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Measurement, Evaluation and Learning is how we should be reframing the discussion around metrics in public communication according Jim Macnamara, in a special Measurement Month episode of PR podcast Smoke Signal.

In the final episode of Smoke Signal for 2019 I share a summer reading list for PR practitioners, speaking to a number of practitioners turned authors who have recently – or will soon –become published authors.

This month, in partnership with the Public Relations Institute of Australia, we mark Global PR Measurement Month by speaking with adjunct professor, lecturer, researcher, presenter - Fraser Likely - from his hometown in Ottawa Canada. Having an industry level discussion to highlight the importance of measurement has never been more critical. According to a recent study into continuing professional development conducted by the Public Relations Institute of Australia, measurement and evaluation is one of the top three priorities for Australia’s professional communicators. While Fraser Likely is today synonymous with PR measurement and evaluation, for 30 years, while running his own communication management firm, Fraser never spoke about measurement and evaluation. It was simply performance management. And while the tools, technology and techniques are now more sophisticated, at its heart measurement and evaluation is still all about performance - whether that be of a program, a campaign, a team or an organisation. Fraser defines seven units of measurement: we can measure a specific communication activity and associated messages; a project or campaign; programs such as internal comms or issues management; how PR helps the whole organisation achieve its business goals; how organisation do in regard its environment and society around it (CSR or reputation); the performance of individual practitioners; or the overall communication function and what value it has to an organisation. With measurement and evaluation more sophisticated than ever, the greatest question today is what is the uptake among practitioners? For Fraser, engagement with measurement and evaluation goes hand in hand with the role communications plays in an organisation. Those professional communicators with a seat at the table and part of the strategic management process will look at measurement and evaluation in a much more sophisticated way.

In the final episode of this special Smoke Signal series looking at mental health in the PR sector, Sophie Holland shares the latest research and insight coming out of the UK. Sophie heads up the mental health research team at UK-based insight agency Opinium. Having studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, Sophie is dedicated to giving people greater understanding on the topic of mental health so we can more effectively take a preventative rather than a reactive approach. Opinium recently released a report titled Opening the conversation: mental Wellbeing at Work and in a survey of 400 PR professionals in the UK to be released this month, Opinium found: -89% have struggled with their mental health in the last 12 months that is stress, anxiety, feeling low/ down, panic attacks, exhaustion/ burnout, stress, other mental health problems), versus 62% in wider worker population - Only 31% of those who struggled took any time off work for their mental health (vs. 36% wider workers). Compared to 63% for physical health (vs. 59% wider worker population).

Andy Wright is co-chair of the Mentally Healthy Change Group – founded by a group of leaders from across the creative,marketing and media sector with the aim to de-stigmatise mental health as a topic of discussion and help facilitate the conversation between leaders in the industry and employees. The Mentally Healthy Change Group evolved from a survey of over 1800 workers across the creative, media and marketing sectors – the biggest study ever done into mental health in the sector – which found 56% were displaying mild to severe levels of depression, 55% were displaying mild to severe levels of anxiety. The Mentally Healthy Change Group evolved from a survey of over 1800 workers across the creative, media and marketing sectors – the biggest study ever done into mental health in the sector – which found 56% were displaying mild to severe levels of depression and 55% were displaying mild to severe levels of anxiety. To help set the sector on the right path, the Healthy Change Group recently released a set of minimum standards to put a line in the sand. Since being launched, 45 businesses and agencies have signed up – including Facebook, Edelman and Havas to name a few. In our discussion, Andy describes the goal of the minimum standards as two- fold – to bring the topic of mental health front of mind for employers and a framework for employees to raise issues if they feel they are not being delivered on.

For the past 6 years I have had the privilege of working closely with the Margo Lydon, CEO of Superfriend – a not for profit workplace mental health and wellbeing organisation that was established by the Superannuation industry. Margo has been in and around the industry for the past 20 years and when it comes to raising awareness of mental health and wellness I have never met anyone more passionate than Margo and I have no doubt you’ll hear that too as you listen to Margo. In this special episode to mark World Mental Health Day today, Margo shares her insights into why the workplace, all workplaces, are so important in supporting individual’s mental health.

