Lisa Ranieri

⏳ Just 4 days left to make your voice heard! We're calling on all Black PR and comms professionals to share your experiences. Together with PRWeek UK and Opinium, our One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey aims to uncover the truth about inequities, celebrate successes and set a new standard for our industry. Back in 2020, nearly half of Black communication pros told us they’d never received an internal promotion. We want to know if things have changed. Are you being hired, recognized, and rewarded fairly? Your input is crucial to shaping meaningful recommendations for change. The survey is anonymous and takes just 6 minutes to complete. 🔗 Hit the link below to participate and help us pave the way for a more equitable future in PR and comms. 📅 Remember, the survey closes this Friday, 28th June 2024. Let's make a difference together! ✊🏾 https://lnkd.in/eM--X-Fs

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Back in 2020, nearly half of Black communication professionals reported never having received an internal promotion. That's shockingly dismaying! As a 100% BME-staffed agency, we encourage every Black PR professional to join the survey. Let's see what progress (hopefully) has been made, and most importantly, affect change!

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‘You can’t really measure the impact of PR’. I hear that said so often that sometimes even those of us working in the sector can be at risk of internalising that belief. Which is why it’s so uplifting when a client takes the time to write in on a Friday afternoon to say ‘the result of the press coverage [that Rostrum generated] is a 25% increase in website traffic and a 50% increase in form completions’. That’s a measurable return on investment from your PR programme.

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Update from the PwC IAB UK 2023 Digital Adspend report….. UK podcast ad spend grew faster than any other digital format in 2023! Total UK podcast ad spend was £83m, up 23% yoy (£69m in 2022) 🚀 (Total digital ad spend grew 11% to £29.6bn) This is a phenomenal performance for podcasting and shows how strong the medium is and how it can genuinely perform for brands. And 2024 has started strongly, so expect a similar of not better performance this time next year! Adelicious #podcast #podcasting #digitaladspend #podcastadvertising

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Reflecting on a great two days at PRWeek UK PR360 on the sunny south coast. Fantastic to hear from so many leaders driving change across the industry. Several themes emerged across the sessions, and a few key takeaways are: 🧠 “Earnfluence” and “brandformance” were just a couple of portmanteaux bandied around to demonstrate how in-house comms teams are leading the way in marketing, and to quote one speaker “stealing budget from other teams”. By telling stories in a more compelling way, we can provide fuel across a wealth of other marketing functions ✨Shiny campaigns win awards, but it’s the drumbeat which makes the real difference. Building a profile is good for your business and good for corporate reputation. By establishing trust and a positive relationship with the media, journalists are likely to take a more nuanced stance when your business is faced with an issue 📢If you’re not part of the conversation, it doesn’t mean the conversation isn’t happening. Brands need to be bold and take a stand on issues. If you want to build a profile for your business, you have to have views 📰 The traditional media still hold significant power - and with this power comes responsibility, in the face of unprecedented misinformation and disinformation. As PRs we have a role to play in holding the media to account. If you don’t set the record straight on every factual inaccuracy, the incorrect narrative becomes the truth 📈We often hear awareness touted as the key measure of PR success, but time and again we heard from businesses where the main focus of PR was to drive brand goals, from moving the dial on reputation, to shifting perceptions and changing customer behaviour 🤖 AI isn’t coming for our jobs, but it is coming for the specific tasks it can do better than us. As humans, where we will always have value is around personal relationships, context, guardrails, and empathy #pr360 #prinsight #prconference #pragency

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Advertising No Longer the #UK’s Least Trusted Industry for the First Time in a Decade https://lnkd.in/eBBVHJPW The ‘Value of Trust’ report shows trust in advertising is now the 2nd most crucial driver of brand success. Younger people show higher trust (50%) compared to over 55s (22%). TV ads are the most trusted medium at 41%. #Marketing #ConsumerTrust #LionHerald

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What did the King’s Speech mean for the advertising industry? Following the speech today, here’s what Lisa Hayley-Jones, our Director of Policy & Government Affairs, had to say:   “Today’s King’s Speech gives our members a clear indication of what to expect from this new Labour government. The wide-ranging legislative package of 40 Bills is designed to drive growth across the regions and nations, and support sustainable growth by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies.”   Areas of interest to our industry included: work around skills and the reform of the apprenticeship levy, increased powers for metro mayors, commitment to secondary legislation on HFSS advertising, and a pledge to introduce powers to regulate AI.   To find out more, read our statement in full: https://lnkd.in/eHSj3idn

