Platinum: CIPR 70th anniversary contributors and essays announced

Platinum will tell the story of the CIPR over the past 70 years through the voices of its members.

You’re never quite sure what is going to happen when you crowdsource. It can be an excellent means of public engagement, but it can also go spectacularly wrong.

Lessons in crowdsourcing

When the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked the British public what it should call its flagship £200 million research boat last year, responses varied from Hooty McOwlface to Mr Splashy Pants. The most popular name was Boaty McBoatface.

NERC saved face by calling the boat Sir David Attenborough, and using the crowdsourced moniker for one of its autonomous underwater vehicles.

Therein lies two important crowdsourcing lessons: be careful who you ask, and be careful what you ask.

Working with a wise crowd

We needn’t have worried when we crowdsourced contributions from CIPR members in October for Platinum, a book that will form part of the CIPR’s 70th Anniversary celebrations next year.

The CIPR team leading the anniversary celebrations asked me to manage and edit the project. This will be the fourth book that I’ve edited on a voluntary basis for the CIPR in the last five years.

My vision was to create a legacy for CIPR members and the broader business community that will inspire practitioners and support learning and development.

CIPR members rose magnificently to the challenge.

Platinum: Celebrating the CIPR and its members at 70

We were overwhelmed by a mix of creative, reflective and thought provoking submissions. More than 80 members submitted almost 100 essay pitches.

Thanks to everyone that submitted their ideas. Today we’ve published a list of the essays and contributors for the final book.

You can check it out for yourself (opens as a PDF). I hope you’ll agree that it’s going to be a fantastic celebration of the CIPR and its volunteers in driving practice and professionalism over the past 70 years, with a strong nod to the future.

That’s an important point. Platinum is as much a celebration of the CIPR as it is a recognition of the voluntary effort that contributes to its success in raising standards in public relations.

Contributors represent almost every community and discipline within the CIPR. More than 40 essays cover every aspect of the history and practice of modern public relations as a management discipline, and highlight the opportunities that we have going forwards.

Platinum follows similar projects by the CIPR in 1973, 1988 and 1998; for its 25th, 40th and 50th anniversaries respectively.

The ambitious project will look to the future of practice, and explore aspects of modernity. It will reinforce the CIPR’s theme for 2018 of public relations as a management discipline under the leadership of President Sarah Hall.

Platinum will be available on Amazon Kindle and in print in Q3 2018. Three podcasts hosted by C-suite presenter Russell Goldsmith will accompany the book.