TalkTrack

It’s measurement month – again – and (off the) TalkTrack is back to answer your most pressing questions. This year we’re going to take a deep dive into the difference between measurement and evaluation, the challenges of accurately measuring the impact of communications on reputation and the possibilities that artificial intelligence offers to the communications industry.This special episode is a little longer than usual, but is well worth it for this important discussion on what really constitutes the cutting edge of measurement today. Jjoin John Croll, CEO & Co-Founder at Truescope, Asha Oberoi, Insights & Reporting Lead at Streem and Mark Weiner, Chief Insights Officer, Cision for this entertaining discussion with (off the) TalkTrack host Shane Allison, CEO at Public Address.

2020 hasn’t been fun for anyone. Well – apart from those who invested in purchasing pandemic insurance, before the pandemic. For the season finale, we’re going to look back at what we’ve lost as an industry, look at where the industry is going and the tech stack that will take us there.Hear from Stuart Wragg, Strategy Director at Herd MSL, Jye Smith, Director at Doublestar and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu as they dive into the future for the industry, discussing everything from strategy, to media relations and more.

The past ten years has been fairly revolutionary for the public relations and communications industry. Sling & Stone has been there for every moment of it, and to celebrate turning ten this week, (off the) TalkTrack is joined by CEO & Founder Vuki Vujasinovic.Hear from Vuki and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu as they dive into what ten years at the bleeding edge of technology and startup culture is like, the challenges of attracting and retaining talent, and the next evolution in communications.

The pandemic has placed demands on every aspect of business operations across the world, and the responsibility for managing these pressures and then communicating them inevitably lands on the CEO.So what has it been like leading through these unprecedented times, how has it changed the C-suites approach to communications, and what is it like launching a new product in the middle of the first global pandemic in 100 years? Join Fred Schebesta, founder of Finder and co-hosts Mylan Vu and Shane Allison as they dive into the expected and unexpected challenges of leading through a pandemic.

The government’s cutting funding, the media landscape is shrinking and yet, communications is more than ever playing a critical part in society, through our role in public health, corporate communications and change management.Join Symon Madry, Practice Head, Technology & Business at Red, and co-hosts Mylan Vu and Shane Allison to discuss whether it really is a good time to become a PR professional and the opportunities for graduates and interns in a pandemic.

We’re starting to see some green shoots in PR agencies with an increase in hiring and movement across a range of sectors. But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t challenges in the sector, with communications strategies up-ended by the second wave.Join Skye Lambley, Group MD at Herd MSL and co-hosts Mylan Vu and Shane Allison to discuss the change of pace in agency, the rebalancing of the communications workforce and pitching during one of the greatest crisis the world has faced in one hundred years.

There is an industry stereotype that journos find PRs frustrating and annoying, and vice versa. Over the past six months, COVID has accelerated some of the structural changes in the media landscape we’ve faced over the past ten years, with restructuring, redundancies and titles being closed as a result.This, coupled with the broader definition of 'PR,' continues to force the journo/PR relationship to evolve. Where does this relationship sit now, and where will it head in the future? Join Azadeh Williams, Founder and Managing Partner, AZK Media, David Skapinker Head of ANZ, Telum Media and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu as they unpack the current state of play and predict where the industry will be moving.

Join Shane Allison, CEO of Public Address and the co-host of (off the) TalkTrack, Mylan Vu, founder of Vu Consulting, Leigh McClusky, PRIA National President and Richard Brett, CEO of opr for a discussion on education, communications and the skills required from PR graduates in the future.This week (off the) TalkTrack is diving into the question of why Dan Tehan, the Education Minister, wants an agriculture graduate writing his press release, the future of communications degrees and the impact on the profession as a result of the costs of an arts degree going up by 113%.

It's no secret - the public relations landscape isn't particularly diverse. Does this feed into the types of people that the public relations industry puts forward as spokespeople and impact our landscape? Similarly, would more diversity in the journalism industry impact what everyday Australians associate with concepts like 'leader', 'expert' and 'trustworthy'?Join Kimberley Lee, Director of BRAND PR SOCIAL, and Antoinette Lattouf, Director of Media Diversity Australia and Senior Journalist at Network 10, and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu to discuss how diversity – or lack thereof – in the PR, communications and journalism industries and shaping our society.

