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Are our PR, comms and corporate activities driving positive or negative perception? Are our key messages cutting through and resonating? How are competitor announcements being received? What are the emerging risks that might impact us? What is the sentiment towards us internationally? What is my company famous for (in the minds of people we care about)? Are we part of the conversations that we want to be driving? How does that compare to our competitors and aspiring peers? How do I get an answer to the questions that matter to my business? What is driving the coverage we receive? What are the influential voices in our space saying and how is it affecting us? Is it positive or negative? What questions are our customers trying to answer? How do I make sure we spot oncoming risks or threats early? How do I measure the quality of my work and report that effectively to stakeholders? How do I diagnose them and build an appropriate response to them? How much do early warning signs of risk matter? How are our business activities impacting our reputation? What are the rising issues and opportunities that we should be aware of? What impact is our reputation having on our business? How are our perception and reputation changing over time? Signal AI. The Strategic Communications tool that uses artificial intelligence to interpret the global media and turn it into insight.
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WELCOME Nearly there. On the home stretch. Soon 2020 will be no more…
his time last year I was writing about how silly humour and cuteness becomes a lot more popular during hard times. The general feeling was that 2019 had been a tough year and it was a conscious decision to have something light and fun on the front page. Fortunately Hello Kitty was there to give Influence the cutest cover ever. Now, after all that 2020 has had to throw at us, cute and funny seems less appropriate. The pandemic has been so universal in its disruption that it has affected virtually everyone, and in more ways than are easily countable. Things won’t be the same, and with so many areas of the business world hitting the reset button, in this edition we look at what kind of working landscape will be left behind, and how PR will be affected by these changes. Public relations, that most flexible of disciplines, has proven its worth as many business leaders have noticed — it took the staff having to W.F.H. to make communicating with them seem important (for some, at least). Check out Bea Buckley’s feature on the Internal Comms’ coming of age on p7. I’m writing this while listening to Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland at the CIPR’s National Conference. He makes some excellent points on how we as consumers make our decisions — ‘If you change the emotion, you change the behaviour’. Yet often the psychology involved is missed out when the metrics are measured.
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ROB SMITH Editor, Influence
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As communicators, psychology is something we need to be aware of; in an era where emotions seem only to run high, understanding why people feel the way they do has taken on new relevance. As we reach the home stretch of 2020, Collins Dictionary has announced Lockdown as the word of the year. Chosen because it “encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people”, it’s hard to argue against a more fitting word — though I’ll try. I would like to suggest ‘empathy’, an area of psychology that brands have struggled with, as we see on p16. While probably not used as often as lockdown, it is a concept we have all had to become more familiar with. Whether it’s understanding what colleagues or clients we are separated from are going through, or emerging social causes that have come to light, being able to understand what another person is going through has been vital to getting through this year together. With that in mind and at the start of the season of goodwill, I would like to remind you all of the fantastic work that the CIPR’s benevolent fund, iprovision, does for practitioners in need. Find out more at https://cipr.co.uk/iprovision and if you can spare a donation, it would be most welcome.
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INFLUENCE / Q4 2020 / issue 20 / cipr.co.uk
MAG IN A 6 MINUTE
INTERNAL COMMS Investigating the vital role of internal comms – and its renewed importance in these challenging times.
CONTRIBUTORS
BEA BUCKLEY
SAM BURNE JAMES
P7
P11
Internal comms teams have risen to the challenge
Is it time to re-evaluate the value public relations brings to the table?
ROSE STOKES
AZ CHOWDHURY
P27
P38
Responding to a more socially responsible world
Unlocking the future of lobbying
VALENTINA KRISTENSEN P42
Is the handshake over?
With so many areas of the business world hitting the reset button, in this edition we will look at what kind of working landscape will be left behind, and how PR will be affected by these changes.
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VALUE RESET PR needs to find new ways of demonstrating its importance if it wants to keep its seat at the top table.
ROB SMITH, EDITOR
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Are you as excited by the cover’s tech wizardry as we are? We want to hear from you on our new social media channels: @InfluencePRMag influenceonline.co.uk info@cipr.co.uk
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ENGAGING WITH EMPATHY Marketing should engage with society empathically – but it must be authentic.
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IF IT AIN’T WOKE — FIX IT
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Consistent, fact-based messaging can really save the day in a crisis, as the NHBF have discovered.
In a more socially responsible world, PR needs to respond accordingly and make sure company values are reflected in its behaviour and messaging. It’s time for companies and businesses to practice what they preach.
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CRISIS COMMS After the wake-up call of Covid 19, we need to have resilient crisis planning in place for the future.
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COVID CAREER CHANGE Recruitment strategies are adapting, and its important now more than ever that the value of PR is made clear.
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FUTURE OF LOBBYING Lobbyists can meet the challenges of the pandemic with tech and authentic human rapport working side-by-side.
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ROCK AT ONLINE MEETINGS A crash course in video-call etiquette, and how to get the most out of your online meetings.
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BACK STORY Is it the end of days for the old-fashioned handshake? What comes next?
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INTERNAL COMMS—
COMING OF AGE?
BY BEA BUCKLEY
The start of this decade has brought unique challenges to communications teams. lot of focus has been placed on internal communications as businesses have pedalled hard to keep colleagues up to date on Covid-19’s changing regulations. Offices have emptied and colleagues have been furloughed, dramatically changing the look and feel of our workplaces. I have spoken to a range of colleagues from diverse industries, and it’s clear from the feedback they are getting that internal comms has risen to these challenges. IC teams are working in true partnership with CEOs and C-suite Directors, and providing much-needed clarity and vision to employees.
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It would be unfair on the internal comms discipline to lay this success at Covid’s door alone, though elements of our ways of working have been accelerated by our ‘new normal’. Internal comms has been broadening, proving its value and boosting its impact for some time. In other words, internal comms has come of age. HR NO MORE Catherine Steele, Communications Director at Vodafone, believes all communications disciplines have changed dramatically during her 25-year career. She remembers sending press releases out by fax, and praises the entire function for becoming more targeted and increasing its scope. Of internal comms, she says: “It used to be a small, narrow function and often part of HR, detached from external comms. Today, it’s about the whole employee experience. It’s arguably the most critical discipline; a company is nothing without its people.” The principles of internal comms have developed over the years. Richard Walden, Head of Internal Comms at Heathrow, recalls that, 20 years ago, a big focus was on delivering one-way comms in the form of email newsletters, colleague magazines and articles on the company intranet. It’s now more about listening and creating a dialogue, communicating frontline views back to leadership and responding to their feedback. Walden says: “Internal comms is no longer just a post box. It’s much more strategic, and team members are respected for their expertise.” There is also a great emphasis on authenticity. It’s not enough for purposes and values to be words you see on posters. Leaders need to practice what they preach, and internal comms plays a big part in coaching and influencing them, to enable them to get the best results from their own communications. Cat Holland is Head of Communications at SES Water, the UK’s smallest water company, with just 350 employees. She believes passionately in the importance of authenticity and says: “It’s not just about delivering communications. It’s about the whole culture of an organisation. If you say you’re serious about wellbeing, you can’t rely on gimmicks like free fruit on a Friday; you’ve got to follow through
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with the initiatives that will really make the difference.” The skillsets of IC teams have evolved accordingly. At Heathrow, stakeholder management is of huge importance. A recent restructure of the internal comms team has facilitated a greater focus on analytics, which they are using to proactively plan ahead. The same approach is being reflected on the agency side, too, with strategic heads required to fulfil clients’ needs. Joel O’Connor, Creative Director at AB, recognises that briefs are coming to his team much earlier in the process than they used to. Internal comms teams, and therefore agencies, are consulted right at the start of an issue, and tasked with creating a strategic way forward. O'Connor believes this has pushed the standards of internal comms: “We’re much cleverer these days. Because of information overload we have to be to the point, with everything feeding back to the central strategy, vision and values.” TIME FOR TECH Of course, technology has played a large part in the development of internal comms. At Vodafone, Workplace is the go-to channel for their employees. Social media has changed the feel of internal comms, which is now much more chatty and informal, less corporate, and has more user-generated content. These channels provide a great opportunity to generate human interest and get instant feedback, plus they’re a direct link between senior leaders and the frontline. Steele says: “It’s about taking information to where people go, and not forcing them to find you.” After all, who emails their friends these days when platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp are available? Walden recalls first tentatively testing out the live event function on Microsoft Teams for the monthly Heathrow senior manager call, rather than using an older conference call method. Now it’s the norm, and during the Covid-19 crisis, it’s been used to connect the Heathrow CEO and key business partners, including airlines, on regular video calls. SES Water have used Covid-19 as an opportunity. In a pre-Covid world, the team ran a Directors’ round table three
Technology shouldn’t take over the basics. We need to remember that people can get tech overload.
