🚀 PR Futurist #110 📈 Barcelona Principles 4 ♀️♂️ Break the Silence report 💻 New Copilot tools roll out

Welcome

Big news from AMEC for those who care about communication measurement and evaluation

This is a bumper edition of PR Futurist. What you won't read is my summary of the AMEC communication measurement and evaluation summit in Vienna, where me and Tim spent last week. That's because I'm writing an exclusive op-ed for PRovoke Media that will be published later this week. Sign up to PRovoke's free email now so you don't miss it.

While you're waiting for my summary, you need to read Alex Aiken's excellent preview, also in PRovoke.

I have included a link to the big news from the summit: the launch of the Barcelona Principles 4.0. There's so much interest in how they can improve communications planning, measurement and evaluation that we've already had bookings for our one-hour workshop before we've even officially launched it. Get in touch if you want to secure one of the slots.

The other big news is the launch of Break the Silence. A grassroots initiative to create a better, fairer, stronger PR industry and profession. This is such an important issue for the PR industry. Please take time to read the article below, download the report, and join the campaign.

On Friday, I'm looking forward to appearing on the first-ever LinkedIn Live of the Embracing Marketing Mistakes podcast.

Other articles include: how AI is dismantling the business model of PR agencies; UK government says workers must embrace AI or risk being left behind; can Gen X survive AI?; what CEOs really think about AI; the first AI-driven law firm; and UK government trial shows AI saves two weeks per person, per year.

News

Join my LinkedIn Live with Embracing Marketing Mistakes

This Friday 20th June at 12:30pm (UK time) I'll be the guest on the first-ever Embracing Marketing Mistakes LIVE episode. 🥳

The live broadcast is to mark the second anniversary of the Embracing Marketing Mistakes podcast. It's my third appearance, as I was their first ever guest and had a return invite to mark the second anniversary.

It's live, so what we'll talk about will be influenced by your questions. But you can be certain of three topics AI, Barcelona Principles and Breaking the Silence.

It has to be AI, as nothing is going to impact PR and marketing, society, and the economy as much as AI. If you don't have a proper plan. If you aren't investing and training. If you're waiting to see. Then you're screwed.

As I'm just back from the AMEC Summit in Vienna, we can't not talk about the new Barcelona Principles 4.0 and why if you want to succeed in PR or marketing, you'd be an idiot not to use them.

I'm also going to plug the Behind the Silence report, because if you aren't actively supporting gender equality and diversity in its broadest sense, you're the problem.

The real fun part will be YOU. It's live, so the hosts want to hear from you. Hit us up with questions.

And as a podcast that's about Embracing Marketing Mistakes, you shouldn't be surprised that they are expecting it to be a "fun, mistake riddled episode."

Register now the LinkedIn Live so you don't forget to attend.

Stuart Bruce

AI

AI is dismantling the economics PR agencies are built-on

An interesting Provoke Media op-ed by James Beechinor-Collins, a partner at M&A advisory firm TobinLeff, on how AI is not just disrupting, but dismantling the economics that PR agencies were built on.

He captures many of the key issues. The TL;DR is, if you're running an agency, you need to invest in AI not just to flourish but to survive. If you are one of the first to do it right, it also strengthens your position for any future sale or external investment.

Stuart Bruce

Workers in UK need to embrace AI or risk being left behind, says technology minister

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledges people are sceptical about AI and they worry about it taking their job. Science and technology minister Peter Kyle says workers should turn their trepidation over AI into “exhilaration” or risk being left behind. For employers, this means they must listen to workers' concerns and incorporate them into their AI strategies to win trust and social licence. PR and comms need to be the forefront of winning social licence for AI to educate and build trust. It's critical that you create and implement strategies to do this. To make AI most effective in comms teams it needs planning, training, and support as many comms workers share the concerns of other workers.

Can Gen X survive AI?

Just when they should be at their peak, experienced workers in creative fields find that their skills are all but obsolete. A fascinating and scary read. This long read article is well worth a read. Just don't be too scared. The march of AI is inevitable. The only way to stand a chance of not just surviving, but flourishing is to be part of it.

Stuart Bruce

Why is every CEO writing the same memo about AI?

It's becoming increasingly apparent that CEOs are getting the message they've got to adapt and innovate for the AI age. Identifying the common concerns, themes and opportunities mean that we as comms professionals are in a stronger position to help them do it.