The COVID-19 crisis has made and broken many agencies and shifted the traditional agency/in-house debate as many professionals look for the stability and security of in-house roles. What does the future of the agency look like, and who will be staffing it?Join David Brain, Co-Founder of Sticky Beak and Board Member of Enero Group, and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu to discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the agency landscape, the skills to get ahead and stay ahead in this environment and how the industry will adjust to stay relevant and profitable long-term.

Public Relations and Advertising have never really seen eye-to-eye – but increasingly we’re seeing creative ideas executed through earned media taking centre stage in awards, brand campaigns and marketing budgets.Join Harrie Jack, Head of Creative Services at Magnum & Co, David Coupland Group Strategy Director at Haus , and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu to discuss the role of creativity in communications, the battle with adland for creative ownership and how to deliver the best creative results in communications.To learn more about the new PRIA x Compton School partnership and the Creative Advisory Panel David and Harrie are on, visit: https://www.pria.com.au/events/pria-compton-school/

The world is filled with COVID-19 crises currently - with many agencies helping their clients prepare for any eventuality, and in-house teams drafting up contingency plans for the end of the world.Join Taryn Williams, CEO and founder of theright.fit, David Leahy the Head of Marketing and Communications at JDRF, and co-hosts Shane Allison and Mylan Vu to discuss whether there really is a need for crisis planning for every situation, unpick the best and worst of COVID-19 comms and dive into how - and when - communications will get back to normal.

We're back!Talk Track, the podcast for the PR, communications and marketing industries, is back for a second season with a twist. This year, Shane Allison is joined by Mylan Vu as Co-Host, and the rebranded (off the) Talk Track is back from Tuesday12 May for an initial season of 10 episodes. This season will focus on the news and opinions in the world of communications which are all too often swept under the rug or put in the "too hard" basket.Shane and Mylan will be joined by in-house and agency industry leaders to discuss everything from visas, diversity and talent, to salaries, burnout and the persistent allure of in-house jobs. Listen in for an exclusive preview of Season 2.

It’s measurement month! The Public Relations Institute of Australia and the International association for the measurement and evaluation of communication host measurement month every year in November. It’s a time to dive deep into one of the most crucial – and often overlooked – parts of communications in practice.Join Stuart Wragg, Strategy Director at Herd MSL, Symon Madry Practice Head, Technology and Business at Red Havas AU, David Leahy, PR Lead at JDRF and host Shane Allison, CEO and Founder of Public Address, as they dive in to the thorny side of measurement and discuss what you should be measuring, how you should measure it and the skills required for measurement in the 21st Century.TalkTrack would like to commend the PRIA's ECC for organising measurement month. Following feedback from the ECC that our host Shane Allison's comments could be interpreted as advocating for the return to Advertising Value Equivalents (AVE's), we would like to clarify that at 15:35, Shane is advocating for an industry discussion on the best way to report and communicate value to executives and boards, not for the use of AVEs. For more information on why you shouldn't use AVEs, AMEC has a great article here and PRIA has helpful guidance here.

The Melbourne Cup. Yet another public holiday for Victoria, an afternoon off work for the rest of the country and an absolute mystery to the rest of the world.This year the Melbourne Cup attracted more than a crowd to the races – controversy over the treatment of retired horses, discussions about gambling and the six horses that have died since 2013 participating in the Cup caused a large number of Australians to say nup to the cup. Join Susan Redden-Makatoa, Executive Director at Temple Search, Benjamin King, CSR and Public Affairs Manager at Finder and TalkTrack host Shane Allison, CEO and Founder of Public Address as we dive into the controversy, tackling the communications response, what employers’ actions demonstrate about the cup and how a company’s operational response about these issues can speak volumes about their purpose.

Podcasting. You’d have to have been living under an internet-free rock to have missed the proliferation of podcasting in Australia and around the world. This wave of new content has created opportunities and threats for public relations practitioners around the world.Join podcast producer Daren Lake, Smoke Signal host Paul Cheal and TalkTrack host Shane Allison as they take a deep dive into the ins and outs of podcasting for PR professional. We’ll tackle how to create a podcast for your company or a client, how to come up with a podcast concept and how to pitch a guest into a podcast.

