Gaby Jesson

Being on the front line telling stories of sustainable innovation is exciting but it’s such a new concept for so many firms and mistakes are made. Take innovation in the carbon markets for example. Due to the action of a few, sellers are under intense scrutiny, whilst well meaning companies have been caught out. Understanding the reputational opportunities and also the risks is critical in planning an effective PR strategy. Last week, my Wilful Co-Founder Narda Shirley was on a fascinating panel to discuss just that - how do you prepare, respond and recover when things go wrong. #PR #CrisisCommunications #Carbon

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The buzzword of the #MidsPRConf last week was undoubtedly ‘AI’. We were told that 66% of leaders will not consider hiring someone without AI skills. That’s how important it’s becoming within our industry.   Thank you to Peter Heneghan and Andrew Bruce Smith for their inspiring talks on how to implement AI seamlessly into your work. I took away a couple of important points:   1. Editorialisation is vital – don’t just take ChatGPT at its word, you have to edit 2. Use mindful prompting to mitigate against biases – otherwise you’ll always end up with the same looking people which is problematic and, well, boring   But most important (in my opinion) we heard that AI will give us back the time to invest in real life communication skills. Contact and networking is vital in comms and hopefully we’ll have more time to do this if AI is doing everything else. Leopard Co spottydog communications #AI #Comms #PR #DigitalPR

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Back by popular demand and with a freshly plucked duck... 🦆 I will be speaking at THE biggest international festival for the business of podcasting and sharing 'How To Get Clients with Your Podcast in 2024' Join me at @PodcastShowLDN on 22-23 May #Podcasting #Keynote #NarrowPodcasting #ProfitablePodcastMethod #PodcastProduction #PodcastProfessionals #NewMedia #PodcastAI #PodcastingForBusinessOwners

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"About two-thirds of the agencies taking part in this year’s PRWeek UK Top 150 Consultancies project continue to have all-white boards." PRWeek UK Does this come as a shock? No, Not really for people working to build a more inclusive industry. These numbers were to be expected. I feel some anger and more despair..............It is not just me but research shows that most DEI efforts since BLM and COVID were performative and opportunistic, so they were doomed to fail. Within our industry there has been a disproportionate focus on diverse hires, numbers and representations - but at lower levels. Here we are talking about some of the most powerful agencies in the world and the UK. They advise clients on reputation, DEI, sustainability and are asking their clients to change to be relevant in the future! Ironical considering they are not willing to or see the need to change. Change does not happen when you maintain status quo. Change does not happen when you don't invest time and money into enabling that change. Change also does not happen without a vision. And change will definitely will not happen without the buy in from industry leaders and board members. Incremental change is good, but increasing representation at leadership levels and in the C-suite requires transformational thinking, a willingness to adapt, to recognise that this is an imperative, allocate resources and hold themselves accountable. To see any real change in my working life we need to recognise that ethnic minorities with leadership aspirations face (and will face) the broken rung, the glass ceiling, glass cliff and a system stacked against them, that encourages homophily. Small comfort that the number of black and ethnic minorities in the industry has increased from last year, but we know leadership aspirants will drop out when they cannot see role models or people like themselves leading. Industry leaders know that DEI can no longer just be a talking point or tick box, it is a fundamental building block of social justice and a human rights concern. We will be held to account! So, let's see leaders step up, and be accountable not just for profits but for building a fairer industry. Well done PRWeek UK on the insights👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 #buildbackbetter #inclusionandbelonging #rolemodels #ethnicminorityleaders

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Is business development currently your biggest headache? Certainly, two recent surveys suggest this is the case for Agency Leaders. According to a report in PRmoment, research from The Pulse Business Ltd states that 63% of PR & Comms Agency CEOs are grappling with new ways to grow their businesses. And the recent BenchPress State of the Agency Nation Report (for agencies over £1m) highlights that 40% of Agency Leaders cite winning new business as their biggest challenge. Would you like to take a quick but effective diagnostic that will help you better understand how to treat this headache? My business development scorecard has been specifically designed to help agencies better understand their level of fitness when it comes to sales. By asking searching questions around: 1️⃣ Positioning 2️⃣ Process 3️⃣ Planning 4️⃣ Pitching You'll identify where your strengths and weaknesses lie across the agency. Test it on your senior team to establish if there is alignment (you might be surprised - often times there isn't!). And if it throws up suprises, I'd be happy to hop on a no-obligation call to discuss the findings. Let me know how you get on. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eZKF99kp

