Influence Q1 2018 LR

INFLUENCE Q1 2018 ISSUE 9
INFLUENCE
Q1 2018 influenceonline.co.uk
FOR SWITCHED-ON PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSIONALS
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INFLUENCE
WELCOME
Ideas are the currency of the PR industry
ow would
H
you describe
the job
you do?
It’s so
easy to
focus on short-term, tactical
objectives when every deadline
looms on the calendar and
unforeseen problems crop up.
But, when it comes to
the daily minutiae, it can
be motivating to know how
your work contributes to a
company’s long-term strategy;
you don’t have to be a senior
practitioner to understand
how you could contribute
to that company’s future
performance. Keep your
company’s long-term goals
in mind and show that you
understand them.
If two years of editing Influence have taught
me anything, it’s that PR is one of the most multiskilled
professions. But the industry is changing.
On page 50, two prominent leaders debate what
PR’s role is in 2018 and what our team structures
should look like. Golin chairman Fred Cook argues
it’s time to rethink a generalist approach. He says
PRs should specialise in specific skills.
One thing we can all agree on is that PR is an
ideas business. Ideas have value and how we
protect them is just as important as where they
came from and their original inspiration. But, on
WHAT’S BEEN SAID ON TWITTER?
I just love the @CIPR_UK
Influence covers (the content
is even better).
@alex_malouf
Ideas have value and
how we protect them
is just as important as
where they came from
and their inspiration
Enjoying reading the
latest copy of @CIPR_UK
#Influence – getting some top
#PublicRelations #Campaign
tips from the talented head
of comms @bartonabout.
Very insightful
@JWSMILE
page 7, Rod Judkins finds
there’s a fine line between
inspiration and plagiarism –
and it’s difficult to enforce in
law. I would be very interested
to hear your views (and stories)
on protecting IP. Our ideas are
the currency we work with.
Speaking of original
ideas, we’ve joined the high
number of PR pros currently
experimenting with video
as a comms medium. We
were thrilled to work with
Plastic Pictures to create an
interactive cover that offers a
whistlestop guide to our lead
features using augmented
reality. Let us know what you
think, and find out more about
embracing video on page 13.
Finally, as we start the
third year of Influence, we have made some
changes to our online presence with a new
website (influenceonline.co.uk) and Twitter handle
(@InfluencePRMag). Make sure you follow us for
blogs and opinion pieces from the PR and business
world. And, if you feel like penning something
yourself online, it would be great to hear from you.
ROB SMITH Editor, Influence
This is why I love train journeys.
I get to read @CIPR_UK
#Influence #Magazine
@NicsterComms
Catching up on back issues
of @CIPR_UK magazine
Influence. What took me so
long?! Recommended read
for #comms #prpros
@LucyEckley
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 3

MAG IN A
MINUTE
INFLUENCE / Q1 2018 / issue nine / cipr.co.uk
CONTRIBUTORS
JAMIE BARTLETT
P38
The dark
web attracts
journalists and
whistleblowers:
PRs take note
ELLIOT WILSON
P32
Saudi Arabia has a new PR strategy:
the kingdom is grabbing headlines
with its anti-corruption drive and
cultural reforms. Can it rebrand itself?
CHRIS
ZABILOWICZ
P20
The Oxford Union
is founded on
the values of free
speech and debate
SARA COOPER
P19
The growing
popularity of
branded video
means high-quality
production is key
THE NFL’S
BIG FUMBLE
When Colin
Kaepernick took
a knee, a spirited
debate was
unleashed that
pitted race against
patriotism, and
Obama against
Trump. The
NFL struggled
to handle the
situation; now it’s
seeking a crisis
comms manager
PAGE 28
7BE AFRAID
Protecting ideas during a
client pitch is complicated:
pre-emptive non-disclosure
agreements are more reliable
than complex IP laws
10
THE INDEX
Sapio Research says 84% of
us use market research. Social
media monitoring and online
surveys are the most popular
methods, and our projects cost
£6,181 on average
20
SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!
Education, not publicity, is the
aim of the Oxford Union but
guests use its speaker platform
to directly address an audience
of future leaders: they must
expect tough questions
24
NEWS IS BREAKING
Local news is a trusted comms
channel: the national press
should listen to it, PRs should
create grassroots campaigns
and politicians should react
13
COVER STORY
VIDEO IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF COMMS
We made the front cover of Influence
come to life using augmented reality.
It layers 3D information on an image,
including graphics, motion and
sound, which can then be viewed
on mobile. The effect is ‘magical’.
Augmented reality is one of the video
comms trends our experts tip for 2018,
along with live-streaming, 24-hour
exclusives and professional finishes
47
DO IT BETTER
+ How to blog about PR
+ The future of the industry,
according to two leaders
+ Pick your moment and get
a pay rise
+ And much more besides
58
13 AWARD-WINNING
TECHNIQUES FOR
OUTSMARTING YOUR RIVALS
CIPR Excellence Award winners
know how to keep it simple,
get emotional, create fictional
personalities – and get noticed
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
CIPR PARTNERS
13
INSIDE STORY
Eighty-five per cent of
communications teams are
taking video production
in-house. On-brand messaging
and live-streaming deliver high
levels of audience engagement
32
SHEIKIN’ IT UP
Public relations hubs in London,
Berlin, Paris and Moscow will
begin promoting Saudi Arabia
as “dynamic and inspiring”,
on the back of cultural and
eco-friendly innovation
38
THE DARK WEB ILLUMINATED
The dark web is expanding.
The network of unlisted web
pages hosts data leaks and
rumours that could damage
reputations, and incite
activists and whistleblowers
42
SPEAK NO EVIL
Psychologists have proved
that, when communicating with
suspected terrorists, building
rapport and seeking voluntary
cooperation are most effective
for gleaning information
66
THE BACK STORY
In fighting prejudice and
welcoming new voices, we must
not suppress the viewpoints
of the male, pale and stale:
communication is for all, says
our beleaguered columnist
4 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 5

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Plagiarism
BY ROD JUDKINS. ILLUSTRATION BY EOIN RYAN
Creative ideas are the PR industry’s lifeblood.
So why are we giving them away for free in pitches?
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 7

PLAGIARISM BE AFRAID
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facets of PR
through the Diploma
opened doors to
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and exciting career
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PROFESSIONAL
RECOGNITION
–
cipr.co.uk
Aisling O’Connor MCIPR Dip CIPR,
Director of Marketing & Communication,
Julius Baer
he real currency
T
of our time isn’t
money. It’s ideas.
PR, advertising and
all other sectors
that rely on business
development are now ideas industries.
We exchange ideas and build on them.
That makes them valuable, and it means
we need to keep them safe.
But there’s a fine line between
creativity and plagiarism.
In the mid-1960s, in a remote log
cabin in Woodstock, US, a young
songwriter scratched down some
lyrics on a scrap of paper. It was
a groundbreaking, influential and
original piece of work, and at a Sotheby’s
auction in 2014 those lyrics sold for
a world record of more than $2m.
When the writer of the $2m lyrics
explained his songwriting technique, he
revealed a process that will be familiar
to anyone who works in the creative
industries. “I rattled off lines and verses
based on the stuff I knew – Cumberland
Gap; Fire on the Mountain; Shady Grove;
Hard, Ain’t It Hard,” he wrote. “I changed
words around and added something of
my own here and there.” The writer’s
method was to combine elements that
were swimming around him in the
zeitgeist to produce something fresh.
The songwriter was Bob Dylan and the
song was Like a Rolling Stone.
Dylan altered his ingredients enough
to obscure their origin, but what if a
line you’ve written is then blatantly
copied? What if the creative concept that
you present as part of a pitch finds its
way into someone else’s campaign? And
what if your painstakingly researched
insight is used but not credited (let alone
paid for)? To a certain extent, this sort
of thing is inevitable.
Jon White, a psychologist who lectures
on PR practice, explains: “Any creative
activity will be drawing on existing ideas.”
Plagiarism is about accountability. “It’s
where you knowingly take someone
else’s ideas and claim them as your own.”
White says the current pitch process
means agencies face having their
ideas used without credit. “The future
of public relations depends on the
offering of valuable ideas as a solution
to client problems,” he says. “Giving
ideas away in a pitch process, as a
There’s a fine line
between creativity
and plagiarism
show of one’s expertise, diminishes their
value. The relationship between client
and agency should develop into true,
paid consultancy.”
For many years, my partner worked
for advertising agencies such as Saatchi
& Saatchi and Lowe Howard-Spink. The
firms staked their reputations on creating
powerful ideas that stuck in the minds of
the public.
In the 1980s – a time when HIV
awareness was rapidly increasing – my
partner’s firm pitched to launch a new
condom brand that was backed by a
globally famous multinational group.
When she told me the concept and the
strapline, I thought they were so strong
that they’d win the pitch. But her firm lost.
Case closed.
Or was it? Days later, the ‘client’ was
all over the media using the strapline.
Such an event creates a conundrum.
Do nothing and it sends the message that
any prospect can take what they want
from your work. Speak out and you risk
alienating a potential source of future
work: this group had more than 400
subsidiaries. In this case, both parties
came to an agreement and the group
continued to use the line.
The smartest organisations are wise to
where their value lies, and use a counterintuitive
strategy to protect themselves.
Johnny Pitt, founder of the PR agency
Launch, always applies the same strategy
during the pitch process. He explains:
“By setting out our creative stall
comprehensively, with carefully crafted
words and impactful, thought-through
visuals and graphics, we believe we help
to protect our thinking: the idea is so well
developed and brought to life that for a
client to steal or copy it, however [subtly],
would be blatant daylight robbery.”
Other companies rely on confidentiality
agreements: this is the case when I’m
asked to consult for the likes of Samsung
and Google. It applies to the work I do for
them, but also to anything I might see in
the workplace. I have been asked to avoid
taking photos of the sessions I conduct
because the images might reveal
something to rivals.
Steve Kuncewicz is a lawyer with
BLM who specialises in copyright law.
He says a confidentiality clause is easier
to enforce than ownership of ideas,
or intellectual property. While exact
copying of text or imagery is relatively
straightforward to identify, “non-textual
copying is harder to define because it
involves themes and higher concepts”,
and copyright law applies to specific
expressions of ideas. In practice, “you
would need to have used the idea to
generate money in business to claim it”.
Therefore, Kuncewicz recommends
sending a non-disclosure agreement to
potential clients, or including an unsigned
version in the pitch deck to make your
intentions clear.
Ideas are currency and those who
generate concepts deserve to benefit
from their success. That said, we evolved
as an ideas species. Sharing enhances
our chances of survival. When early
man or woman first thought of making
a better stone axe, they shared the idea
because it meant the tribe had more
food and all, in turn, benefited.
However, if you reprint this article
without my permission, expect a letter
from my solicitor.
Rod Judkins is author of
The Art of Creative Thinking
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 9

THE INDEX
MARKET RESEARCH
RESEARCH ABOUT,
ER, RESEARCH
EIGHTY-FOUR PER CENT OF PR PROFESSIONALS USE MARKET
RESEARCH IN SOME CAPACITY, BUT ONLY 6% USE IT FOR ALL
CAMPAIGNS. HERE’S HOW AND WHY
4
How long does it take?
On average, B2B research takes less time (8.9 days on average)
than B2C research (10.8 days).
5
How much are we paying to do it?
On average, marketing and communications professionals spend £6,181 on
a typical research project. However, 39% typically spend less than £1,000.
19% 20% 16% 14%
10%
11%
6%
3%
1
Why we’re doing it
PRs are more likely to conduct market
research to understand audiences,
markets and brand positioning (93%)
than for content (46%).
Most agree that journalists
prefer research to other types
of content. Sixty-four per cent
of respondents also said pitching
research was “easier”.
2 How are we doing it?
Most marketing and PR professionals primarily conduct market research
in-house (56%). Social media monitoring and online surveys are the most
popular methods of research.
66%
66%
60%
Social media
monitoring
45%
Secondary research
(Googling around a topic, say)
Understanding audiences, markets
and brand positioning
Content and thought leadership
10 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
Online
surveys
72%
64%
Telephone or faceto-face
interviews
6%
conduct it for
stats, quotes
for content, and
thought leadership
40%
conduct it for
both of the
above reasons
50%
34%
53%
conduct market
research to understand
audiences, markets
and brand positioning
1%
Other
Focus
groups
42% 42%
36% 36%
2% 0%
Other
Talking to colleagues
and friends
3
Who are we doing it with?
Twenty-four per cent typically use B2B sample sizes of less than 100.
Forty-two per cent typically use B2C samples of less than 500.
Up to 100
101-250
251-500
501-750
751-1,000
1,001-1,500
1,501-2,000
2,001-3,000
3,001+
2%
1%
0%
1%
80%
say they think journalists
prefer research to
other types of content
3%
10%
10%
12%
12%
13%
13%
13%
13%
15%
16%
20%
21%
24%
B2C
B2B
In-house
Agency
B2C RESEARCH
10.8 DAYS
6 7
What are the pros and cons
of using an agency?
B2B RESEARCH
8.9 DAYS
There are pros and cons for both conducting research in-house and using an
agency. If cost is the main issue, in-house wins. Agencies cost money but are
quicker, provide better stories and help to secure the responses required.
TOP THREE FRUSTRATIONS WHEN CONDUCTING RESEARCH
FEWER RESPONDENTS
46% 38%
THAN EXPECTED
-
LACK OF COMMUNICATION
POOR DATA QUALITY
31% 38%
TIME TAKEN
50% TO COMPLETE 36%
COSTS
19% 34%
19% 24%
NOT GETTING THE STORY OR
31% 23%
STATS WANTED FROM THE DATA
20%
USABILITY OF RESULTS
22%
17%
OUTPUTS DIFFICULT TO READ
17%
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
16% 14%
I HAVE NEVER CONDUCTED
4% RESEARCH WITH AN AGENCY 6%
LESS THAN £500
How satisfied are we
with our research?
Seventy-six per cent of comms pros say their campaigns are more
successful when they include research. The success of research
for content and thought leadership is more hit and miss than that
for understanding audiences, markets and brand positioning.
The percentage who think market research is useful:
8% 8%
ALWAYS
Content and
thought leadership
Understanding
audiences,
markets and
brand positioning
£500-£999
£1,000-£2,499
£2,500-£4,999
46% 60%
44% 31% 2%
MOST OF THE TIME
Methodology
Sapio Research surveyed 108 communications and marketing
professionals in the UK. Eighty per cent identified themselves
as working at supervisor level or above.
Sapio Research is a leading business and consumer
market research company, based in London
£5,000-£9,999
£10,000-£14,999
£15,000-£24,999
SOME OF THE TIME
£25,000-£49,999
0%
1%
1%
£50,000+
0%
NEVER
RARELY
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 11

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND THE BOARD
It’s about
recognising
campaigns that
make a
difference,
not just noise.
Nyree Ambarchian
Director
Stand Agency
INSIDE
STORY
xxx
WHY YOU NEED AN IN-HOUSE VIDEO TEAM
+ HOW TO MEASURE VIDEO PERFORMANCE
Enter by 20 Feb 2018
Late entries accepted
‘til 27 Feb 2018
(there’s a late fee)
cipr.co.uk/excellence
Roll cameras!
Eighty-five per cent of organisations are bringing
video production in-house. This is how to do it well
BY DAVE HOWELL
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 13

