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PR is about advising top management and ensuring that ethical business practices, good judgment and transparency are not only communicated, but implemented and enforced, argues Adriana Stan, PR director for W magazine. If you are Uber, United or Pepsi these lessons are clear by now, she says.

Sometimes the idea you need is right in front of you. With PR and marketing pros enmeshed in their brand, it’s easy to miss obvious angles. A helpful idea is to clear the mind and try to look at your messaging with a fresh perspective. Looking at your brand sideways can help, writes an executive at Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care.

At some brands, PR and social media are part of the same department. At others, the two mix as easily as oil and water, which is to say almost never. Allen Plummer of Vanguard argues, though, that PR and social media departments need each other to provide optimal return to a business. He provides useful lessons that Vanguard has learned as a result of integrating the two.

In our regular feature on trends in PR, an Aflac executive whose portfolio includes reputation building discusses how brands are putting increasing importance on reputation and CSR activities. He provides a look behind the scenes of how Aflac improved its reputation scores by expanding perception of its CSR activities.

Many people think of communication as a simple process, merely a series of statements and responses. They probably have never tried reaching hundreds or thousands of people. Such communication can grow cumbersome and complex. Corporate communicator Myranda Grim finds it helpful to remind herself that no matter what she’s doing, at the root of it she is having a conversation with her coworkers.

Right or wrong, media is in the crosshairs. The White House targets the press regularly. Distrust of the press is rising, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer and journalists themselves feel the struggle to maintain the public trust, a new report from Cision says. With media in a precarious state, Starbucks’ SVP, global communications & international public affairs Corey duBrowa believes it’s important for brands to have an alternative and create content themselves. He discussed this during the Arthur W. Page Society’s New CCO podcast. In an in-depth interview with us after the podcast, we asked duBrowa about branded content, storytelling, integration and challenges ahead.

Our regular feature where we ask communicators about trends in PR. This week we speak with veteran cable TV communicator Anne Cowan. “I think demand for transparency is trending. It’s probably been driven in part by the political climate of the last several months. But I think the demand for transparency was occurring before that time, just a bit more slowly. Kim Scott, a CEO coach and former faculty member at Apple University, has written a book that espouses transparency in management, although she calls it radical candor, which also is the name of her book. I love that term.”

Our weekly roundup of trends, news and personnel moves in PR & communications. This week we feature stories about Uber’s latest issue, new moves from Twitter, a new VP of communications for Univision and brief obits for PR pioneers Pam Edstrom and Gershon Kekst.

PR News will celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of its 2017 Social Media Awards at its annual Social Media Awards luncheon at the Yale Club in New York City on May 2, 2017. The Social Media Awards showcase the top social media campaigns and honor the individuals behind them. Dunkin’ Brands CCO Karen Raskopf will deliver a keynote address.

In our regular feature that looks at trends in PR, Robert Hastings, the CCO of Bell Helicopter, discusses how critical it’s been for Bell to put its brand at the center of every communications effort it undertakes.