PR In A Jar

English Libel Laws Under Fire

Interesting post on George Monbiot's blog re: freedom of speech.

Publishers take note - it's a sad and cautionary tale.

MIT 'digital world' triumvirate now on audio

(This piece first appeared in Jane's section of the Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus blog)

Back in April MIT's Communications Forum held an event discussing the pro's and con's of the digital world, where the three panellists were Harvard's Yochai Benkler, best known for his book The Wealth of Networks; the University of Chicago's Cass Sunstein, author of Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge; and MIT's own Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture.

Goodbye to Bill

As the business world and of course the media bid a fond-ish farewell to Bill Gates, the PR sector has been reflecting on Chairman Bill's contribution to our industry.

Gates famously said, of course, that if he had one dollar left, he'd spend it on PR ... a mantra that's doubtlessly been trotted out at many a PR pitch since then, despite that fact that Gates is pretty much the man in the world the least likely to only ever have a dollar left.

Four Smith & Smith clients named in Crain's '40 Under 40'

Four of our PR clients feature among the 40 movers and shakers selected by Crain's Manchester Business in their inaugural '40 Under 40' listing.

Is the laptop the new domestic loom?

Interesting article in the current issue of Management Today which further proposes that a return to more traditional modes of working may be coming.

I was recently at the Hay Festival and which included a riveting lecture by US sociologist Richard Sennett about craftsmanship and pride in one's work re: the knowledge economy. Revisiting bygone ways of working certainly seems to be something everyone's talking about at the moment.

Top Tips for People Pics

By Smith & Smith regular, photographer James Russell ...

They say 'a picture paints a thousand words’, but as I’m writing this for one of the country’s best PR agencies who specialise in words – let’s say it’s just worth 500!

What can good quality commercial photography do for your business? A photograph at the simplest level grabs attention. If we flick through a magazine it’s the pictures we look at first, followed by the headlines and then the article itself. What better way, then, to direct someone to an article about yourselves than to head it with a dynamic and interesting photograph. It’s the photo that often makes us remember the article.

Here are my 10 top tips for taking better people photographs:

Aster's Adventures ...

By AJ Read, account manager, Smith & Smith PR

This Bank Holiday weekend I felt very ashamed of myself! As I lay around drinking the odd (?) gin and tonic and having restful days - my pro bono clients were having the adventure of a lifetime. They were crossing Scotland, coast to coast in under 24 hours, to help raise funds for a state-of-the-art MRI scanner at the new Manchester children’s hospital.

Smith & Smith pro bono client RAPAR

Smith & Smith Account Manager Ali Short is now working with local human rights organization RAPAR. She chose the charity to be her pro bono client after reading about the plight of its founder in the Salford Star magazine.

Upcoming Media Training Dates

Some media training dates coming up:

Tuesday 27 May, Blackburn: PR workshops as part of the BIG programme from Enterprise4All, followed by one-to-one PR clinics on 17 June

Wednesday 28 May, one-on-one PR clinics for designer-makers who participated in last year's Design Initiative PR seminar in St Helens

Wednesday 11 June, online PR seminar for Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board, Preston

Also upcoming: PR seminar for designer-makers in Cumbria, date tbc!

Saints preserve us - PR has its own patron saint!

I've just found out, thanks to the CIPR newsletter, that PR had a patron saint.