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One step forward two steps Black? We want to hear your experiences of what it’s like to be Black in PR and comms today. Together with PRWeek UK and Opinium, we are opening our One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey to uncover inequity where it exists, recognise successes in creating a diverse pipeline and retaining talent, and crucially - to provide a benchmark for the industry to make change. The inaugural One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey in 2020 found that almost half of Black communication professionals had never received an internal promotion, with talent having to move to a different agency or company to rise up the ranks.  Has progress been made? Are you having a more equitable experience? Are you being hired, recognised and rewarded for your contributions? We need to know so we can shape recommendations to drive change. The anonymous survey takes just 6 minutes to complete. Complete the survey here: https://lnkd.in/eM--X-Fs Kamiqua Lake (nèe Pearce) Founder of UK Black Comms Network says "As the old adage goes: what gets measured gets improved. The industry's focus continues to be on attracting Black talent into entry level roles. We want to understand what progress our industry is making on this and how organisations are rewarding Black talent within their companies."   You can read more in PR Week here: https://lnkd.in/ewPJbcE4 Special thanks to Eliza Wiredu Rhoneece Patterson Priya Minhas

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New CAST polling conducted in partnership with Ipsos UK, reveals that there is still strong public support from Britons for most net zero policies, despite higher levels of concern falling since 2022. 📢 Our CAST Director, Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, on what these results mean: "Our new polling shows there is still strong public support for many net zero policies amongst the public, with support highest for home energy efficiency policies and frequent flyer levies. Support tends to increase when considering the positive personal impacts of these policies for individuals. The findings confirm that policies which are fair, which provide wider benefits (e.g. lower energy bills) and which remove barriers to behaviour change tend to enjoy more public support; and that the public wants political parties to do more on climate." Read more about the findings: https://lnkd.in/ecQTW6eB #NetZero #PublicSupport #ClimateCrisis

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😎 A little snap from Parliament TV of me looking very serious 😎 Today I was invited to join the Business and Trade committee to shed some insights on how the UK Government can support the Creative Sector, one of its current focus sectors. My main takeaway point is this: The creative sector needs more specialist development funding. As an industry, we're a national + international success despite having so few enablers to do so. We currently create 3 times more jobs than the national average and have grown by 32% from 2010-2019, in comparison with the 20% average. YET, we are so misunderstood when it comes to private investment, the balance sheet approach and institutional support. This is massively hurting small businesses and SMEs in their scale-up phase. In a nutshell: We need more access to development capital! Thanks for Creative UK for putting me forward. I had a blast 🙌 #parliament #UK #creative #industry

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The Women in PR x PRWeek UK mentoring is live. This is an incredible opportunity for anyone looking to access some of the best mentoring within the PR industry, from an incredible line-up of Comms leaders. I'm a huge fan of mentoring and I genuinely believe that this is the best investment you can put into yourself and to achieving your career goals and here's why: 1) You get to have someone focused on helping you to achieve your career goals, with actionable steps and a strategy of how to achieve it. And you become accountable, to someone and more importantly to yourself. (I like to set goals and KPIs so that you have a clear direction and plan to aim for). 2) The chance for personal growth and the development of your leadership skills. My best advice is to ask your mentor for what strategies they have used to get to leadership positions and incorporate the ones which resonate. 3) A fresh perspective - there is real value in having someone else help you problem solve and navigate a situation. Use your mentor as a sounding board for real life career problems whether it's negotiating for a promotion, going for a dream job or helping you to upskill. 4) You get to open up your network by tapping into your mentor's network and contacts - use this and ask for introductions. 5) You get to form your own community with other mentees and have a ready-made support base to turn to - use this community because they will become your support system and biggest cheerleaders. So what are you waiting for. For all details on how to apply see below and good luck! #mentoring #leadership #femaleleadership #publicrelations

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How to assess media coverage. Is all media coverage good? No. Unfortunately, much of the PR industry continues to be stuck on quantity over quality. For us, there are four very clear characteristics of a good piece: 1. The right placement. Will the piece be read or seen by the desired audience? Consumers of the right demographic; business procurers, investors, Government etc. 2. Brand Understanding. A brief brand mention is never enough. Good coverage explains what a business is, what it does, and why it is different. This should lead the audience to gain a better understanding of a brand. Not every piece of good earned media will fulfil every possible objective - but it should do more than simply mention your brand in passing. If it does, you have to question its value, especially based on the time and effort to gain this earned media piece. 3. Call to action. What should a reader or viewer do after seeing this piece? While a good CTA could be obvious, e.g. go to a shop or website, more subtle ones which demonstrate a clear benefit to ownership are equally as powerful. However, not having a clear call to action devalues a piece. 4. What's the point? You have to ask, what is the purpose of this communication? Is it to change opinions, create a deeper understanding of a business, sell more stuff? Coverage should be benchmarked against these to determine if good or bad. While some consider media coverage to be a numbers game, in our 21 years we found that it is the quality pieces that make measurable differences to businesses. Brand awareness, name checks or coverage for the sake of justifying budgets is never enough.