INSIDE STORY
IN-HOUSE VIDEO
ou wouldn’t
Y
expect grainy CCTV
footage of a parked
car to go viral.
Yet that’s what
happened late
last year when
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
(HFRS) shared a video of a stationary
vehicle on its social media channels,
paired with the hashtag #INeedMySpace.
Intended to highlight the obstructions
faced by fire engines responding to
emergency calls, the eight-week
campaign to reduce delays soon had an
online reach of more than one million
people, against a local population of
1.7 million. The slogan became a national
campaign, the council marked up
‘Keep clear’ zones on the roads and,
most crucially, the number of dangerous
incidents fell sharply.
For HFRS’s external communications
manager, James Morton, the use of
video isn’t just effective, but “could
mean the difference between life
and death”. Here’s how to harness
the power of production.
THE TEAM YOU NEED
In its most recent video-benchmarking
report, online video platform Vidyard
revealed that: “2016 saw a significant
increase in the number of organisations
using internal resources to produce
video content. In fact, 85% of businesses
now report using internal staff and
resources to produce video
content, while only 15% are
relying solely on agencies.”
Creating an in-house video
team requires planning and a
clear understanding of what is
driving your decision to bring
video production in-house.
HFRS had a three-strong
web content team but hired
video producer Sam Getliffe
in 2015 so it could boost
its output: a four-part
Dog Blog series following
the fire investigation team
and its canines was viewed
50,000 times.
In contrast, when the
University of Wolverhampton
found that its press releases
had little impact, it upskilled its comms
team of five, who visited the digital
broadcast team at BBC Midlands. “We
were all enthused to see the positive
engagement that the digital team at the
BBC was getting, especially for newsbased
video,” says Mags Winthrop, digital
PR and comms manager. The team
received coaching from comms2point0
(in conjunction with Filmcafe) and, with
a new YouTube channel to populate,
were each challenged to produce three
pieces of video content a month.
NOTE: MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR IT GUY
Your team should also include those
responsible for IT. “The challenge
is working with video file sizes.
Computers, email and phones all need
a massive amount of space to create
and share video,” says Winthrop. “And
you are at the mercy of your wi-fi.”
THE CONTENT STORY
Think big and craft your organisation’s
news stories with video in mind from
the beginning. “Let go of the traditional
views of what PR should look like,” says
Winthrop. “We’d always worked with
a press release first – now we think
about video from the start. That’s quite
a big mental shift.”
It’s important to create videos that
support an organisation’s purpose and
complement existing stories. HFRS plans
with its mission statement, ‘We make life
safer’, in mind. One video showing the
scene of a recent fire garnered 20,000
views in 48 hours.
It’s easier for consumers to understand
messaging when presented with video,
says Kane O’Flaherty, creative director
and co-founder of Piccolo, a baby-food
company. The brand uses social media
video for its ‘One to One’ campaign,
whereby it gifts baby-food pouches to
vulnerable families. “There’s something
memorable about a video,” he adds.
Live-streaming events is also a win. In
2017, 1,500 people viewed the graduation
ceremony of HFRS’s latest firefighting
recruits online.
Similarly, the University
of Wolverhampton has used
Facebook Live at two of the
busiest times in its calendar:
clearing and graduation. “Our
behind-the-scenes graduation
broadcast had over 5,000
views and reached 15,000
people, securing 30 shares
on social media and over
140 ‘likes’,” says Winthrop.
INTERNAL-COMMS MAGIC
Your audience includes your
employees. At HFRS, “video
is a central component of
internal comms and training”,
explains Morton. Around half
of HFRS’s 1,500 firefighters are
on call at any time, so online
learning is the best way to reach them.
Around a third of its workforce also view
video news bulletins – called Fireflash –
each month: internal comms videos are
most useful for relaying key messages
from the top down.
Gain attention online
by setting fire to things
and filming it
CRUNCH THE NUMBERS
As with any comms strategy, to measure
success, you need to define your
objectives, insists Steve Garvey, founder
of video agency Moving Image: “Once
you know the business goal, you can
determine the best metrics for return
on investment and make sure they are
in place before a video is distributed.”
If you are publishing videos via
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the
data will be limited to statistics such
as number of views, so look at using
platforms that are embedded in
your own website, such as Vimeo
or JW Player, which can offer a more
detailed breakdown.
We used to work with
a press release first
– now we think about
video from the start
MAGS WINTHROP
However, think ‘big picture’ too.
Bolster your video results with data
from other channels: “These channels
enhance each other and deepen your
impression of audience engagement,”
says Garvey. And don’t forget to
supplement data about video success
with measures of business benefits.
“This could be the number of video
views that convert to sales enquiries
or newsletter subscriptions. It is
powerful to tell the business how
many potential leads your video
generated,” Garvey adds.
THE KIT – AND THE COST
Want to get started? View our
recommended kit overleaf. Morton
notes: “The cost of equipment can
seem prohibitive in an austerity
environment but we’ve licensed out
some of our video work to generate
income, and ultimately we’ve been
able to leverage our success as
evidence for further investment.”
Dave Howell is a journalist specialising
in technology and business
14 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 15

INSIDE STORY
VIDEO KIT
GET STARTED
YOUR VIDEO KIT GUIDE
Creating a video production studio for campaigns? Dave Howell
reveals the hardware and software you should be using
The smartphone
At the heart of any in-house video
team will be the camera that is used
to shoot the raw footage. You could
use a mobile phone. The iPhone
6s, 7, 8 and X and the Google Pixel 2
sport 12-megapixel cameras (on the
back of the phones), some with wide
and telephoto lenses. Video can
be shot with these cameras at a
resolution of up to 4K. This is four
times the resolution of standard
HD (1080p).
The lenses
Where your videos will be hosted,
and on what devices they will be
viewed, will determine whether to
shoot HD or 4K video, as file sizes
vary. A one-minute video in HD at
30fps takes up 130MB of storage
space, whereas the same video in
4K takes up 375MB. If you intend to
post videos on your blog or YouTube,
or as part of a wider campaign, HD
will give you great image clarity and
manageable file sizes.
The quality of the videos you can shoot will be linked to
the quality of the lens on the camera you are using. This
is why a healthy market in add-on lenses for smartphones
has developed.
There are two leading lens accessory developers: Moment and
Olloclip. The lenses attach via either a case for your phone or
a clip. Lenses include telephoto, super-wide, fisheye and macro
styles. The Filmer’s Kit from Olloclip is particularly good value.
Make sure you use a neutral density filter to help you manage
the amount of light reaching your phone’s lens. Zomei makes
a great one, and it also offers good value.
The stand-alone camera
For a cinematic experience, move to a DSLR camera. Today,
every DSLR will shoot video at a 1080p resolution. The
Nikon D3300 is an entry-level model and won’t break the
bank. At the other end of the spectrum is the Nikon D850,
which is much more expensive than the D3300, but can
shoot in 4K. Note that these cameras tend to focus on
image quality: you’ll have to record sound separately to
get a high-quality soundtrack for your video.
The editing software
There are several video- and audio-editing applications available.
If your set-up is smartphone-based, HitFilm 4 Express is likely to be all you’ll
need for editing video. Also take a look at Open Camera for Android phones.
For audio-editing, Audacity is excellent. If you do want professional-grade videoand
audio-editing tools, Adobe’s Premiere Pro CC and Audition CC are part
of Creative Cloud, which offers a monthly subscription to all of Adobe’s tools.
Mac users have access to the highly capable iMovie, available for desktops
and mobile devices, and useful on the iPad if you need to edit in the field.
There are also a number of tools that are hosted online, including YouTube’s
own video editor, Clipchamp.
The sound recorder
The Zoom H6 has proven to be a trusted
recorder for professionals (as recommended in
our Influence podcasting feature – Q3 2017).
Great for live recording as well as studio-quality
music production, the H6 offers six tracks of
simultaneous recording and four mic/line inputs.
Another piece of kit you need is a mixing
desk. If you need to take audio from several
microphones, a mixing desk will enable you
to balance the sound inputs and create a great
soundtrack for your video. If you have modest
needs, the Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer is a great
choice and, at less than £40, it’s a bargain.
If you need to mix more channels of sound,
the Xenyx 802 offers eight inputs.
Accessories
There are a number of accessories that can make your
video sessions much easier to manage, and raise their
quality. Low-cost LED lighting kits to highlight a face
or area of a scene can be attached to smartphone
rigs or a DSLR, if you’re using one.
To stabilise the video you’re shooting, a
tripod or other stand is essential. The range from
Shoulderpod is excellent and offers a wide choice
of configurations. However, if you want to get some
dynamism into your video, you need to move the
camera. The Osmo Mobile is a powered gimbal that
uses internal motors to keep your phone stable
while you’re shooting.
Last but not least, think about power. Shooting
video on a smartphone or with a larger camera will
quickly drain the battery. Look for high-capacity
chargers offering 5,000mAh power capacity.
The microphone
To capture the sound for a scene, a directional
microphone is needed. One of the most compact,
yet high-performing, is VideoMic Me from Røde.
The flexible mounting bracket means you can
attach it to any smartphone. If you are shooting
a talking heads video, a larger microphone
should be used. Here, the iRig Mic offers superior
audio-recording for all iOS devices. Their simple
plug-and-play usability makes these microphones
easy to set up.
If you need to record interviews in a studio
setting or are recording video from a Skype call,
the Røde NT1-A will give you professional-quality
audio capture.
16 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 17

VIDEO INNOVATION
Relax, no one's prefect
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5 AUDIENCE-ENTICING
VIDEO TRENDS FOR 2018
For those who are already confidently using video content as
part of comms strategies, the question is: what’s next?
BY SARA COOPER
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1
AUGMENTED REALITY
Augmented reality takes audiences
by surprise. For example, this month’s
Influence cover uses augmented reality
to add 3D virtual information to an image.
Using Zappar, a free-to-download app,
your mobile device’s camera targets and
scans content. The app then triggers the
device’s video mode to grant readers
access to an audiovisual overview of
the issue, without even flipping a page.
At Christmas, augmented reality
was used by car manufacturer Honda
to transform get-well cards for sick
children into personalised videos with
international messages of support.
In each case, what seems to be a
simple design is actually packed full
of technical detail, including video,
photos, graphics and sound. The
effect is magical.
2
MOBILE VIEWING (AS ALWAYS)
The proportion of video content
viewed on smartphones will continue
to soar. To be successful in this space,
consider taking the following advice.
First, 85% of videos are played without
sound. Therefore, you have to create
videos in which the audio is a secondary,
not core, feature. This means thinking
about subtitles or stylish overprints.
Second, experiment beyond traditional
horizontal formats and dare to mix
things up: be bold and try vertical
and square-framed video formats.
3 LIVE-STREAMING
The authentic, interactive nature
of a live broadcast helps to create
a deeper emotional attachment in
an audience. The more immersive the
live content is, the better. Use video to
conduct interviews, share important
events and grant behind-the-scenes
access. And remember that live content
can be repackaged and released as
premium content afterwards, giving
you more bang for your buck.
4
24-HOUR EXCLUSIVES
People are flocking to Snapchat and
Instagram. In order to reach them, you
need short, relevant content that’s only
going to last a day. It might seem
counterproductive to invest in videos
that are the complete opposite of
evergreen, but it’s an effective way
to engage with a younger audience.
5
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Since the video landscape
is becoming more competitive,
user-generated videos (such as those
submitted by employees) will probably
become less effective at engaging
audiences: people are demanding the
same high-quality finish that they see
on TV. This means professional videos
will drive better results in a sea of
digital content.
Sara Cooper is
co-founder and executive
producer at Plastic Pictures. The agency
shapes film, graphics and photography
for the world’s biggest brands
Email sara@plasticpictures.tv or
visit www.plasticpictures.tv
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 19

INSIDE OXFORD UNION
RICKY GERVAIS
TALKS ABOUT BEING
A STAND-UP GUY
RICHARD NIXON INSPIRES
FEAR AND LOATHING
The chamber
of secrets
Does the Oxford Union still shape the agenda of youth, or is
that purpose now entirely fulfilled by Facebook? Here, former
president Chris Zabilowicz explains the union’s inner workings
ou’ve now heard from
four of us, who have
“
Y
given accounts of how
there’s a problem with
racial profiling in the
United States and
elsewhere. I can see you are moved, but
that is not good enough. We don’t want
you to be moved but not do anything:
we want you to be moved to change.”
In November 2016, the Black Lives
Matter panel at the Oxford Union
included four mothers whose children
had been killed at the hands of US law
enforcement. Their aim was to draw
attention to perceived racial injustice on
the part of the police, and their stories
captivated the audience. More than one
year on, I’m not the only one who shares
this anecdote to show how speakers
use the Oxford Union as a platform to
communicate with the next generation of
leaders. As the president for 2017-2018,
it was my job to make sure that we were
inspiring and educating our members.
Anyone at the University of Oxford can
join the union and it’s true that a lot of
people in the audience will go on to be
influential in their fields. That’s the
advantage that the speaker programme
has over other channels: guests want to
come and speak to the students in person.
The Oxford Union Committee is
responsible for planning the line-up.
The long list of past attendees is the
hook that helps us spark interest. It
includes Ronald Reagan and Malcolm
X. Our aim is to create a forum through
which speakers from a wide range
of backgrounds, and from across the
political spectrum, can share their
ideas and campaigns.
20 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 21

INSIDE OXFORD UNION
GANDALF AND BILBO – SORRY, IAN
McKELLEN AND FORMER PRESIDENT
CHRIS ZABILOWICZ
ELTON JOHN MADE A
PERSONAL SACRIFI-I-ICE
TO VISIT THE
OXFORD UNION
PROTESTERS SAY
‘NON’ TO THE VISIT OF
MARINE LE PEN...
... ‘BOF,’ SAYS LE PEN
ONE PROTESTER’S FATHER
PROVES BANG ON
Our guests don’t usually speak for
selfish reasons. They do it because
of the Oxford Union’s history, and
because speaking here provides an
incomparable opportunity to
engage with students
We’re in the fortunate position of being
entirely independent of the university.
This means we’re able to stand firmly
by our founding principles of free
speech and debate. One of the most
controversial figures we have hosted
during my time at Oxford was far-right
French politician Marine Le Pen.
That said, we try to avoid hosting
controversial speakers for controversy’s
sake. During my time on the 14-strong
committee, I’ve seen people moved to
tears by actress and director Robin
Wright, moved to action by American
politician John Kerry, made to laugh by
comedian Ricky Gervais and brought
together by Sir Elton John.
UP FOR DEBATE
We have two standard formats for our
speaking events. First, there are seven
debates per year, with a panel of experts
on each side. For a debate, we set a
motion (or statement) to be contested.
It takes the committee a whole day to
agree the wording of it.
Second, we invite a speaker to start
with a 20- to 30-minute speech on a
topic that they’re passionate about: the
president or vice president of the union
will start with some warm-up questions
and then allow questions from the
audience on a theme. The questions are
challenging. Trump’s former campaign
manager Paul Manafort said he did not
want the audience to ask questions. We
don’t allow a speaker to come if they
won’t answer them.
Speakers and their PRs shouldn’t
be nervous to appear here. The audience
must always treat the speaker in
a respectful manner. The most
tension I’ve seen was when Corey
Lewandowski (another former Trump
campaign manager) said in his speech
that climate change was a hoax invented
by the Chinese. He was pressed in
questions four times to explain
why he thought that.
PR STUNTS
Behind the scenes, we have a tricky
relationship with public relations
professionals. As they receive so many
requests, they sometimes put off our
invitation to their client. The best
example of this came in 2014. We had
been in touch with Sir Elton John’s
managers for a long time, but they
had always said “not yet”, because of
scheduling clashes. When we finally
got a letter to Sir Elton personally, he
immediately called the president at the
time, saying: “I’d love to come… it’s been
on my bucket list and I’m so glad I’ve
finally been invited.” He was flying from
LA to Australia shortly afterwards, so
he got a helicopter to bring him from
London to Oxford, did a one-hour
speech, and then got the helicopter
back to the airport.
We don’t often have guest speakers
pitched to us by PRs; when we do, we
need them to have a high level of public
recognition. Others might be experts in
their field, who could be good in a debate.
We do share our programme of
events with selected press contacts at
the beginning of a term, but it’s up to the
speaker whether requests for access
to the event, or interviews, are taken up.
Usually, we get three or four requests
per event. Education, not publicity, is
our priority. There’s usually a three-day
delay before we put a recording of
an event on YouTube, although we
live-tweet most events.
Our guests don’t usually speak for
selfish reasons – to raise their profile,
or to promote a book or film. They do
it because of the Oxford Union’s history,
and because speaking here provides
an incomparable opportunity to engage
with students.
Soon after his address here, and just
a year before his untimely death, Senator
Robert F Kennedy wrote that: “The
world’s hope… is to rely on youth – not
a time of life, but a state of mind, a temper
of the will, a quality of the imagination,
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over the
love of ease.”
This appetite is what brings most
speakers to Oxford. Each recognises
the potential to inspire the audience.
Chris Zabilowicz is a former president of
the Oxford Union. He was in conversation
with Gabrielle Lane
22 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 23