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If you're interested in crisis comms, come and join this PR 101 webinar from Hard Numbers 📈on 29 May! I'll be showing how you can use simulations to rehearse your response to a crisis

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This BBC/Ipsos report on what audiences think of generative AI is valuable for corporate publishers. https://lnkd.in/e9AExapw Public service media organisations like the BBC are a good benchmark for people who produce commercial editorial because the brand trust requirements are similar. The report lays out in detail what formats and use cases the public will and won't accept. And the "semiotic analysis" that rounds up every AI depiction in film and TV for the last 75 years is an unexpected bonus for sci-fi fans. I realised very quickly that some of my favourite characters are AIs - Hal in 2001, Bishop in Aliens and Ava in Ex Machina. But I digress... Thanks to the Benedict Evans newsletter, where I first saw a link to the report. What will the public accept and what are they sceptical about when it comes to editorial? Acceptable uses: AI in audio production, personalisation (recommendations), editing, reformatting content (from text to audio, for example); reporting on hard facts - weather, markets, sports scores. Acceptable with human oversight: translation, boilerplate content, headline generation, image generation for "filler" imagery (never used to depict real events). Sceptical list: AI in video; AI replacing humans for advice or decisions; personalising social media content; AI newsreaders; AI writing opinion-based articles; researching and drafting reports without human checking; modifying images that are part of news reports about real events. What comes across too are the values that underpin beliefs about generative AI - fairness, transparency and consent. And just how sceptical people are that these values are being applied by tech companies. This is an open goal for organisations to use AI in a way that promotes trust rather than undermining it.

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Looking forward to hosting this session later today. Very humbled to Ben Smith Will Hart and PRmoment to ask me to share my views. No doubt lots of questions and views as leading a pitch is never easy! But let's help try and make it that little bit easier #pitch #newbusiness #growth

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This is most definitely worth a listen. Fascinating Simon and Richard! Lumina Datamatics are proud to have produced the transcript for you. I'm looking forward to the next episode for sure! #digitalpublishing #A11Y #daisyconsortium #digitalaccessibility #luminadatamatics

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I finally had the opportunity to watch the full video Headline Media posted of a panel we hosted in London with LocalGlobe a few weeks back featuring insights from some of the best marketers we have worked with over the years such as Lauren Berkemeyer from YuLife, Yael Wissner-Levy from Lemonade, and Matthew Jones from Cowbell. It’s a true masterclass. Will try to share these great insights as they pop up.   Below is Yael Wissner Levy discussing how storytelling was a key element in Lemonade's GTM strategy from the ground up long before product hit market.    I get asked what the 40 or so unicorns we have been lucky enough to play with have in common. First, they are overwhelmingly second timer founders. As second timers, they know where to put their investment of time and resources right out of the gate for the best long-term outcome.  Almost all of them put storytelling at the top of the agenda early in the lifecycle of the startup. I promise you, these are hard-core tech guys so they don’t instinctively gravitate towards, or even like storytelling or marketing. BUT they do know that making “Phuking A” hires to run marketing or brand as early as possible and well before the product is ready increases the chance of adoption, and a massive ROI on their investment down the road.      Faye Co-Founder Daniel G. shared a similar experience with me at the event described, but gave credit to Viola Ventures Omry Ben David for encouraging them to grab the incredible Lauren Gumport during early days.  Needless to say, it is clearly paying off (Lauren and the Faye team are crushing it...).   Point is…dealing with storytelling and marketing is indeed a nightmare before product is ready, but the people with the most experience and success know that it is twice as hard to play catchup down the road with your positioning. Without building a significant brand narrative out of the gate, you will end up leaving money on the table. Enjoy.

