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25 June 2018
EUPRERA Aarhus congress and the Best Viking Award

Are you ready for an unforgettable experience in the nordic waters? While building up the paper sessions combining 80 selected contributions, this year’s congress organisers already planned a unique competition in the early morning of the second congress day: the Best Viking Award! After one minute in the cold water, it’s ensured that you will be full of energy – and big ideas!
Don’t forget to select this competition when registering for the EUPRERA 2018 congress on the theme “Big Ideas! Challenging Public Relations and Communication Practice”, taking place on September 27-29 in Aarhus, Denmark. Early-bird registration is available until July 31 and EUPRERA members can benefit of an extra discount. Register now

20 June 2018
New book: Public Sector Communication

The new book Public Sector Communication. Closing Gaps Between Citizens and Public Organizations, by Maria-José Canel and Vilma Luoma-aho, published by Wiley Blackwell, combines practical examples from around the world with the latest theoretical insights to show how communication can help public entities build their intangible assets to future-proof themselves in a volatile environment.
The book examines how the recent digitalization has increased citizen expectations and why one-way communication leaves public sector organizations fragile. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as public managers and leaders, this book offers an illustrative, research-based guide to improving communication and engaging citizens of today and the future. The printed version will be available this summer. Go to the e-book

18 June 2018
Doctoral students, book your seats

The 12th EUPRERA PhD seminar will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, on September 25-27, organised by Øyvind Ihlen, Jens Seiffert and Winni Johansen. Great novelties of this edition:

  • the PhD seminar will be organized before the EUPRERA annual congress (not after, as usual)
  • the doctoral works will be presented during a special session of the main congress!

The seminar aims to provide an international setting where doctoral students within public relations and strategic communication can present their ongoing work, get feedback from experts and peers and establish a valuable network for the future.
Applicants must submit a one-page abstract by August 21. Please spread the word among your collegues and doctoral students because seats are limited! More info

15 June 2018
Communications Industry Investing More in Technology

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and APPrise Mobile’s second annual Technology Trends survey found that professionals are ramping up spending on technology, with a focus on mobile and improving analytics.

Companies increasingly recognize the importance of mobile technology, but the survey also found that there is no real strategy behind the use of mobile in the workplace. In other findings, email continues to be the most highly used messaging tool, despite the fact that most respondents believe it is not the most effective form of communication. Compared to last year, there is also greater usage of and reliance on newer communications technologies such as social media, social collaboration and messaging.

More than 700 industry pros responded to the second annual survey, which sought to understand companies’ budget priorities, what technologies are most effective, and what needs to be done technologically to ensure that communicators are best equipped to do their work.

“We’re seeing greater adoption of social and mobile media, without companies relinquishing established strategies and channels,” said Anthony D’Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, 2018 Chair, Public Relations Society of America. “Technology investments are certainly going up, and the next step will be for organizations to assess whether their ROI is growing commensurately.”

“The vast majority of the workforce is now comprised of younger generations like millennials and Generation Z,” said Jeff Corbin, CEO, APPrise Mobile. “They are dependent on the small screens of their mobile devices, so we need to think not so much about what technologies we use, but rather how we effectively use them to get our key messages into the hands of our targeted audiences.”

Key findings from the survey are below. The complete report will be released as part of a PRSA/APPrise Mobile webinar on June 7th. Click here to register.

  • State of Technology Spending
    • 44% of respondents said their company is investing more in technology now than it did last year; 36% said it is about the same.
    • Of those who said their company is spending, 51% said in mobile technology, 51% in analytics and 4% in video.
    • Fewer than half of respondents said their company does an “OK” job in offering digital tools to communicate; 38% said their company should “rethink” their digital workplace communications strategy; and only 9% said the company they work for does a great job.
  • Usage of technology year-over-year
    • Messaging technologies: 14% to 42% (200% increase).
    • Mobile: 8% to 23% (188% increase).
    • Social Collaboration: 15% to 37% (147% increase).
    • Social Media: 26% to 50% (92% increase).
    • Intranets: 53% to 65% (23% increase).
  • Evolution of Mobile
    • Only 44% of respondents said their companies have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy as compared to 48% in 2017.
    • 97% use their personal mobile device for email.
    • 56% use messaging apps on their personal device.
    • 33% access their company’s intranet on their mobile device but 71% said the experience either doesn’t work or is difficult.
  • Fewer employees report that messaging tools have been implemented across their entire company (38%) compared to last year (45%). At the same time, more employees report that messaging tools are used primarily by groups of employees (55%) compared to last year (31%).
    • Skype: 30%.
    • Slack: 14% (down from 41%).
    • Facebook Messenger (12%).
    • WhatsApp (11%).