To mark World Mental Health Day I am thrilled to launch the first in a series of episodes this week discussing the topic of mental health and wellness in the PR sector. These are the statistics: 1 in 5 Australians workers are suffering a mental health condition in any 12 month period; 45% of the population aged 16-85 will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime – that is 1 in 2 of us! To raise awareness and provoke discussion of this topic in PR, I have asked senior PR leaders from around the world to share their three wishes when it comes to mental health and wellness in the PR sector. In this first episode I speak with UK practitioner Jane Fordham who coined the three wishes concept as a way to get PR leaders to share their three wishes, three tips, three kernals of advice for moving the discussion on mental health forward in a positive way.

Matthew Gain moved from agency to in house three-and-a-half years ago with a clear goal of working at one of the FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google). He wanted to work in a growth industry, to immerse himself in big data and he was a true believer that the future of media was going to be in global digital brands. He landed at Audible, not in a communications role though, but as country head of the emerging business. Now, as Head of Audible in JAPAC and India, Matthew shares his journey from PR consultant to running a growing technology company across the region, and one that is owned by one of the world’s biggest growth company – Amazon, no less. Listen here, watch on YouTube or download on iTunes Audible’s mission is to unlock the power of the spoken word. It allows people to consume books at times and in places they previously couldn’t – while driving a car, exercising, cooking or cleaning. Matthew notes that 84% of audible users say they still love the smell of books, so Audible is not about replacing physical books, but creating enjoyable entertainment experiences that keep people coming back. The competition, in Matthew’s view, is not Netflix or other subscription services but time and attention. To grab this attention, Audible is increasingly focusing on original content –working with authors in Australia, movie stars in Bollywood, actors in off-broadway theatre – creating great experiences that are brought to life for listening first and foremost. At its core Audible is a data business and this, Matthew says, was one of the steepest learning curves in the move from PR. “Sometimes I think the data knows more about us than we do ourselves,” Matthew says. “At Audible, the data informs our strategy. Every single person I work with is fluent in data and understand how to use data to inform the decisions they make. It is a huge a part of our day and part of every conversation.” Matthew describes a future where voice becomes ever more prevalent – we use voice to engage with the devices around us, today’s smart speakers become smarter personal assistants, and the vast majority of people – especially non-english speakers – use voice to interact with the internet and technology. After three and a half years Matthew says he’s still learning and shares a great anecdote about Audible for Dogs – that is some PR campaigns are just that, for PR, and not necessarily profitable business ventures. It shows you can’t take the PR out of the guy. In the news this episode I discuss the fallout from a recent article in the UK Guardian that revealed a lobbying firm run by Lynton Crosby – CTF Partners – allegedly built a network of unbranded websites and news pages on facebook for dozens of clients that were reportedly promoted as independent online news sources. I thought astroturfing was something I’d left behind in the university textbooks but it seems it is alive and well and ti seems has only become more prevalent in the age of social and digital media. With one industry veteran telling the UK’s PR week that astroturfing is “just another tool in the PR box that is widely used.” This is a story that is worth watching as it evolves.