LOCAL NEWS
Could a strong local media
have helped to avert the
Grenfell Tower disaster...
BREAKING NEWS
AND HOW TO
... and the ensuing
public rage?
FIX IT
NATIONAL AMPLIFICATION
IS CRUCIAL FOR SOCIETY
BY LAURA McINERNEY
Press, PRs and
politicians need to
work together to
make local issues
national ones if
we’re to deepen
community ties
and strengthen
democratic
accountability
BY SARAH HALL
e are living through
W
a seismic change
in the media. While
national newspapers
experiment with ideas
like paywalls and
reader donations, the regional press
has had difficulty adapting to the new
economic realities in an era of declining
advertising revenues.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower
tragedy, journalist Grant Feller, a former
senior editor at The Daily Telegraph and
Daily Mail, wrote a piece claiming that a
well-resourced local media would have
shone a light on the concerns residents
were raising: perhaps action would have
been taken before it was too late.
As a PR agency boss in the north-east,
I see the day-to-day effect of the lack of
investment in local media and find it very
concerning. So I recently hosted a panel
discussion on what the future might hold
and what, if anything, can be done.
It was a lively event and very difficult
to reach a conclusion not only on the best
way to ensure the survival of local media,
but also on how to define the problem.
Here our panellists have their say.
Whatever the answer, we must all
understand the consequences of an
underfunded local media – both as
PR practitioners and as citizens.
Sarah Hall Chart.PR FCIPR
is president of CIPR
It is wishful thinking to believe that the
Grenfell fire wouldn’t have happened if
local newspapers were still going strong.
Newspapers can shout and yell, but
without people listening it’s no use.
What’s most irritating about Grenfell
is that shouting and yelling were
happening. Residents were blogging (a
form of local media itself), and the trade
publication Inside Housing pushed the
cladding issue over and over again.
But who wasn’t listening? I’d argue it
was the national media. One of the
critical ways issues in the local media are
amplified is via national news, but this
line appears to have broken. Why?
In part it’s because specialisms within
journalism have fallen apart. Few
reporters are fortunate enough to have
briefs in which they can immerse
themselves. Those who do are
increasingly at the whim of SEO, which
dictates the stories to be written based on
what people are already looking at.
A second problem for newspapers is
that politicians (and firms and charities)
have become brilliant at churning out
press releases that keep reporters busy
while denying them time to be proactive.
Finally, there’s the pay and conditions
of journalism. A few brave souls survive,
but I’m not convinced the ones left are
always the best specialist reporters, nor
the ones who have the grit for long-term
investigative stories that save lives.
Would a renaissance in local media
help with accountability? It would
provide a good foundation. But,
realistically, the tendency to turn talented
investigators into keyboard monkeys,
hunting after social search traffic, isn’t
just a local problem – it’s a national one.
Laura McInerney is editor of Schools Week.
She became a journalist after being taken
to court by former education secretary
Michael Gove for asking a question under
the Freedom of Information Act
Politicians have
become brilliant
at churning out
press releases
that keep
reporters busy
GETTY
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 25

LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
INFORMS BIG
DECISIONS
BY MATT RODDA
Important messages are
easily drowned out online...
... but Reading’s local
paper has gone web-only
I’ve found that local newspapers and
local radio offer a depth of coverage
and insight into the whole community
that is unrivalled and that gives
readers and listeners a better
connection with their communities.
That’s not to say that social media
and other outlets do not have a key
role to play – they certainly do.
I believe that the way forward for
both mainstream and newer media is
to learn from each other – a process
that is certainly well under way in the
Reading area. Our former daily local
newspaper has been transformed into
an online news service. At the same
time, a wide range of innovative
new outlets have started to provide
different forms of coverage.
Matt Rodda is MP for Reading East
PROTECT
THE TRUSTED
COMMS CHANNEL
BY CHARLIE BECKETT
Journalism is enduring a businessmodel
crisis that is wrecking revenues
across all sectors. Nowhere is this
worse than at the local level. Trinity
Mirror publishes 240 local and
regional titles: in October 2017 it said
circulation revenue was down 7%, and
advertising revenue down 16%.
We still enjoy some excellent
national and international news media,
much of it available in attractive apps or
cleverly tailored for social media. But
local newspapers have not been able to
adapt to the same extent. Subscriptions,
for example, just don’t seem to work.
Their reach online is limited. This is bad
news for anyone seeking to influence
the public at the grassroots level.
It is now as likely that someone will
get information about local products,
services and events through Facebook,
say, as through a local newspaper.
Social media can be wonderful at
spreading the news in a personalised
way that allows you to contribute to
the process. It can bring more diversity
and even democracy to the local news
ecosystem. But what about trust?
Trust is a nebulous and subjective
concept. It is a relationship, not a
fact. You earn it daily. At least your
local newspaper hack was reasonably
professional and accountable. Their
reputation depended on being reliable
and separating out propaganda or PR
from the ‘truth’. They made the effort to
get down to the local courts or council
meetings. But, with budget and staffing
cuts, local journalists often struggle to get
out of their office nowadays.
Online, we easily lose track of the
source of information. When news about
a planning application appears in the
same newsfeed on your smartphone
as messages from your family and
‘sponsored content’ about a new
restaurant, it is difficult to tell what is
credible. This is made worse by
deliberately misleading, or ‘fake’, news.
That is good news for dishonest
communicators, but for honourable
people seeking to promote a cause or a
product it can ruin their chances. Once
the local information system becomes
polluted, who will rely on it?
So we all have an interest in finding
ways to support professional local
journalism of all kinds. Social networks
should work harder at helping users
filter out less credible sources. Facebook
is at last trying to do that, but at the local
level algorithms can’t always identify
misinformation. Local journalists also
have to be clear about why their work
is trustworthy.
We also all have an interest in investing
in making our own local communications
At least your local
hack was professional
and accountable
more ethical. It may seem to be going
against the grain of self-promotion, but
PR communications by local authorities
and businesses need to be more open
and honest. We have a serious local
information crisis in the making. We will
all lose out if we don’t act soon.
Charlie Beckett is a professor in the Media
and Communications Department at LSE.
A former journalist, he leads the LSE’s
Truth, Trust and Technology Commission,
which launched in autumn 2017
GETTY
HYPERLOCAL ACTIVISM
IS THE SOLUTION
Local press and PRs have
backed the Bristol Pound,
helping to make Bristol
the UK’s fastest-growing
economy outside of
London in 2016
BY GRANT FELLER
‘All news is local news.’ That’s the
first and most important journalistic
lesson I learned. Today, that mantra has
been twisted in our perpetual race for
clicks and eyeballs. Instead, it has
become: ‘All my thoughts are news for
everyone everywhere.’
We mistake our opinions for news.
Instead of tangible connections to a story,
we – journalists and PRs – are trying to
shout as loudly as possible. And, because
we’re all doing it at the same time, the
noise has to get louder and louder, while
the connections get weaker and weaker.
It’s almost as if ‘local’ has become a dirty
word to those who crave instantaneous
applause and reaction from a wide,
sometimes global, audience.
Often, the missing ingredient among
this self-indulgent din is meaning. Media
professionals have forgotten that it is
the connection to a story that carries
meaning. That is why I’m hopeful that an
era of hyperlocal activist journalism can
inspire a new generation of PRs and
journalists to reclaim the word ‘local’.
All of us live in communities that
are more fractured than ever. Societal
problems abound, and government
officials of all hues are weaker, more
indecisive and more self-interested than
ever. Instead of reacting to events,
journalists and PRs should be
collaborating to tackle those issues from
the outset. Zombified high streets
pockmarked by betting shops, new
housing developments that offer nothing
affordable, a town’s only cinema turning
into a supermarket – these are small
stories that matter and have meaning to
people who couldn’t give a fig about
celebrity dalliances or political alliances.
I’ve been very impressed by the Bristol
Pound campaign, in which both local
press and PR companies have encouraged
the use of a digital currency to inspire
consumers to shop locally. Instead of
It’s almost as
if ‘local’ has
become a dirty
word to those
who crave
reaction from a
global audience
bemoaning the death of the high street,
they went out and did something positive
about it. Testimonials include “Trade is
up” and “We loved the initial publicity and
being part of a pioneering venture”.
By tapping into their natural
campaigning modes – fighting instead of
reporting on something – journalists and
PRs can turn local
stories into national ones
rather than shoehorning
national news into
local issues. They can
represent communities,
fight unwelcome plans
and decisions, and bring
to a wider audience the
kind of ‘small’ issues that
we all identify with.
The best stories aren’t
always the big ones that
have little impact on our
daily lives but the ones that have a big
impact on small audiences.
Bristol high street: not doomed?
Grant Feller is founder of content and
branding consultancy GF Media. He has
more than 25 years’ experience of leading
teams of writers and editors in both print
and digital operations for the Daily Mail,
The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express
26 Q4 Q1 2017 2018 INFLUENCE.CIPR.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 27

LOCAL NEWS
FUMBLED COMMS
THE NFL
ON ITS
KNEES
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
ERIC REID (LEFT) AND COLIN KAEPERNICK
(CENTRE) OF THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS KNEEL ON
THE SIDELINES DURING THE US NATIONAL ANTHEM
The NFL is desperately seeking
a crisis comms strategist after
18 months of player protests
BY TONY CONNELLY
GETTY
When San Francisco 49ers quarterback
Colin Kaepernick took a knee during
the American national anthem in
September 2016, he was, he said,
showing support for people of colour
who were being oppressed in the US:
he wanted to highlight police brutality.
Similar protests had gone unnoticed
at two previous preseason games, where
Kaepernick sat on the sidelines for the
anthem. (They were eventually noticed
after a fan tweeted a seemingly innocuous
photograph of players assembling.)
This time, the press took notice.
Kaepernick’s public refusal to stand for
the anthem unleashed a spirited yet
unfocused debate that pitted the issue
of race against American patriotism.
The then 30-year-old player stood
accused of sullying the ideals around
the symbolism of the American flag, as
well as the military’s role in defending
those ideals. Supporters of his cause
cited the First Amendment and drew
parallels to the Black Lives Matter
movement. The battle raged on.
Some 18 months later, the National
Football League (NFL) is advertising for
a senior comms strategist to provide
‘crisis communications counsel’.
For many, the organisation has
struggled to contain the kneeling debate,
and consequently has weakened its own
reputation as the sport’s authoritative
body. It must now formulate a recovery
game plan, and do so quickly.
NFL: WHEN NEUTRAL ISN’T NEUTRAL
Following Kaepernick’s actions, national
anthem protests quickly dominated
media coverage of the NFL, not least
because more players joined in. On
the eve of the 2016 season opener, two
weeks after the anthem protests began,
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was
asked to publicly comment on the issue
Q1 2018 29