Survey Methodology 
The survey data was collected via a SurveyMonkey poll largely comprised of PRSA members. In total, 717 communications professionals responded to the questionnaire conducted from January 17, 2018, through March 3, 2018. Communications professionals of varying tenure, industry, age demographic and agency/in-house designation were included.

About the Public Relations Society of America
PRSA is the nation’s largest professional organization serving the communications community. The organization’s mission is to make communications professionals smarter, better prepared and more connected through all stages of their career. PRSA achieves this by offering its members thought leadership, innovative lifelong learning opportunities to help them develop new skills, enhance their credibility and connect with a strong network of professionals. The organization sets the standards of professional excellence and ethical conduct for the public relations industry. PRSA collectively represents more than 30,000 members consisting of communications professionals spanning every industry sector nationwide and college and university students who encompass the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Learn more about PRSA at https://www.prsa.org.

About theEMPLOYEEapp 
theEMPLOYEEapp® by APPrise Mobile is an internal communications and employee engagement mobile solution that allows any organization to have its own native app on Apple and Android mobile devices (as well as a web app for any other device that has a web browser). It securely integrates with a company’s employee database and allows for the instantaneous push of messages and distribution of content (documents, multimedia, web links, calendar appointments and live events) directly to an employee’s mobile device. For more information visit www.theEMPLOYEEapp.com. To learn more about other mobile communications products by APPrise Mobile, visit www.APPrise-mobile.com.

Media Contact
Rod Granger
Director, Public Relations & Communications
PRSA
rod.granger@prsa.org15

13 June 2018
ECM 2018 results: world’s largest survey in strategic communication validates fake news as an indefinite challenge for organisations and society

Berlin, June 13th 2018 – Results of the European Communication Monitor 2018 have been published today at the European Communication Summit in Berlin. This year’s edition of the largest survey of the communications profession and trends in strategic communication is based on almost 3,100 respondents from 48 European countries, providing valuable insights for public relations, corporate and political communication. A PDF report with full results from the study as well as the methodology is available at www.communicationmonitor.eu.
Besides key trends like fake news, the survey explores communications’ contributions to organisational success as well as the work environment for communication professionals in Europe. Work engagement and stress, job satisfaction and its drivers as well as the status of leadership in communication units are explored with additional detailed analyses for 22 countries. Comparable global data for North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific make the Global Communication Monitor series even more relevant.

Key findings
  • Professionals working in communications are fully aware of the fake news phenomenon and how it influences public debates and leads to mistrust; but only a quarter experience its daily relevance
  • Government-owned, public sector and political organisations across Europe are particularly affected by fake news;
  • More than one quarter of European communication professionals has serious stress problems;
  • Job satisfaction overall is slowly decreasing in Europe’s communication sector
Mistrust in times of fake news and a volatile environment

Despite the persisting debate about fake news across Europe (agreed upon by 55.8 per cent of the respondents), this does not filter into the day to day experiences of communication practitioners (24.4 per cent). The most affected by fake news are government-owned, public sector and political organisations (44.6 per cent have been affected at least once in 2017/2018). Professionals based in Russia report the strongest impact of fake news on their organisations (53.2 per cent), followed by Serbia, Slovenia and Poland (all more than 40 per cent).