Porque no los dos? Motherhood and PR, can you do both?Agency life is known for being fast-paced and demanding. Finding balance as a working parent amongst that can be hard (is there even such a thing?).While we’ve come a long way — equal rights are getting better, flexible working is for most the norm, and the idea of both parents working or dad staying home is much more accepted — it’s only natural to question how having a baby will impact your career.In this special edition of TalkTrack, guest host Clementine Crowther, Partner at Loam Partners gets into the nitty gritty of returning to work after starting a family. With guests Skye Lambley, MD atN2N Communications, Kelly Stambanis, GM at Thrive Communications and Carla Webb, Senior Account Director at Edelman dive into the age-old question ‘Can PR agency life and motherhood really go hand in hand?”.

opr’s Futures report is one of the hotly anticipated trends reports that sets off discussion on the year ahead and how agencies and companies will respond. This episode of TalkTrack dives into the Decade of Do, how ugly is beautiful again and the meta-advertising phenomena, all of which are in the fifth annual Futures report which examines 19 new insights that will shape marketing and communications in the next decade, with the report’s authors, the CEO of opr Richard Brett and Chief Creative Officer Bridget Jung, and our host Shane Allison, CEO and co-founder of Public Address.

2GB's bad, no terrible, no really awful week, what went wrong for PwC and Facebook, and one of the perils of working in PR - whether you manage an in-house team or work in an agency, public relations professionals tend to be demanding and not leave a significant amount of time to spend future-gazing or pondering the trends that will shape our industry.Fortunately there’s a range of resources out there for PR professionals to pick up and utilise in their day-to-day work, from university research reports like the USC Annenberg’s Global Communications Report through to reports from Australian and global agencies on the trends that will shape the evolution of PR. Join Jackie Crossman, one of the Authors of Red Havas’ Res Sky Predictions, David Leahy, PR Consultant at Volt and PR Lead at JDRF, and David Skapinker, the Head of ANZ at Telum Media for a deep dive into the PR news of the fortnight.

Public Relations seems to be the home of the cynic – whether by nature, nurture or conditioning, cynics seem over-represented in the profession. Woolworth’s Ooshie’s campaign has taken Australia by storm, resulting in positive, and negative, coverage in every major outlet across the country.When the supermarket chain launched a new green Discovery Garden campaign, it piqued the inner cynic in Karen Porter, the founder and creative director at social-impact-led Underground Communications. Join TalkTrack as we discuss Ooshies, ethics and cynicism in the Public Relations industry.

While TalkTrack is on a two week break, we thought we'd share one of our host's favourite episodes with you. TalkTrack will be back with a fresh episode on the 3rd of September.We all love to pitch for new business. Or do we? In episode four of TalkTrack, Shane Allison, CEO of Public Address, is joined by Lori Susko, Managing Partner - PR and Social at Creature Agency; Andy West, Group Chief Development Officer at Hotwire; and David Leahy, Creative Lead at Sefiani Communications Group/ PR Lead at JDRF who discusssed a favourite topic of communications professionals: Pitching. The pitching process can be exhilarating, frustrating, rage-inducing, and incredibly rewarding. With failure rates for new business pitches far outnumbering success stories, how can agencies make better use of their time?Join our guests as they discuss: the merits of being brave under the pressure of a demanding client; tools and resources to avoid wasting time on unwinnable pitches; can industry bodies play a role in alleviating the pressure to pitch? Is there a possibility of agencies charging for pitches?Andy West from Hotwire on understanding the prospect's intentions prior to pitching: "Stalk on LinkedIn. It's one of the most valuable resources in a new business pitcher's armoury."This episode first came out on 15 April, but we're re-sharing it for your listening pleasure while TalkTrack is on a short break.Lori Susko from Creature Agency discussing the industry-wide failure rates of pitching: "70% of time is spent on work that goes nowhere. If you put a money figure on that."David Leahy from Sefiani/ JDRF in regards to multiple agencies lining up to pitch to the same client: "I think we're our own worst enemies in that respect."Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

Measurement, metrics and return on investment – these are key challenges facing public relations and marketing today. After a fortnight where the Australian media industry has been focusing on broader measurement with PwC coming under fire for their report for Facebook, TalkTrack dives into the measurement picture.Join Bessie Hassan, Head of PR & Communications at Finder and Jaime Nelson, Managing Director – Strategy and Marketing Services at Hotwire, and our host Shane Allison, CEO and co-founder at Public Address as they share their perspectives on measurement in PR & Marketing and Uber’s attempt to spin their way out of trouble on AM radio.