A Public Relations Podcast: Smoke Signal Episode 18- Postcard from Cannes The Cannes International Festival of Creativity is the only global stage where so many pieces of our industry come together at one time to celebrate creativity and celebrate what we do as an industry. Against the sun-soaked backdrop in the South of France, the Cannes Lions are the industry’s premiere awards for creativity. PR in many ways is the new kid on the block but in an age when ”earned creative” is more valuable than ever they are increasingly making their presence felt.. PR stalwart Michelle Hutton this year held the privileged role of President of the PR Jury – a role she describes as a “career highlight” -and in this episode gives us insight into how the jury whittled down close to 2000 entries from 67 countries to six Gold Lions (and excitingly – or perhaps perplexingly – for the first time one that originated from a PR agency) Michelle said the Jury came together around three clear guidelines. Firstly they wanted to see campaigns that had PR as an input, not just an output. That is, work that was designed with PR thinking not just PR that amplified someone else’s creative. Secondly, the work had to have a clear insight that the creative then developed around. Thirdly, great measurement that looked at not only outputs but the real impact of the campaign. Michelle said the jury really wanted to not only recognise and reward great work but set benchmarks about where the industry should be going. Some of her favourite campaigns were: - Mums For Safety Campaign https://www.lendlease.com/au/company/about-us/safety/mums-for-safety/ created by Sydney’s Houston Group for Lend Lease and took home a Silver Lion - #Stopmithania https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYXHLrOqSy8 created by Leo Burnett for HDFC Bank in India to encourage blood donations won a Silver Lion - The Land of the Free Press https://tbwa.com/work/land-of-free-press by TBWA/Helsinki FInland also took home a Silver Lion for its defence of press freedom Michelle distils two key takeouts from the festival: • There is no doubt that earned creative is winning across the festival. Work that earns the right to be part of the conversation is not just successful in awards but is the type of work that brands need today to be successful. It is yet another proof point that the industry is well placed, this is our time and we should be showing up at the C-Suite to have bigger and broader conversations around how we can protect and promote brands • “he brilliant work that stood out was those that used data to underpin earned-centric thinking to identify the insight; to target the audience; to amplify the work; and to measure the impact. So for those looking to future proof our work data and analytics has never been more important. Michelle said Australia again punched above its weight at the festival and so she is excited to return to Australia later this month when she returns to take the reigns as Edelman’s Australia CEO and Chief Growth Officer for Asia Pacific. “We have some fabulous talent in Australia and in many respects we have been ahead of the curve for many years and I have no doubt we can continue to do that,” Michelle said. “Australia is an innovative market and there are many businesses and brands who can take some risks and I think that’s the wonderful opportunity we have – to do things differently and to lead. That is certainly something I will be focusing on in our business.” In the news this episode I check in with UK pracademic Andy Green in Smoke Signal Episode 5. At the time, Andy was spearheading what had been coined the Dublin Definition – a grassroots effort to better define and make sense of the world of PR and how communications need to evolve and change to make a difference. In the 12 months since the Dublin Conversations have continue online and across the world and last week, Andy and his colleagues toured Ireland to share the outcomes. I look at how the conversation has progressed. And finally, I am also personally thrilled that Smoke Signal has been named one of Feedspot’s top Top 25 PR Podcasts on the web Thank you for listening. Do rate Smoke Signal on iTunes or subscribe via the blog.

The gig economy – made up of contractors, consultants, and freelancers - has emerged rapidly over recent years. Driven by the move away from traditional employment models – by both employers and employees – and the rise of digital technologies that create marketplaces for talent to be matched with job opportunities. The side hustle has quickly become the favourite barbeque conversation as people look for opportunities to learn new skills and try new opportunities. In this episode of Smoke Signal, I speak to Luke Achterstraat, CEO of Commtract – Australia and New Zealand’s first marketplace for professional communicators. The Grattan Institute estimates that over 80,000 Australians earn some type of income from a peer to peer platform - be that Uber, AirTasker or Commtract - in any given month. By 2020 almost 40 per cent of the ASX 200 workplace will be non permanent, in some form consultants or freelancers. When founded just over two years ago, Commtract hit on what Luke describes as two mega trends: from an organisational perspective there was an increasing restriction on headcount, movement to an agile workforce and the increased demand for talent immediately. Effectively companies needing to do more with less. The accompanying employee mega trend saw the rise of people seeking autonomy and greater variety in the work they do – especially among experienced professionals who started looking for a “portfolio career”. Luke talks to an on-demand economy that will only get bigger, with more platforms that become hyper specialized (check out snappr for photographers as a case in point) and a greater focus of community around these platforms. His advice – whether starting out as a grad or an experienced professional - don’t fear the way the market is moving as it is by no means a new phenomenon. The key is to embrace the opportunity it presents. In the news this episode I look the 2019 Digital News Report - a global study into the issues facing news media that was just released by the Oxford University-aligned Reuters Institute. The report is based on a survey of over 75,000 people in 38 countries, including 2000 in Australia.

