Welcome
Starship robots, Queen's funeral comms and fun in Cannes.
In this issue we remind you you've still got time to enter the global Davos Communications Awards, reveal the latest social media trends data, share yet more AI news and tell the inside story of the communications around the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Forgive me for a little self-indulgence in this issue as I've used a corporate deal as an excuse to grab and publish a photo of me with one of the cute Starship Technologies robots we've got in the community where I live.
PR Futurist will be taking a short break over the summer. Look out for our next edition which should be on 31 July. If you still want your fix of the latest, greatest PR and comms news and research then subscribe to PR Futurist on Flipboard as we'll still be flipping some stories. Just without the snarky comment and analysis!
Stuart Bruce
Stuart Bruce | PR Futurist
News
Starship Technologies' self-driving robots to deliver food for Uber rival Bolt
We don't just showcase CommTech in PR Futurist, but also like to highlight other examples of fantastic innovation. There's a lot of buzz in my community because we're one of the first in the UK to get supermarket deliveries by robot. Starship Technologies, headquartered in San Francisco and co-founded by some of the founders of Skype, is one of the more exciting start-ups I've seen.
What makes it so exciting is the Starship robots unlock that elusive 'last mile delivery'. The robots provide a solution that's not only cost effective, but is also more sustainable and ethical.
When I say 'my community' that's not strictly true as we're just and so outside the delivery zone for our local Coop supermarket. This means we get to see the cute robots buzzing around the streets, but can't actually order anything!
Starship's latest deal is with Uber competitor Bolt, one of Europe’s most highly valued tech companies with a valuation of $8.4 billion. The trial is Tallinn, the capital of Estonia which is where Bolt is headquartered and is one of the most technological advanced cities in the world. I suspect there is a link between this deal and the fact Starship was founded by Skype founders as Skype was another highly successful Estonian start-up.
This story also gives me a great opportunity to pose for a picture with one of the cute robots near my house!
Stuart Bruce
cnbc.com
Don't miss your chance to enter the global Davos Communications Awards
The entry deadline for the Davos Communications Awards is on 20 July. Don't miss your opportunity to participate in global awards to "recognise innovation and excellence in exceptional achievements of public relations and communications professionals worldwide, who truly push the boundaries on performance."
Stuart is an elected member of the global Executive Committee of the award organisers, the World Communication Forum Association in Davos, Switzerland. He was also the chair of the inaugural jury for the awards in 2021.
Karen Marshall
wcfaglobal.com
Get in touch
We'll be right back
Just because PR Futurist is taking a break for the summer doesn't mean we're not available. We'll be right back and happy to chat to you about how we can help as we're planning our work for the second half of 2023. So get in touch,
Tim Bailey
purposefulrelations.com
Case studies
On Her Majesty's Service - how do you do PR for the death of the Queen?
London Bridge is down.... those words signalled the start of the biggest state funeral in 70 years. Queen Elizabeth II had passed away. Read Helen Dunne's fascinating interview with Simon Baugh, the chief executive of the Government Communication Service. Simon provides an insider account from the very top of how London Bridge, the perfect plan, actually performed when implemented.
Stuart Bruce
h5mag.com
Research and reports
New EMEA social media trends report
HubSpot and Meltwater have published a joint report on the top 10 social media trends for 2023. It's gated so you need to give some contact details. Highlights include:
👯 87% say building an active online community around their brand will be critical to success in 2023 with 41% saying it's become more important in the past year.
🤪 More than 85% of social media marketers are swapping celebrities for micro or nano influencers.
📼 Eight in 10 say short-form video (TikTok and Instagram Reels) s most effective.
📈 Nearly half plan to start using TikTok for the first time this year.
🪨 Six in 10 say production value is less important than authenticity.
Stuart Bruce
hubspot.com
Half of PR creative chiefs claim to already use AI for campaign generation
A survey conducted by PRWeek found most creative chiefs at UK PR agencies see the potential for AI to be used in their work, with more than half (57%) already putting this into practice.
We're huge advocates of using technology and AI to improve PR and communications. After all, we set up Purposeful Relations to help in-house teams and agencies to do exactly that. But I'm concerned by this figure. Everyone should be experimenting with AI, but before it can be used for actual work it's essential that PR and comms teams have built-in proper safeguards, have done training and have a framework for using it ethically.
Stuart Bruce
campaignasia.com
Professional practice
It's Cannes PR Lions time again but do they really matter?
The Cannes PR Lions always get a lot of buzz, not least because it's often not won by a PR firm.
Maja Pawinska Sims interviews Jury president Jo-ann Robertson (Ketchum’s global markets CEO) and other judges.
It's great to see that the Cannes PR Lions jury is putting more emphasis on impact. Over the years I've seen some wonderfully creative work, but I've often been left wondering 'What is the point of it?'. Did it actually contribute towards achieving something meaningful - legislative change, sales, recruitment... something practical?
Stuart Bruce
provokemedia.com
CommTech newswatch
Omnicom becomes first agency holding group to launch a group wide AI powered virtual assistant
Omnicom has announced Omni Assist, an AI powered virtual assistant for staff across all of its agency brands. It claims its partnership with Microsoft make it the first agency holding group to have enterprise access to the latest Open AI GPT models. The announcement news release is heavy on hype and gobbledygook, which is disappointing for a comms company, so it will be interesting to see what this actually means in practice and what other agency holding companies do. It also raises the question about how smaller agencies compete with big investments in technology like this.
There are tools and services that enable smaller agencies to create their own tools, or white label existing tools. This is something we're exploring with our clients. Until we know exactly what Omni Assist does it's hard to know what benefits it offers over a bespoke mix of tools.
Stuart Bruce
prnewswire.com