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📣 Calling anyone considering entering The King’s Awards for Enterprise this year. This free event is a must ⬇️ Date: 6 June 2024 Time: 11:00 – 12:30 BST Place: Live online Cost: Free Join the session to discover; 👑 How to check the eligibility criteria and meet the requirements 👑 How to select the category that best suits your business and achievements 👑 How to write an entry that scores highly with the judges PLUS exclusive case studies and insights into the latest award trends Bring your questions and there will be a Q&A session to ask me anything about the awards. This free webinar is for anyone thinking of entering the awards, have entered before and not won, or don't know if this is the right award for you. I will give you clarity on what the competition looks for in a winner and help you decide whether you fit the bill this year. Click below to sign up. ⬇️ Please note *Recordings will not be shared for this event* you will need to attend to benefit from this experience https://lnkd.in/eHGYdVWZ

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🧠 Are you worried about what’s coming down the road in terms of business risk? Preparation, preparation, preparation. But for what - and how? 🧠 Do come along to The PR Network "Ask The Expert" webinar on 2 July at 12:00 GMT and listen to our resident crisis and risk expert Rod Cartwright give us a sense of what we need to be thinking about as business leaders and comms advisors. ⬇️ Sign up below for access to the webinar and special follow up content. bit.ly/4bIH8Og The PR Network #crisismanagement #riskmanagement #leadership #communications

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Looking forward to exploring the future of magazines in today's ever-evolving media landscape at the PPA 2024 Festival with industry leaders Katie Vanneck from #Hearst and Phillip Swinden from #Haymarket. 📚✨ Key issues we will look at include: 🔹 Consumer brands have some of the deepest connections to their readers around. How do you sustain this amidst the rise of creators and influencers? 🤝 🔹 The challenges and realities of consumer media venturing into B2B verticals. Is this shift as seamless as it appears? 🔄 Let me know what your key questions are. #MediaInnovation #PPAFestival2024 #PublishingFuture #DigitalTransformation

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Do you realise that you’re sat on PR content? Content that will get you into the media- so you can reach more people and build your credibility and visibility through being elevated and celebrated. So often in business we just get on with what we think is normal. Book launches, event planning, thought leadership - we often forget to capitalize on it. The media can amplify your message, it can shine a light on your work, it creates a new level of energy around you when you step into celebration mode What are you doing in your business that you should be celebrating?? I’ll bet there’s something!!!

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Trust. Earned media, or PR as you or I may call it, is predicated on trust. A lot of people might think it's about spin, and then 'pulling in favours' from friendly journalists, but it isn't. As Parry Headrick often says, we're not the Mafia. To start with, the journalist has to trust the source that email or phone call is coming from - the email address, or number of the PR agency or agent. Gmail addresses often won't cut it. The more trusted content that then comes from that source, the greater the likelihood emails will be opened, read, digested, and coverage will land. For example, they might recognise the sender's name and know that person has sent them the right type of story before - data transparently presented, images readily available for download in the right format etc. This goes some way to explaining why coverage doesn't happen overnight. And why professional PRs are often better at landing coverage than founders. Of course it also has to fit into the journalist's (and of course editor's) schedule of content. So it has to be timely, topical, the correct sort of material for the publication, etc. It all starts with trust though.

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Thanks for this Polly Robertson interesting read!

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Proud to announce the first validated score via the ZeroBees Business Impact Tracker. Congrats Diversity Media Sales! DMS performed 26% above media SME benchmark, with strong results in employee and community areas, in line with their mission-led approach. The Business Impact Tracker is a tool designed to support media SMEs (publishers, channel owners, suppliers) to understand where they are in terms of sustainability (across environment, employees, community & suppliers, and governance) and set in motion a plan to systematically improve this - building capacity and knowledge as well as enabling disclosure of where they are on their sustainability journey. Thanks in particular to Legacy Media (Andy Power) for partnering with us on this to enable disclosure though Legacy's brilliant platforms. If you're a media SME interested in understanding and improving your ESG performance - to win investors, clients and more agency traction - get in touch and get your sustainability strategy moving today! #sustainability #media #esg #businessimpacttracker #bit #innovation #goodmedia

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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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