In this episode I speak with industry veteran David Brain post the Accenture acquisition of Droga5 – an acquisition by a management consultancy into a creative agency that is of a size and scale that makes it different to what we have seen before. David Brain uses an apt analogy to describe the competition the PR industry now faces from management consultants who are moving into brand strategy and creative: the PR industry has been training for the past decade to take on the boxing world champion in the weight class above them (creative agencies) but now having stepped into the boxing ring it has found an MMA athlete waiting for us as well. David Brain has worked at some of the largest agencies globally, including 13 years at the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman, where he was a member of its global management Board as well as a number of regional CEO roles across Europe and Asia. He’s recently taken a “step back” and now is on the board of ASX-listed communications network Enero; an advisory Board member of online New Zealand news magazine The Spinoff; an investor and advisory Board member in start-up Parkable; and is currently launching a new research software Stickybeak. In a recent blog he described the acquisition of Droga5 as ‘at scale threat’ to creative agencies that marks the end of PR’s brief chance to become a lead brand discipline’. David believes there was a moment in time, that is now closing due to greater competition from management consultants - the likes of Accenture, KPMG, Deloitte - for PR to get more of the CMO budget (that can be anywhere from ten to twenty times the size of an organisation’s PR budget) by moving into strategy and creative. That is, rather than falling in behind an idea and “making it famous through earned media”, PR could lead the creative idea from the beginning. But to do this PR agencies now must fight not only against creative agencies (the boxer) but with acquisitions like Droga5 by Accenture we now face even greater competition by management consultancies (the MMA athlete). David says: “That is a big fight for our industry to pick and win. There are no doubt individual agencies who can win that battle, but as an industry on mass, I don’t feel we now have the opportunity of being the lead strategy or creative agencies, an area that five or six years ago I thought we could own.” “We have to be smarter and not go head to head with creative agencies who are more creative and management consultancies who arguably are more strategic from a business standpoint.” David sees a better ‘on ramp’ to those larger CMO budgets, now being an area that is often dismissed - marketing automation. The opportunity: marketing automation tools and technology – such as Marketo (purchased by Adobe for $4bn) and HubSpot – that is now more fundamental in how companies are managing their relationships with customers and partners and managing their outreach to prospects and customers. “At their heart is placing different content in front of different people in different channels – that seems a natural area that PR can play.”

Evolving role of influencers, social networks becoming increasingly attentive to their broader role in society, and the continued rise of voice are just a few of the forecast trends discussed in Red Agency’s recently released 2019 Red Sky Predictions Report. In this episode, Global Chairman of Havas PR Collective and CEO of Havas PR for North America, James Wright, takes us through this look at the top 10 trends predicted to hit the Australian communications landscape in 2019. James is a well-recognised face in the Australian PR landscape, having spearheaded the growth and reputation of the Red Agency. I catchup with James on how he’s found the New York market since landing in January. Apart from the obvious – bloody cold; he shares his experience to date – higher budgets, a much deeper media landscape and bigger businesses. We then jump into the Red Sky Predictions report which focuses on Australia, but James hopes to take global in the near future. Some of the trends we discuss include: Social platforms becoming society platforms as they become increasingly mindful of their role in society: There is ever greater pressure on social platforms to take an increased responsibility to monitor and administer public safety: whether in terms of detection of public threats; or health and wellness around screen time; or social bullying and data privacy. And contrary to many media reports, James is already seeing a shift in approach by major social networks, as they move to better ensure they are looking after the huge numbers of people that are on their platforms. Defining the role of influences: We’ve always had influencers in some way – whether celebrity, a blogger, a journalist. But James explains that today, brands are now using influencer marketing more strategically to drive a brand narrative. James describes the emergence three new categories of influencers – co-creators (work together to co-create a piece of content); distributors (those with access to an audience that you want to reach); and narrators (offer a media appeal outside of social networks; and used in owned media as a trusted brand representative). Quality journalism to rise again: There will be a continued migration back to trusted information. Newspapers have become brands in themselves and the report predicts 2019 will see a renaissance in investigative journalism as publishers reinvest in the traditional business model that will increasingly attract increasingly larger audiences. And for James, such journalism is a cornerstone of the democratised world in keeping politicians and organisations accountable. The rise of ‘ears in’ generation: Voice has made a huge impact in the past year. Everyone today has their headphones in – millennials spend 40 hours a week with their headphones on. At the same time, we are also talking more – not just to each other but to devices – think Alexa. And this is only going to grow as it is only at its infancy. Check out the report for all 10 predictions for 2019. In the news this episode I recap on two of the sessions that resonated with me at the recent 2019 Mumbrella CommsCon – the rise of the slow movement and the need for the PR sector to get more serious about mental health and wellness.