These are some of the common themes that are emerging:

Widespread AI adoption is essential or their companies will face obsolescence.
Some CEOs are embracing AI enthusiastically; others, out of necessity. Only the foolish are acting quickly.
AI is inevitable and CEOs can help adoption by leading by example and using AI themselves.
There is a conflict between urgency and uncertainty, which is why CEOs need expert counsel.
AI is most successful as a core competency embedded throughout teams, rather than isolated best use exemplars.
AI must be an opportunity to benefit employees and not just the employer.
To navigate the shift to AI needs training and support.

Stuart Bruce

Get in touch

Book a Barcelona Principle 4.0 workshop for your team

If you want the lowdown on the updates to the Barcelona Principles for best practice in planning, measurement and evaluation of communications and reputation, then get in touch as we've only a limited number of slots in the near future.

CommTech tools

Researcher and Analyst for Microsoft 365 Copilot finally roll out

One of the most useful advances in AI this year has been its ability to do in-depth, multi-stage research with reasoning. Different tools call it different things. Most (all?) good AI features quickly get copied by competing tools.

Microsoft announced its 365 Copilot Researcher feature some time ago (we covered it), and it is finally available, along with the Analyst feature.

Our initial tests of Researcher are favourable. We've pitted various tools against each other on the same research project. So far there isn't a clear winner or best choice, as each has strengths and weaknesses.

In a head-to-head between M365 Copilot Researcher and ChatGPT Deep Research, both ask clarifying questions to check they understand the brief. For a prompt about how PR and comms can influence AI answers (what is becoming known as GEO or Generative AI Optimisation) both asked if I was interested in processes, methodologies, or specific tools. I said both, but only Copilot included a report section on tools.

The Copilot report was faster and shorter than the ChatGPT report. However, on reading both it was apparent that longer doesn't necessarily mean better. The ChatGPT report was more verbose and repeated similar points in different sections. Overall both reports were great introductions to the topic.

Both cited their sources, but it was interesting that neither cited direct references to any of the PR or comms specific research I'm aware. The Hard Numbers' 'Reputation in the Age of AI' report did appear in a 'This month in PR' article on the PR Academy website.

Stuart Bruce

Data, measurement, analytics

Barcelona Principles 4.0 launched at AMEC Summit in Vienna

Both me and Tim were in Vienna last week at the AMEC Summit for the launch of the Barcelona Principles 4.0 for the measurement and evaluation of communications.

Since their launch in 2010, they've been updated every five years. It was great to be able to talk to some of the people behind the refresh to get firsthand insight into the changes. Each of the seven principles had a team of volunteers working on updating them. The photo shows the lead member of the team for each principle.

It's important to understand the Barcelona Principles 4.0 are an evolution, not a reveolution. Some of the key thematic improvements are:

Easier to map the principles to the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework.
Ebook that is meant to provide a more practical explanation of each of the seven principles.
Emphasising that it's not outputs v.s outcomes, as both matter, but in different ways for different reasons.
Greater recognition that communications is iterative and ongoing rather than "static camaigns".
Emphasis on constant iteration and driving continuous learning for the future, not just measuring past success (or failure!).

There are also changes that I'm still assessing, as not yet convinced they are improvements:

Use of the term "stakeholder audiences". The TL;DR is it's because "academics prefer to use the term 'stakeholders...' while "most in-house and PR teams tend to refer to 'audiences'."
This is particularly problematic in dropping "society" from principle two in favour of "stakeholder audiences". Adding the word "society" in 2020 vastly improved the Barcelona Principles and made them far more accessible and acceptable for the broader corporate affairs and communication function. I need to reflect further on this as it isn't explained in the ebook.

I'll publish a more detailed analysis soon, and we're also running a one-hour workshop to help communications teams and PR agencies understand the changes. Get in touch if you want to book one. The first slots went before we'd even announced we were doing them!

Stuart Bruce

Crisis communication

Google’s Veo 3 AI can make deepfakes videos of conflict and riots

Yet another example of why it's essential your reputational risk and crisis communications plan includes AI, misinformation and disinformation. Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator allows users to make hyper-realistic deepfakes, including conflicts and riots.

Stuart Bruce

How AI is helping researchers sniff out disinformation campaigns

AI might present a clear and present danger of increased disinformation and misinformation, but AI also provides tools and solutions for combating it.

Stuart Bruce

Case studies

UK government trial shows AI could save civil servants nearly two weeks a year

More than 20,000 civil servants took part in a government-led trial using generative AI to support their daily work – with early results showing time savings equivalent to nearly two working weeks per person, per year.

Solicitors Regulation Authority approves first AI-driven law firm

The latest advance of AI into professional services is the Solicitors Regulation Authority authorising the first law firm to provide legal services through artificial intelligence (AI). While many firms are already using AI to support and deliver a range of back-office and public-facing services, Garfield.Law Ltd is the first purely AI-based firm the SRA has authorised to provide regulated legal services in England and Wales.