FUMBLED COMMS
FUMBLED COMMS
GETTY
“I support our players
when they want to see change in
society, and we don’t live in a perfect
society. On the other hand, we believe
very strongly in patriotism in the NFL.
I personally believe very strongly in that”
ROGER GOODELL
for the first time in an interview with
the Associated Press.
Goodell said he didn’t “necessarily
agree” with the protests, but added:
“I support our players when they want
to see change in society, and we don’t
live in a perfect society. On the other
hand, we believe very strongly in
patriotism in the NFL. I personally believe
very strongly in that.” He went on to
suggest players should find “respectful
ways” to share their views.
SportsBusiness Journal reporter Daniel
Kaplan, who has covered the protests
extensively, says Goodell’s neutral
comments only hurt the NFL.
“The NFL can say [the protests are] not
about disrespecting the flag – the league
believes in patriotism – but the problem is
that’s just an opinion,” he said. “Speaking
out sooner wouldn’t have helped at all;
it just stokes the fires.” Kaplan maintains
that the NFL made a “cardinal sin” in
forgetting that the fans are its source of
revenue: comments that could “alienate
even a minority of them” were a mistake.
“Goodell finally appeared to nod to this
when he went on to say fans don’t go to
games to see protests. If that is the case,
then the protests should stop.”
BRANDS NEED A PURPOSE
Jim Dowling, managing director at
Cake, the Havas Sports & Entertainment
agency, agrees that league bosses should
have taken affirmative action.
“There’s a broader issue here, which
has an application that goes beyond the
NFL and relates to brand purpose,” he
says. “What do big sports-rights holders
stand for, beyond making billions of
dollars? Faced with a chance to make
a statement, the NFL hedged [its bets].
And that’s been noted.”
For years, the NFL has marketed itself
as the public-facing entity in American
football. Its own profile is far bigger
than that of its franchises. For instance,
it has 24 million Twitter followers, while
one of its biggest teams, the Dallas
Cowboys, has just over 3.5 million. To
put that in context, the English Premier
League has just 500,000 more Twitter
followers than its most popular team,
Manchester United.
The model is significant, because it
determines where blame is directed in
times of trouble. The Premier League has
been able to largely avoid any negativity,
which instead tends to fall on the
shoulders of its clubs, whereas the
NFL, because it has benefited financially
from drawing attention to itself, hasn’t.
COMPETITION FOR COVERAGE
Some, including M&C Saatchi chief
executive Steve Martin, believe the NFL
was forced into neutrality. Indeed, the NFL
is a separate entity, and it is the teams,
players and owners that have dominated
the media spotlight. Their divided
responses have shaped public opinion.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has
been one of the most prominent figures
in the debate. In October 2017, Jones
said that any Cowboys players who
disrespected the anthem and flag would
not play. He maintained that it was in
the best interests of the team to honour
the flag.
On the opposite side of the fence,
Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti
has been outspoken in allowing his
players to take a knee. He issued a
statement saying: “We recognise our
players’ influence. We respect their
demonstration and support them 100%.
All voices need to be heard. That’s
democracy in its highest form.”
“The owners have their own point of
view and a large platform from which
to push that point of view,” says Martin.
“The division is hurting the NFL; there’s
no question about that. Fans need to see
a consistent message across the board,
and they aren’t getting that.”
The potential consequences of the
divide – and the NFL’s neutered handling
of the situation – were shown by a poll
conducted by the Washington Post in
October 2017. Twenty-four per cent of
fans surveyed said they had become less
interested in the NFL specifically because
of political issues within the sport. Among
those whose interest had decreased, 17%
cited the national anthem protests as the
biggest reason.
With this in mind, the NFL must move
beyond its position as an adviser to the
teams and take up more of a leadership
role in the dispute’s resolution.
Starting at a meeting between players
and owners in October 2017, Goodell has
begun to do just that, according to ESPN
senior sportswriter Seth Wickersham,
who was in the room. He said both sides
of the divide gave Goodell high marks for
his handling of the meeting.
Rather than bow to pressure from the
NFL’s commercial arm, Goodell appeared
to side with players’ concerns. The NFL
commissioner told owners they weren’t
hearing the players’ core arguments, and
reminded those in attendance that they
were all in it together.
THE NFL’S COMMS SOLUTION
We may see NFL players speaking out
separately from the anthem protests in
the future.
Anna Isaacson, the NFL’s vice president
of social responsibility, presented a
three-pronged action plan to Goodell
in the meeting; the commissioner was
in support of the strategy. First, this
plan would expand the ‘My Cause,
My Cleats’ initiative, which allows players
to wear customised football boots that
reflect their commitment to a charitable
or social cause. Second, the NFL would
vow to help convene more meetings with
lawmakers to ramp up lobbying for
players’ causes on Capitol Hill. Third,
the NFL would use its own platform
to promote it all.
According to insiders, there is another
approach being considered. It would see
the league keep players in the locker
room while the anthem is played.
Communicating the solutions to
the public will play a huge part in the
outcome of the issue. All eyes are on
the NFL’s incoming PR strategist.
Tony Connelly is a freelance sports and
marketing writer
The NFL’s UK head of marketing was
asked to comment for this article,
but declined
GETTY
NFL PLAYERS
AREN’T THE
FIRST TO TAKE
A KNEE…
Civil rights leaders Martin
Luther King Jr (front left)
and Ralph Abernathy
(centre, back) knelt in
prayer with a group about
to be sent to jail in Selma,
Alabama. The group was
arrested on 1 February 1965
after attempting to gain the
right to vote. Following the
prayer, the group peacefully
marched to jail.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
2016
2017
14 & 20 AUGUST
Colin Kaepernick sits
during the national
anthem; his actions
go unnoticed.
26 AUGUST
Journalist Jennifer
Lee Chan tweets
a photo showing
Kaepernick sitting
for the national
anthem, which
subsequently gains
national attention.
28 AUGUST
Kaepernick meets
with the media to
reiterate that he was
acting to give a voice
to people who lack
one, and stresses
that he fully supports
the armed forces.
29 AUGUST
Donald Trump
suggests Kaepernick
“find a country that
works better for him”.
1 SEPTEMBER
Kaepernick takes
a knee during the
anthem for the first
time, alongside
teammate Eric Reid.
5 SEPTEMBER
Then president
Barack Obama
defends Kaepernick’s
constitutional right to
protest racial injustice
by sitting out the
national anthem.
7 SEPTEMBER
NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell
comments publicly
for the first time
in relation to the
protests, in an
interview with the
Associated Press.
23 SEPTEMBER
Trump tweets that
athletes should
be fired if they
“disrespect our Great
American Flag
(or Country)” by
refusing to stand for
the national anthem.
26 SEPTEMBER
The NFL advertises
for a senior comms
strategist to provide
crisis comms counsel
to executives and
strategically position
the NFL in the
sports marketplace.
26 OCTOBER
Goodell holds
a summit about
national anthem
protests with
prominent owners
and players at
the league’s
headquarters.
30 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 31

Sheikin’ it up
BY ELLIOT WILSON. ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATT HERRING
The crown prince
wants to transform
Saudi Arabia’s image
and attract Western
funds with a series of
outlandish PR plans.
Can he succeed?
|audi Arabia has been in
S
the news a lot recently.
You may have noticed.
Last year alone, it lifted
a ban on women drivers
and said its cinemas
would open for the first time in 35 years.
And an anti-corruption purge saw
hundreds of members of the elite
‘imprisoned’ in the luxurious surrounds
of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh.
This, if you believe the experts who
make a living divining the thoughts and
actions of the ruling House of Saud, is just
the start. At some point in 2018, oil giant
Saudi Aramco is slated to unveil the
world’s largest-ever stock offering,
valuing it at more than $2tn (£1.4tn).
Beyond that, a host of outsized ambitions
stretch into the distance. The country
aims to rebrand itself as a logistics leader,
a digital visionary and a clean-energy
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HOWDY, SAUDI!
pioneer. A major new project, Neom,
aims to build a city on the Red Sea coast
that will be driven by big data and
artificial intelligence, and, allegedly, will
be home to more robots than humans.
It sounds gloriously unrealistic. The
Neom project in particular brings to
mind those great historical boondoggles
planned by overreaching entrepreneurs
or nations: China’s residential ghost
towns, say, or Fordlândia, Henry Ford’s
disastrous attempt to build an industrial
town in the Brazilian jungle.
But Saudi Arabia is deadly serious in
its ambitions. And to understand why it
is, and also where it is heading, we need
to wind the clock back a few years to
two initially unrelated events.
SHIFTING SANDS
The first event occurred in 2011, when
Mohammed bin Salman, better known
by his initials, MBS, was named private
adviser to his father, who in 2015
became King Salman, the country’s ruler.
His rise was irresistible: just four years
later, at the age of 29, he was elevated
to minister and put in charge of the
world’s fourth-largest defence budget.
The second event took place in 2014.
Oil prices, hovering at around $100 a
barrel and tipped to go nowhere, fell
sharply and, crucially, stayed low,
transforming a trade surplus into a
massive budget deficit. Growth vanished,
debts rose and belts were tightened.
Saudi Arabia’s simple economic strategy
– selling lots of oil to needy customers –
no longer worked. It needed a plan B.
It got one. In June 2017, MBS was
named crown prince and heir to the
throne. He immediately set out to
transform a country widely viewed as
one of the world’s most influential but
disliked states. (A December 2016 survey
by pollster YouGov found that more
Americans considered Saudi Arabia
an enemy than they did China.)
Within months, the country said it
was hiring a small army of PR specialists.
Edelman came in to advise on the
country’s image problem. Other agencies
helping Riyadh up its game included
Dubai-based ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller,
comms consultancy Consulum, and
strategist Richard Attias & Associates.
PR hubs are due to open in London,
Berlin, Paris and Moscow in 2018, and
Mumbai, Beijing and Tokyo later.
These hubs, says one well-connected
adviser to the government, are designed
“to do the simple things well”. Wellknown
social influencers – celebrities,
sporting stars, journalists and authors –
will blog and tweet feel-good messages,
encouraging tourists and investors to
come and see the kingdom’s changing
face. PR firms will distribute messages
extolling the Saudi view on global
developments, and respond to negative
or inaccurate stories.
Fatimah S Baeshen, a spokesperson at
the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC,
told Influence that the country “is taking
a more proactive approach in sharing
our narrative, which is dynamic and
inspiring. Being present in the discourse,
and sharing it from a first-person
perspective is important. Saudi Arabia
has an excellent story to tell”.
Baeshen says the Saudi embassy in
Washington is taking MBS’s message
across the country, to “rural America,
universities, the business community,
and, of course, the media and press”.
So far, so predictable: at first glance,
the plan resembles the well-thumbed
playbook written by Dubai and copied
by fellow emirate Abu Dhabi and the
gas-exporting mini-state Qatar. All set
out to challenge, with varying degrees of
success, long-standing global perceptions
of themselves and the wider region.
But Saudi Arabia is different, and
deconstructing and rebuilding its image
was never going to be easy. The country
is a bundle of contradictions, any of
which would keep the most seasoned
PR adviser awake at night.
ABOUT THOSE EXECUTIONS...
Let’s start with human rights, a sore
point for both the kingdom’s supporters
and detractors. Freedom House, a US
NGO, ranks Saudi Arabia among the 10
least free nations on the planet. Public
demonstrations are ‘haram’ – proscribed
By the Red Sea, near the site of an
abandoned plane, Saudi Arabia’s crown
prince plans to build a new city that will be
bigger than Dubai and have more robots
than humans – or camels, probably
Progress: couples can
now fight over who’s
driving to the cinema
Rebuilding Saudi
Arabia’s image was
never going to be easy.
The country is a bundle
of contradictions, any
of which would keep
the most seasoned PR
adviser awake at night
by Islamic law – and wont to lead to
arrest or worse. Women cannot go out
in public without male chaperones.
Riyadh wants to tackle these ingrained
perceptions. An information ministry
document helpfully leaked to the global
media said it was necessary to “promote
the [country’s] changing face... to the rest
of the world, and improve international
perception of the kingdom”.
But it’s hard to see the view of Saudi
Arabia changing much, certainly in the
West, as long as it continues to execute
its own people en masse. According to
human-rights group Reprieve UK, over
130 people were put to death in the first
11 months of 2017. Another 150 or so
suffered a state-sanctioned death the
previous year. Reprieve director Maya
Foa says the Saudi government has “no
intention of ending the use of executions
as a tool to crush dissent”. That’s hardly
a ringing endorsement for a country that
craves respect and recognition.
Contradiction number two involves
a blackness at the heart of the country’s
soul: domestic religious extremism and
its link to the export of terrorism. In
November, the crown prince delivered an
extraordinary address to an audience in
Riyadh, promising to “pursue terrorism
until it is eradicated completely”. It’s a
noble ambition, and one that could change
the world view of Saudi Arabia forever.
But is it feasible? The country is more
fragile than most people realise. For
years, the only thing keeping it glued
together was an uneasy alliance
between the royal family and the clerics
who cleave to Wahhabism, a strict
interpretation of Islam. But as a leading
Middle East journalist noted: “The link
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HOWDY, SAUDI!
GETTY
between the two is now broken. MBS
has no real sway over the clerics.”
This is a problem. The Henry Jackson
Society, a London-based thinktank,
reckons the country spent $4bn
exporting Wahhabism in 2015, through
building mosques and funding schools
and colleges, up from $2bn in 2007. It
accused the state of being the “foremost”
foreign funder of Islamist extremism in
Britain, pointing to a “clear and growing
link” to terror events across Europe.
MBS wants to cut out this cancer at
source. But, if he has no influence over
extremists, he can neither stop them at
home nor win hearts and minds abroad.
And there’s the issue of what kind of
power the kingdom wants to be: hard or
soft, or something in between. None of
the comms strategists employed by the
sovereign, or by Saudi ministries or
corporates, yet know the answer. MBS
often makes reassuring noises about the
need to be a responsible and cooperative
partner, yet on his watch Saudi Arabia
has led a boycott of Qatar and launched
an offensive against Houthi militia in
neighbouring Yemen, where it has been
accused of bombing civilians.
Both have been failures. “They’ve
played a poor hand on Qatar,” notes
a Dubai-based PR expert who’s worked
on several Saudi accounts. “If anything,
More Americans consider MBS an enemy than
Chinese president Xi Jinping. But for how long?
they’ve alienated friends in the region
and made Qataris feel better about their
emir.” Yemen is another matter. The
bloody war there, soon to enter its third
year, shows no sign of abating, leading
key allies, including the US, to urge
Riyadh to curb its military aggression.
BLACK GOLD
And so to the final contradiction and
the one where the country’s boosters,
both the professional and paid, and
the happy believers, face the toughest
challenge of all. Much has been written
about Aramco’s upcoming stock listing,
but the top-line facts still have the
power to impress. Aramco is not just the
world’s largest oil producer, but a pillar
of society, setting aside profits to build
hospitals and fund foreign scholarships.
Aramco’s IPO, first mooted in 2016,
is a sensitive issue. Most Saudis see the
company as a source of great national
pride. To allow even a sliver to be sold
to foreigners is fraught with danger. MBS
knows this all too well – it was he who
slapped a $2tn valuation on the company
and championed the sale from the start.
If all goes well, Aramco will in 2018
complete the largest IPO in history,
raising $100bn. Yet the obstacles already
encountered by Aramco bode ill for the
listing, and may cause some investors
to fear that MBS is in over his head.
Strategic advisers working at both the
sovereign and corporate level expressed
fears that the IPO was in danger of
being botched. Some sweated the high
valuation – the largest IPO on record is
Alibaba’s 2014 listing, which raked in
The message is that oil is
the past, which explains
why Aramco’s IPO is
a hard story to sell
$25bn – or fretted about MBS’s tendency
to micromanage, creating uncertainty
about where it would take place.
Others said some of the consequences
hadn’t been properly considered. A New
York listing would be tricky, due to the
threat of lawsuits related to the 2001
terror attacks. Then there’s the issue of
valuing a firm that has never issued public
financial data. Is the valuation based on
inside knowledge, or guesswork? Such
questions explain why one adviser says:
“The hardest thing about this gig is
pretending it’s a normal IPO.”
And there’s another paradox at play:
Aramco’s success is vital to MBS’s most
prized ambitions, including the creation
of a fund to invest the country’s vast oil
wealth. This fund is vital to MBS’s longerterm
plan, ‘Vision 2030’, to reduce Saudi
Arabia’s dependence on the hydrocarbon
business in the next 12 years, replacing
oil revenues with profits from cleaner
industries like robotics, smart
manufacturing and electric vehicles.
Much of this will be done in newly built
special economic zones that aim to draw
business and capital away from Dubai and
Doha, creating millions of jobs for young
men and women. “Vision 2030 is a longterm
economic diversification strategy
underpinned by domestic social and
cultural reform, and increased privatesector
participation and industry
development,” says Baeshen. Such
reform includes the launch of “worldclass
museums and libraries” and land for
“talented authors, writers and directors”.
“Opening up sustainably requires
people to understand your culture and
your people,” adds Baeshen – and to
want to visit and invest.
Yet this vision of a decarbonised world
raises uncomfortable questions about
Aramco itself. If the world’s largest oil
producer is diversifying out of the very
commodity that generates 93% of the
state’s budget revenues and 97% of its
export earnings, why would any rightminded
investor buy its shares?
“The message is that oil is the past, not
the future, and it explains why Aramco
will become a harder story to sell, the
closer the listing gets,” says one adviser.
There are many out there willing the
crown prince to succeed. BBC security
correspondent Frank Gardner says that,
while MBS has made mistakes, his
ambitions are a bold and necessary
move for a country that has to “find
an alternative to oil and join the 21st
century”. One civil servant interviewed
for this story swelled with pride when
asked about Saudi Arabia’s future. “For
the first time, it is a pleasure to be asked
this question,” he said, “and my answer
is that I am very hopeful for my country.”
But, while MBS’s ambitions are well
intentioned, questions hang over his
ability to force them through.
By 2030, Saudi Arabia wants to have reduced
its dependence on oil. The future, it believes,
lies in renewables and robots
VEILED AMBITIONS
Well-paid strategic and comms advisers
in the Middle East and the big Western
capitals say MBS’s inscrutable top-down
approach makes it hard to plan for
tomorrow, let alone next month. “Every
decision is made by one person,” says
an adviser to the sovereign. “We don’t
know what it will be until he makes it.”
Another adds: “It is extraordinarily
difficult to navigate when something
new pops up at you every day.”
Then there’s the issue of Saudi
Arabia’s overarching message. It’s one
thing to set up PR hubs across Europe
and Asia, but another to flesh out a real
comms strategy. Does Riyadh want to let
its reputation improve gently over time,
as China has done, or take a Russia-style
approach that involves bending others to
its world view? The ambition could be
far simpler and more humble than that.
Asked where she hopes the country’s
image will be in 10 years’ time, Baeshen
answers: “Simply to be more accurately
understood and subsequently depicted.”
Other questions are: how will Saudi
Arabia combat negative reports about
terror attacks if it continues to finance
extremists? And how far can MBS’s
reforms, particularly regarding women,
go without drawing opprobrium from
conservative clerics?
There’s one final matter to consider:
the nation’s future is bound up in the
mind and drive of one man who views
the overhaul of Saudi society as a
“civilisational leap for humanity”. But it’s
worth remembering the last time this
happened. In the 1960s, King Faisal
rescued the country from insolvency
and pushed through reforms that mirror
much of what MBS is doing. But the
conservatives didn’t like it, and, when
Faisal was assassinated in 1975, Saudi
Arabia retreated into its illiberal shell.
Let’s all hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
Elliot Wilson is an investigative journalist
and business editor
36 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 37