Numbers, budgeting and forecasting are not normally the natural domain for PR professionals. However, if you’ve ever worked in an agency there is one thing we certainly know well – timesheets. But is filling out timesheets and billing our services at an hourly rate devaluing the work we do as a profession? In this episode... Continue Reading →

Reports of the death of media relations have been greatly exaggerated. According to practitioner and entrepreneur, Shane Allison, media relations accounted for 51% of agency revenues in 2018. As such it remains a core skill, but in many ways the way we practice media relations has not evolved from when we used fax machines to reach journalists. Shane has launched a new platform, Public Address, bringing much needed innovation and technology to improve the practice of media relations and help remove the friction that can exist between PR practitioners and journalists. In this episode, Shane supports the view of David Skapinker in Smoke Signal episode 8 that there are now more journalists and media outlets than ever before. As a profession we’ve gone from interacting with 2500 media outlets in 2013 to nearly 5000 media outlets today. In the same time we’ve seen nearly 1000 journalists added to the population of journalists. As Shane puts it: “You look at that explosion of media outlets you understand why the PR is struggling to meet the needs of journalists. There are so many different titles and outlets that we need to be communicating with, and pitching to, on a daily basis. “As a result we have never been busier as an industry. The number of people employed in PR has doubled in the last 8 years… We are putting more and more resources to get the same impact as we would have done five years ago with a placement in mainstream media… So the net effect for the PR profession has been a declining productivity." For Shane, the PR profession has often confused innovation with diversification. So we've innovated by diversifying away from media relations - we’ve introduced video, social, content creation, community management among other skills. But, in Shane's view, that is now holding us back, we need to come back to our core and ask how we innovate in this core skill of media relations. Shane is excited about what he sees as the imminent golden age of media relations in a time when media relations has never been more valuable for brands  – the process can be improved and evolve but the discipline will remain at the core of what we do. In the news Earlier this month I attended the launch of the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer. In the news this episode I discuss three of the key findings: Media is becoming more trusted than ever Trust in social media as a source of news and information continues to be persistently low, especially in Australia A trust gap has arisen between men and women – women are less trusting Take a listen and you can view the full results here.

With it being that time of year when we are getting back to work, I thought it would be timely to speak to an expert about how we can stay positive as our holidays quickly fade into the memory. Who better than Dr Happy! Listen here or download on iTunes Dr Tim Sharp has two great titles... Continue Reading →

Throughout 2018 I’ve had the opportunity to interview a range of interesting people across the PR profession. One question I’ve asked them all is: Does the term public relations adequately describe what we as professionals do today? The term PR often comes with negative connotations around spin and dishonesty. It is one of the reasons I named this podcast Smoke Signal – as PR is often clouded in mystery and not well understood. In the final episode of 2018 I bring together responses from across the spectrum. Some, such as UK pracademic Andy Green, see the writing on the wall for the term “PR” unless we do something about it, and quickly. While others like PR Warrior Trevor Young and HSPR’s Sarah Mason are sticking strong to the old school definition, seeing relations a key word describing what we do. I tend to agree with the latter, but it is an open debate and one that continues not just locally, but globally. In the news on this episode of Smoke Signal, I discuss one of the many 2019 outlook pieces out there. This one, by social media monitoring platform Talkwalker, looks at the 12 social media trends that  will impact PR and marketing in 2019. The rise of data, ongoing technological innovation and dramatic societal changes will be felt in 2019.