INTERNAL COMMS
A company is nothing without its people
times a year. In 2020, they’ve all happened via video call with the added benefit that they’ve been able to reach more people — including shift workers who would not be able to attend in person. Holland has a word of caution for our newfound dependence on tech, though. “Technology shouldn’t take over the basics,” she says. “While we need to support colleagues in using the technology, we need to remember that people can get tech overload. There is a balance to be struck, and some things are still better face-to-face. I can’t easily detect body language over the phone or on a video call, an important indicator of someone’s wellbeing. “We’ve also made the decision to postpone our awards ceremony. I know some businesses have delivered things like this virtually, but for us we feel it’s the right thing to try and do this event in person.” IT’S ALL IN THE MIX Though so many were pushing for more home working before Covid, the consensus seems to be that the novelty has now worn off and hours of video meetings are making the working days exhausting. Annique Simpson, Change Communications Business Partner at social housing business A2Dominion Group, agrees that we need to be mindful about our channel use. “We need to understand how to optimise the use of technology,” she says. “We need to know what the best conditions are for using it, and that will be different for every business. These channels will still be around in years to come, so it’s important we’re able to change things up and keep it fresh, so people don’t get zoomed out.” While some admit they’ve only just scratched the surface of what tech could do for them, it’s agreed that a mixture of face-to-face interaction and technology is needed in future. There is a consensus, too, amongst Executive leaders. Their feedback on their internal comms teams includes words like ‘trusted, critical, highly respected.’ It’s great to see internal comms’ hard work and proactive development of skills getting the recognition it deserves — and bringing real benefit to businesses.
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VALUE RESET With hard times looming and budgets threatened, is it time to re-evaluate the value public relations brings to the table?
BY SAM BURNE JAMES
R and comms: a strategic discipline never more valuable than in this year of uncertainty? Or a peripheral function whose quaint, superfluous outputs make it ripe for redundancies? As the world enters a new phase of Covid-fueled economic turmoil, it’s a multi-million-dollar question. The crisis’ emergence certainly gave PR a chance to shine. “A few months after we went into lockdown, a lot of comms people were basically saying they’d ‘had a good crisis’; they were feeling the benefits of having to deal with this,” says Amy Lawson, Global Head of Comms at financial software firm Sage. “As time has gone on, it has become a bit more nuanced. Businesses are coming to terms with what this all really means. ‘Empty the office, it has to be done in 48 hours, go’ is a very different ask to totally rethinking your business.” “The pandemic has reminded everyone of how valuable good communication is at times of crisis and change,” agrees Armand David, a director at Brands2Life. “But my honest assessment is that most organisations have been too busy engaging with the practical implications of the pandemic,
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and Brexit, to step back and think philosophically about comms, its role and its purpose. We’re heads down, doing. The time for reflection will come.” David believes comms’ core capabilities — “listening, interpreting, translating and communicating the stories necessary for our stakeholders” — haven’t changed fundamentally. But certain skills have become more relevant, such as supporting “good leadership comms, both internally and externally”. Budget cuts mean that resourcefulness — having to “do more with less” — is also coming to the fore, he adds. KNOWING VALUE Couldn’t PR ward off some of those cuts? Not without better measurement, according to Richard Bagnall, chair of evaluation body AMEC. “If you’re a business making budget cuts and you can’t understand the value PR brings, then it’s just a cost, and it’ll get cut. It may be that the work has some value, but if you can’t measure it, you will be fired. It is that simple,” he says. Bagnall and AMEC’s longstanding cry that PRs must ditch comfy “transactional, activity-based measurement” has never been more relevant. “All those charts look pretty, but the business you work for doesn’t care,” he warns. It’s not just measuring, but planning, in which PR must up its game, according to James Frayne, founding partner at Public First, which was recently given a significant contract by the Cabinet Office. He argues that PR has been slow to “catch on to the power of opinion research”, adding: “Only recently are they learning that those with the numbers dictate the strategy. Increasingly, CEOs and boards demand data-driven strategies. If you can’t deliver them, you’re not in the room when decisions are made.” It’s not just PR, argues Charlie Carpenter of Creativebrief. “Marketing teams in many brands are so lean and so stretched. Some organisations are going backwards in terms of generating real cultures of effectiveness in marketing teams,” Carpenter says. “It’s something that the whole industry should refocus on — I don’t think PR agencies should be uniquely worried.” CORPORATE AFFAIRS OF THE HEART Tom Rouse, a director at the agency Don’t Cry Wolf, agrees. “It’s not just PR — every comms discipline likes to talk those huge numbers,” he says. But Rouse acknowledges that measuring PR’s effectiveness can be uniquely challenging. “With consumer PR, it is relatively straightforward. But on corporate affairs and so on, it’s a lot more difficult. You can’t measure reputation as just one thing. I think we need to be specific — rather than
“CEO’S AND BOARDS DEMAND DATA-DRIVEN STRATEGIES. IF YOU CAN’T DELIVER THEM, YOU’RE NOT IN THE ROOM WHEN DECISIONS ARE MADE.” say we can do everything, with every client pick one area where you can add value.” One such area, he says, is “helping clients walk the walk as well as talk the talk” around sustainability or corporate responsibility. More sales-driven disciplines struggle with authenticity here — hence recent examples of tone-deaf purpose-washing. Corporates are willing to invest in this area — and PR teams can make this work. A recent campaign Rouse and Don’t Cry Wolf ran for peanut butter purveyor Meridian Foods, highlighting palm oil’s environmental footprint, is a case in point. Sue McIntosh, Meridian’s head of marketing, comments: “Marketing campaigns shouldn’t always be about generating short term value; at Meridian we’re playing the long game. We want to invest in the causes that matter now so that our customers stay with us in the future.” MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE PR professionals must hope that clients continue to have an appetite for work dealing in non-immediate monetary value and “the long game” — not least because the prospect of PR becoming entirely commoditised would do it a disservice. “We have to accept and arguably champion the fact that there will always be a part of our discipline which is that intangible, impossible to measure value of judgment. There is no point trying to pretend that you can get down to measuring every single activity,” says Lawson from Sage. But when so many comms teams and agencies are London-based, data and research is an important adjunct to that, argues Frayne. “Comms is always going to be a London-centric game. This is why comms need to obsess about opinion research — particularly qual[itative] research — which forces them to confront the realities of public opinion,” he says. That combination improves campaign effectiveness, argues former Dutch military intelligence officer Meike Wolf, now Edelman’s head of insights and impact in Amsterdam. She argues that the pandemic has “proven that shortterm nudging techniques don’t drive long-term behaviour change — for example, people going to the beach on a sunny day, or [not] remembering
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IF YOU TALK THE TALK, YOU NEED TO WALK THE WALK TOO
to wash their hands when life feels more normal”. Rather, campaigns need to begin “unleashing predictive modelling — or moving from situational awareness to situational understanding, as they call it in the military”. This approach will also help PRs win clients’ trust. “Incorporating us boffins before you build a marcomms strategy means you speak the language of increasingly data-focused clients and help them escalate issues which require critical investment in comms to the top table,” she says. Traditionally, PR has struggled to win round CMOs to the value of PR. CMOs, we hear time and again, just don’t ‘get’ PR. Is that still true? “Historically yes,” says John Rudaizky, global brand and marketing leader at advisory firm EY. “But today I would argue no: I don’t know a CMO today who doesn’t understand PR as a critical part of the mix.” Rudaizky feels 2020 has only heightened this. “I think this pandemic has been net positive for PR,” he says. “Companies have been managing these major crises and have had to look at it from a reputation and a people point of view — much of what PR is about is inspiring your own people.” IMPACT NOT ENGAGEMENT That said, Rudaizky challenges PR practitioners to do two things better to cement their value. The first is our old friend measurement, specifically “moving beyond engagement measurements to impact measurements”. The second, which he says applies to all marketing disciplines, is confidence in your particular specialism. “As a CMO you are buying confidence, so make sure you are playing in an area where you’re good enough, pitching based on your strength, and be able to evidence the impact that you are able to create,” he says. Creativebrief’s Carpenter agrees that the pandemic has been, at least to some extent, a boon for PR. Since it began, brands have been “cutting back significantly on media spend” and in turn recognising
