Fake News: Enlarging on earlier remarks, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said Mar. 20 media is not the enemy of the people. Weeks earlier, during his confirmation hearings, Pai refused to answer whether or not he agreed with President Donald Trump’s assessment of the media as the people’s enemy. In a written statement, Pai hedged, though, noting, “The President has made clear that he was referring to fake news” media being the enemy. – The idea that it’s not in the best interests of PR for media to be losing its credibility (see Edelman’s Trust Barometer and Cision’s State of the Media) is something we’re hearing often in conversations with PR pros. One idea to confront this issue was presented during the Arthur W. Page Center’s dinner last month where the Larry G. Foster Award for Integrity was presented, part of the Center’s response to “fake news.” One of the honorees, Dick Martin, EVP, communications, AT&T(retired), challenged PR, its clients and the media to collaborate on an Ad Council-style public service project toward public media literacy. Said Martin: “We can use our skills to teach people how to fact-check emails, tweets and Facebook postings…how to respond to racist, homophobic or hateful email and social media posts…the result could be better informed consumers and a PR industry demonstrating its true worth to society…The PR industry can’t stand by and hope this situation will change. Media literacy may be the social issue of our time. Addressing it is in our own interest.”
Platform Prater: Instagram’s push to be more friendly to advertisers is paying dividends. The platform that originated as a place for photographers to share their photos said Mar. 22 it has 1 million active advertisers. That’s more impressive when you realize in September it said it had 500K advertisers. More reasons advertisers should smile: The platform will be adding insights data for Instagram Stories and multi-image posts, Instagram ad chief James Quarles tells TechCrunch. There also was confirmation last week about a pilot with select brands for an Instagram shopping feature. Eventually users will be able to click on tagged products they see on Instagram, with an option to buy them on the brand’s e-commerce site. Also confirmed, an Instagram feature allowing users to make appointments at salons, restaurants and hotels via a button located in those businesses’ Instagram profiles.
Brands and Culture: Corporate culture was in focus last week as two highly visible brands say they want theirs to change. Ride-sharing firm Uber organized a Mar. 21 media call featuring board member and investor Ariana Huffington, who told reporters there’s no room for “brilliant jerks” at the company. Huffington and three senior Uber women who joined her emphasized broad changes in the firm’s culture, its imminent diversity report and a new COO. Absent from the call was CEO Travis Kalanick, who’s attracted more than a bit of negative press lately. Meanwhile, the same day, Wells Fargo unveiled plans to survey its entire workforce of 270,000 for culture’s sake. The survey’s aim, new president/CEO Tim Sloan said during an employee town hall, is to “uncover our culture’s positive attributes and its potential weaknesses, so our leaders can understand how best to foster an ethical, inclusive and customer-focused culture.” An unnamed academic will prepare the survey, which should take 20-30 minutes to complete, Sloan tells employees. Its “high-level results” will be shared “with all of you,” he adds. The real issue, of course, is what actions Wells Fargo upper management takes to re-make corporate culture as a result of the findings. You might recall Sloan’s predecessor, the now-retired John Stumpf, pointedly told the Wall St Journal in his initial media interview after the bogus accounts scandal broke that Wells Fargo didn’t have a cultural problem. The 5,300 fired employees and 2 million bogus accounts “in no way reflect our culture,” he said in Sept. 2016.
People: Coca-Cola VP and chief sustainability officer Bea Perez was named chief public affairs, communications and sustainability officer. Perez was Coke’s first chief sustainability officer and previously was its CMO for North America. She also directs the Coca-Cola Foundation, the company’s global philanthropic arm. – WE named 15-year veteran Dawn Beauparlant chief client officer, a newly created position. She’ll report to founder/CEO Melissa Wagener Zorkin and continue to lead WE’s technology sector while also being chief client officer. – Ogilvy CEO Stuart Smith will join the board of the PR Council, taking the place of Chris Graves, who has moved into a new role as president/founder, Ogilvy Center for Behavioral Science. – Congrats to U.N. Foundation CCO/chief marketing officer Aaron Sherinian, whom PR News named CSR Professional of the Year March 22. Other honorees and honorable mentions can be found at: bit.ly/2n1jLrm