Letter from London: an outstanding contribution
Copyright law will challenge monitoring market, landing pages and newsrooms, AI and jobs, this week’s Comms School, exploring half-baked ideas, and a research powerhouse.
The PRCA Digital Awards this week celebrated ground-breaking digital and social media campaigns. PRCA Director General Francis Ingham paid tribute to the practitioners who have driven PR into new and emerging areas over the past decade, helping to grow the size of the profession.
Sarah Hall couldn’t make it to London because of family commitments, but I was chuffed to accept an outstanding contribution award on her behalf for work as a blogger, campaigner and PR moderniser.
© Copyright law backward step for sharing economy and measurement
Well intentioned EU legislation aimed at empowering content creators is likely to have unintended consequences for digital services in Europe. So-called Articles 11 and 13 form part of the EU Directive for Copyright and limit sharing of original content and increase the chances of platforms such as Facebook and Google implementing filters for uploaded content. The legislation will almost certainly reopen the debate in the PR industry over digital licencing for press clippings once implemented into law by EU member states.
💻 Campaign landing page and web newsroom tools
Access to the corporate website is a battleground in large enterprise organisations. Instead of breaking down barriers it is just as likely to create silos. A third-party market has grown up to plug the gap for everything from campaign landing pages to press offices. Instapage and Leadpages lead the pack for landing pages. If you’re considering overhauling your newsroom make sure that you include ePressPack, MyNewsdesk, PressPage, Prezly and Prowly.
🤖 Report: Automation threatens a quarter of marketing and PR jobs
The Office on National Statistics (ONS) reckons that 27% of marketing and public relations jobs are at risk from automation. The ONS data echoes research by the CIPR’s #AIinPR panel led by Jean Valin last year. It found that 12% of a PR practitioner’s skillset could be complemented or replaced by AI today, with a prediction that this could climb to 38% within by 2023.
📑 Final call to help characterise AI in communications
This is the final call for the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence’s Communicating Artificial Intelligence (AI) survey. The results will be used to develop a Communicating AI Playbook that communication professionals can use to prepare themselves to communicate AI within their organisations and adopt AI within the communication function.
🚌 Comms School: personal branding
In the next week’s Comms School session Marcel Klebba and I will cover personal branding, SEO and the benefit of creating a strong digital footprint. More than 500 people have joined the Comms School Facebook community. Join our live session on Tuesday, 2 April, 6:30pm BST. You’ll be very welcome.
🤔 A celebration of half baked ideas
A one-day unconference on 25 June will explore the ideas that languish in notebooks, bottom drawers and at the back of filing cabinets. Sarah Williams and Liz Bridgen are bringing together PR academics to explore undeveloped and unfinished ideas. Their Telling Stories conference is an opportunity to gain feedback on early ideas for research projects and explore emerging research topics in PR. I’ve signed up.
🔍 Social intelligence meets market research
Brandwatch acquired Qriously this week adding real time survey functionality to its social listening platform. Qriously has previously targeted an international market for focus groups and surveys. Brandwatch is becoming a powerhouse for data-led insight after acquiring Crimson Hexagon in October 2018. The Qriously acquisition provides clear differentiation in the overcrowded social listening market.