In this episode we delve into the world of Consumer PR with Bessie Hassan - Head of PR Australia at finder.com.au. Finder compares everything from personal loans to pet insurance and Bessie is charged with engaging individuals on a topic that is not always top of mind – finance. The trick – understanding the readers are just like 'me' - they want helpful advice in simple language. We discuss some of the current buzzwords and what these mean for consumer PR professionals: - Content Marketing: Brands need to be targeting audiences from all angles – video, facebook, blogs and the more the better. Experiment, look for ways to reach new audiences in new ways – and those ways are constantly changing. - Thought leadership: This means coming out with an opinion but it needs to be genuine. Ultimately it needs to be something that is different, that is going to change the industry you are working in. - Influencer marketing: It needs to again, form part of an integrated approach. You want a genuine relationship that is well aligned and that will work in the long term. - Creativity: To stand out you need to not be afraid to try something new. - Brand purpose: Once you do have that clear purpose you are becoming a brand that customers and employees are not just buying, but are buying into, and that is how brands move to the next level. - Measurement: creating a dashboard of metrics to show how PR is helping to achieve business goals. Bessie is an accomplished journalist and also shares some great lessons of her career journey. In the news this episode I discuss a new report from the University of Southern California Annenberg Centre for Public Relations - the 2019 Relevance Report. The Report is a compilation of contributed articles from leading industry academics s and practitioners. Each article gives a snapshot of a trend or issue that is likely to impact the public relations profession in 2019. The introduction, cleverly titled Fast Froward, playing on the ongoing pace of change the industry has experienced over the past 12 months. The report states that this change has been driven by five T’s. Technology, transformation, transgression, turmoil, and of course, Trump. According to USC’s Global Communication Report – a report conducted in conjunction with the Holmes Report and discussed in Episode 3 - 75% of communications professionals believe this dramatic pace of change will continue well into the future. “As the communications report becomes more complex, PR executives must become more sophisticated. Reading the USC Relevance Report is one way to do that.” I recommend you download and have a read.

The title on Alan VanderMolen’s bio is Respectful Disrupter – in his words, our industry, and the environment in which clients operate, is being greatly disrupted by technology and, at the same time, we’ve seen the massive disruption in the media ecosystem. So in that environment, Alan’s role at WE Communication is to disrupt the agency’s business model to make sure it is keeping pace with the external environment. Alan was in Australia recently to launch WE Communications Global second Brands in Motion Research. The research challenges the traditional concept of brand perception as a static indicator, by arguing that all brands are constantly in motion – either driven by or inspired by technology. In this episode, Alan, takes us through a few of the key findings: Consumers still want a high level of innovation. However, given real concerns about data security consumers are getting a bit nervous about the pace of innovation and now expect brands to use technology and innovate ethically and responsibly Consumers and B2B decision makers are defaulting to rationality. That is, show me, prove it, versus tell me. Consumers have become increasingly weary of being talked to, and marketed at, and want to be engaged with.  Consumers have become binary. They tend to love you or not love you, there is not a lot of in between and that has been a big change over the last 12 months. In this environment, it is more difficult for brands to be consistently loved. On the hot topic of brand purpose, 72% of respondents think it is important for brands to take a stand on important issues. There is a nuance to that – the brand has to have permission to take that stand. Permission is given by having a good product or service from an organisation that is operating ethically and responsibly - then consumers are  very interested in the brand having a purpose. In other words, brands need to start with do - do what they say will do; move to the how – act in a way that meets community expectations; and then end with the why – the broader purpose of the business. So what it means for PR professionals? For Alan, this represents a call to action for PR professionals to take responsibility for the moral and ethical behaviour of brands and not just be focused on promoting products and services. Beyond the research Alan believes the future for the profession is a positive one. As issues become more real time and more transparent, the communications function will re-establish itself in the C-Suite. We’ve seen communications subsumed to marketing in the past three to five years but that trend is reversing. Alan believes you will see communication re-emerge primarily because there is a massive call for responsibility and ethics to be embedded in innovation and that is clearly the domain of PR versus marketing.