SPECIAL REPORT
THE DARK WEB
THE PANEL
WHO’S AFRAID
Comms pros can no longer pretend that the dark web
doesn’t exist. Our roundtable panel discuss the threats
– and opportunities – of the digital underworld
BY ROB SMITH. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERROLL JONES
— OF THE—
DARK WEB?
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
IKON IMAGES
he dark web is
T
often viewed
with suspicion.
Mention of it
conjures up
visions of
hackers who live
in their mothers’
basements and take pleasure in bringing
down sites or, perhaps more sinisterly,
interfering with Western democracies.
Often used as a catch-all phrase
to mean anything sinister online,
the terms ‘dark net’ and ‘dark web’ relate
to networks of websites accessed by
an anonymous web browser, the most
notable being Tor. The pages are difficult
to detect, shut down or censor, and their
unregulated marketplaces are infamous
for offering drugs, terrorist propaganda
and hardcore pornography, as well as
reams of stolen data. But these networks
are also increasingly home to comms
platforms we recognise.
In October 2017, The New York Times
made its content available on the dark
net. It said: “The New York Times reports
on stories all over the world, and our
reporting is read by people around the
world. Some readers choose to use Tor
to access our journalism because they’re
technically blocked from accessing our
website; or because they worry about
local network monitoring; or because
they care about online privacy; or simply
because that is the method that they
prefer.” It follows the same move by
Facebook in 2014, and independent
campaigns to host a Wikipedia platform
on the dark web at the end of last year.
That means the dark web is
increasingly relevant. So, in November
2017, seven prominent comms pros,
authors and journalists gathered to
discuss why those who safeguard the
reputation of brands and businesses
should be aware of what’s shared on it.
DIGITAL REFUGE
Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark
Net: Inside the Digital Underworld
and director of the Centre for the
Jamie
Bartlett
Author of The Dark
Net and director of
the Centre for the
Analysis of Social
Media at Demos
Pam
Cowburn
Writer and
communications
consultant
Kim
Deonanan
Regional VP at
press-release
distribution service
Business Wire
Adam
Hildreth
CEO of social media
risk expert Crisp
Beatrice
Giribaldi
Groak
Senior client
manager at
Digitalis Reputation
Andrew
Smith
Managing director
of PR, SEO
and analytics
consultancy
Escherman
Chen-Lee
Tsui
Manager, European
marketing, for
Business Wire
38 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK

SPECIAL REPORT
Criminals are early adopters and
this means the whole phraseology of the
‘dark net’ is a problem. It’s very tabloid
and will always sound negative
PAM COWBURN
Analysis of Social Media at Demos,
explained that the dark net is “a real
watering hole for the fringes of society”.
“For anyone who has something to
hide or has reason to keep their identity
hidden, it is a natural place for them to
go,” he said. “However, you will also find
resources for journalists, whistleblowing
sites, and lots of valuable information for
human rights activists, who, especially in
some parts of the world, find it a safe and
useful place to go. There are signs that it
is becoming more mainstream.”
“Ignoring it is probably not a sensible
notion,” agreed Andrew Smith, managing
director of PR, SEO and analytics
consultancy Escherman. The conundrum
is this: how can a PR assess and deal
with a threat that is difficult to see?
THINK 360
For Beatrice Giribaldi Groak, senior client
manager at Digitalis Reputation, while
the dark net might be the ultimate source
of reputation issues, it is how it connects
with the indexed web that matters.
To start with, she suggested: “You need
to look at it in combination with what
else is online to map out all liabilities.
When clients ask if we’ve looked at the
dark net, we still have to inquire: ‘Have
you looked at the rest of your publicly
available digital footprint in the surface
web as well?’ Only then can you ask the
all-important questions: ‘How easily can
this information be found and searched
for?’ and ‘How can it be manipulated?’”
These links are meat and drink for the
cadre of journalists who’ve made delving
into the dark net their speciality, in search
of exclusive, headline-grabbing material.
DATA HACK EXPOSÉS
In a world where personal information
can be bought and sold, one of the most
likely discoveries will be personal data.
The dark net elevates the risk that the
press will find out about your data leak
before you do.
As with any exposé, you should be
ready to act quickly, said Adam Hildreth,
CEO of social media risk expert Crisp:
“Speed of reaction is critical, which is
why you need to be forewarned. If you
can say ‘We found out seven days ago
that we had a data breach; we didn’t
want to alert the hackers so we didn’t go
public, but we have issued a password
reset and taken other measures’, then
that’s a brand I trust. On the other hand,
if you say ‘We found out eight months
ago’, I’m going to wonder why it took
you so long to say anything.”
In force from 25 May 2018, the
General Data Protection Regulation
will temper appetites for an exposé by
requiring that you inform the Information
Commissioner of any breach within
72 hours and other concerned parties
without “undue delay”. It could also help
to improve the accuracy of reporting.
FAKE NEWS FORUM
It’s no surprise that fishing journalists
might be tempted to run stories that
they have found on the dark net, but
the anonymity of sources there makes
it tricky to verify facts.
“When TalkTalk has 200,000 data
records taken and they are all available
on one site, that’s a big story,” said
Bartlett. “The journalists who spot it
are ready to start writing straight away.
A journalist discovered the Yahoo
breach. But for some the normal
standards of verification do not apply.”
He explained why some stories
may not be what they appear: “[For
investigative purposes,] journalists
bought some stolen O2 data and, after
contacting those affected and advising
them to change their passwords, they
INFLUENCE EDITORS ROB SMITH
AND GABRIELLE LANE TAKE A BREAK
FROM TRAWLING THE DARK WEB
contacted O2. O2 said it hadn’t had any
data stolen. It turned out a gaming site
had been hacked and the hackers had
tried the usernames and passwords to
access accounts with other companies.”
Unfortunately, inaccurate information
on the dark web does reach legitimate
news outlets too.
Kim Deonanan, regional VP at pressrelease
distribution service Business
Wire, has seen rumours emerge that
have had real-world consequences:
“Transparency and the release source
are key, and our strict internal checks
and vetting process help to ensure bona
fide content is distributed.”
Chen-Lee Tsui, manager, European
marketing, for Business Wire, added:
“For PR departments busy with their
day-to-day campaigns and other work,
using trusted news and distribution
services is crucial.”
BEWARE OVERREACTING
While PRs should be aware of and ready
to respond to any threat, our panel called
for a proportionate response to dark net
activity. This means striking a balance
between protecting your brand and
drawing attention to something that
might not be noticed otherwise.
Smith sees comparisons with social
media scares: “It’s not dissimilar to how
senior managers might view Twitter:
‘It’s on Twitter, so the whole world can
see it.’ Well, actually, there’s one unhappy
person but they have two followers. If
you wade in and start drawing attention
to it, it can become an issue, whereas, if
you wait, you can better judge whether
responding or not is the right option.”
“It’s about understanding if they really
are influencing public perception,” agreed
Giribaldi Groak. “If they have only a few
followers, the chances of them really
damaging your company are minimal,
unless one of the followers is highly
influential, of course.”
What role could the professional
communicator have in preventing things
getting out of hand? They should clarify
information quickly and clearly.
“It’s reputation management,” asserted
writer and communications consultant
Pam Cowburn. “When things go bad and
there is no comment, the perception is
that you have something to hide.”
EMBRACE THE DARK SIDE
Fear of information being stolen could
account for the rise of anonymous
browsing in itself. As users become more
careful about what they reveal online,
they are starting to see the benefits of
an anonymous browser that doesn’t
involve breaking the law.
Indeed, there were many stories
around the table of how an easily
available anonymous service has helped
the truth emerge, from helping those in
oppressive regimes communicate with
the outside world to a group of architects
creating a whistleblowing site to expose
local authorities that were bypassing
building regulations.
“Tor’s run by a charitable organisation,”
Bartlett said. “The people are good guys.
They are quite libertarian, so you might
not agree with all they say, but they are
doing it for the right reasons. It’s not run
by criminals, but it’s being misused.”
“That’s true of any technological
advance,” replied Cowburn. “Criminals
are early adopters and this means the
whole phraseology of the ‘dark net’
is a problem. It’s very tabloid and will
always sound negative. It’s always going
to sound like something bad.
“When good things happen, we don’t
frame them in the same way. Stories
about weapons sales or child exploitation
do come out because of the dark net.”
40 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 41

EXPERT INTERROGATION
SPEAK
NO EVIL
When it comes to interrogations in the interests of
national security, psychologists have cracked the code
for effective – and non-threatening – communication
BY IAN LESLIE
GETTY
t’s 2013. A
I
British man
is arrested for
planning to
murder a soldier.
Following
his arrest, the
suspect is
interviewed by a counterterrorism
police officer. The interviewer wants
him to reveal the details of his plan,
but the detainee – let’s call him
Diola – refuses. Instead, he speaks
passionately about the evils of the
British state for more than 40 minutes,
with little interruption.
In front of him, a copy of the
Koran lies open. He declares he is
willing to talk to the police because,
as a man of God, he wants to prevent
future atrocities. But he will not answer
questions until he is sure that his
questioner cares about Britain.
“The purpose of the interview is
not to go through your little checklist
so you can get a pat on the head,” he
says. “If I find you are a jobsworth,
we are done talking, so be sincere.”
The interviewer remains admirably
calm. But he is not able to move the
encounter out of stalemate.
Diola: “Tell me why I should tell you.
What is the reason behind you asking
me this question?”
Interviewer: “I am asking you
these questions because I need
to investigate what has happened
and know what your role was in
these events.”
Diola: “No, that’s your job – not
your reason. I’m asking you why it
matters to you.”
Eventually, the interviewer’s boss
replaces him. He takes a seat opposite
Diola. Something about this interviewer’s
opening speech triggers a change in
Diola’s demeanour. “On the day we
arrested you,” he begins, “I believe that
you had the intention of killing a British
soldier or police officer. I don’t know the
details of what happened, why you may
have felt it needed to happen, or what
you wanted to achieve by doing this.
Only you know these things, Diola. If you
are willing, you’ll tell me, and, if you’re
not, you won’t. I can’t force you to tell me
– I don’t want to force you. I’d like you to
help me understand. Would you tell me
about what happened?”
“That is beautiful,” Diola says.
“Because you have treated me with
consideration and respect, yes, I will
tell you now.”
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 43

EXPERT INTERROGATION
COPYRIGHT GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LTD 2017
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
Televised police dramas lead
us to believe that interrogators
extract information by intimidating
their subjects, yet most specialist
interviewers believe that coercion is
counterproductive. But conventional
wisdom has been hard to shift – at
least until now.
Earlier this year, at the University
of Liverpool, I watched a video of the
Diola interview alongside Laurence
Alison, the university’s chair in
forensic psychology, and Emily
Alison, a professional counsellor,
two psychologists who are changing
the way interrogation is practised.
My permission to view the tape was
negotiated with the counterterrorism
police. Details have been changed
to protect the identity of the officers
involved, though the quotes are exact.
In cooperation with the police,
the Alisons, who are husband
and wife, have analysed hundreds
of real-world interviews with
terrorists suspected of serious
crimes, and constructed the world’s
first comprehensive model of
interrogation tactics. It is rooted
in a developed understanding of
human communication.
Pausing the video, Emily grimaced
at Diola’s resistance: “When I watched
this the first time I had to walk away,
I was so outraged.” Laurence nodded:
“As the interviewer, what you want to
say is: ‘You’re the one in the fucking
seat, not me.’ He’s trying to control
you, so you try and control him. But
then it escalates.”
The moment an interrogation turns
into an argument, it fails.
“You need to remember what your
purpose in that room is,” said Emily.
“You’re seeking information. If you find
yourself having a go at someone, ask
yourself: ‘What am I achieving by this?’
Because they will stop talking to you.”
The moment an
interrogation
turns into an
argument, it fails
Psychologists Emily and Laurence
Alison have ways of making you talk
The third degree:
works on TV;
in real life
not so much
FALSE CONFESSIONS
In the US, police officers are trained
to interrogate suspects aggressively.
But evidence suggests that this style
often leads to false confessions,
as suspects will say anything
to get the interview over with.
Anecdotes from the military also
show this is the case.
In 2003, American colonel Steven
Kleinman tried to stop abusive
interrogations of Iraqi insurgents.
He became one of the first military
figures to speak out, stating in one
interview: “Underneath it all, it is very
ineffective and counterproductive...
Any individual can force any other
individual to admit to practically
anything, but that’s not the purpose
of interrogation.”
The more common problem is
that aggression can make a suspect
go silent. US police officers often
place great emphasis on body
language as a cue for deceit, even
though there is little scientific
evidence that reliable ‘tells’ exist.
Skilful interviewers know that
the richest source of information is
words. To get to the truth, you need
to get the suspect talking.
To be good listeners, interrogators
need to emotionally self-regulate
RAPPORT: TRUTH SERUM
The Alisons have been advising police
on how to interview suspects for more
than 20 years. In 2012, they persuaded
the counterterrorism police to give them
access to interviews with terrorists,
including Irish paramilitaries, al-Qaeda
operatives and far-right extremists.
By analysing each interview in minute
detail, they have proved something that
expert interrogators have long known
intuitively: the closest thing we have to
a truth serum is rapport.
Rapport is not the same as being nice.
In fact, interviewers can fail because
they are too nice. The best ones know
when to be sympathetic and when to
be forthright. What they never do is
impose their will on the interviewee,
either through aggression or through
techniques of unconscious manipulation:
these ‘tricks’ are usually seen through by
interviewees. Rapport, in the sense used
by the Alisons, describes an authentic
human connection. “You’ve got to mean
it” is one of Laurence’s refrains.
THE END OF ADVERSARIES
The Alisons’ model is underpinned by
an insight from counselling. More than
20 years ago, the field went through
a revolution when counsellors noted
that telling patients to stop an activity
such as drinking alcohol made
them want to do it more. Rather
than being confrontational, counsellors
now focus on building a relationship
of mutual understanding, so that the
patient does not feel the need to defend
themselves. Crucially, the patient must
feel that they are free to make their own
choices – that, instead of being told
what to do, they are able to work out the
right course of action for themselves.
The Alisons found that those
interrogators who made an adversary
out of their subject left the room
empty-handed; those who made them
a partner gleaned information. One
of the most profound learnings from
their research is that suspects are more
likely to talk when the interviewer
emphasises their right not to.
Laurence is a practitioner of
‘interpersonal psychology’, the premise
of which is that, in any conversation,
both participants are asking to feel
status and communion – that is, to
be respected. liked and understood.
“Power and love are the fundamental
elements of all human behaviour,”
explains Laurence. In a successful
conversation, both individuals feel
they have both. For the interviewer,
the best way to create this feeling is
by listening.
“You have to be genuinely curious,”
says Laurence. “There’s a reason this
person has ended up opposite you, and
it’s not just because they’re evil. If you’re
not interested in what that is, you’re not
going to be a good interrogator.”
LETTING GO
To be good listeners, interrogators
need to emotionally self-regulate.
An interviewee – who might be
hostile, cooperative, terrified or some
combination of the above – exerts an
emotional force on the interviewer that
is hard to resist. Skilled interrogators
are adept at managing their own
automatic responses, like sailors
able to ride the sudden swells of
a choppy sea.
This is crucial, says Laurence. “In
a tug of war, the harder you pull, the
harder they pull. My suggestion is:
let go of the rope.”
Ian Leslie is a journalist, and author
of Curious: The Desire to Know and
Why Your Future Depends on It
GETTY
44 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 45

