Category: Blog

Fourtold is the PRCA’s mid-sized agency of the year, and we caught up with the Oxford-based consultancy to find out more about its success and how the company manages international corporate briefs from Oxford. Tell us more about Fourtold? We specialise in corporate communications and work in some of the most challenging and complex sectors […]

By Maggie Newton CBI research has found that employee engagement is now one of the biggest workforce priorities, and employee engagement assignments are an increasing source of business for PR agencies. Engagement can be defined as the emotional commitment and connection an employee has to the agency and its goals. Connection gives us meaning and […]

Jennifer Sanchis caught up with Lucy Eckley, an independent consultant who has been in the world of PR for more than 20 years. With her mix of marketing, business and communication strategy experience, she has been advising CEOs and leadership teams at some of the UK’s best-known companies for more than a decade. In addition to […]

By Jennifer Sanchis Pop the champagne (excuse my Frenchness)! I am celebrating my one-year anniversary as a content editor for the Public Relations Oxford group! This time last year, everyone was preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). I attended this event at the Jericho Tavern (Public Relations Oxford’s local) to support my PRIME […]

By Anne Whitehouse, Director of Communications and Public Engagement at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford Whatever you think of Donald Trump, he has helped to put fake news on the agenda. Whilst opinions might differ about what constitutes fake news, why it should be ‘called out’ and what to do about it, at least […]

My day starts with the nursery run, dropping my kids off before I catch the train to Oxford. Being a working parent of young kids can be hard work, but it helps that the Department of Computer Science is very family friendly, with lots of colleagues in the same boat. Once I have my first […]

By Ben Harwood This will be a short blog post. It needs to stop after ‘mildly annoyed’ and before ‘ranting’, which leaves a small window. Also, just so you know, I won’t be reading the comment section. Do with that what you will. I’d like to dedicate the following to the anonymous author of an […]

As part of our series of posts celebrating women in PR around Oxfordshire, we’ve caught up with Nadin Vernon, a local female leader engaged with AMEC as Vice-Chair of its European Chapter and Strategy Consultant at PRIME Research. With your 20 years of communications and research experience, you seem passionate about PR measurement and evaluation. […]

One of the things I love about working in communications is the variety, and whilst it might be a cliché to say that no two days are the same, it’s certainly true when you work in a large university department. I’m relatively new to my role in the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) at […]

Kathryn Bowditch, Director of Oxford-based agency Fourtold, on the benefits of leaving London for Oxford’s dreaming spires… A man who is tired of London is tired of life said Samuel Johnson. A philosophy I fully bought into when I first arrived in Bloomsbury as an eager under-graduate determined to shake-off my small country town upbringing. Fast forward […]

When people think about a PR agency, it often conjures up images of writing press releases and ringing journalists. But when you are a creative, brand PR agency like Bottle, it’s as much about content as it is media relations. Whether that’s video, web and digital design, animation, exhibition design, branding, packaging design, infographics and […]

Jennifer Sanchis caught up with BLUE Communications, a PR agency specialised in marine and energy industries, to discuss about their ‘Outstanding Specialist Public Relations Consultancy’ award and celebrate their 10th anniversary. You have recently been awarded as the ‘2018 Outstanding Specialist Public Relations Consultancy’ by the CIPR in London. What does this represent to you? […]

By Colin Cather “We want a really emotional video.” Cool. Video is great capturing and stirring our emotions…but which actual emotion do you want? Hmm. At that point I often find clients to be a bit more bashful or tongue-tied. Here are a few suggestions for emotion-capture. Create an Empathy Map It was Omar from […]

In the coming weeks, Oxford’s 30,000 university students will return to Oxford, adding vibrancy, life, (and not to mention unruly behaviour) to the city. And as the academic year ramps up, some of us will be thinking about the role some students might play in the future of our organisations. There are around 30,000 students […]

By Jennifer Sanchis Today’s digital world offers organisations an unprecedented opportunity to communicate information. Open data is no longer only useful for research, evaluation and measurement. It can only be turned into a powerful PR tactic if practitioners are aware of its advantages and understand its risks. Open data is data that can be freely […]