The great career path debate for PR professionals has always been in-house vs. agency. Both have always offered different experiences and opportunities, causing great schisms in the PR community as the merits of the different career approaches are discussed and debated at length.Recently the debate seems to have shifted in favour of a career in-house, something which spurred Susan Redden-Makatoa at Temple Search to take to the opinion pages of Mumbrella to defend the choice of a career in agency.Join our guests Susan Redden Makatoa, Director, Search at Temple Executive Search, · David Leahy, PR Lead, JDRF/PR Consultant, Volt Bank and Alexis Carroll, Senior Account Director, DEC PR as they take a deep dive into the schism and explore whether an agency career path really stacks up in 2019, whether the agency model needs to evolve to met the needs of new professionals and whether influencers are really worth it after all?

Programmatic advertising is under more pressure than ever before, with consumers increasingly demanding control of their data – and the big global players increasingly delivering it to them. From Sign In with Apple, major changes to cookies from every major web-browser; and GDPR to the ACCC’s final report into the Digital Platforms Inquiry, the online world we inhabit is being shaken up from top to bottom.Join our guests Paul McIntyre, Executive Editor at Mi-3 Group and Lori Susko, Managing Partner, PR & Social at 303MullenLowe and our host Shane Allison, founder and CEO at Public Address, as they discuss the opportunities for PR agencies in a post-programmatic world, are Australia’s anonymous comment sections a blessing or a curse, and is it appropriate for BWS, one of the largest liquor retailers in Australia to back Dry July, or is this just more cynical marketing?Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR.Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

Today’s media environment is one of rapid change. As a result, PR practitioners are under constant pressure to adapt their methods and work harder to reach the same audience as ten years ago. If today’s landscape is proving challenging for highly experienced communicators, how can someone in the early stages of their career flourish in such a high-pressure environment?Join Andrea Philips, Account Manager at Red Havas and 2018 PRIA Golden Target Future Leader, Tristan Courtney-Prior, a final year UTS Communications student and our host Shane Allison, co-founder and CEO of Public Address as they provide insights, advice, and discuss: is there such thing as “best practice” in today’s industry? Are universities adequately preparing graduates to walk into the current communications environment? The role of confidence in an individual’s career journey; and the essential skills communicators should develop to facilitate their career progression.Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR.Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

Australians have been shocked and surprised by the outcome of the last federal election, with most polls predicting that Labor would romp home to a victory. We’ve now seen Scott Morrison fill his first cabinet as elected Prime Minister, Albo elected as Labor leader and some awkward shuffling of chairs in the Labor caucus as a new shadow frontbench is assigned. Join Michael Koziol, Political Correspondent for fr The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Chris Lonergan, founder and Managing Director of Lonergan Research, DavidSkapinker, Australian Managing Director of Telum and TalkTrack host Shane Allison for adiscussion on the failures of polling and how this will impact public relations.Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR.Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

Awards. Love them or hate them, PR Agencies live and die by them. With entries for the Public Relations Institute of Australia’s Golden Target Awards opening soon, we’re gathering the experts together to discuss what makes a great award entry, the pros and cons of entering Awards and the impact they can have on your career.Join our host Shane Allison, CEO and co-founder of Public Address and two of last year’s nation winners – Lisa Burling, founder of LBPR and Brian Olson, Communications Manager at Taylors Wines, as well as the new Chair of the Golden Target Awards judging panel, Jackie Crossman, Executive Director of Red Agency to talk all things Golden Target.www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR.Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

Agencies are faced with the eternal debate – to focus on securing more big-ticket projects or steady retainers from trusted clients. This is being felt more than ever in agencies across Australia, and the world, as clients make a choice to shift more of their marketing – and PR – budgets towards projects. Dan Beaumont, MD of The Royals, recently wrote about this in Mumbrella, forecasting a ‘post-retainer world’ where the cyclical shift towards projects is being felt globally and locally, and may have a lasting impact on our business models. Join our host Shane Allison, CEO and co-founder of Public Address, Dan Beaumont, Mylan Vu, MD of Hotwire Global and Leilani Abels, MD of Thrive PR to discuss how this impact will be felt across the agency world, and what PR agencies can learn from the advertising models on the front of this.Read Dan's article here: https://mumbrella.com.au/what-will-happen-to-the-client-agency-relationship-in-a-post-retainer-world-575812Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR.Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