THE BUSINESS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
DO IT
BETTER
THIS ISSUE
WHY PR IS NO LONGER PR
HOW TO GET A PAY RISE
BETTER CYBERSECURITY: 5 TIPS
THE MAN WHO RECAST PR
Winning has
put Dynamo
on more
I launched
PR Examples to
highlight in one place
great PR stunts from
around the world
RICH LEIGH
pitch lists.
Peter Bowles MCIPR
Co-CEO
Dynamo
Enter by 20 Feb 2018
Late entries accepted
‘til 27 Feb 2018
(there’s a late fee)
cipr.co.uk/excellence
Strut your stunt
The founder of prexamples.com explains how he
showcased the industry – and how you can too
BY RICH LEIGH. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOUISE HAYWOOD-SCHIEFER

DO IT BETTER
STUNNING STUNTS
rom the second
F
I started working
in PR, I was drawn
to creative stunts.
I first learned
about the work of
marketing forefather Jim Moran and his
contemporaries in Mark Borkowski’s
book The Fame Formula. I’d been
working in PR a couple of weeks
when I picked up a copy.
Moran’s exploits in the early
20th century paved the way for the
attention-grabbing approaches we see
today. He sat on an ostrich egg for 19
days, four hours and 32 minutes – and
hatched it – to publicise a movie called
The Egg and I. He searched for a
needle in a haystack for 10 days
to promote
a real-estate
development. He
led a bull through
a New York City
china shop to raise
the profile of a
friend (the bull
didn’t break
anything, but the
friend did, when he nervously
backed into a table). I enjoyed the
mischievousness of it all: the more
I learned about creative ways to
publicise clients, the more fantastic
it seemed that people could actually
make a living out of it.
In early 2009, I saw a headline that
reignited that initial spark: ‘Zombie
game marketing stunt goes awry after
body parts disappear’. To promote the
release of Resident Evil 5, a horror video
game, a treasure hunt around London
using fake (but realistic-looking) body
parts had been organised. Shock,
horror, not all had been gathered in,
sparking ‘concern’ that was entirely
fuelled by the agency behind the stunt.
So I began to use Twitter to highlight
stunts by other agencies and brands,
and soon PRs were sending me their
campaigns to share online.
I’m looking to pass
the torch to somebody
who understands the
ethos of the site
THE PURPOSE OF THE BLOG
In January 2012, I launched PR
Examples (prexamples.com) to
highlight in one place the great work
done by the industry around the world;
to rehabilitate the phrase ‘PR stunt’
among those who considered it tawdry;
and to keep my eye on everything
happening – which, I figured, would
make me a better practitioner.
GETTING STARTED
To test interest, I sent a vague tweet,
with an email sign-up link. Almost
immediately, it brought in my first
400 or 500 email addresses.
I launched the website with a few
posts, and a call for contributors and
campaign suggestions. Within the first
week, I had a
database of 1,000
readers. I had
dozens of people,
of all nationalities
and levels of
seniority, signed
up to write. The
blog certainly
wasn’t a business
in the moneymaking sense, and that
appeared to capture the imagination
of people.
THE NUMBERS GAME
Within a few months, thanks to
regular ‘Top stunts and campaigns’
newsletters, daily posts and a
community following – especially on
Twitter, where some posts would be
retweeted hundreds of times – the
website was receiving around 20,000
unique visits a month. Within a year,
we’d hit up to 60,000 unique views
– no mean feat considering there
are around 80,000 PRs in the UK.
We held a PR Examples gettogether
in London to celebrate the
first year, and nearly 300 tickets
sold in 48 hours, raising hundreds
of thousands of pounds for charity
in the process.
ADDED VALUE
People have been offered jobs based
on their contributions to the best
practice highlighted on the site.
My own raised profile led to me
working for one of the top consumer
agencies, Frank PR, and my own
agency, Radioactive PR, has picked up
business through the site. People have
told me that they have won pitches after
being inspired by posts on PR Examples.
Having written, read and edited
thousands of blogs, a publisher
approached me in early 2016 to ask
if I wanted to write a book. I did.
Myths of PR became the bestselling
PR book on Amazon within a couple
of days of being released in April 2017.
Blogging has been a good thing in
so many ways.
WHERE WE STAND
PR Examples is the UK’s number-one
PR blog, both in terms of unique visitors
per month, hovering consistently
around 30,000, and by Vuelio’s ranking
(at the time of writing). So why am
I selling (or retiring) it?
PR Examples started out as, and has
remained, a labour of love. I’ve pumped
my own money and thousands of
hours into it. Now that I’m running a fastgrowing
agency, I’m struggling to give
the site the time it deserves. There are
other projects I want to get to and, with
a melancholy feeling of accomplishment,
the time just feels right to let go.
I’m looking to pass the torch to
somebody who understands the ethos
and ongoing potential of the site. Either
that or I’m willing to continue to pay
to host and fossilise the site, so that
it stands as the most comprehensive
guide to PR creativity over these past
six years: a predominantly positive,
inspiring, informative and, hopefully,
entertaining place to read about the
best work being done.
Rich Leigh is founder of Radioactive PR.
Contact him at rich@prexamples.com
48 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 49

DO IT BETTER
PR IN 2018
You are not a PR
IKON IMAGES
Communications professionals are split over
the future of the traditional agency
BY VIOLET JAMES
n October 2017,
I
communications
giant WPP addressed
the evolution of
the industry in
its third-quarter
earnings call. In particular, it
challenged the idea that management
consultancies are now competing for
client business, especially within the
digital media space. It declared the
threat to be “overstated”. WPP statistics
showed that it was competing with
management consultancies for less
than 1% of its total revenue, leading
experts to agree with its optimism.
Analysts at Liberum said: “We back
WPP’s view. The consultancies just do
not have the scale or presence and are
unlikely to compete…”
However, analysts did acknowledge
that there will be some impact on
the communications agencies from
management and ICT consultancies.
And this comes at a time when agencies
are facing a period of slow growth.
All this was no surprise to industry
professionals who are already
working in new ways, within new
agency structures, for new clients.
Here, two business leaders share
their views on the future of the PR
agency model.
PR AGENCIES ARE THE NEW
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCIES
DAVID GALLAGHER, PRESIDENT OF GROWTH
AND DEVELOPMENT, INTERNATIONAL, AT
OMNICOM PUBLIC RELATIONS GROUP
What crossover exists between public
relations and management consultancies?
I think PR has evolved along two
parallel and occasionally intersecting
lines: one related to management and
institutional reputation, and the other
connected to marketing and sales.
As a management discipline, PR
helps companies and organisations
understand what stakeholders expect of
them, and can help repair damage when
expectations break down, often through
the media, key opinion leaders and
other intermediaries. In an increasingly
connected world, the convergence of
networks – social, workforce, supply
chain, regulatory and others – centres
on the perceived reputation or ‘lustre’ of
a company, brand or service. We’re all
focused on maximising and protecting
the value of that reputation.
How has the relationship between
PR agencies and their clients changed?
Roles and relationships with agencies
are as varied as ever, ranging from
‘trusted adviser’ to extra arms and legs,
and everything in between. With
technology automating or reconfiguring
labour requirements for ‘arms and legs’
support, agencies are offering more
strategic advice and planning.
What does the PR agency of 2018 look like?
The old days of departmental silos
are fading fast. The bigger shifts
are seen in how agencies are set up
now, with the best managing to offer
highly experienced professionals
(by industry and skillset) through
flexible, fast-moving teams.
How can PR agencies win
the battle for business?
Some things never change: we have
to show our clients as much love
as we show prospects, continue
hiring smart people from diverse
backgrounds, and stay on top of
technology. I think agencies of all sizes
are going to find tomorrow’s client
challenges too big or complex to handle
on their own, which means we’ll need
to find ways to collaborate internally
and with outside partners – even
competitor agencies or, dare I say
it, management consultancies.
PR AGENCIES ARE THE NEW
ADVERTISING AGENCIES
FRED COOK, CHAIRMAN AT GOLIN AND
DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC
RELATIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
What does successful public
relations look like today?
There is a growing convergence
between marketing and PR. We’re
seeing more marketing departments
within companies using public
relations agencies. Often they have
bigger campaigns and budgets, so
it represents a big opportunity for
people working in the agency world.
Over the next five years, we will
see the emphasis on earned media
being reduced, and greater spending
on paid media – owned media and
shared media.
Do PR and advertising agencies
need an aligned approach?
There’s a difference of opinion over
what ‘integrated’ should look like.
I don’t think it’s necessary that PR and
advertising say the same thing. My fear
is that PR could become a support tool
for advertising campaigns; that’s not
going to be the right direction.
You want PR to be standing side by
side with advertising, and executing
things that are complementary but
independent. As PR people, we have
to make sure that what we’re providing
is differentiated and creative.
How should a PR agency
be structured now?
At Golin, we changed our structure five
years ago; we saw the changes coming.
We realised there was a greater demand
for data and analytics in planning, so we
created a community around that – the
‘explore’ community. We also saw there
was greater demand for creativity, so
we made a ‘creator’ group. We already
had a strong ‘catalyst’ group of account
managers, and strong ‘connectors’ –
media and social media people – but
we added a lot of investment in the
analytical and the creative side of
the business.
The ‘G4’ model is a community-based
approach; it’s a way of thinking.
Can a PR person still be
an all-rounder in 2018?
I think our business has become too
complicated for one person to be good
at everything. There is a role for people
who are generalists and know a bit
about everything: those people oversee
the accounts and are driving change.
They need to know what’s happening
across the board.
We need people who are specialists
in design, or research, or videography
and storytelling. I think the industry is
moving into a specialist era, because
the work we’re doing is so much more
sophisticated. If we’re competing with
advertising firms, digital agencies and
media-buying firms, we have to have
just as deep expertise as they do.
Why would a client come to you
if there is an overlap in skills?
The labels on the different kinds of
agency have become meaningless.
What differentiates you in the industry
is not the type of agency you are, but
the type of ideas you’re bringing to
solve a problem for a client.
When you have people working in
specific communities, you end up with
a better product because there are
different kinds of people involved and
it’s a diverse creative process.
How difficult will it be for PR agencies
to adapt to a new way of working?
In the beginning, we were going to
play with the same team and adapt
and train people into these new roles.
In hindsight, that was not the best
idea. It is faster to hire people who
are already skilled in these areas than
it is to retrain people. You can’t shift
the direction of the agency without
bringing in new people. You have to
always be one step ahead of where
the industry is going.
50 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 51

DO IT BETTER
EARN MORE
How to ask for
(and get) a pay rise
Annual objectives have been set, and now it’s time
to talk salary. Watch out for these fatal traps
BY GAVIN ELLWOOD
IKON IMAGES
ll too often people
A
ask for a pay rise at
the wrong time. Either
the request is long
overdue and can
sound like a demand,
or too soon and the manager feels it’s
not warranted.
This decade is set to be the weakest
one for wage growth since the 1900s,
according to the Resolution Foundation.
So it’s more important than ever to get
your pitch right: it may be the difference
between success and failure.
THESE ARE THE OPTIMAL TIMES
Your annual review is often the best
time to ask for a pay rise. It’s common
for these reviews to take place shortly
after the end of the year – be that
calendar or financial – and usually
with some notice. If you can’t wait until
the annual review, then choose your
moment wisely. Specifically, Monday
mornings are a universal no-no, as
are Friday afternoons, or any day of the
week following poor financial results.
ASK YOURSELF SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS
Ask yourself some questions before
asking anything of others. Why are
you underpaid? How does your salary
compare with the market? Can your
employer afford it? Have you checked
your organisation’s salary bands?
Why are you asking for a pay rise?
The answer to this last question is
crucial and could be the key to how
you frame your case. Is it an issue of
equality or parity? Has your personal
situation changed, meaning you can no
longer afford to live on your salary? Are
you prepared to move on for a pay rise?
Consider all these questions before
developing your pitch for more money.
UNDERSTAND THIS:
THE PAST IS THE PAST
The mistake made by most people
when asking for a pay rise is to attempt
to justify an increase based on past
performance. Talking about that great
win, how hard you’ve worked or the
disaster you single-handedly averted
is not (most of the time) going to cut it.
You’ve been paid for what you’ve done
– that’s how the salary system works.
PREPARE
If time is on your side, then plan and
start working harder and smarter to
excel in your job while demonstrating
an exemplary attitude in your
workplace. Seek out ways you can
bring value above and beyond your
main responsibilities. If over the
past month or three you’ve excelled,
then your boss is likely to see you as
someone to develop and one to keep.
The mistake made
by most people is to
attempt to justify
a pay rise based on
past performance
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU
As a headhunter, I’m often involved
in salary negotiations on behalf of
clients, and, as a manager, I’m familiar
with requests for pay rises from team
members. My favoured approach is
one that works for both employee and
employer: start by thinking more about
what you can do for your employer and
less about what your employer can do
for you. If possible, start laying the
groundwork several months before
putting in the request. No manager likes
surprises when it comes to pay rise
requests (there’s always a budget
somewhere that must be stuck to) so
don’t be shy about making it clear up
front that it’s a topic you wish to discuss.
Approach a pay rise request in a
similar way to a job interview. The
common mindset of someone asking
for a pay rise is: “This is what I want
from you.” Instead, try the “This is
what I can do for you” approach – the
approach that got you the job in the
first place. Get yourself in that mindset.
Prepare your pitch, practise it and
perfect it.
BE FUTURE-ORIENTATED
Talk about the future, share your
plans and ideas, and demonstrate
the passion and enthusiasm that
you have for your work. Set out
the goals and ambitions that you’d
like to fulfil in the job, and then
explain the benefit that this will
bring in terms of your organisation’s
strategic objectives.
By linking what you’re going to
deliver, and the value you will bring
to the organisation, with your pay rise
request, you’re giving your manager
the best-possible reason to say yes.
You’ll also be providing them with
the material to make your case to
their boss if that’s what’s needed.
NO TANTRUMS
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. The
worst that can happen is your boss
will say no. If this happens, avoid
an emotional response and remain
professional. Use it as a learning
experience and find out why you
didn’t get a rise. Don’t threaten your
boss with resignation; in most cases
they will call your bluff and your
relationship will sour.
If a pay rise is not possible right
now, try alternative requests for
things of value to you – professional
development, additional holiday
allowance, membership of a
professional body, gym membership,
paid days off to volunteer, and so on.
I know plenty of people who earn
thousands of pounds more than their
contemporaries because they asked
for a pay rise more times than most,
but have done so in a clever and
informed way. They demonstrate
the value they will add. There’s a
fine line between doing more than
is asked of you to excel and doing so
much that you’re taken advantage
of. There are only so many hours in a
working week, so be smart and make
each one count.
Gavin Ellwood is director and
co-founder of Ellwood Atfield,
the communications and
advocacy headhunter
52 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 53