David Skapinker is a Corporate Affairs and media relations specialist having spent his career working  in agency (consumer), in-house (corporate), and today in a self-described tech start-up – having founded the Australian office of Telum Media in 2014. Telum Media, in David’s words, looks to alleviate the friction between PR professionals and journalists and make that interaction a little smoother. Telum Media also delivers news services covering the PR and media industry. It is insights from this this unique viewpoint that David shares in the latest episode of Smoke Signal. Trends, issues and themes we discuss in this episode, include: The number of journalism jobs is actually increasing NOT decreasing. While the big media houses have consolidated and are clearly shrinking; the media industry more broadly is definitely not shrinking, if anything it is growing. Journalism jobs today though are more likely though to be outside the traditional media houses. Never has there been more media. There has never been more content being produced and consumed. The publications that are doing well are the ones that have a well-defined audience that is appealing to advertisers. Relevance is key – geographic or industry – those are the titles that are growing. PR practitioners are being asked to do more than ever. They are being asked to consult on advertising, social and many more areas. There’s just a huge range of skills that PRs have had to pick to up very quickly. The Asia Pacific PR sector are looking far more regionally and far more global than Australian practitioners. PR professionals in Asia are spending a significant portion of time looking at Australian media where Australian PR practitioners aren’t, on the whole, looking at regional media. Measurement: It’s a difficult thing to do and nobody has got it right. In the news this month, I touch on the rise of brand purpose and the move by Nike to feature controversial American footballer Colin Kaepernick in its latest Dream Crazy campaign. Brands are increasingly being expected to not just be good corporate citizens but take a position on issues and stand alongside their customers on issues that are important for them. A recent UK study found that nine out of ten people think businesses should take a stance on societal issues. Specifically hard to crack issues that Government can solve themselves. Nike certainly has stepped into controversy but the campaign is achieving what it set out to achieve  - it has had impact, reignited an important conversation and set further set Nike in the ultra competitive consumer sector. Don’t forget to subscribe via my blog or on iTunes – just search for Smoke Signal Podcast.

“Distinguished Professor of Public Communication at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) former journalist, PR practitioner and media researcher” - Jim Macnamara’s twitter profile was the briefest descriptor I could find to summarise the career of Jim who started as a journalist; has worked in agencies; owned and sold his own business; is a published author; award winning researcher; and today a Distinguished Professor at UTS. I’ve had the privilege of being both a student of Jim’s during my Masters of Public Communication and a colleague when working as a casual tutor and lecturer at UTS. I am excited to have Jim as a guest on this episode of Smoke Signal. Jim has many passions – he truly believes society is communication - and among other things I was thrilled to talk about three of them in this podcast: the changing nature of Public Communication education; measurement and evaluation; and organisational listening. In the news this episode I look at the recent investigative series into the state of journalism by Mumbrella. The statistic that just one quarter of journalism grads find a job in media was one that resonated with me. I have long been concerned that while journalism courses continue to rise in popularity, and universities continue to pump our journalism grads, the number of journalist roles is falling. So where will they all go? This, to me, is an issue nut just for the journalism profession or PR practitioners but society more broadly as we should be encouraging and supporting the next generation of journalists.

In this episode I speak to newly appointed National President of the Public Relations Institute of Australia – Sylvia Bell. Sylvia, who originally studied science, has for the past two decades worked in both in-house and consulting roles across the education, health and sciences sector. As a former member on the NSW PRIA Council, a fellow of PRIA and Chief Judge of the Golden Target Awards for the past two years, Sylvia brings a deep knowledge and passion for the industry. Sylvia has a clear mission in her role as PRIA President to advocate for the profession and be an authentic voice for the trends emerging in communications not only among the direct membership but the broader corporate community.

Why after 120 years don’t we have a universally accepted definition of public relations? According to UK pracademic (practitioner and academic) Andy Green it is because we have been asking the wrong question. Andy is spearheading what has been called, The Dublin Conversation. As described in my earlier blog There’s something going on in the world of comms, this includes proposed definitions of PR, comms, advertising and brand and is a starting point for 100 conversations in 100 days. After seven years of struggling to arrive at a definition for public relations that was fit for purpose, Andy finally realised that previous thinking was blinkered in trying to define PR in isolation rather than as part of a bigger universe. In this podcast, Andy discusses a new theoretic PR canvas, based on the work by Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman who identified that five things govern all social interaction – being known, liked, trusted, front of mind and being talked about. According to Andy, and as detailed in the Dublin Conversation, these conditions form the foundation stone of any communication campaign as you are invariably looking to do these five things.  On that canvas – which we are all operating whether you are in public relations, advertising, digital marketing or any ‘comms’ role – there are then four channels of interaction: paid, earned, social, owned (PESO). In this world of ‘comms’, advertising and PR work in polarity of each other with advertising being born out of the need to be known and PR out of the need to be trusted. In other words, advertising leads with paid (PESO) and PR has earned at its core (ESOP). At the heart of PR is earned trust and PR five prime activities: Managing the activity of earning, growing and measuring trust Champion of corporate listening to its wider environment Advice and counsel on brand character Building social capital Managing narrative, storytelling, media relations, and content marketing or inbound PR The reality of existing PR practice is that we tend to focus on the last point, so by broadening this out further creates a whole new extended platform of future PR practice The good news, this validates existing global definitions of public relations but also gives us as practitioners greater clarity and focus on what we can/should deliver in practice and always with earned trust as the cornerstone of what we do.

