Work Life

“The millennial and Gen Z audience are always looking behind the marketing narrative at the purpose and the intention of companies and brands that they engage with,” says TwentyFirstCenturyBrand’s Jonathan Mildenhall (formerly of Airbnb and Coca-Cola). Here are some key tips for brands looking to define that purpose from Mildenhall’s keynote address at the PRSA International Conference 2018.

While presenting the award for Video of the Year, Madonna took the opportunity to deliver a lengthy speech about how her career was inadvertently started by the late singer and undisputed Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, who died the Thursday prior. Reactions to the speech were overwhelmingly negative, with amateur and professional critics alike voicing their belief that Madonna disrespected Aretha by making the speech largely about Madonna, relegating Aretha’s influence to nothing but a footnote in Madonna’s story of her own rise to stardom.

In many industries the skills in demand revolve around science and technology. It’s not too different in PR and communications, where digital and analytical knowledge is sought. Yet writing, seemingly an old-school skill, continues to play a major role in PR, combined with strategy and the above-mentioned digital, an informal survey of communicators and academics shows.

Effective and efficient networking presents a paradox that evokes the core skills of communications: how do you present yourself in a manner that’s quick, authentic, and accurately conveys everything about you without coming off as pure elevator pitch or spiel?

Renewed economic growth, a strong job market and the evolving nature of work are transforming the face of the labor market. We asked 14 PR leaders to tell us how their brands and agencies recruit and retain the best talent.

PR News’ just-released 2018 Graduate Education Guide for Communicators looks at the career benefits of pursuing a master’s degree in communications and how it can be a differentiator in the talent marketplace.

With July 4 upon us it means summer vacation season also has arrived. The question, though, is whether or not communicators, who are responsible for safeguarding the reputation of brands, can ever truly be off the clock. We look at surveys about vacations and being able to log out from your PR job. Another topic surveyed is attitudes on branded content.

In a perfect world, your summer vacation would begin the moment you set your inbox’s “out of office” message and leave your desk. As most professional communicators know, though, PR is far from a perfect world. Crises materialize that require your advice or input, while requests come down from the C-suite that you would be wise to address in a time-sensitive fashion.

if you’re applying for a PR job and get called in to meet face-to-face with potential employers, it’s to your benefit to assume that you’re up against a lot of stiff competition. Armed with that assumption, you can take simple steps that are guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd.

We asked PRSA chief Anthony D’Angelo to provide his vision about what PR should be doing to boost its image as an ethical profession. This column is his response.