CYBERSECURITY TRICKS
5 hacks for better
cybersecurity
Another day, another
headline about cybersecurity
risks. The best advice?
Don’t let hype stop you doing
today what’s best for you
and your organisation
BY GWILYM LEWIS
IKON IMAGES
e’re constantly
W
discovering new
aspects of our lives
that are at risk
from technically
sophisticated, hooded
hackers, and we’re continually reminded
about how worried this should make
us. We’re told we face a huge problem –
all the technology we use, from wi-fi to
pacemakers to cars, can be hacked, with
terrible consequences. The situation
with the data that people hold about us,
and the damage its loss can cause, is
even worse, and there doesn’t appear
to be much we can do about it. Just look
at these Financial Times headlines:
• ‘Equifax hackers access
details of 143m US consumers’
(8 September 2017)
• ‘Identity thefts rise to nearly 500
victims a day’ (23 August 2017)
• ‘Computer “privacy threat to
patients”’ (19 July 1973)
No, that wasn’t a typo, the last
headline really is from 1973.
The reality is that cyberattacks
aren’t remotely new. In fact, the
first commonly accepted ‘hack’
was in 1903, when Nevil Maskelyne
used Morse code insults to disrupt
a public demonstration of Marconi’s
wireless telegraph.
Why does this matter? It matters
because new things are scary and
unknown – two of the key ingredients
with which human nature creates
myths. And the more that myths are
repeated, the more widely believed
they become.
OLD FEARS DIE HARD
Ultimately, widely believed myths make
it difficult for us to separate truth from
fiction – often to our detriment. For
example, people continued to carry
posies to ward off cholera (and to die)
instead of changing their behaviour and
drinking clean water, as that solution
was considered too simple to be true.
The truth about cybersecurity is that
the vast majority of the day-to-day
issues we face are well known and
have been around for a long time
(TalkTalk was hacked by a teenager
using a type of flaw older than him);
and the hacks that sound scary, such
as those affecting cars, wi-fi and
pacemakers, are very unlikely to
occur in normal circumstances.
The good news is that this means
there are straightforward steps you
can take today to make you and your
professional world more secure.
1DON’T THINK OF CYBERSECURITY
AS A BINARY PROBLEM
Being more secure is a journey, not
something you can achieve instantly.
The Great Britain Cycling Team became
world-beaters one step at a time, over
many years, not overnight. In the same
way, every change you make today,
no matter how small, makes you more
secure than you were yesterday.
2MAKE YOURSELF
PERSONALLY MORE SECURE
Being secure, both professionally
and personally, involves a mindset
change above all else. A great way to
begin thinking ‘securely’ is to make
simple changes to security in your
personal life.
The UK’s Cyber Aware website –
www.cyberaware.gov.uk – offers
easy-to-follow advice on the key things
to do: keep your software up to date,
lock your phone, use better passwords
(ones that are easy to remember too),
back up your data and be suspicious
when sharing personal data.
3USE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION
WHEREVER YOU CAN
Two-factor authentication
requires you to provide an additional
piece of information (normally a
code sent by text or one generated
by an app on your phone) along
with your username and password
in order to log into, say, a website
or your email.
Two-factor authentication is
supported by most online services
and email providers, and many
e-commerce websites. Using it will
instantly make you much more secure:
even if someone has your username
and password, they can’t get the
additional code needed to log in if
they don’t have access to your phone.
4ACCEPT THINGS WILL
GO WRONG ONE DAY
AND PLAN FOR IT
Even as the co-founder of a
specialist cybersecurity company,
I know that one day either I or my
business will probably be the victim
of a hack, as it’s impossible to be
totally secure all the time (or to
avoid making a silly mistake).
Good security is not just about
trying to stop attacks, whether as an
individual or a company. It’s equally
important to make sure that, if
something bad does happen, the
damage is mitigated and that you
have plans in place so that you can
quickly recover.
Key steps include having offline
copies of all your data, ensuring that
someone who hacks one system
doesn’t get access to others, and,
most importantly, taking the time
to document your recovery plan.
5ASK ‘WHO IS TAKING CARE
OF THE SECURITY FOR THIS?’
There is a natural assumption
that something as important as
security is being taken care of by
someone, somewhere, but all too
often this turns out not to be the
case. The simplest way to ensure that
security is being addressed is to ask.
Improving your security is very
straightforward; you just have to start
today. As Martin Luther King Jr said:
“You don’t have to see the whole
staircase; just take the first step.”
Gwilym Lewis is director of Appsecco,
which provides easy-to-understand
cybersecurity solutions, grounded in
commercial reality
THIS ARTICLE COUNTS
TOWARDS CIPR CPD
CIPR CPD is a free online platform
where you can plan, track and record
everything you do to keep your
knowledge and skills up to date.
Structure your development and work
towards becoming a Chartered PR
Practitioner. Visit cipr.co.uk/mycpd
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 55

DID IT BETTER
CIPR ANNIVERSARY
The talented
Mr Tallents
How to deploy new technology to project public service messages.
Resolving information inequality. Containing the power of political
and media elites. If you work in PR now, you’ll recognise all the
issues that confronted industry pioneer Sir Stephen Tallents
BY SCOTT ANTHONY
Tallents’ mastery of
radio and cinema
would lead him to
create a template for
generations of PR
practitioners to come
hortly after IPR was
S
created in 1948 (the
‘C’ didn’t appear until
2005), it began casting
around for a figurehead
who could bestow
credibility on a nascent profession
– someone who could embody the
profession’s best self.
The search led to 63-year-old Sir
Stephen Tallents. The fact that the
inaugural IPR president had spent the
majority of his career doing jobs that
were not officially designated as ‘public
relations’ made him, paradoxically,
a far-sighted choice. Tallents always
resisted any sort of codification of
what he did because he believed
media relations were relational: it
was work defined (and redefined)
by its doing. What IPR ended up doing
was institutionalising a model that
could be endlessly reconfigured.
DEFINING MOMENTS
Tallents’ career in public relations was
propelled forward by the 1906 Liberal
landslide. He joined the civil service
as social pressures were beginning
to compel government intervention
in the private welfare of its citizens.
This growth necessitated the
development of state publicity as
innovations such as national insurance
(which Tallents cut his teeth on)
required both explanation and
promotion. The nation state found
it increasingly difficult to easily
delineate government responsibilities
from private ones.
As in so much else, the First World
War would become a defining moment
in the development of public relations.
Invalided from the front, Tallents was
seconded to the Ministry of Food.
Working with experts from the new
field of nutritional science, civil
servants came to realise the extent
of malnutrition in Britain. Alongside
William Beveridge, who would become
famous as the architect of the 1945 postwar
settlement, Tallents was tasked
with finding ways of both addressing
these inequalities and winning public
support for rationing. He succeeded,
but to Tallents’ frustration, this research
was halted by post-war cuts to state
expenditure. If the state could compel
its citizens to kill, as the bureaucratic
lament of the time had it, why not
compel better lives?
Tallents didn’t
invent the profession,
but he did help
to crystallise it
NEW SCIENCE
The inter-war years saw the maturing
of new media technologies such as
radio and cinema. Tallents’ mastery
of these would lead him to create
a template for generations of public
relations practitioners to come. Firstly,
as head of the newly created Empire
Marketing Board (EMB) between 1926
and 1933, Tallents coordinated an
international network of institutes
developing research in fields such as
botany, pest control and animal genetics
(Dolly the sheep owes her existence to
an initial EMB grant).
Running these institutes of new
science demanded new ways of
working and communicating.
Employing international artists and
film-makers, the EMB briefly became
as renowned for its modernistic output
as the London Underground.
The experience of running the EMB
convinced Tallents that a globalised
future demanded collaboration free of
high politics – defiantly commonwealth,
not empire. Noteworthy EMB
collaborators went on to play important
roles in the creation of post-war
organisations such as UNESCO.
WH AUDEN AND THE GPO
But it was at the General Post Office
(GPO) that Tallents found greatest
acclaim. Ordered to encourage the
social take-up of telecommunications,
Tallents oversaw the development of the
Valentine’s Day telegram, Gilbert Scott’s
telephone kiosk and the 999 service.
Meanwhile, the film unit Tallents had
created at the EMB matured at the GPO.
Important figures, such as WH Auden,
William Coldstream and Humphrey
Jennings, were employed to produce
animations, documentaries and even
musicals. Films such as Night Mail
(1936) were made to promote postal
services to the public, and to raise the
status of postal workers, but they also
existed to propagate the idea of the UK
as a democracy brought together by
shared public services: lame humour
not Leni Riefenstahl. In Tallents’ work at
the GPO you see in embryo techniques
and messaging deployed during the
Second World War by the Ministry
of Information, of which Tallents was
briefly director general: keep calm
and carry on.
CULTURAL KEYNESIANISM
In 1932, Tallents published The
Projection of England, a pamphlet
that outlined his vision for modern
public relations (which he labelled
‘projection’). Appalled by the rise of
fascism, but equally concerned about
the conduct of Britain’s newspaper
barons, Tallents idealised a world
where citizens could speak across
political elites. In the First World
War, he had lamented the unequal
distribution of food; now Tallents
feared the consequences of the
unequal distribution of information.
In a sense, his conception of public
relations equated to a kind of ‘cultural
Keynesianism’. Tallents’ ideas were a
call for interventions in a field that he
believed was too important to be left to
politicians and news media oligarchs.
Tallents’ appeal to IPR in the context of
the Labour victory of 1945 should already
be obvious: his prescient ideas had often
fallen foul of inter-war conservatism.
However, he remained a liberal and
his ideas were often out of kilter with
Labour’s statism. More importantly, his
belief that multimedia public relations
needed to be rooted in discussion,
debate and civic activism appeared an
extravagance to public figures primarily
interested in managing media criticism.
Fundamental to Tallents’ understanding
of public relations was that the media
was an addition to the existing social
sphere, not a container or a substitute for
it. To a PR professional in the early 1990s
this might have seemed dated or naive,
but now the wheel has turned. In an age
defined by visual memes and social
media, and when high politics and
‘traditional’ media are seen as suspect,
Tallents seems an inspired choice as
inaugural IPR president. He didn’t invent
the profession, but he did help to
crystallise it. A dynamic profession
requires a dynamic figurehead. It might
even be that the trials and tribulations
of Tallents’ career are still prompting
serious professional self-reflection
70 years from now.
Scott Anthony is a Leverhulme
Fellow at the University of Cambridge
and author of Public Relations
and the Making of Modern Britain
(Manchester University Press)
CIPR’S 70TH ANNIVERSARY
To mark the 70th anniversary
of CIPR, in 2018 each edition of
Influence will look at the life and
accomplishments of a key figure
in the institute’s history.
GETTY
56 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 57

CIPR EXCELLENCE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Game-changing business and comms strategies from the CIPR Excellence Awards hall of fame
It’s difficult to analyse best practice in
public relations because so much of the
planning, activation and even outcomes
happen behind closed doors.
But every year we get a privileged insight
into the very best campaigns in the comms
sector, and what makes them and their
creators so special.
Over the past few months, we’ve looked in
detail at 12 of the most impressive, creative
and effective campaigns of recent years, each
a winner at CIPR’s Excellence Awards. Some
of these campaigns were in-house and others
were led by agencies; in most cases, they
were a powerful combination of both.
This group show an obsessive, granular
understanding of their target audience; their
campaigns are super-ambitious in scope;
they harness the knowledge of the whole
organisation, not just the comms silo;
they pique the media’s interest (but
sometimes bypass them altogether); and
they know that no budget or organisation
is too small to enjoy global success.
The learnings from these award-winners
can be applied to anyone working in PR and
comms, in whatever discipline. Want to
know how the most effective comms teams
cut through in an information-drenched
world? Here’s how...
LESSON 1
YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK TO THE
MEDIA TO TALK TO THE MEDIA
Cast your mind back to Christmas 2014 and you may recall a story about
fairies delivering presents and doing good deeds in towns and villages across
the country. A school in Cornwall was covered in snow, while ‘fairies’ delivered
gifts to the deserving in Newcastle.
The magical media relations campaign was, of course, for retailer Marks &
Spencer. But, despite acres of coverage, possibly the most magical thing about
the campaign was that not once did M&S or its agency, Unity, speak to the media.
“It was a huge risk and we had no fall-back position,” says Nik Govier,
Unity’s former managing director. She says that, to work, the campaign needed
the complete and utter trust of the client, a powerful and timely idea, and a
thorough understanding of the modern mediascape.
But most important, says Govier, were meticulous planning and executing
the idea with real integrity. “We had to behave like fairies,” she says. “Fairies
wouldn’t have a PR agency or enlist celebs or call news desks. We created
intrigue and left it to the journalists to ‘discover’ the story themselves.”
“The CIPR Excellence Award raised our profile and let people know what we
were capable of” – Nik Govier.
LESSON 2
EVERYONE WINS IF YOU
GROW THE MARKET
Nearly one million children in the UK have
undiagnosed eye conditions; half of UK
children have never had an eye test. For
Boots, these facts represented both a moral
obligation and a business opportunity.
In 2016, the UK’s second-largest optician
launched an awareness campaign to help
parents understand the importance of
monitoring their children’s eyesight.
It created an interactive storybook,
Zookeeper Zoe, available online and in-store,
to encourage parents to have their children’s
eyes properly tested – even though Boots
knew it wouldn’t be the only brand to benefit.
“By raising the issue, we knew we would
be increasing demand for eye tests,” says
Rebecca Fergusson, MD of health at Red
Consultancy, Boots Opticians’ agency.
“By providing a solution in the form of
an eye-test storybook, we ensured Boots
Opticians would be the main beneficiary.
We created a strong emotional connection
between the book and parents, and made the
journey from reading the book to getting an
eye test completely seamless.”
Rebecca Fergusson on winning a CIPR
Excellence Award: “It’s good for new clients
because it endorses our approach of
creativity that has demonstrable traction.”
EXCELLENCE
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK INFLUENCE.CIPR.CO.UK Q1 2018 59 55

