September 28, 2023
In this week's edition, CEOs who criticize their companies, Flexicles and other media uses of AI, the rise of policy comms, why AI developers are hiring poets, improving your op-eds, and much more...
Let’s kick off this week’s session with a bit of music by the US Consumer Products Safety Commission who recently dropped their youth-focused debut album “We’re Safety Now Haven’t We”. (via, as usual, Matt). It doesn’t offend me.
Should a new CEO ever publicly criticise their company? - “New bosses driving change need to communicate why that change must come. But he warns that the message and tone need careful judgement. “Get it right and CEOs can be turnaround bosses embracing radical candour. Get it wrong and they can ostracise their customers, their people and the City in a single phrase.” (Management Today)
Design Your Marketing Organization to Fit Your Company’s Growth Stage - “An early-stage company requires a different organizational structure than a mature one. Marketing leaders must adapt their teams and strategies accordingly.” (MITSloan)
“Flexicles,” story alert systems, and other ways AI will serve publishers, reporters, and readers - Good analysis of some of the potential long-term effects of AI on journalism. “AI will reshape the media landscape, and the organizations that use it creatively will thrive.” (Nieman)
Strategies for building trust in news: What the public say they want across four countries - “While many favour efforts towards more transparency, a reduction in bias, and better alignment of editorial coverage to concerns that impact people’s everyday lives, there are also some differences between groups in terms of what they would prefer to see news outlets prioritise.” (Reuters Institute)
Why Silicon Valley’s biggest AI developers are hiring poets - “Training data companies are grabbing writers of fiction, drama, poetry, and also general humanities experts to improve AI creative writing.” (Rest of World)
The Rise of ‘Policy Comms’ and Why It Matters - “As policy becomes more complex and sometimes even arcane, our efforts to communicate effectively about it have had to evolve.” (Public Affairs Council)
Here’s the headline of an op-ed imploring something to stop - “We get hundreds of op-eds per month … (But) Instead of actually digging into the interesting details of a problem and its proposed solutions, many organisations choose to stick to grand sweeping statements, platitudes and self-complimenting.” (EUObserver via Maria Linkova-Nijs who correctly articulates some of the challenges communicators in these organizations often face)
The Future of PR/Comms and their Social Impact - From the PRCA University Advisory Group and Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, their global report explores three key themes, including dealing with conflicting stakeholder demands, PR education, and social value/impact. (PRCA/Quadriga)
Better or worse: Impact of AI in creating content for advertising and marketing - “Examining consumers' opinions on the impact of AI in creating content for advertising and marketing across markets reveals a diverse range of sentiments.” (YouGov)
The Artificial Client - I cannot describe this anywhere near as well as Matt, but enjoy this brutally entertaining bit of AI chicanery from Dentsu Amsterdam where you can have your creative reviewed (eviscerated) by a ‘client’ in the form of a ‘ruthless critic’, a ‘confused creative’ or an ‘idealistic dreamer’ (Dentsu Amsterdam via Matt)
And finally, the most popular article from last week was Risk Communication versus Crisis Communication - what do researchers think? from Wag the Dog. Have a great weekend and put your phone away!