The sources of fake news follow the origins of the debate with social media being the main source of misleading content (81.3 per cent), but mass media (59.6 per cent) can also originate this form of information. Most communication departments and agencies are not sufficiently prepared to identify fake news: Only 12 per cent of affected organisations have established advanced routines.

Information insights for decision-makers

In today’s digital and mediatised world organisations face a plethora of rapid-fire information that is ubiquitous. Hence, it needs algorithms for data processing and interpretations. Collecting and preparing such information as well as keeping decision-makers and (internal) clients up to date with useful information is a core task for communicators and helps them to fulfil their role. The results of this year’s monitor show that providing information to decision-makers is indeed a common practice across Europe. For 64.7 per cent this is a core task that helps to gain recognition for communications (68.0 per cent agree) and it offers great opportunities for positioning their unit (56.8 per cent).
By far the most important and most frequently provided information by communication specialists is about news in ‘gate kept’ media (mass media with professional journalists) and social media. Media monitoring reports and curated news briefings are provided regularly by respectively 74.6 and 59.6 per cent of the communication departments and agencies.
However, only monitoring reports about the published discourse in print outlets (newspapers, magazines) are provided on a daily basis in the majority of organisations (54.8 per cent). Daily insights on what is going on in social networks or on television are delivered less often (by just over 36 per cent). Only 28.4 per cent of the communication departments and agencies in Europe provide executive news briefings on a daily basis, i.e. advanced types of reporting with edited or curated content that delivers deep insights for decision-makers.

Job satisfaction and work stress in the communications profession

Longitudinal comparison with previous ECM surveys in 2010 and 2014 reveals a slow decline in overall job satisfaction. 28.9% of the surveyed practitioners would like to change their current employer within the next twelve months, and 5.2 per cent want to move out of the communications sector all together. However, three quarters of the communication professionals in Europe are satisfied with their job. Overall satisfaction is the strongest in consultants or agencies (79.0 per cent) and in countries like The Netherlands (86.2 per cent), Finland (81.5 per cent) and Germany (81.2 per cent). The strongest drivers for job satisfaction are interesting and manifold tasks, career opportunities and appreciation by superiors and (internal) clients.

Communication professionals are often expected to be high performers in a hard-working culture. No wonder that four out of ten communication professionals (39.0 per cent) in Europe feel tense or stressed out during their working day. At the same time 25.0 per cent do not have the appropriate resources to manage this experience. A cluster analysis reveals that one in four (27.9 per cent) has serious stress problems (reporting stress and not being able to manage it). Following this theme, Portugal, France and Austria report the largest proportion of communication professionals with serious stress problems.
The most important drivers of work stress are the need to be constantly available outside working time to access emails and phone calls, too heavy a work load, the lack of opportunity for growth or advancement, information overload, as well as long working hours. The latter is most significant for professionals working in consultancies and agencies.

Leadership makes a difference

A supportive work environment enables practitioners to exploit their competencies and accomplish organisational goals. The study measured the status in communication departments and agencies across Europe by assessing organisational culture, trust in the organisation, leader performance, overall job satisfaction, and work engagement. Advanced statistical analysis shows that engagement is the key factor that links strongly to all other aspects. Engagement can be influenced by leaders, so in the end leadership makes the difference: educating, mentoring and promoting leadership skills should be a priority in the field.
Enhancing leadership performance, however, is a continuing challenge for the profession. The study reveals that every fifth communication leader (19.2 per cent) lacks leadership skills. A lack of performance at higher levels is clearly visible – especially when noting that subordinates rate the strategic involvement, ethical orientation and knowledge of the highest-ranking communicators clearly worse than the leaders themselves.

Statements from the EUPRERA lead researchers

Professor Ansgar Zerfass, lead researcher of the survey, explained: “During the last 12 months we have experienced significant events on the world geo-political stage with impact and implications for strategic communication. What stands out most of all from this year’s Monitor is the rising importance of building and maintaining trust by 39.5 per cent of all the respondents. The fact that fake news and propaganda have become more important and traditional mass media is losing ground makes public communication in general – and the communication sector specifically – more competitive than ever before. The public battlefield of meaning is fully erupted from the offline to the online world and back and forth.”