LESSON 3
ENGAGED EMPLOYEES CAN UNLOCK
A NEW PRODUCT’S POTENTIAL
After acquiring three former building
societies, Santander wanted to
double the number of customers
who also regarded it as their primary
bank. Thus was born the innovative
1|2|3 account – a ‘better’ current
account that gives cashback on
household bills.
Given the mildly technical nature
of the new offer, the question was
how to communicate it in a way that
would cut through with customers and
address any public cynicism. Santander
realised that convincing its own staff of
the merits of the new account would be
an essential first step.
“Getting internal communications
correct was absolutely vital,” says
Santander UK’s head of media
relations, Andy Smith. “Employees
can be your most cynical audience.
Without their support, no amount of
brand advertising or high-level public
relations will work.”
Santander launched the new product
internally and carefully trained staff in
its benefits. “In the end, we had a highly
motivated workforce who understood
and really appreciated the product.
They were the foundation of all external
communications and the success of
the 1|2|3 account.”
“We were delighted with the CIPR
Excellence Award. Achieving
independent recognition of the
strength of our campaign was a big
motivator for the team” – Andy Smith.
LESSON 5
KEEP IT BLOODY SIMPLE
The number of new blood donors fell by 40% in
the decade to 2015. The idea of giving blood had
simply ceased to be a cultural norm, especially
among young people.
Any campaign to remedy this had first to deal with
the fact that it was an invisible issue – you can’t see
a fall in blood donation. Second, it had to be absolutely
straightforward. “In public relations and comms, there
is a tendency to overcomplicate. We understood that
younger audiences like things to be simple. They don’t
want layers of complexity and they don’t want a big ask,”
says Gemma Irvine, head of the brand team at MHP.
The resulting ‘Missing type’ campaign for NHS Blood
and Transplant – in which individuals, brands and
organisations removed the letters A, O and B from their
names – turned the issue into a game and led to a huge
increase in blood donors. O2, Nando’s and even Downing
Street got involved. More than 30,000 new donors were
registered during National Blood Week 2015, 20,000 up
on the previous year.
“The simplicity of the idea was complemented by the
simplicity of its activation; minimal effort was needed to
deliver our message and create the desired behavioural
change,” says Irvine.
LESSON 4
BE SUPER-AMBITIOUS
English Heritage sits at the heart of British life, caring for over
400 historic sites. But it has faced a long-standing image
problem: it’s been seen as... a bit fusty. The solution? Think big.
In 2016, the conservation charity decided it needed to ‘own’
one of the UK’s most important historic events, on the Battle
of Hastings’ 950th anniversary. English Heritage threw all
its resources behind the campaign. It created an arrow hunt,
concealing 1,066 arrows across its sites; commissioned a
contemporary version of the Bayeux Tapestry; recreated Harold’s
forced march from Yorkshire to Hastings; and even rewrote
history by moving the stone that marked where Harold fell. In
doing so, it galvanised thousands of people’s interest in history.
“This was our biggest-ever campaign, lasting a whole year.
It was a risk but we had to be ambitious to have any chance of
hitting our targets,” says head of comms Michael Murray-Fennell.
The reward? Three consecutive programmes on BBC One, as
well as smashed visitor and revenue targets.
Michael Murray-Fennell describes his CIPR Excellence Award
as a “hearty round of applause for all our hard work”.
LESSON 6
KNOW HOW TO USE
HUMOUR WELL
People die because they can’t get an ambulance in an
emergency or because A&E is full of people with minor
ailments. The worst culprits, apparently, are the millennial
‘snowflake’ generation. Persuading them not to call 999
unless they really need to is a matter of life and death.
Spirit and NHS Sussex, however, chose to highlight the
problem with a series of comedy shorts by TV prankster
Dom Joly. In the films, he refuses to accept that minor
ailments such as a hangover are not a medical emergency.
The films were trailed on social media with the hashtag
#notQUITEanemergency.
“We know that young people don’t read leaflets, but nearly
all millennials use social media, and one of the most popular
forms of content is pranking,” says Spirit’s creative director,
Matt Campion. “Most health messages are so po-faced that
they’re ignored. We were able to get away with using humour
around a serious issue for a serious organisation because we
were hitting our audience in the [online] places they go to, in a
tone of voice they were comfortable with.”
“Our CIPR Excellence Award changed the game for Spirit in
terms of being trusted to deliver by clients” – Matt Campion.
60 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
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LESSON 7
TO STAY IN CONTROL, USE
YOUR OWN COMMS CHANNELS
On 28 October 2016, fire ripped through the cluster of medieval buildings
surrounding Exeter Cathedral. The fire destroyed The Royal Clarence, England’s
oldest hotel, and closed the city’s tourist and business district.
Two days later, the local newspaper announced the fire was out. But it wasn’t
– it smouldered on for four more days. So it was just as well that Exeter City
Council had already chosen to communicate directly with the public, using its
website and Facebook groups. Unusually, it broadcast the fire live and offered
an online interactive map of the cordoned-off area around the fire, constantly
updated in real time, as well as private and public Facebook pages.
“Using our own media ensured timely, unrestricted, unfiltered news,” says
Jon-Paul Hedge, director of comms and marketing at Exeter City Council.
“It meant that local businesses understood exactly what was being done
and when they could reopen, while residents concerned about the cultural
damage felt informed and reassured about the council’s determination to make
it good. We might not have been in control of the fire, but we were in control of
the story.”
62 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
LESSON 8
UNDERSTAND
YOUR CUSTOMERS’
EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS
The introduction of market forces into the
tertiary education sector means that the 48
hours around clearing and results day have
become make or break for many universities.
While most opt for marketing activity based
around top-line ‘functional benefits’, such as the
quality of their courses, in 2015 Loughborough
University took an approach based on a far
more profound understanding of the emotional
needs of prospective students.
It surpassed its student targets by sending
out 2,000 personalised, Willy Wonka-style
golden tickets welcoming those who’d got the
grades and secured a place.
“Sometimes we overthink. There’s a need to
get back to the human side,” says Emma Leech,
director of marketing and advancement at
Loughborough. “We scrutinised the 42 factors
influencing choice and, rather than focusing on
the obvious, we went down the list, looking for
emotional triggers. We really tried to get under
the skin of our customers and see what it felt
like to walk in their shoes. Probably the biggest
concern was ‘fear of not fitting in’. So we
personalised our message to make insecure
applicants feel valued – like VIPs.”
“The CIPR Excellence Award was a huge
boost and generated real institutional pride.
It has been important in building team
confidence and creativity. Importantly, it has
helped raise our profile internally, which has
been pivotal in securing confidence, support
and enthusiasm for future projects and
innovations” – Emma Leech.
GETTY
LESSON 9
YOU’RE NEVER TOO DULL
TO EXPRESS A PERSONALITY
’Scales and balances’ may be among the world’s least sexy product sectors.
But that didn’t stop German scale manufacturer Kern & Sohn from developing
a quirky and engaging global brand personality. This was achieved after its
PR agency, Ogilvy, developed an experiment to show how Kern scales are so
precise that they even allow for the distorting effect of gravity, which varies
across the world. Ogilvy sent a set of scales to academics around the globe
so they could weigh a garden gnome named ‘Kern’. Kern’s adventures were
recorded in countless videos, sparking global interest.
“The idea of the product demonstration came first and then we added in
the gnome to make it quirky and fun,” explains Michael Frohlich, CEO of Ogilvy
EMEA. “No brand is too dull for a personality, but to make sense and to have
leverage it has to be based on a reason or a purpose with an absolutely integral
link to the product. You have to start with a product truth or insight.”
LESSON 10
DON’T TELL THEM, SHOW THEM
Technology marketing presents a specific problem: technical specs don’t sell.
“Flexible solutions... blah.” “Functional capacity... blah.” People just don’t hear it.
So how was the financial software company Intelligent Environments supposed
to convey the message that its clever tech can improve online banking?
Answer: it chose to demonstrate the benefits of its products. And, to do that,
its own developers, alongside its PR agency, worked together to develop a
genuine world first – online banking via a smartwatch, so that people could
check their balances and transactions just by looking at their wrist.
“If you tell people, often they just don’t hear you – especially if everyone
else is saying the same thing,” says Chris Hides, MD of M&C Saatchi PR. “The
essence of technology marketing has to lie in developing an engaging narrative
around the product so that consumers, in particular, can understand it. After all,
you wouldn’t go to Germany and start speaking French. Showing, rather than
telling, is speaking in language consumers understand.”
“The recognition from CIPR not only gave the team a confidence boost, but
it helped us demonstrate to prospects and clients alike the importance of
following this model” – Chris Hides.
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 63

LESSON 12
CHAMPION YOUR CONSUMER
Brand purpose has become a fashionable marketing technique.
And P&G’s Always brand is the technique’s poster girl.
Always was the global leader in the feminine care market,
but rival brands were proving more successful at building
emotional connections with young women on social media.
Always responded with the #LikeAGirl campaign, created
by PR agency MSL, which shows the power of championing
the broader interests of your consumers in a way that goes
beyond a mere transaction.
Research showed that more than half of women suffered a
decline in confidence at puberty – the very moment they enter
the market for Always. So MSL devised a global social
media campaign using the hashtag #LikeAGirl to drive
people to a Lauren Greenfield-directed YouTube film. The
film showed how women have internalised the phrase ‘Like
a girl’ to mean weakness and vanity, when its real meaning
should be anything but.
The results were extraordinary: over 76 million views on
YouTube, and 1.6 billion media impressions in the UK alone,
leading to increased market share. #LikeAGirl has since
become a valuable asset of the Always brand and the face
of what might be termed the ‘brand-purpose movement’.
LESSON 11
ENLIST THE WHOLE ORGANISATION
Royal Mail was simply a licensee of the London 2012 Olympics, but it wanted
to outshine the official sector sponsor, UPS. It decided to produce stamps
commemorating every GB Olympic gold medal winner within 24 hours of
their victory. The normal lead time is two years.
This extraordinarily ambitious campaign could not possibly have succeeded
through the efforts of the in-house comms team alone. In fact, you might call it
“total PR” because so much of the organisation had to be enlisted for the campaign
to succeed. Royal Mail also worked with PR agencies Eulogy and Blonde.
A detailed strategy was developed in the preceding two years, signed off by
Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene. “We had the stamps and collectibles team,
operations teams, and legal and regulatory teams, not to mention outside bodies such
as Ofcom [the industry regulator] and LOCOG [the Olympics’ organising committee],”
says David Gold, Royal Mail’s director of public affairs and policy.
“Not only did the campaign transform the way Royal Mail is perceived, but it
transformed our culture,” he adds. “It has raised aspirations. We have learned
how to join up the departments. We have become a real can-do organisation.”
EXCITED?
TELL US ABOUT
YOUR OWN SAVVY
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
Entries are open for the annual
CIPR Excellence Awards. To view
the categories, visit cipr.co.uk/
excellence. Make sure you apply
by 20 February 2018* for a
chance to share your success.
LESSON 13
WIN MEANINGFUL AWARDS
Okay, plug time. Not only was each of these a
stellar campaign, but each team took the time to
communicate its lessons. It’s all very well putting
together a brilliant campaign, but it only becomes a
game changer when the wider world can adopt the
innovative techniques involved. That’s the way that
you, your organisation or your agency becomes a
genuine thought leader.
As Gemma Irvine of MHP says: “Winning the
CIPR Excellence Award has had a great impact on
the agency: it has set a benchmark for creativity
that means we continue to push ourselves,
agency-wide, to deliver work that is worthy of
industry recognition. It’s also helped us attract new
brands and organisations that are looking for an
agency that can deliver high-impact campaigns.”
Excellent PRs
with their awards
64 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
* 27 February is the late deadline (charge applies).
INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK Q1 2018 65

THE BACK STORY
The male, the pale and the dissidents
GETTY
t was summer
I
in 2012, and the
London Olympics
were about
to briefly lift
the gloom of
austerity. On a baking-hot evening
in London, my team and I were
about to put on the First Women
Awards, an event we’d created
with the CBI a few years earlier.
Months of work had gone into it,
and the event was going brilliantly.
Clare Balding was smashing it as
the host. Home secretary Theresa
May (whatever became of her?)
gave an excellent speech. The
atmosphere among the 500
guests, three-quarters of whom
were successful businesswomen,
was celebratory.
Now, though, it was time for the
Lifetime Achievement award, and
our nerves were on edge. There
was a degree of risk around this year’s recipient.
Not that she was undeserving. Far from it. Sex
educator and feminist Shere Hite is a true pioneer.
Her 1976 Hite Report is a landmark in the field of
female sexuality. It’s just that Hite is unclubbable.
Yes, we’d briefed her PR adviser about the event,
its aims, the guests and so on, but no painstakingly
produced briefing documents were going to
prevent the world’s leading thinker on clitoral
stimulation from going off message if she felt like it.
The actress Fiona Shaw stepped up to present
the award. Moving through the crowd, she gave
me a look that felt part-reassuring and part ‘You
do realise, don’t you, what might happen here?’. I
glanced around our corporate sponsors, expensively
dressed and working in professional services, and
wondered what the next few minutes would bring.
Ms Shaw read the citation. Ms Hite took to the
stage. Ms Shaw took a gracious step back to allow
her the spotlight and...
Of course, it was a great moment. Despite ill
health, Hite made a powerful impression on the
audience. Okay, she mentioned a few body parts
that wouldn’t normally make it into a businessawards
script, but the whole point of the project
was an evening to celebrate groundbreakers.
66 Q1 2018 INFLUENCEONLINE.CO.UK
No
painstaking
briefing
documents
were going
to prevent
the world’s
leading
thinker
on clitoral
stimulation
from going
off message
if she felt
like it
Shere Hite reminds
us that true diversity
of opinion is, erm...
very stimulating
Why recall this now? Well, most
public forums have a melting-pot
quality to them these days.
This is good news but it can also
cause discomfort. Conservative
MP Philip Davies has talked of
ministers allegedly being “hoofed
out” of government simply for
being white and male. In the new
digital workplaces, older workers
can feel disenfranchised. Certainly,
many outposts of Britain feel
excluded from this economic and
social progress. “Brexit wasn’t a
vote against Europe; it was a vote
against London,” a wise lady in the
Midlands said to me recently.
My experiences of being male
and pale in fish-out-of-water
circumstances have been
invigorating. Over many years of
working with Pinky Lilani OBE,
visionary founder of the Asian
Women of Achievement Awards
and the Women of the Future Programme, I was
often the only man in the room. And I had a stint
as a forty-something in the fintech industry, where
everyone else is under 28 and only speaks Reddit.
One thing I did notice is that it requires rigorously
open, freethinking cultures and leaders to make
sure that everyone – even the old mainstream –
doesn’t feel the need to constantly sense-check
their point of view for fear of seeming out of kilter.
In public discourse terms, our challenge is to
make the tent bigger, not to erect a new one that
excludes the non-believers. And it’s worth recalling
the words of US philosopher Noam Chomsky:
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient
is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable
opinion.” He explained that allowing lively debate
among those with “critical and dissident views”
gives us an illusion of inclusion. He continued: “That
gives people the sense that there’s free thinking
going on, while all the time the presuppositions of
the system are being reinforced by the limits put
on the range of the debate.”
Publicly shame Matthew Rock
for his outdated opinions on Twitter:
@matthewrock
An
invaluable
endorsement
of the quality of
our work.
Emma Leech FCIPR
Director of Marketing
& Advancement
Loughborough University
Enter by 20 Feb 2018
Late entries accepted
‘til 27 Feb 2018
(there’s a late fee)
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