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that PR offers “more bang for their buck”. Roughly 25% more of his conversations this year compared to last have involved brands seeking PR or earned media capabilities — including brands needing support around “purpose, social mission and in particular sustainability… and how brands can close the gap between what they say and how they act — because consumers are getting wise to this”. If PR is better understood by CMOs than we thought, what about the final frontier; CEOs? Irina Surdu, an associate professor at Warwick Business School, who specialises in reputation and communications, says that modules on many MBA courses today “were developed in the 70s or 80s, and do not contain PR”, adding: “If you’re doing a broad management degree, the likelihood is you won’t study PR. If you look at broad models of management, it is not even there.” This makes bosses of today and tomorrow unlikely to see PR as critical tools. Surdu suggests two remedies. The first would be to engage the CEOs of tomorrow — her colleagues specialising in HR, entrepreneurship, strategy and so forth have practitioners aplenty willing to come in as guest lecturers. But PR practitioners? Rarely, says Surdu. The discipline’s prestige and relevance suffers as a result. As for the CEOs of today, her advice is simplicity. PRs must get better at explaining their work in easily-digested methods to time-starved executives. “I don’t mean extremely detailed financial analysis, but highlighting the effect of your work — if you’re not able in a quick model or a quick diagram to explain, they’re not going to value you,” she explains. “That’s what the finance and legal people do.”
“WE HAVE TO ACCEPT AND ARGUABLY CHAMPION THAT FACT THAT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PART OF OUR DISCIPLINE WHICH IS THAT INTANGIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE TO MEASURE VALUE OF JUDGMENT.”
IKON/JOHN HOLCROFT
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THE INDEX
2020 has certainly been a year for the history books!
While we’re all still left waiting to see what the future will look like, brands must focus on the here and now. When it comes to marketing, this means pivoting like never before. Climate change, Covid-19, and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter have all intensely impacted our attitude to the world. Brands have had to be much more sensitive in their messaging, and as new data shows, this pivoting has not always been easy! In association with Sapio, Datasine recently researched 250 marketing decision makers in the UK. The findings revealed an industry in flux as it tries to respond empathically to a time of crisis and social change. Commercial Director Stefan Britton and CTO and Co-founder Chris Loy of Datasine share highlights from their research and six empathy tips for brands to follow:
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Timing is everything The collective mission While some brands were more successful with empathy than others, all brands surveyed are trying to be more empathic in their marketing:
Over 90% are trying to deliver more empathic campaigns CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT Nike launched its “For once, don’t do it” campaign in response to the Black Lives Matter protests, urging people to not just acknowledge the existence of racism in America, but to stand Everyone’s doing against it. Nike has a empathy, but to do it authentically you need strong history of condemning racism to be genuinely which enhances the empathic, not just authenticity of its say you are! communications. In 2018 the sportswear giant made Colin Kaepernick a face of its “Just Do It” campaign, after he was ousted from the NFL for kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and racism.
Showing genuine empathy in a short time frame is challenging. Many brands struggled to inject genuine empathy into their campaigns during Covid-19:
81% pivoted marketing campaigns due to Covid-19 but 60% of these found it difficult to do this ‘with empathy’ The top two barriers to responding faster to social change in campaigns were: • Lack of sentiment analysis (38%) • Lack of knowing which metrics best predict future success (38%) CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT Online clothing brand, Pretty Little Thing, recently came under fire for an illustration Never rush to be a part it shared on Twitter in of a conversation when it response to the killing of is a serious social issue. George Floyd. Posted Access to AI that allows you next to the words “We to test your campaign will understand we have a enable you to move forward duty of care to talk about with confidence, at a topics other than just competitive pace, without fashion and lifestyle risking long-term damage news” was an illustration to your brand. of white hand holding a “black” hand. However, followers were quick to point out that the black hand was literally black, including the fingernails. This was a well-intended campaign that was ruined by simply not testing the creative used. When it comes to responding to serious social issues, intentions are meaningless if the content can be deemed as offensive. Creative content is just as important as context.
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THE INDEX
Flexibility = stability Your vibe attracts your tribe Today, consumers are constantly bombarded by marketing communications. In fact, a study by Forbes estimated that we are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. This oversaturation of messaging means consumers no longer want to feel they are being ‘sold to’, and instead search for a deeper connection that is built on trust and relatability of a brand. Customers want to be a part of a tribe, not just a transaction. Marketers must improve their ability to use data and testing to pivot quickly in response to societal and cultural events.
75% of brands surveyed found it difficult to pivot rapidly AI may be the route to accelerating marketing decisions by enabling you with data you can make decisions from.
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If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that certainty was just an illusion, and we need to be ready to adapt to different situations. Many marketers feel recent events will drive a need for more variety and fluidity in campaigns:
84% say that the need to respond to rapidly changing social and cultural attitudes has increased in the last six months. Don’t treat your campaigns as fixed entities. Campaigns need to evolve with the times – often on a daily basis.
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The Future is AI
AI is the best way for marketers to pull insights out of a brand’s existing data. Marketers see value in AI as a way of being more adaptive and agile in their approach:
Walk the walk The collective consumer consciousness is living, breathing, and ever-evolving. During times of deep emotional distress, consumers look to brands they can trust, that share their values and that they can forge a deeper connection with. Marketers are aware of this and claim there is a need for greater sensitivity about choice of campaign content.
97% of marketers believe AI plays a crucial role in helping marketing improve its importance There are many different AI tools available to marketers, making the AI process accessible and easy to apply.
2020 has brought us many significant events but the top three that have caught marketer’s attention, causing them to become more empathic, are:
1st: Covid-19 2nd: BLM movement 3rd: Mental health crisis Remember, actions speak louder than words. If you’re going to make your brand part of a conversation, make sure to look internally before communicating externally.
Wrap up Events throughout 2020 have given brands a wakeup call that many will feel is long overdue and forced them to take a moment for some self-reflection. Brand empathy is nothing new but it is now more important than ever to get right. That means that even the brands that struggled to respond quickly and emphatically to significant social issues can make changes to their strategies and invest in the right technology to help mitigate future issues. Chris Loy is CTO & Co-founder of Datasine, where Stefan Britton is Commercial Director.
