The Echo Chamber PR Show | Holmes Report 3g1s29

Paul Holmes examines the Business Roundtable's recent announcement that shareholder interests do not outweigh the broader concerns of society and employees. It is a seminal proposal for the industry group that represents America's top CEOs, coming after decades in which Milton Friedman's orthodoxy on shareholder returns above all else went unchallenged. But there is plenty to suggest that the Business Roundtable statement will lack teeth unless it can actually be enforced by legislation such as Elizabeth Warren's proposed effort to balance corporate responsibilities to all stakeholders. In conversation with Arun Sudhaman, the podcast follows Holmes' in-depth long read on the concept of 'able capitalism'.

NewsWhip CEO Paul Quigley s the Echo Chamber to talk about how content spreads online. In a conversation with Aarti Shah, Quigley explains how understanding the way content moves online can help the PR industry evolve its approach to predictive analytics and also fight misinformation. NewsWhip has also partnered with the Holmes Report on a multipart series exploring these topics that can be accessed here.          

Holmes Report CEO and editor-in-chief Arun Sudhaman, who is based in Hong Kong, talks to EMEA editor Maja Pawinska Sims about the increasingly turbulent political situation in the city, and assesses whether the Hong Kong leadership or the protestors are winning from a crisis management, communications and PR perspective, as well as looking at the role of technology and the media in the ongoing conflict.

Generation Alpha is described as children of Millennials — or those born after 2010, notably the year the iPad and Instagram launched. In this episode of the Echo Chamber, Hotwire's Laura MacDonald talks about how these technological inventions are changing kids’ minds and what that ultimately means for communications. She also draws upon research that Hotwire conducted (in partnership with Wired) to explore the influence that today's children are having on their parents' purchases. Hotwire also hosted a on this topic at the Holmes Report's 2019 Innovation Summit in San Francisco earlier this year, more on that discussion here.     

FleishmanHillard Fishburn's corporate managing director Steph Bailey s the Echo Chamber to talk through the agency's latest Authenticity Gap report. Now in its seventh year, the research looks at the issues that consumers are now expecting brands to take a stand on, from data privacy and security to the climate emergency. 

The founder of Boston-based independent brand communications agency Adam Ritchie Brand Direction s the Echo Chamber to talk about "invention PR". He discusses how public relations can be used to invent and transform brands, by building newsworthiness and storytelling in from the start, such as the first album launched on a craft beer can via a Spotify code.

David Tiltman is the head of content at marketing intelligence firm WARC and a former editor of CampaignAsia. He s Arun Sudhaman and Maja Pawinska Sims in the Echo Chamber to talk about all things Cannes, and walk listeners through the five key elements of effective brand marketing in WARC's new white paper, The Anatomy of Effectiveness. 

The rise of influencer marketing has sparked debate around how to measure the impact of these campaigns and the new rules of engagement — and how those differ from traditional media. Cathy Planchard, president of Allison + Partners' All Told Division, s the Echo Chamber to discuss a recent report the agency published, Unleashing Influence, that shows that marketers aren't fully optimizing the potential of influencer marketing. During the conversation, we also reference an Influencer Marketing salon that Allison + Partners hosted with the Holmes Report earlier this year at the Innovation Summit — North America.  

Last year, former Weber Shandwick associate director Asad Dhunna founded The Unmistakables, a marcomms agency made up of minorities, with the aim of helping businesses understand minorities and create campaigns that are more representative of society. The agency now works with clients including the English Cricket Board, Unilever and Barnado's. Dhunna, who is also director of communications for Pride in London, tells the Echo Chamber about his experience of presenting 'We Don't Need Another Diversity Talk' on stage in Cannes, and the state of diversity and inclusion in the PR industry.  

Mars global external communications director Kimberly West s the Echo Chamber in Cannes to discuss the company's evolution from a low-profile manufacturer of confectionary and petcare products, into a brand that is highly visible on issues of sustainability and governance. In conversation with Arun Sudhaman, West outlines why companies must move beyond rhetoric if they are to combat 'purpose fatigue'.

Janet Balis is EY's global advisory services leader for media & entertainment, a position in which she advises both media platforms and marketing leaders. As such Balis has a unique vantage point over the changes that are transforming the media and marketing worlds, enhanced by her previous leadership roles at AOL, The Huffington Post and Time Warner. In a wide-ranging conversation with Arun Sudhaman, Balis breaks down some of these shifts and explores what they mean for media platforms and CMOs.

Jenna Young, Weber Shandwick’s executive creative director in New York, s the Echo Chamber in Cannes to talk about her Lions jury experience, cultural nuance in creative work, and being a long-time executive creative director in a PR agency.

Weber Shandwick global president Gail Heimann is not only a Cannes veteran but one of the more insightful industry voices when it comes to distilling lessons from the annual creative jamboree. In a post-Cannes conversation with the Holmes Report's Arun Sudhaman, Heimann breaks down her lessons from this year's edition, which include the PR industry's better showing, the colonisation of trust and purpose by ad agencies, the continuing gender imbalance among the creative ranks and whether PR is purely a craft. 

WE Communications international president Kass Sells s the Holmes Report in Cannes to discuss the challenges posed by agency transformation, at a time of considerable industry disruption. 

The Holmes Report sits down with Weber Shandwick chief digital officer Chris Perry and X Practice EMEA/APAC president Hugh Baillie to discuss how data and analytics are reshaping the PR industry in general, and Weber Shandwick in specific. In a wide-ranging conversation with Arun Sudhaman, the duo also discuss Weber Shandwick's new 'We Solve' positioning, and why this doesn't indicate a departure from PR's traditional storytelling strengths. 

When Nicky Reggazoni and George Blizzard started The PR Network in 2005, they were one of the first virtual agencies on the block. As the model of a core team ed by tailor-made groups of freelance experts to service clients around the world gains traction, they the Echo Chamber to talk about what makes the virtual agency model a good fit for the modern PR landscape.

Three PR-for-SEO experts the Echo Chamber to explain why search engine optimisation and public relations strategy should be working much closer together to achieve business results for clients from earned content: Threepipe co-founder Jim Hawker, Ready10 founder and MD David Fraser, and 10 Yetis Digital founder Andy Barr.

Egami Group president Cheryl Overton is a true champion of diversity, but also a realist who calls it like she sees it. Overton s the Echo Chamber to discuss what true diversity and inclusion looks like (with a heavy emphasis on inclusion) as well as what achieving it is going to take, and why tiptoeing around our differences rather than addressing them head on – and even leveraging them – is counterproductive.

Nearly 40 years ago, Racepoint Global founder Larry Weber launched a tech-focused PR agency before there even was such a thing. In those early days, The Weber Group (forbear of Weber Shandwick) was in the thick of launching emerging technologies — including something called the World Wide Web. Today, Weber remains steeped in the tech business, growing his expertise along with his firm, Racepoint, and the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange he founded, as well as authoring six books. He discusses the evolution and intricacies of tech-focused communications at a time when the business is under increased scrutiny.

Method Communications CEO David Parkinson and Harvard CEO Louie St. Claire the Echo Chamber to talk about Method's recent sale to the Chime Group to build a global technology offering. The conversation explores how technology as a whole has moved from being a specialized sector to being a core driver of all facets of the economy and looks at why so many tech PR acquisitions seem to go awry.