It is a fair question. Recent news on the topic have caused quite a stir in the digital world so the value of influencer marketing is under scrutiny. I recently reviewed the matter in a Twitter chat with various practitioners. CIPR board and council member Ella Minty started the debate: Is the influencer marketing bubble […]

Jennifer Sanchis caught up with BOTTLE, a PR agency based in Oxford to discuss the power of content and storytelling. What’s Bottle all about? New ways to do the oldest thing in the world, which is to tell great stories. New ways, because there’s a lot that’s changing – the channels and tactics to reach and engage […]

By Jennifer Sanchis I recently had the chance to attend a masterclass held by Dr Jon White at the CIPR headquarters in London. Alongside 17 other practitioners, we gathered to review, discuss and map out the communication challenges brought by Brexit. Nearly two years after the referendum, the CIPR has recently revealed that more than […]

Jennifer Sanchis caught up with Adam Barber, Managing Director at Tamarindo Communications, a commercially-focused PR and communications agency, to talk about sector specialism in PR. How was Tamarindo born? After a ten-year stint working in corporate communications and investor relations in the City it was time for a change. I was on gardening leave so […]

by Victoria Pearson There is no doubt that the spotlight on gender issues is brighter than ever before. The #MeToo movement, compulsory gender pay gap reporting, and even the media scrutiny of Meghan Markle’s feminist credentials all highlight that there is much in our culture that still militates against true equality. ONS statistics cited in the […]

By Anne Whitehouse A recent public conversation between former The Guardian journalist Nick Davies and former editor Alan Rusbridger prompted me to think about the relationship between journalists and public relations professionals. The discussion took place at An Oxford Conversation: Truth in the Media, hosted by the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of […]

Jennifer Sanchis caught up with Sian Gaskell, Managing Director of Oxfordshire-based CubanEight to find out about this mid-sized business-to-business PR agency. How would you describe your agency? CubanEight is a mid-sized business-to-business agency with a focus on technology based in Chesterton, just outside Bicester in Oxfordshire.  We are running campaigns for global brands and fast-growing companies based […]

By Emma Duke One of the most powerful elements of the CIPR’s State of the Profession report (alongside a truly horrifying statistic that less than 1 in 10 of PR practitioners are from a BAME background) is the glaring issue of how many women work in PR – more than 40,000, representing 63% of the […]

By Nicky Smith It’s easy to get swept up in angry righteousness about education issues. And some people of course, say things just to provoke a response. By saying “Discriminate against job applicants from Eton,” Justine Greening is using a quick and lazy way to say, ‘think about social issues when selecting candidates for work experience.’ […]

By Jennifer Sanchis This is probably PR’s greatest irony: PR suffers from bad reputation and image issues. Although the discipline has been institutionalised for years now, the industry is still facing an existential crisis that most practitioners and professional bodies are actively tackling. I wanted to look at the most crucial challenges and misconceptions which, […]

Are you a digital warrior? Want to help make a difference in Oxford’ vibrant PR community? Then why not join the Public Relations Oxford team? We’re looking for a digital content expert to help us develop the Public Relations Oxford brand. In particular we want someone who can take the lead on our web and […]

Setting yourself up as an independent consultant can be daunting. Finding the right business model to achieve a profit is vital, but hard to pin down when there’s just one of you. Paul Sutton, Digital Media Consultant talks about his solution. “Are you still consulting, Paul?” I was asked this a couple of weeks ago […]

By Victoria Pearson. The collapse of construction and services giant Carillion raises interesting, and extremely difficult, issues for internal communicators. A statement by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations notes that Carillion’s demise reflects multiple strategic communication failures as well as failures of internal transparency and accountability. These are ultimately shortcomings of senior management, but […]

By Nicky Smith. Generally speaking, it can be challenging to prove exactly what impact PR has on the bottom line, because it is part of many different marketing activities. But an exception to this is the Adopt a Beehive scheme from the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). A charitable scheme designed to raise money to protect […]

By Emma Duke I changed roles recently. Well ok, it was a promotion. I became a Head of Communications. This role is simultaneously the most exciting job I never imagined existed and the most terrifying. I am ambitious. I’ve spent most of my career making the case to my bosses that I’m doing enough to progress […]