At its core, public relations is a set of vocational skills that can best be learnt by doing, that is the view of Sarah Mason who shares with us the mission of HSPR in helping improve the professional standards of the PR industry. HSPR is the only Registered Training Organisation dedicated to the PR sector and helps deliver professional development to emerging practitioners, career progressors, senior executives and career changes who may be coming to PR for the first time later in life. Sarah has a clear passion for the professionalisation of the PR sector which she believes will help attract a more diverse workforce, new ideas, new thinking and new perspectives and help keep good practitioners in the industry longer by supporting them to do great work. In this discussion we touch on: What makes a good grad: It is all about attitude and a willingness to keep learning How to teach ethics: It’s common sense – do as you would be done by and be true to yourself Skills that as an industry that we need to get better at: Creative thinking is our industry’s currency. Creativity is really the only thing that can differentiate all Diversity: we need to step out of our echo chamber and build a deeper understanding of our audience Digital and social: skillset remains the same just broadening opportunity to engage with stakeholders

In this episode I speak with Trevor Young, a.k.a. the PR Warrior  Trevor is well known on the PR circuit, having been a practitioner for over two decades, a regular speaker at industry events and one of Australia’s earliest PR bloggers and tweeters. His blog, PR Warrior is still ranked in the world’s top 100 PR blogs to follow in 2018 (#33). Trevor talks about the need for brands (and individuals) to embrace content marketing as a way to deeply engage and influence consumers.

In this episode Andy Eklund, a.k.a. the Creativity Coach, takes us into the wonderful world of creativity. According to Andy, who defines business creativity as the act of combining two different ideas in an unusual way to create something unique, useful or new, creativity is one of the most important life skills that everyone should learn. He believes it should also be taught in schools! Creativity seems and ever more important skill for PR practitioners where creativity is becoming more and more vital as brands look to differentiate themselves and cut through the clutter. Andy currently runs his own creativity coaching business, having held both in house and agency roles, including Global Creative Director for Burson Marsteller in the 1990’s where he was involved in 4-6 brainstorms a day. According to Andy brainstorming gets a bad wrap. In reality brainstorming is simply the act of your brain coming up with an idea – whether that’s in a formal team setting or a chat in the hallway. Some of his tips on brainstorms that he discusses in this podcast are: •You need ice breakers to help participants become creative •Understand 90/10 rule – it’ll take at least 10 ideas to get one good one •To brainstorm in the absence of the audience is a complete waste of time We also discuss the fact that while creativity is a right side of the brain, it also requires discipline and consistency that is left brain thinking. And relax, creativity can be taught, you just have to really want to learn. If you enjoy this podcast then do be sure to check out Andy’s blog www.andyeklund.com where you can get a lot more tips on creativity.

In episode 1 of Smoke Signal we speak with Editor-in-Chief and CEO of the Holmes Report, Arun Sudhaman. “Bell Pottinger is probably the biggest story that I will cover in my career,” reveals Arun in episode one of Smoke Signal. The demise of the venerable Bell Pottinger brand was not only the biggest story in the last 12 months but of his whole career, a big call for a journalist who has been covering the PR sector for over a decade. As well as giving an inside view into the collapse of Bell Pottinger, Arun shares his views on some of the key themes that he's seeing as major influences impacting the practice of PR globally - the emergence of purpose as a key driver for brands; the increased role of data and analytics in creating and measuring campaigns; and the impact technology now plays in everything we do in PR today. While the quality of PR campaigns across the globe has never been higher, as seen in awards winners being given globally, Arun believes there still a breadth of work that is "relatively average" that continues to plague the industry. The cricket loving Arun (he hosts a podcast on this too), also shares his views on the increased presence of creativity; the role of awards in the PR sector; and the rise and rise of crisis management as an important facet in the PR toolkit. In this episode we also take a look 'inside the news' at one of the more bizarre stories of recent times with ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, telling a group of communications professionals that he  "hates journalists and is over mainstream media". Enjoy episode one of Smoke Signal.