There's more to voting than a democracy sausage, with the political show of 2019 taking up more airtime than any other major international - or national - event. How should PR professionals respond to an election campaign, what are the opportunities and is anyone even interested in elections anymore? In this episode our host Shane Allison from Public Address will be unpacking everything that you need to know about the election campaign as a communications professional with Jody Fassina from Insight Strategy, and Steven Reilley from Lewis Global Communications, who will also will be sharing the results of the Global Marketing Engagement Tracker. Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

We all love to pitch for new business. Or do we? In episode four of TalkTrack, Shane Allison, CEO of Public Address, is joined by Lori Susko, Managing Partner - PR and Social at Creature Agency; Andy West, Group Chief Development Officer at Hotwire; and David Leahy, Creative Lead at Sefiani Communications Group/ PR Lead at JDRF to discuss a favourite topic of communications professionals: Pitching. The pitching process can be exhilarating, frustrating, rage-inducing, and incredibly rewarding. With failure rates for new business pitches far outnumbering success stories, how can agencies make better use of their time? Join our guests as they discuss: the merits of being brave under the pressure of a demanding client; tools and resources to avoid wasting time on unwinnable pitches; can industry bodies play a role in alleviating the pressure to pitch? Is there a possibility of agencies charging for pitches? Andy West from Hotwire on understanding the prospect's intentions prior to pitching: "Stalk on LinkedIn. It's one of the most valuable resources in a new business pitcher's armoury." Lori Susko from Creature Agency discussing the industry-wide failure rates of pitching: "70% of time is spent on work that goes nowhere. If you put a money figure on that." David Leahy from Sefiani/ JDRF in regards to multiple agencies lining up to pitch to the same client: "I think we're our own worst enemies in that respect." Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

A modern crisis bears many of the hallmarks of crisis from a prior age - companies or individuals do something that's unacceptable to society and need to respond. But crisis today have a different velocity, and a different impact on brands today then previously thanks to social and digital media. Join Paul Cheal, the Managing Director of Honner and the host of Smoke Signal, and Mylan Vu, the Managing Director of Hotwire Australia to hear about Hotwire's new report 'High-Stakes Leadership in a post-B2B world' where our guests discuss: What is a post-B2B world? How does this manifest in communications and issues/crisis? The future of issues management and authenticity in a crisis. To access the Hotwire report 'High-Stakes Leadership in a post-B2B world' follow this link https://www.hotwireglobal.com/feature/high-stakes-leadership-post-b2b-world, and to listen to Smoke Signal - a PR podcast - follow this link https://smokesignalpodcast.com/ Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

PR has been around for over 100 years, but explaining your job in PR to your parents always feels like talking to a martian about life on earth. Does this mean the PR industry has a PR problem? What is it and how can we fix it? Co-hosted by Symon Madry from Red Agency, and joined by special guests Susan Redden-Makatoa from Temple Search and PRIA, and Clementine Crowther, Sling & Stone's newly appointed Marketing Communications Manager. www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.

What is the role of communications in solving the trust deficit? In this episode of TalkTrack, Shane Allison, CEO of Public Address, sits down with Richard Brett, CEO of OPR Agency; Nicole Webb, Founder and CEO of The Impact Agency; and Craig Badings, Partner of SenateSHJ to discuss the role of public relations in rebuilding trust in these uncertain times. This episode offers critical insights into the importance of purpose-driven communication and the responsibilities of communicators in today's decentralised economy of trust. Our guests ask: how can we as communicators counsel and manage our clients in an increasingly transparent environment? What role can PR play in restoring authenticity, honesty, and trust on behalf of our clients? Craig Badings from SenateSHJ on why 2019 is the time to be in communications: "We live in the most exciting era for PR professionals given the amount that's available to us in reaching different stakeholder groups." 03:23. Richard Brett from opr on the need for greater transparency across every communication channel and at the front line: "Everything is transparent today. We have an absolute duty to be truthful at all times." Nicole Webb from Impact Agency on the importance of selecting clients who have a strong understanding of the role of PR: "Any client that comes to us and uses PR as a verb we walk away" 14:38. Visit www.publicaddress.com.au to learn more about how Public Address can transform your media relations campaigns - taking out the hassle which we now associate with this part of PR. Visit www.pria.com.au to learn more about how the Public Relations Institute of Australia can help your career in public relations.