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ANATOMY OF A CAMPAIGN
Beauty and the Beast
Trust might be a small word but it has big implications – and never more so than in a time of crisis. For the National Hair & Beauty Federation, the power of clear communication has been at the heart of helping businesses get back to work after lockdown. BY STEPHEN HOLROYD INFLUENCE.CIPR.CO.UK Q4 2020 21
ANATOMY OF A CAMPAIGN
n this new, socially distanced world, the tactile nature and close proximity of the hair and beauty industry means it has bore the brunt of lockdown measures more than most. Not much chance of a cut-and-blow from two metres. For salons, barbers, nail and eyebrow bars across the UK, the impact of coronavirus has put businesses and livelihoods in serious jeopardy. As the UK’s largest trade association for hairdressing, barbering and beauty salons, the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) represents thousands of small business owners. With the onset of lockdown in March 2020, and working alongside agency partner SLBPR, the NHBF sought to reaffirm its position as the leading voice for trusted, accurate information both to the media and the wider industry — helping businesses understand complex government guidance and, crucially, reopen their doors. In economic terms, the implications of the hair and beauty industry’s closure shouldn’t be underestimated. Before lockdown, the industry, which is made up of some 43,000 businesses, had one of the biggest turnovers in the UK. The British Beauty Council estimates that in 2018 the beauty industry contributed a whopping £28.4 billion to UK GDP — that’s 1.3% of total GDP. And that’s before you consider the positives to people’s wellbeing that only a good haircut or facial can bring.
mantra of ‘no speculation’. “One of the first things we did was to be rock solid that the information we put out was clear and factual, and if we didn’t have the answers we wouldn’t speculate,” says Hall. “In a crisis situation, people need clarity. By dealing only with the facts we were able to build trust with the industry, the media and with governments.”
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CONFUSION AND CONCERN Rewind to March: in the run up to lockdown, huge concern was spreading among hair and beauty business owners as government guidance became increasingly confusing and salons faced closure. “It was a moment in time that none of us is ever likely to forget,” says recently retired NHBF Chief Executive, Hilary Hall. “There was a total lack of clarity from government and the media rumour mill was making things even more stressful for our members.” Seeking to cut through the hearsay and provide a beacon of trust for a fearful industry, the NHBF and SLBPR acted quickly to implement a crisis communications team and a strategy underpinned by a 22 Q4 2020 INFLUENCE.CIPR.CO.UK
43,000
hair and beauty businesses in the UK
£28.4 billion contribution to UK GDP from the beauty industry over the year 2018
A TRUSTED VOICE For Sharon Brigden, SLBPR Managing Director, a crisis-led campaign was something relatively new for her team: “Although we’ve protected clients’ brand image for decades, crisis comms wasn’t an area of expertise for us. Our ‘no speculation’ strategy informed every decision, every press release, every social media post and even our own internal communication.” With meetings often several times a day during government announcements, the crisis team were able to ensure rapid, yet qualified responses to government announcements. Messaging was agreed to and kept consistent across all social channels and to the media, helping to provide that all-important clarity. “This was vital in us positioning the NHBF as the trusted voice of the industry,” says Brigden. “We were being inundated with media enquiries so we created a hierarchy with Hilary covering the big national interviews, others looking after regional broadcasts and others dealing with press quotes — it was a huge team effort.” BACK TO WORK The confidence and coherence of the response paved the way for the NHBF to work closely with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, plus governments from each of the devolved nations, in establishing the guidelines that would allow hair and beauty businesses to return to work safely. Crucially, it also gave the NHBF a direct channel to lobby the government on all matters affecting the industry. These close relationships established with media and government contacts meant that the NHBF and SLBPR were also approached by the Cabinet Office to
help with a series of back to work videos for hairdressers and barbers. These have since been aired across government channels, including the Prime Minister’s own social feed. Meanwhile, a campaign within a campaign was created to decipher evolving guidance for salon owners in each of the devolved nations — not an easy task when what works in London doesn’t work in Cardiff or Edinburgh. #DoItRight not only helped drive industry compliance, but underlined to consumers the measures being taken to make salons safe and give them the confidence to return. POSITIVE RESPONSE At a time of extraordinary upheaval, coverage of the NHBF was met with huge positivity. In June alone, as Boris Johnson announced some easing of lockdown, 831 pieces of media coverage with a reach of over nine billion strengthened the NHBF’s voice. And in the period 20 March to 20 July — from entering lockdown to the reopening of hair salons — nearly 2,000 pieces of online and print coverage, including The Telegraph, MailOnline and the Mirror Online, were secured. With appearances on Newsnight, Sky News, BBC Breakfast, Bloomberg and numerous times across BBC News, ITV News and regional TV and radio broadcasts, Hilary Hall became the go-to talking head on issues facing the industry. SOCIAL EXPLOSION But it was social media where the stats really stand out. In an industry that is heavily socially influenced, the success of the campaign across Instagram and Facebook in particular has been impressive. Across the same lockdown period, the NHBF Instagram following ballooned from an initial 5,000 followers to almost 68,000, while Facebook followers grew by nearly 55,000 compared to the same period in 2019. The NHBF website had over three million page views, compared to just over 200,000 in 2019. All of this led to a growth in NHBF membership by almost 20%. Tori Priestley, Marketing Director at the NHBF, says: “The social stats go to show how much the industry really needed clarification from concise, digestible
statements that distilled reams of confusing government guidance. “Social media can obviously help perpetuate rumours, but it also gave us an opportunity to respond with our key messages and take the mood of the industry back to government.”
NHBF Instagram followers grew from
5K–68K
831
pieces of media coverage secured in June alone, with a reach of over 9 billion
THE POWER OF PR For everyone involved, the importance of PR during a crisis couldn’t have been more evident. “I can’t stress enough how fundamental good communication has been during this crisis,” says Hall. “Getting our fact-based messages out, repeating them, using them across our own channels, on social or national media, has been absolutely key to our success.” And for Brigden, learning that saying no is as important as saying yes has been one of the big takeaways: “Deciding that we would only comment on facts was tough at times — can you imagine how hard it was to turn down Newsnight and The Times because interviews were based on whatifs rather than facts? “But this has always been about positioning the NHBF as the trusted voice of a crisis-hit industry — and sticking to our ‘no speculation’ strategy really paid off.” CHANGING PERCEPTIONS Although many salons and beauty businesses have been able to return to work since July, the subsequent rise in coronavirus cases and regional lockdowns means the future remains precarious. The relationships built with government and media will be vital in the coming months as the NHBF continue their support for the industry and lobby government to secure assistance and assurances. “Hair and beauty can sometimes be regarded as a bit pink and fluffy,” say Hall. “So it’s been interesting to see the change in perception, particularly from politicians. I think governments had overlooked the importance of hair and beauty, not just to the economy, but to consumer wellbeing too. “We’ve been able to change that perception and that’s a fantastic result for our industry.”
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Own your next move. If you’ve been made redundant or you’re looking for work, the CIPR Employability Support Hub is packed with advice and resources to help. • • • • • • •
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CRISIS COMMS
Review, Recovery and Resilience BY AMANDA COLEMAN
t the start of 2020 people would say they had crisis communication strategies and business continuity plans. There was a comfort in having something sat in some computer folder somewhere that said what would be done if the worst happened. I wonder where those plans are now. The future we face is uncertain, and as communicators we are trying to find a way forward. It may feel unlikely, but we can find certainty in the midst of chaos and confusion. This is the year that PR and communication will, and should, change.
