As the self-employed owner of a small limited company, any respect I might have had for the UK Government’s COVID-19 response was fatally undermined by Rishi Sunak in March. In early March 2020, I attended an industry trade show (FutureBuild) at London’s EXCeL, never imagining the place would later become a centre for treating COVID-19 …
Tag: CIPR
May 30 2019
The North Face and Leo Burnett Tailor Made join the Wikipedia hall of shame
News today (see The Guardian, The Drum, for example) that marketing agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made (part of the multinational Publicis marketing and public relations agency group) has manipulated Wikipedia on behalf of its client, outdoor apparel manufacturer The North Face, has spectacularly backfired. The North Face has been forced to apologise for its campaign, …
Nov 20 2018
UK launches first ‘data trust’ pilots
New approaches to building trust in AI and in open data have been announced. I will be awaiting ‘data trust’ developments in my local borough with interest. In September I participated in a round table discussion for the CIPR‘s Influence magazine about artificial intelligence, AI (the outputs from that conversation will be published in the …
Oct 22 2018
Platinum guides PRs on Wikipedia
Last week saw the launch of ‘Platinum’, a book celebrating 70 years of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). The book includes 45 essays providing an insight into contemporary PR practice, alongside the history of the formation and development of the CIPR. Written by a diverse group of practitioners, working in a broad range …
Sep 17 2018
PR: proud, practical, not propagandists
CIPR CAPSIG research regarding women in construction PR and marketing showed considerable pride in working in the sector, and recommended some changes to help develop a better, more diverse industry. Colleges and others are also taking practical steps – not turning into propagandists with another ‘lipstick on a pig’ campaign. The image of construction has …
Sep 06 2018
Epson targets freelancers’ print costs
Epson’s central London pop-up shop gives visitors a space to co-work and to test their new EcoTank printers – which offers the UK’s growing population of freelances and SMEs a cost-effective alternative to ink cartridge machines. Three times (so far) in 2018 I have had to dash out to a nearby supermarket and buy expensive …
Jun 26 2018
New Homes Ombudsman could help restore consumer confidence in housebuilders
A cross-party Parliamentary group has set out proposals for a New Homes Ombudsman to help provide better redress for dissatisfied home buyers. Poor experiences with housebuilders are common factor in many people’s perception of the construction industry; promoting better behaviours in the housebuilding sector would therefore contribute to improving the image of construction. New Homes …
Feb 05 2018
Research on women in construction/property PR and marketing
The CIPR’s Construction and Property Special Interest Group (CAPSIG) is researching the views of women working in PR and marketing in UK construction and property. Sexism and gender inequality have been a sadly familiar aspect of working in the UK construction and property sectors for years – just as they have been in many other industries. …
Oct 15 2017
Launching a CIPR independent PR practitioners network
Long-term readers of my PR blog will know that I have been seeking to improve CIPR provision for independent practitioners since 2014 when I chaired a CIPR roundtable of independent PR practitioners (aka freelance PRs, or solo PRs) at the institute’s Russell Square HQ. Once elected to the CIPR’s Council, I began to agitate about how the …
May 17 2017
PR can help construction modernise, not die
By combining construction-specific communication expertise, strong industry leadership, and a clear vision of the future, we can tackle structural issues in ‘the industry currently known as construction’ that perpetuate its poor image. This post was stimulated by two things – a discussion about construction-specific communication skills, and a conversation about the need for strong leadership …