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In London this Wednesday morning? Will you join us for breakfast? The Marketing Society invites you to join us with our friends Publicis Groupe for a thought-provoking discussion around the ‘Uncomfortable Conversation’ on the evolving landscape of diversity in communications and advertising. 28% of UK adults say they actively avoid brands that don’t embrace diversity but it’s hard to authentically represent diverse communities. Here’s the question for discussion: 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? 💭 ◽ Is diversity in comms as critical for product-led sectors vs service-led? Or are there more important elements to communicate about? ◽ Is diversity in advertising now genuine or is it still just a token gesture in some sectors?  ◽ Do diverse ads boost sales or risk alienating customers? JOIN US - in a lovely comfortable setting with breakfast and great company… as well as and some expert food-for-thought from great panellists (now including extra Emma Harris). A time-efficient and enjoyable way to learn and pause to think together. Thought-provoking, useful and a brilliant way to start your day! Date: Wednesday 22 May Time: 8.30 - 10.30am Venue: London WC2A 1JA JOIN US - book your place here - https://lnkd.in/eG7yE672 #uncomfortableconversation #diversity #advertising

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Thanks to PRWeek for covering our #PR360 session in Brighton. Read the full write up below and here are the key takeaways:  ✅ Aim for page-ready content. Speed and volume are currently publishers’ top priorities. At Reach PLC and News UK in particular, digital reporters are increasingly taking on more of an editing role, allowing them to get content up quickly. 🔍 Find the right contacts. Make effort to actually learn who are the journalists on your patch, who specialise in the area, and target those people. 📰 Understand the media, and their priorities. Everyone on your PR team should be consuming a different newspaper every day. Having that familiarity with output is key to 72Point being able to translate a PR brief to a piece of news content and know that it will be approved for use by publishers. 👤 Remember the power of case studies. Jody Doherty-Cove says “you might get something into the paper without one, but if you’ve got a case study, you can move that story forward about 10 pages.” Thanks also to our panelists Laura Elvin, Jody Doherty-Cove and Andy Rudd for sharing their insights. https://lnkd.in/ersQFTbR For more information on 72Point’s services, or to talk about how to craft page-ready content for your campaigns, contact us here: hello@72point.com

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"Communicators have a responsibility to make sure the right leaders are showing up in the right places talking about the topics that are most authentic to them." Well said Sarita Shah. Messages can be just words; to engage an audience you need to be passionate, authentic and be seen to believe in what you're saying. #leadershipcomms #executiveprofiling #communications #election2024

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"Advertising is a potent tool and now is the time for us all to step up, recognising the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to get ahead of disinformation. When information is delivered in a way that resonates with the audience, it can drive positive change. We can do three things: safeguard the public against misinformation by reaching them with a positive message, reframe by communicating the benefits of climate policy, or rebut misinformation with the relevant facts. The elections and the climate crisis will not wait, and neither can we. It’s time to act now," says Harriet Kingaby at ACT Climate Labs. Excellent piece c/o Sustainability Beat looking at why it’s important for climate communicators to help combat misinformation during the upcoming political elections. Well worth a read... 👇🏻 🌱 🗳️ https://lnkd.in/ehiCNDHw

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What is “better thinking”? Hear all about our better thinking process from Director of Creativity and Strategy in Legacy Communications, Claire O’Grady, in episode 2 of our new podcast. Listen to the full episode through the link: https://lnkd.in/eSrqiaSE Claire O'Grady #LegacyCommunications #BuildingALegacyPodcast #BuildingALegacy #MarketingPodcast #thatsWhatICallMarketing

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Have you taken the quiz yet? https://lnkd.in/ePs4YTh7 Find out how PR ready you are in just a few mins and get free advice to support you no matter what stage you're at x

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A week has passed since the first Monday in May, and the Met Gala has come and gone (fashionably late here, obvs). With so many pressing social issues at the forefront of our minds, it's worth considering whether there's still room for such a "bonfire of the vanities." Is it a genius PR stunt that delivers serious ROI? These are just a few of the questions posed in my latest blog entry. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g4bYfcmj

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