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If it wants to build on the trust created through the response to this crisis, to continue to have a seat at the top table, and to help shape the future, then its day-to-day work needs to develop. Communicators need to become comfortable with risk management, and be crisis-ready all day every day. This doesn’t mean abandoning creativity, but it does mean introducing some new ways of working. OLD PLANS FUTURE CHALLENGES The starting point has to be going back to the crisis communication plans that existed before Covid-19 and reviewing them, updating them and ensuring they
are fit for future challenges. Those future challenges are something we can define after having risen to the challenges of the pandemic. It has been said that there are no crises that cannot be predicted, except perhaps alien invasion at this moment in time. PRs need to look at organisational risk registers and use their knowledge, insight and experience to bring reputational issues into discussions about threats to the business. The process is relatively simple once you have carried out the research required. A comprehensive list of risks is the basis for future crisis management, preparedness and ultimately the route to
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CRISIS COMMS secure a strong recovery from possible catastrophes. The most likely issues and those that will have the most impact will be identified, and it is these top risks that are fundamental to planning. Just consider how having access to these top five risks and being able to scenario plan, develop key messages, identify stakeholders and test the ability to respond will help you. This is where certainty comes and, in turn, this builds resilience in communication teams. Crises don’t happen neatly one after another. They can hit at any time, anywhere to any organisation. During the pandemic there have been floods, fires, terrorist incidents and cyber attacks. (As an aside, all organisations should identify cyber attacks as one of their top risks. According to the National Cyber Security Centre, an attack on the national infrastructure that could cause loss of life or severe economic damage has become increasingly probable). It is essential that work is done now to be ready for whatever may happen in the months ahead. The truth is the future is uncertain and always has been, but it has taken a pandemic to bring this back into sharp focus. So, what more can we do to be ready? COMFORTABLE CRISES There are simple tools and techniques that will help make any communication team crisis ready. As well as undertaking a risk review and ensuring all crisis plans are up-to-date and able to be deployed, there should be a daily, weekly and monthly review of critical issues and incidents. This can start with having regular discussions about the issues and create an ability among the team to identify concerning developments at an early stage. Communicators are ideally placed to be able to do this. They see across the whole of the organisation, as well as having a detailed understanding of the external landscape and of people.
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This is valuable insight for the business. PRs and communicators have to get comfortable with risk and crisis in a way they never have before. It does not mean abandoning creativity, campaign work and all other aspects of how people work. What it requires is building risk and crisis frameworks, developing regular checks and monitoring, and ensuring everyone understands these frameworks. This is an important element to bring into day-to-day work. Crisis communication is no longer an ‘add on’ that is likely to impact a business once in a lifetime. Our future will become clearer as the months pass. Acting now will ensure we are in the right place to face this future and ultimately have strong recovery strategies in place. ROAD TO RESILIENCE It is still far too early to be talking about moving to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Recovery will happen at its own pace and we cannot rush into it, but we can be ready for when it happens. Effective recovery will involve reviewing what has happened, rebuilding and re-establishing businesses. This is where learning from communication actions, developing risk frameworks and creating a crisis communication strategy will strengthen the way ahead. Be clear that recovery will require PR and communication more than at the start of a crisis. The reason for this is that life becomes far more complicated and the simple, directive messages used in those first moments of a crisis are replaced by a tapestry of complex ones. Finding a way to share that in a consistent, clear and human way will need skilled communication professionals to be front and centre once again. So, what of those crisis communication strategies and business continuity plans that we had at the start of 2020? Having a plan is reassuring, but
knowing and testing the plan is where resilience and success are achieved. There are many ways testing can be carried out, and it will not be acceptable in the future to say there was not enough time to plan and do this work. This is the moment when communicators can be ready for what happens next, whatever that may be.
Coleman is the Director of the crisis communication consultancy Amanda Coleman Communication Ltd. In 2017, \ Coleman led the law enforcement communication response to dealing with the Manchester Arena terrorist attack. She has more than two decades of experience in managing crises. She is the author of Crisis Communication Strategies published by Kogan Page in May 2020.
IF IT AIN’T WOKE —FIX IT. 2020 has seen significant shifts in how history and culture are perceived — how can those in PR and comms stay ahead of the curve? BY ROSE STOKES
n 1964 one of Atlanta’s local residents was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His name was Martin Luther King Jr. In order to celebrate this prestigious occasion, the city of Atlanta organised a dinner in Luther King’s honour. The problem was that the elites of the city — still deeply segregated and replete with racist attitudes — refused to attend. Atlanta was at that time — and still is — where Coca Cola’s headquarters is based. In those days, the company’s president was John Paul Austin, who was sympathetic to the cause of anti-racism after having witnessed the negative effects of the apartheid in South Africa. He sent a clear message to Atlantans: “It is embarrassing for Coca-Cola to be located in a city that refuses to honor its Nobel Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. We are an international business. The Coca-Cola Company does not need Atlanta. You all need to decide whether Atlanta needs the Coca-Cola Company.” The dinner immediately sold out. On the face of it, this anecdote might not seem extraordinary; a big brand intervening in a social
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issue and using its influence to sway popular opinion. But in 1964, this was radical, and a rare demonstration of the extent to which big business can help to drive forward progress on social issues if they so choose. Coca Cola’s influence in this incident was based on two things: its importance to the local economy — and therefore to the livelihoods of local workers — and the prestige that being home to the headquarters of such a recognisable global brand brought the state. Combined, these two factors meant that Austin’s statement carried a weight hefty enough to make people move in a certain direction — and he knew it. He was able to use his influence for good. The point of this anecdote is not to extol the virtue of the Coca Cola brand, (which has found itself in the middle of numerous controversies over the years since), but rather to demonstrate that although we often talk about “corporate social responsibility” and “brand activism” as relatively modern concepts, their roots can actually be traced further back in history.
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TAKING A STAND Although the concept of brand activism is not new, it has certainly grown in importance over the past ten years. The old principle that you shouldn’t mix business and politics has been thrown out, and been replaced instead with an expectation on the part of consumers that companies should not just be good, but that they should do good too. It makes a lot of sense. In the capitalist world we live in, where multinational behemoths like Amazon, Apple and Google generate more money than some national economies — and where their owners are sitting atop fortunes far beyond anything any individual could ever want or need — there has to be some pay off. As demonstrated by Coca Cola’s case in Atlanta, businesses are in the unique position of being able to make or break the fortunes of a country or city owing to their role in supporting local economies, and with that power comes great responsibility. At the same time, social media has influenced the way that consumers interact with brands in a very fundamental way, changing the relationship between customer and vendor into something closer and less formal. The once solid boundary between the roles of businesses and individuals is now a little blurrier. Savvy brands have capitalised on this proximity by becoming friendlier in their messaging and enlisting the help of individuals with big followings to “influence” consumers to buy certain products. This confluence of the roles of friends and vendors on social media has proven incredibly successful in terms of helping businesses to sell more products and increase the number of eyeballs on their brands. But it’s also shifted the goal posts on what the average consumer expects of the brands they spend their money on, because they feel far more emotionally invested. And so, in this strange new world we find ourselves in, where mistakes are so quickly amplified publicly via social media, the challenges for brands are manifold. “Everything is political now,” says Kate Hartley, co-founder of Polpeo and author of Communicate in a Crisis, “so not taking a stand on an issue can be really damaging for a brand.”
THE WINNERS AND THE LOSERS In many ways, 2020 has pushed the dial forward on many issues. Against the backdrop of a pandemic that is exacerbating already grave global inequalities, a fervour has swept across the world with almost the same ferocity as the virus. People are angry about the state of the world, and they are rightly demanding change. The roving target of collective anger has hit many issues since the start of the pandemic, but none quite so as impactful as the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement. The murder of George Floyd in late May by a US police officer sparked an ire that subsequently burned across the globe, as citizens started to demand evidence from governments (and then brands) showing how they were proactively driving forward the anti-racism cause. As companies piled onto social media to show their support, there were soon casualties as individuals pointed out inconsistencies in the internal and external messaging of certain brands. On June 2nd, people working within the music industry instigated a day called #BlackoutTuesday, encouraging employees of the big labels to post a black square to their social media pages in solidarity with BLM. The intention was to flood people’s feeds with the squares — to cease sharing content — and create the digital equivalent of a moment of silence.
