwire PR’s teams. Seeing the level of talent at this year’s festival has demonstrated to me that the future of our industry is in very good hands and all three teams should be incredibly proud.”

Blair Metcalfe, Client Director, MSLGROUP, said: “The efforts, the creativity, the inspiring ideas they came up with are a great exposition of the quality of our industry; it’s diversifying. I’m sure all of them will be back winning Lions at Cannes on the main stage in a few years to come.”

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners are:

Gold

Ben King and Michael DiSalvo

Ogilvy Public Relations, USA

Silver

Scott Olav Allan and Henriette Frølich Holte

Gambit Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Norway

Bronze

Paul Stollery and Matt Watson

Hotwire PR, United Kingdom