Report is available online

These are some of the key results found in the 12th annual European Communication Monitor (ECM), a survey based on interviews with 3,096 communicators in 48 European counties. The monitor  was launched today in Berlin. A full report is available online at www.communicationmonitor.eu.
Notes for the editor:
The ECM is annually organised by the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) and the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD), supported by premium partner PRIME Research, a member of the Cision Group, digital communications partner Fink & Fuchs, and media partner Communication Director magazine. The communication monitor series is known as the most comprehensive research in the field worldwide covering more than 85 countries – the European survey is complemented by bi-annual surveys in other regions like Asia-Pacific, Latin and North America.
A free PDF report with full results as well as a video featuring highlights from the study is available at www.communicationmonitor.eu.

Press contact for interviews and more information

Professor Dr. Ansgar Zerfass, Lead Researcher, EUPRERA, zerfass@uni-leipzig.de, Phone +49 341 97 35040

13 June 2018
Global Alliance & EUPRERA

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the confederation of the world’s major PR and communication management associations and institutions, already cooperated with our association. Recently, on the occasion of the World Public Relations Forum in Oslo, a formal agreement has been signed between EUPRERA and the Global Alliance.
The agreement was signed by Øyvind Ihlen, EUPRERA past president, and José Manuel Velasco, Global Alliance chair. We are looking forward to organising the first initiatives!

11 June 2018
ICSS XV: Call for Papers on social sciences, abstracts by June 23

ICSS XV, 15th International Conference on Social Sciences at KU Leuven 2018, invites colleagues as in-person or remote. Registration with full paper, abstract or poster is possible until until June 23, 2018.
KU Leuven is one of the top ranked universities in the world, only 18 km from Brussels Airport and just 20 min by train. The conference will have 5 sessions in 5 fields: 1-Social Sciences, 2-Educational Studies, 3-Language & Literature Studies, 4-Economics & Business Studies, 5-Multidisciplinary Topics. All accepted papers will be published in the proceedings book with ISBN and in the 7 Indexed Scientific Journals. More info

5 June 2018
Institute for PR Annual Awards: Call for Nominations, until June 15

The Institute for PR sponsors three awards, traditionally awarded at the Annual Distinguished Lecture Dinner in November each year. The three awards are intended to bring recognition to individuals in the profession and in the academia that further the mission of the Institute of PR.
You can propose nominations until June 15 for the following awards:

  • Alexander Hamilton Medal: Major lifetime contributions to the practice of public relations More info
  • The Jack Felton Medal for Lifetime Achievement: For Giving Back and Excellence in Public Relations Research, Measurement, and Evaluation More info
  • Pathfinder Award: Recognition of an original program of scholarly research More info
4 June 2018
ICA recognitions to Betteke van Ruler, appointed ICA Fellow, and Diana Ingenhoff, awarded for the Top Faculty Best Paper

Professor emerita Betteke van Ruler has been appointed ICA Fellow by the International Communication Association during the 2018 conference in Praque. Fellow status in the ICA is primarily a recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication. The jury commented “Dr. van Ruler has been at the forefront of the theoretical development of the field of public relations and strategic management. Highly respected among public relations and organizational scholars in Communication and related disciplines and honored by professional associations and practitioners, Professor van Ruler has not only been a central figure in bringing cross-national and global perspectives to the study of public relations, she has been a dynamic force in transforming the theoretical and communicative frames that typified the study and practice of public relations”. Download the press release
Congratulations also to Diana Ingenhoff together with Elad Segev and Jérôme Chariatte who deserved the Top Faculty Best Paper Award with the paper The Country and its Objectives Mirrored Between Attitudes and Information Searches in a Cross-National Comparison!