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But the day was soon co-opted by individuals and brands in other industries who wanted to show support. The problem was that many of those that got involved didn’t have the best record on antiracism themselves. And the backlash was fierce. “Blackout Tuesday was very interesting because there were so many organisations putting black squares alongside bland statements,” Harley explains, “they had failed to grasp that consumers want brands to communicate actions and not ideas — and that they expect evidence.” Labels such as Estée Lauder felt the heat after posting a black square and being challenged on their skin lightening products. Taco Bell also faced criticism for firing an employee who wore a BLM branded mask after posting a black square on June 2nd, and the lifestyle publication Refinery29 was challenged on Twitter for its treatment of black employees, leading to the resignation of the editor at the time, Christene Barberich. Outside of BLM, other brands such as Oatly, a UK-based oat-milk brand, and Lucy and Yak, an “ethical clothing brand” have felt the heat around perceived inconsistencies in their messaging. In both cases, calls for boycotts have swiftly
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followed. For Oatly, a brand that encourages people to move away from dairy to reduce their carbon footprint, a decision to receive investment from Blackrock (which has links to companies destroying the Amazon Rainforest) led many to question its integrity. The message was clear: if you’re going to take a stand publicly on an issue, then you’d better make sure that you’re not being hypocritical.
CONSUMERS WANT BRANDS TO COMMUNICATE ACTIONS AND NOT IDEAS–AND THEY EXPECT EVIDENCE
LEAD WITH EMPATHY “Companies often make mistakes when they think of themselves first, rather than the people they are providing goods or services to,” Hartley says. “Traditional communications centres around what companies need to do or say to look good,” she explains, “I advise clients to switch that around: think about what you need to do first and then what you want people to know you’ve done. Consider who the crisis is affecting — what do they need from you?” Although this sounds relatively straightforward, it requires a level of flexible thinking that can be challenging in practice — particularly for larger, less agile businesses. So, what advice does Harley have for companies conscious of staying relevant and empathetic in their communications in a rapidly changing world? “The best thing to do is not to behave badly in the first place!” she says. But failing that, there are five mistakes brands commonly make that can trigger a negative backlash, which are a useful guide for what not to do — a good place to start. Each of the mistakes is firmly rooted in human psychology, and understanding why people respond the way they do is a fundamental part of learning how to do better. The first thing that triggers negative behaviour in consumers is if an activity or statement made by the brand contradicts a core belief or value. Examples of this might be that they don’t support animal rights, or that they oppose equal marriage. Think of New Balance and their support of the Trump administration in the US or Barilla and its chairman’s homophobic comments, both of which had a calamitous effect on each brand’s external reputation. Second is if a brand attacks or disregards social norms and accepted moral ways of behaving, for instance by avoiding paying taxes or failing to address a sexual harassment case adequately. Good examples of this are Starbucks, Google or Amazon on tax, or the Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy following the publication of allegations of prolific sexual harassment and abuse of power by one of the company’s founders and chief executive, Harvey Weinstein.
Third, if something a brand is doing or has done takes away the consumer’s control, it is sure to be met with anger. A good example of this is the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the resultant impact on Facebook. People trusted Facebook to protect their data, and instead it was sharing it with malevolent third parties. This led to a huge loss of faith in the brand and drove huge numbers of people to delete their accounts. Fourth, if it hurts something the consumer relates to personally — so if a company’s stance or behaviour directly affects someone they hold dear, such as a parent or friend. A good example of this on an individual level can be seen by the “cancellation” of JK Rowling and her books following comments she had made that were widely deemed to be transphobic. Many people took to social media to declare they would boycott her work in solidarity with trans people they either knew or cared about. Finally, consumers will turn on a brand that appears to go against its own ethics. This is one issue that the BLM movement is trying to draw attention to; a gap between what a brand says are its values, and how it behaves.
CONSUMERS WILL TURN ON A BRAND THAT APPEARS TO GO AGAINST ITS OWN ETHICS
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THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS As 2020 has shown us, the collective mood can change quickly, making it harder still for brands to remain relevant and avoid missteps. One hazard of social media is that as accepted social norms and ideas shift in line with the political environment, evidence of past transgressions is readily available for those looking for it. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram also make it easier than ever for people to publicly call out brands and amplify their disapproval. As the National Trust found out earlier this year when it came under fire for links between its properties and the slave trade — there is no statute of limitations when it comes to human rights abuses. Although it may seem like a confusing and difficult time to be navigating PR and communications, the simple truth is that organisations that are willing to hold their hands up and admit their errors, while also committing to improve, are those more likely to weather any storms. Social media is an effective tool in enabling companies to be more transparent with their customers. In a year when many of us suddenly have a lot more time on our hands, investing some of that into learning about big issues facing humanity and how your brand can be part of a movement for positive change can only be a good thing. And if you don’t know where to begin, then listening is a good place to start.
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Get back on track. Now is the time to develop your skills, adaptability and resilience with CIPR virtual training. New courses: • Building resilience • Mental wellbeing at work • Virtual presentation skills • Introduction to PR Research • Coding: Web essentials for PR Find the course that’s right for you and book online. cipr.co.uk/training INFLUENCE.CIPR.CO.UK Q4 2020 33
Covid Comms Career Changes With a predicted rise in demand for public affairs, policy and regulation related skills — how will you expand your opportunities? BY SAM BURNE JAMES
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|f you work in internal comms or corporate affairs, you may have just been through some of the busiest months of your life. If you’re in travel PR, you may be coming off furlough, and surveying a bleak jobs outlook, with vacancies down across all sectors, and marcomms hit particularly hard (see below). But it’s not all doom and gloom. “Throughout the pandemic, three sectors have fared really well on both agency and in-house sides – corporate, tech, and in particular, healthcare, which was already a notoriously candidateshort market,” says Louisa Wetton, an associate director at recruiter Reuben Sinclair. Other recruiters add internal comms to that list and, with Brexit just around the corner, predict rising demand for public affairs, policy and regulationrelated skills. Lockdown’s unusual circumstances mean specific soft skills are now more
highly-prized. “People want resilience, reliability and conscientiousness, individuals able to work from home without supervision, so there’s more focus on that in the selection process,” says Lynn Beaumont, Managing Director, The Foundry. Helen Salt, director of Black Cherry Recruitment, adds people management to the list — “to keep more junior staff feeling motivated and calm during these turbulent times” — plus deft stakeholder and client relationship handling, an area requiring extra care now relationships are even more reliant on virtual interaction.
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People want resillience, reliability and conscientiousness, individuals able to work from home without supervision
NO MORE WORKFACE Some things don’t change: there is nothing worse than a half-hearted candidate. “You want people to have energy, you want to feel their energy — agencies don’t really benefit from employing people who suck the life out of the room,” the Lansons CEO and co-founder Tony Langham says. He continues: “The worst thing someone can
% RECRUITMENT IN THE MARCOMMS SECTOR HAS SUFFERED MORE THAN MOST IN RECENT MONTHS – BUT IS SHOWING SIGNS OF A TENTATIVE RECOVERY. (SOURCE: REPORT ON JOBS, THE RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYMENT CONFEDERATION)
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Total job adverts PR/advertising/marketing roles
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do in an interview is when you say ‘do you have anything to ask me?’, reply ‘no’. If you’ve got f-all to ask the CEO, you’re clearly not invested.” Zoe Melarkey, director of communications at online estate agent Purplebricks, adds: “If the interviewee can make it not exactly fun but at least enjoyable, that’s a plus,” she says, adding: “It used to be that you had to have a ‘work face’ but I don’t think you have to any more — bring your personality, leave them with that sense of who are you.” Melarkey also urges people who might start looking for jobs to ensure they have clear case studies close to mind. “I was once told that when you’re going into an interview, you should imagine that you’re leaving a series of gifts on the table for the hiring manager — they’ll interview five or six people in the day, and you want them to remember you and think; ‘oh, they’re the one who did this’.” New candidates may initially find that energy and those gifts harder to communicate via Zoom — but recruiters say they should soon get used to remote interviewing. Virtual recruitment also offers the benefit of interviews being quicker to arrange, translating into quicker hiring processes overall. But the remote (or otherwise) status of work could also cause tension, Beaumont warns. In July, one City-based client was “getting quite hot under the collar” about the idea that staff and jobseekers might not yet feel comfortable to return to the office, she recalls. She advises employers to remain “accommodating and flexible” around working location to avoid deterring talent — and to avoid assuming that because there are likely to be more candidates on the market, that they don’t need to work as hard to sell their roles. SIDE STEP SUCCESS That said, there is no doubt that we are in a buyer’s market. With anecdotal evidence suggesting that more senior practitioners have been particular victims of redundancies thus far, these individuals may now worry that they will have to apply for jobs below what they previously did, only to be rejected as over-qualified. Gavin Ellwood, director of Ellwood Atfield,
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says he would have stern words for any hiring manager rejecting one of his candidates on those grounds. “I would suggest that they go on unconscious bias training and think about ways in which they think about someone’s motivation for taking on a job,” he says. “There are all sorts of issues with diversity — and ageism can be a factor. It’s increasingly old-fashioned to think that people are only ever interested in more responsibility and more money.”
