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A look at the week that was in PR. This edition includes several Wells Fargo miscues and a poor showing from NBC Today host Matt Lauer during a presidential debate.

It’s hardly a surprise for loyal Data Dive readers that video is one of the main ingredients driving consumer engagement for B2C and B2B brands. Media companies are catching on.
The latest evidence is BuzzFeed’s reorg, announced August 23, when founder Jonah Peretti told employees, “Having a single ‘video department’ in 2016 makes about as much sense as having a ‘mobile department’… as digital video becomes ubiquitous, every major initiative at BuzzFeed around the world will find an expression as video….”

We conclude our 2-part series about how PR and communications are taught in colleges and universities.
There was plenty of agreement between what our PR and communications pros told us and what the quartet of academics we interviewed said. Writing—specifically, writing for PR vehicles that is clear, concise, creative and persuasive—was among the skills both the pros and academics emphasized. Several of the academics said students lack familiarity with PR writing, which, they said, is different from writing term papers. Our academics said this is an area they stress extensively with students.

One of the biggest trends PR faces is too much noise. I mean this for reporters who are inundated with pitches that might not be appropriate for them as well as the competition we face within the television industry for viewers. We’ve developed three strategies for facing this competitive environment.

PR professionals are tasked with a lot these days. From writing traditional press releases and website copy, to crisis management and social media, the list of responsibilities seems to grow almost daily. It’s hard to know which skills communicators should be prioritizing to stay at the top of their field. For insight on this career-making question, we turned to the PR News community.

Developing a unique writing voice can be a challenge. Add in the fact that many PR pros work at agencies where they have multiple clients across different industries and you’re likely facing the dilemma of pinpointing and utilizing many different voices. Here are some tips for identifying your client’s brand voice for better, more efficient written material.

MSNBC correspondent Mike Barnicle asked Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson, “What would you do, if elected, about Aleppo?” To which Johnson responded, “What is Aleppo?” Within minutes, the former governor was being mocked on Twitter and covered by scores of online news outlets, many of which posited that the gaffe was an indication of a clueless foreign policy. From a PR perspective, it indicates a lack of media training.

There were high expectations as NBC News headed into what was referred to as a preliminary debate between the two presidential candidates. But for many the “Commander-in-Chief Forum” that aired on MSNBC on Sept. 7 crumbled in the hands of its host, the longtime “Today” show anchor, Matt Lauer.

PR News will celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of its 2016 Agency Elite Awards at its annual Platinum PR/Agency Elite Awards luncheon at New York’s Marriott Marquis on Oct. 19, 2016. The Agency Elite Awards benchmark excellence in PR agencies’ key practice areas, from advocacy, crisis communications and social media to measurement, media relations and reputation management.

One of the first lessons you learn in tech PR is to avoid making announcements that conflict with major news events. Don’t make an announcement during an Apple event, the saying goes. But what if you could use Apple’s star power to your advantage? Another company’s news is your chance to earn coverage as a thought leader.