30 May 2018
Communications Industry Investing More in Technology

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and APPrise Mobile’s second annual Technology Trends survey found that professionals are ramping up spending on technology, with a focus on mobile and improving analytics.
Companies increasingly recognize the importance of mobile technology, but the survey also found that there is no real strategy behind the use of mobile in the workplace. In other findings, email continues to be the most highly used messaging tool, despite the fact that most respondents believe it is not the most effective form of communication. Compared to last year, there is also greater usage of and reliance on newer communications technologies such as social media, social collaboration and messaging.
More than 700 industry pros responded to the second annual survey, which sought to understand companies’ budget priorities, what technologies are most effective, and what needs to be done technologically to ensure that communicators are best equipped to do their work.
“We’re seeing greater adoption of social and mobile media, without companies relinquishing established strategies and channels,” said Anthony D’Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, 2018 Chair, Public Relations Society of America. “Technology investments are certainly going up, and the next step will be for organizations to assess whether their ROI is growing commensurately.”
“The vast majority of the workforce is now comprised of younger generations like millennials and Generation Z,” said Jeff Corbin, CEO, APPrise Mobile. “They are dependent on the small screens of their mobile devices, so we need to think not so much about what technologies we use, but rather how we effectively use them to get our key messages into the hands of our targeted audiences.”
Key findings from the survey are below. The complete report will be released as part of a PRSA/APPrise Mobile webinar on June 7th. Click here to register.

  • State of Technology Spending
    • 44% of respondents said their company is investing more in technology now than it did last year; 36% said it is about the same.
    • Of those who said their company is spending, 51% said in mobile technology, 51% in analytics and 4% in video.
    • Fewer than half of respondents said their company does an “OK” job in offering digital tools to communicate; 38% said their company should “rethink” their digital workplace communications strategy; and only 9% said the company they work for does a great job.
  • Usage of technology year-over-year
    • Messaging technologies: 14% to 42% (200% increase).
    • Mobile: 8% to 23% (188% increase).
    • Social Collaboration: 15% to 37% (147% increase).
    • Social Media: 26% to 50% (92% increase).
    • Intranets: 53% to 65% (23% increase).
  • Evolution of Mobile
    • Only 44% of respondents said their companies have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy as compared to 48% in 2017.
    • 97% use their personal mobile device for email.
    • 56% use messaging apps on their personal device.
    • 33% access their company’s intranet on their mobile device but 71% said the experience either doesn’t work or is difficult.
  • Fewer employees report that messaging tools have been implemented across their entire company (38%) compared to last year (45%). At the same time, more employees report that messaging tools are used primarily by groups of employees (55%) compared to last year (31%).
    • Skype: 30%.
    • Slack: 14% (down from 41%).
    • Facebook Messenger (12%).
    • WhatsApp (11%).

Survey Methodology 
The survey data was collected via a SurveyMonkey poll largely comprised of PRSA members. In total, 717 communications professionals responded to the questionnaire conducted from January 17, 2018, through March 3, 2018. Communications professionals of varying tenure, industry, age demographic and agency/in-house designation were included.
About the Public Relations Society of America
PRSA is the nation’s largest professional organization serving the communications community. The organization’s mission is to make communications professionals smarter, better prepared and more connected through all stages of their career. PRSA achieves this by offering its members thought leadership, innovative lifelong learning opportunities to help them develop new skills, enhance their credibility and connect with a strong network of professionals. The organization sets the standards of professional excellence and ethical conduct for the public relations industry. PRSA collectively represents more than 30,000 members consisting of communications professionals spanning every industry sector nationwide and college and university students who encompass the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Learn more about PRSA at https://www.prsa.org.
About theEMPLOYEEapp 
theEMPLOYEEapp® by APPrise Mobile is an internal communications and employee engagement mobile solution that allows any organization to have its own native app on Apple and Android mobile devices (as well as a web app for any other device that has a web browser). It securely integrates with a company’s employee database and allows for the instantaneous push of messages and distribution of content (documents, multimedia, web links, calendar appointments and live events) directly to an employee’s mobile device. For more information visit www.theEMPLOYEEapp.com. To learn more about other mobile communications products by APPrise Mobile, visit www.APPrise-mobile.com.
Media Contact
Rod Granger
Director, Public Relations & Communications
PRSA
rod.granger@prsa.org

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