If you’ve got f-all to ask the CEO, you’re clearly not invested
The Foundry’s Beaumont agrees that the industry has begun to grow out of that sort of thinking, saying: “What was hitherto seen as a sideways move is now considered a good move.” The job market is likely to be competitive across the board, says DeeDee Doke, the editor of trade magazine Recruiter, who warns that candidates may find it “particularly difficult to get the attention of recruiters right now”. Candidates who appear to be taking a scatter-gun approach and “just trying for anything and everything” will feel like a waste of time to recruiters — Doke advises
candidates demonstrate to recruiters why they are keen on particular roles which they have seen listed on the recruiter’s website. They should also “really push for a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting with a recruiter… recruiters who don’t meet their candidates, that’s not a good sign”, she says. This meeting is a good opportunity to check that the recruiter genuinely knows their stuff, and for the candidate to get their enthusiasm and passion across. As Influence goes to press, the spectre of further redundancies looms, with the Government’s furlough scheme due to end in March. Some recruiters feel companies are holding back from advertising until postfurlough redundancies bite, believing this will give them more choice of candidates. It remains to be seen how bad the redundancies will be for PR. Salt is cautiously optimistic: “In the 2007-9 recession, we were coming out of a very financially buoyant time, so companies were carrying a lot of weight that they shed dramatically and quickly. So far, the pandemic has seen less redundancies – obviously the furlough scheme has helped, but I also get the feeling companies are leaner now.” Another hope is that PR’s value has shone bright during challenging times. “Organisational leaders are sitting around the board table wondering what they are going to say and how to say it. The value of communications has been really seen and felt by businesses,” comments Ellwood. Whether that translates into fewer redundancies than other sectors, and a proper uptick in recruitment activity, remains to be seen.
Ace that Zoom interview
Interviewing over videoconference is different to doing it in real-life. Here’s how to get it right:
Check the lighting in the room you’ll use, at the same time of day the interview is
Go for a walk before the interview to get the blood flowing – otherwise, it becomes just another Zoom call
Dress as smartly as you would for an in-person interview
Don’t be afraid to let your background demonstrate your personality – but take the washing down
Have some notes in front of you – just a few bullet points, not reams of paper to awkwardly rifle through mid-sentence
Spend time staring down the camera lens itself, rather than at the screen, to replicate eye contact
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Boundary scanning and forward planning: unlocking the future of lobbying BY AHZAZ CHOWDURY, SENIOR PARTNER, NUDGE FACTORY
The public affairs agenda has always been and will always be wide-ranging.
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he ever-shifting tectonic plates of public policy provide endless challenges and opportunities for lobbyists and those they represent. That’s one of the reasons our roles are so demanding, diverse and fulfilling. But two vast grey clouds have loomed overhead in swift succession: Brexit and Covid. From the pre-referendum rumblings in 2016 to the decisive Conservative victory last November, the leave/remain agenda dominated news cycles and infused every nook and cranny of legislative and regulatory machinery and machinations. We had a brief reprieve in Q1 of this year, an interregnum, if you will: and then Covid. Our responsibilities in representing the organisations and industries that are trying to survive or thrive through this are evident: we must maintain a level-headed and clear-eyed approach. It’s easy to get sucked into the vortex and fail to perform our most basic function: understanding what’s going on, and looking ahead to see how changing policy pressures and perspectives are likely to shape the future. That’s why I believe the lobbying industry must refocus on boundary scanning. We should leverage our experience, understanding, and judgment to help guide those we represent to make sound decisions and take sure steps. Let me make that tangible. Unsurprisingly, the government has an increased emphasis on health. Rather than making holistic decisions, its choices are made unrelentingly through the prism of ‘the science’. That stance, combined with the devastation that Coronavirus is wreaking on our economy and society will prove decisive in shaping the public policy agenda. So, if you represent a business that isn’t keeping ahead of this curve, it is incumbent upon you to help shape their strategic thinking, their research and development, and their brand positioning and communications. We must be proactive. Political boundary scanning is a wide field, encompassing environmental, societal, technological, legal and economic considerations. Some aspects will be more relevant than others in your own context. The future of work is one realm that will
T
almost certainly occupy you and impact your agenda. Many roles that are plentiful today will cease to exist within a few years — and new jobs will emerge that we haven’t even foreseen. The rise, refinement and deployment of artificial intelligence, big data and scientific innovations will cause an exponential increase in automation, which won’t just affect manual jobs. Professional workers may soon be disintermediated or made redundant by technology. From the shop floor to the accountancy office, we must be attuned to help our organisations navigate through these macro-environmental shifts. Public affairs practitioners have always had to straddle policy and politics, communications and messaging, and many other functions besides. But now we must also absorb the skillset of the chief strategic officer and the management consultant. The natural order of change has accelerated and the ‘new normal’ is anything but. The economic impact of Coronavirus will be greater than anything we’ve seen in our lifetime. The fallout from businesses going bankrupt is evident: we may face mass unemployment and the hardships that come with it, with job losses inevitably resulting in tears in the fabric of society. Received wisdom is that the government will be faced with a binary choice: hike
We must absorb the skillset of the chief strategic officer and the management consultant. taxes or execute the sort of swingeing cuts that would have been unimaginable even during the depths of austerity. The latter has been ruled out, but are tax hikes and increased government tariffs inevitable? Some optimists believe that a buccaneering, outward-facing Global Britain can trade its way into the postBrexit, post-Covid era, but theirs remains a minority opinion. Lobbying doesn’t have the answer, but our industry is ideally positioned to see the writing on the wall before others, and play a crucial role in shaping the course of business and economic success. Automation will make mundane tasks easier and remove process-orientated effort, but the coming years will see an
increased premium on three aspects of our capabilities: experience, judgment and interpersonal relationships. Lobbying helps the democratic process. It provides information to legislators and those who advise them, it prosecutes the arguments for and against national infrastructure projects, increasing regulation or cutting red tape — and thousands of other decisions. These cases must be based on evidence, but articulated in ways that show the authentic impact on communities, organisations and, crucially, individual citizens. Lobbyists’ arguments are forged in the disciplines of research and storytelling, but founded on a depth of knowledge and understanding of history and context. And, while relationships are no longer our primary stock in trade, trust remains utterly vital. No algorithm can alter that, no robot can replace it, and no process can remove the personal touch. The successful lobbyist will leverage all that tech has to offer, but continue to build rapport and credibility with a network of stakeholders. Until artificial intelligence can replicate, simulate or replace authentic human interaction, good public affairs professionals will thrive. And when developments in AI get to that stage, worrying about our careers may well be the least of our problems...
