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A Corporate and Financial PR consultancy based in London
CIPR Corporate and Financial Group annual dinner
Speaking at the annual dinner of the CIPR Corporate and Financial Group on 3 November, group chairman Caroline Cecil called on communications’ people to encourage the companies they work for to step forward and explain the work they do. At a time when the business and financial world is under attack from all sides, she said that the business community, which is working to get the economy back on track, should use every opportunity to demonstrate the value of its work.
The guest speaker at the dinner was Peter Barron, Google’s director of external relations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and former editor of Newsnight.
CIPR Corporate and Financial Group, chaired by Caroline Cecil, has won award
The CIPR Corporate and Financial Group, which is chaired by Caroline Cecil, has won an award.
The CIPR has chosen the group as the best sector group of the year. In its citation, the CIPR said: “The group continued to run their high quality and well attended monthly speaker programme, which featured speakers in 2010 to include Rt Hon John McFall MP, Treasury Select Committee; Richard Alderman, Serious Fraud Office and Edward McBride, The Economist. The committee also organised visits to The Guardian and No 10 Downing Street (which was an instant sell-out). The group also updated their financial PR guidelines at the end of 2010, with the new version of ‘Through The Thicket’ launched in early 2011.”
Caroline Cecil made a fellow of the CIPR
Caroline Cecil has been made a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in recognition of her “outstanding work in public relations, service to the Institute and personal achievements within the profession”.
The definition of a newspaper
Chris Blackhurst, Evening Standard City Editor’s definition of a newspaper: “It asks you all to treat it like a friend – it makes you laugh, cry and understand, but, most importantly, it needs to be consistent so the reader knows what they are getting.”
How it began
In 1991 we were in the teeth of another recession. I had just come back from an around the world trip and decided to set up shop, even though the economic prospects were gloomy. As a glass half full person, I thought the ideal time to get started was when things were at the bottom. Fortunately, there were other optimistic people around and, when two of my former clients called to ask if I would work for them, I said yes. Quickly I got together with a small team of people who liked the idea of concentrating on clients without the other calls on your time that a larger business demands.
First on board was Roy Hodson who had just left the FT after a distinguished career. His experience stood us in good stead in ghosting articles and drafting press releases for clients. He was so good at winkling out stories and writing them concisely with a light touch. Continue reading →
Launch of financial PR guide
The third edition of the Corporate and Financial Group’s guide for those doing PR for listed companies, Through The Thicket, was launched recently. Copies are available from Sue Owen, sueowen@corporate-financial.com
Sir Martin Sorrell gives keynote speech
Danny Rogers, editor of PR Week, reported on the Corporate and Financial Group dinner in November at which Sir Martin Sorrell was the speaker.
Sir Martin Sorrell believes the biggest millstone around the PR industry’s neck is a dearth of really good people. Sorrell, the highly esteemed boss at global marketing services group WPP, was speaking at a CIPR dinner last week, but we had a private chat to circumvent the Chatham House rule.
He believes editorial publicity (PR) has ‘resumed its rightful place as one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, marketing medium today’. This, Sorrell puts down partly to the advent of social media, partly to the rise of the importance of polling and data, and partly to the maturing of the industry itself. ‘It used to be about who you knew. Now it is about what you know, as well as who you know’ he said. Continue reading →
BBC is ‘open for business’
BBC is ‘open for business’ said Hugh Pym at a meeting of CIPR’s Corporate and Financial Group. The best way to get your business story onto the BBC is to ensure that your CEO is available Pym told the assembled group of City PR professionals. Broadcasters hate working from press releases and are reluctant to use video provided by outsiders. They want to interview your representatives, and that should ideally be the top person in your organisation.
Journalists are as keen as PR people to build relationships, and Pym made it clear that he is happy to meet with PR professionals, though he warned that breakfast is usually much easier than lunch.
PR must not be knee-jerk, says Caroline Cecil, chairman of CIPR Corporate and Financial Group
Twenty-four hour news journalism does not mean that there has to be a PR response to every story. Unless the response can change the story, it may be best to do nothing. William Hague may be feeling the same after his decision to highlight internet gossip resulted in a story that had been in the shadows becoming headline news.
Significantly, in a speech at the end of last month in London, Simon Lewis, who was Gordon Brown’s official spokesman, made the same point. Lewis knows both politics and business – he was communications chief at Vodafone before arriving at No 10. He posed the question that a response to a news item should not be, “What is our response?” but instead, “Do we have something to say?” Continue reading →
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