This perhaps isn't as surprising as it first appears. Law is a highly codified profession, relying on rules, legislation, and case histories that are readily accessible. It would be far harder to achieve this in public relations as its lack of common standards, agreed academic definitions, and absence of regulation make it much harder to define a reliable knowledge base.

Stuart Bruce

Microsoft publishes ebook for business leaders with AI use cases

Microsoft has published a new ebook with several case studies of how companies in different sectors are using AI.

Stuart Bruce

Research and reports

Conflicting global opinions and perceptions of AI create brand and reputational challenges

The 2025 Ipsos AI Monitor report into global attitudes about AI focuses on how companies and brands might use AI in the future and how this might impact public trust. There is an almost equal split between those who are excited by products and services that use AI (52%) and those who say AI makes them nervous (53%).

Eight in 10 (79%) agree that companies using AI should have to disclose that use. However, don't make the mistake of thinking this means disclosure and transparency about every use of AI. It was a crude question:

"How much do you agree or disagree with the following? Products and services using artificial intelligence should have to disclose that use."

Disclosure can just mean saying the company, product or service uses AI.

Stuart Bruce

Reframing Mary Meeker's 2025 AI Trends Report for business leaders

Neville Hobson has done a great job of normalising Mary Meeker's AI report. Stephen Waddington did a great job of pointing out what Meeker missed - everything to do with trust and social licence. Neville reminds us the report is for a "Silicon Valley audience: tech investors, engineers, founders, and platform builders" which perhaps explains why it ignores the issues Stephen quite rightly raises. Neville distils the report into eight core themes that are more relevant to those of us interested in strategic management and corporate affairs.

Stuart Bruce

Professional practice

Break the Silence - help create a better, fairer, stronger PR industry

Over the last few weeks, it has been a privilege and honour to be one of the volunteers doing the pro bono work to support the launch of a major grassroots initiative to help create a better, fairer, stronger PR industry.

It was inspired by the Missing Women report, published by Socially Mobile with the support of the CIPR which identified the scale of the problem of the high numbers of women who leave the PR industry mid-career. We all know this, but it was sobering to see the scale of it.

A WhatsApp discussion quickly turned into a volunteer activist group of women and men who were fed up with simply knowing about the problem and talking about it, but actually wanted to do things to tackle the problem.

The first step was a big research project led by Lynn CEO Shayoni Lynn. Crucially, this research listened to both men and women. We've got to change this from a women's issue to one that we're all solving. Read the full report for all the findings, but two that stood out for me were:

⬇️ Three in four women said parenthood negatively impacted their careers compared to just one in four men

😢 And while eight in 10 men believe equal opportunities exist in leadership, only half of women agree.

The gap between men's perceptions and experiences and the lived reality of women is stark.

The report was launched at The Ivy with a wealth of senior PR and comms industry professionals in attendance. Thanks to Purposeful Relations' client 72Point for sponsoring the event so we could have a great venue and attendance.

I facilitated one of the discussion tables and reported back on our findings about ageism—how it affects both men and women, young and old, but for women it's even worse. Like social class, it's also too frequently ignored or downplayed in discussions about diversity and equality.

Download the Breaking the Silence report.

Photo by Pinpep, 72Point's photo and video division.

Stuart Bruce

Global Alliance's Venice Pledge for responsible AI use

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management updated its Responsible AI Guiding Principles for the PR and Communication Profession.

The Global Alliance defines Responsible AI as the ethical, transparent, and human-centred development and application of artificial intelligence, strategically deployed to support—not replace—human judgment, creativity, and communication. It emphasises accountability, fairness, and accuracy, while minimising bias, misinformation, and harm. Responsible AI upholds privacy and data protection, reflects professional and organisational values, and ensures proper attribution, governance, and human oversight to maintain trust, integrity, and societal well-being.

The seven Responsible AI Guiding Principles

Ethics First
Human-Led Governance
Personal and Organizational Responsibility
Awareness, Openness, and Transparency
Education and Professional Development
Active Global Voice
Human-Centered AI for the Common Good

These sit alongside ICCO's Warsaw Principles for ethical AI use in communications.

Both of these initiatives are useful checklists for what needs to be included in a corporate generative AI policy. But they don't replace the need for one. Both are very broad principles that don't consider what you actually need to do.

Both emphasise 'transparency' without sufficiently exploring what that means in practice. Transparent when? About what?

Stuart Bruce