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How to at online meetings With no sign of the Covid-19 restrictions abating, it looks like we’ll be shouting ‘unmute yourself’ at each other for the foreseeable future. BY LORRAINE FORREST-TURNER
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CHOOSE THE RIGHT PLATFORM Yes, Zoom has become the Google and Hoover of the virtual meetings world, but there are loads of platforms available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Try several (most offer free trials) before committing. With its easy screen sharing, breakout rooms, chat and polling features, Zoom is popular with trainers and event organisers. Whereas the sharper sound and images, file-sharing, projects and contacts features in Teams make it ideal for internal meetings. Other platforms recommended to me are the GoToMeeting/ Webinar/Training family, Adobe Connect, Blue Jeans, Google Hangout, Ring Central and Star Leaf.
INVEST IN DECENT EQUIPMENT That old Toshiba and cheap BT contract might have been fine for Netflix and the odd Skype call to Melbourne last year, but with many of us now spending 30 hours a week in meetings, we need to persuade our managers (and accountants) that decent equipment is a necessity. Check your actual broadband speed against what your provider says you can get. You want at least 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speed per person. Try the free Which checker and consider a new supplier, modem or booster if you’re struggling to maintain contact during meetings. Mobile WIFI such as NetGear isn’t cheap but worth it if your local signal is poor and your job depends on reliable access. Most newish laptops, phones and tablets tend to have good cameras,
KAMA SUTRA
WHAT IS POETRY?
Parrots
hile the pandemic forced many of us online against our will, most people are now saying that online meetings and events aren’t just here to stay, they’re going to get even bigger. Which means, we’re going to have to get better at doing them. Here, then, is my before, during and after ‘online meetings checklist’, drawn from my experience and talking to numerous clients, colleagues, friends, trainers and event organisers.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
microphones and speakers. But if people are struggling to hear and/or see you, consider buying an external camera, microphone and/or lights. Popular brands include Logitech (cameras), Blue (microphones) and Neewer (lights). SEND/ACCEPT AND CHECK INVITES EARLY
If you’re the host, don’t leave it to the last minute to send everyone the invite. If you’re the attendee, accept the invite asap then check the software ahead of the meeting — even if you’ve used the platform before. Platform suppliers update their systems frequently, so you don’t want to be the person downloading the latest version after the meeting’s started. Also, busy people skim read emails. Organisers should draw attention to premeeting instructions and attachments (e.g. handouts). Invitees need to look at more than the time and link if they want to avoid embarrassing “nobody told me we needed the report for this meeting” moments.
ORGANISE YOUR DESKTOP While everything you need is “filed somewhere” on your laptop/tablet/phone, don’t wait for the meeting to find it. Open what you need (presentation, spreadsheet, etc.) and shut down everything else. Having lots of programmes running might slow your device down distract your attention.
REMOVE THE KAMA SUTRA FROM THE BOOKCASE Few of us have the luxury of a home office and have to make do with the kitchen, bedroom or cubby hole under the stairs. Do the best you can with what you have. Put your camera on and see what’s behind you. Minimise distractions and check what’s on that strategically placed bookcase. If your library or drum kit is going to attract more attention than you, consider fuzzing the background in your camera settings. The same goes for flatmates, dogs, cats, children and other halves. Endearing though it is to have Cuddles walk across your keyboard or sit on your lap, that new client might prefer you focus to be on their business.
DO A VOCAL WARM-UP Yes. Really. Whether the meeting is first thing in the morning (before you’ve uttered a word) or at the end of the day (when your voice is tired), a vocal warm-up will give you an adrenaline boost. It’ll also improve your diction and projection, making your words more impactful and engaging. Grab some water and recite a few tongue twisters (three thick thugs set three thugs free, the Leith police dismisseth us).
BE PAINFULLY AWARE OF BOREDOM Go into every online meeting believing that no-one wants to be there and it’s your job to persuade them otherwise. Sit tall, smile, look at the camera, nod like a demon and generate a level of enthusiasm akin to a tour guide working for tips. And don’t, unless you have absolutely zilch bandwidth, switch your camera off. Mute your mic when not speaking, yes, but switching your camera off tells everyone else “I’m doing emails/eating breakfast/gone to answer the door/lost the will to live” even if that’s not the case.
DON’T BE ‘INFO@EASYCOMEEASYGO.COM’ You wouldn’t call yourself ‘laptop2’ in a ‘real’ meeting so don’t do it online. Click on the list of participants and change XYZ to your name. (Ask the host, if you can’t do it yourself.) Above all, think how you behave in face-toface meetings (handshakes, introductions, trousers etc.) and do the online equivalent. Make people feel welcome. Give them time to speak. Listen actively. Stay focused. Charge the laptop and keep the emails, cats and food for the breaks.
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THE BACK STORY Is the handshake over or will it make a post-pandemic return?
t’s been over eight months since I shook someone’s hand. I don’t know when we’ll return to work “as normal” or what that will look like, but it got me thinking about the different greetings we use around the world, the role they play in how we communicate with one another, and whether the pandemic has made some obsolete. A popular theory is that handshaking originated as a way of conveying peaceful intentions and demonstrating that you were not carrying a weapon. So, the gesture is certainly outdated. Homer described handshakes several times in the Iliad and the Odyssey but using it as an everyday greeting is a more recent phenomenon. It began to appear in etiquette manuals in the 1800s and today, a Google search reveals thousands of results and countless YouTube tutorials on how to shake hands correctly. I even remember, in the early years of my career as a Junior Account Exec at Lansons, participating in a networking workshop ahead of the agency’s famous annual party, which included an exercise on how to properly shake hands with guests. Growing up in France, I was more accustomed to “la bise” — the it-couldn’t-be-more-French-if-ittried practice of planting an air kiss on both cheeks of the person you’re meeting, while making a kissing noise. Despite the more intimate nature of this gesture compared to the handshake, it’s not limited to informal meetings with friends — countless times, I saw co-workers of both genders greet one another in this way, though it’s customary for men to wait for the women to initiate. There are dozens of different greetings around the world and they all play an important role in how we communicate with friends, colleagues, elders and royalty. In Ukraine, it’s three kisses on the cheek — left, right, left — to say hello. In New Zealand, Maori leaders use the traditional “Honghi” of rubbing noses — we’ve seen countless leaders engage in the greeting over the years. In Tibet, it is
I
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There are dozens of different greetings around the world.
a sign of respect to stick your tongue out at someone — something that would likely communicate the opposite in most other places the world. The traditional greeting of Greenland is the “Kunik”, which involves pressing the nose and upper lip against the other person’s skin. In Japan, you bow — a deep and long bend at the waist indicates respect, whilst a small nod of the head is casual and informal. In the Philippines, when a young person greets an elder, they bow and hold the right hand of the older person, pressing their knuckles against their forehead. If you ever meet a member of the British Royal Family, you can read up on how to appropriately greet them on their official website, but in summary, it’s a curtsy for ladies and a small neck bow for gentlemen. Earlier this week, I watched the first of three presidential debates between Trump and Biden. Social distancing measures meant they didn’t shake hands as they met one another on stage, though given how they proceeded to speak to and interrupt one another for the next 90 minutes, it would have almost been stranger if they had. At the beginning of the year when news of COVID-19 cases began to emerge outside of China, we playfully greeted one another with the “elbow bump”, blissfully unaware of the significant challenges and changes that lay ahead. Even if a vaccine is developed by Spring next year, it’s very possible that social distancing measures and mask-wearing will remain mandatory at certain gatherings for months if not years after. So, it will be interesting to see which of the aforementioned greetings — many of which rely on touching a person’s hand or face — will survive. My personal view is that they represent a unique and important part of our societies and cultures, so we should do what we can to preserve them as long as it is safe to do so. Hopefully the handshake will return, but if not, I’m happy to give the “Wuhan shake” a go. By Valentina Kristensen, director, growth & communications at OakNorth, Chair of the Influence editorial board.
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