Let’s talk about sex, baby
My seven-year-old daughter is still my baby girl in my eyes. She’ll always be so – that’s the effect girls have on their Dads – but without wanting Victorian, I’m worried about mixed messages.
In four years’ time she could be fitted with the ‘coil’ if she were to (God forbid) do unprotected sex rather than be given the morning after pill. Apparently, while a coil is costlier to fit but the long-term benefits and cost savings are vast.
This follows an NHS pilot that suggests 13-year-old girls should be able to walk into a pharmacy and get the contraceptive pill without parental consent or a GP visit.
Why these sudden mixed messages on sexual health? Why are we even considering this avenue of ‘care’?
Pharmacists will of course have to ask fundamental questions but I can’t see my daughter being able to make such a life-changing decision at 11, 12 or 13. She likes Roald Dahl, iCarly and dressing up as a princess or a pop star in a way that’s imaginative and hilarious and long may that continue….
The National Chlamydia Screening Service ring-fenced funds for sexual health education but it didn’t get spent well. Charities help teenagers understand sexual health and actively promote safe sex and there have been countless public health campaigns on the results of unprotected sex.
So, are the goalposts moving or am I just a concerned father? My concern is that like obesity it’s all about treatment not education and prevention.
Dean Enon
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Shoot for the stars
Today is Star Wars day (May the 4th). Tee hee. There are only a handful of dates in the year – Star Trek and Doctor Who conventions included – when it is as appropriate to use this blog title. And it turns out to be a great way to explain Public Relations.
You have to imagine shooting for the stars to succeed, be brave and think about the big things in life. You have to understand the known world and have a grasp of what the future/unknown world holds to achieve results that will resonate tomorrow. And, like the space stations of our generation, you have to run a tight ship, focusing on how to reach your destination and what to do when you get there.
Sticking to the Star Wars theme, the force is strong with the team at Gravitas PR. And with a little Jedi mastery – also known as energy, initiative, good sense and commitment to the cause – we are achieving great things for our clients, in the worlds of healthcare and the environment. We can show you how to ‘use the force’ too.
The world keeps turning and you have to move with the times just as fast. So, why not make today the starting point for fresh impetus in your chosen field… may the PR force be with you!
Andy Rea
Life’s a Pitch, and then you buy
“He’s stolen my idea” I wailed today, hearing Philip Delves Broughton, author of Life’s A Pitch, debating with writer and journalist Viv Groskop debate whether you can apply lessons from the business world to real life, on the Today Programme.
I had the same idea years ago, but never wrote it up so let me chip in now.
Their debate was, are we learning to sell in life, as we do in business? He argued that while society stereotypes all sales people as cheesy or cynical product pushers, they create real value to society, are the motor of any economy and what they do is very human.
I totally agree with him that there is no real difference between the car salesman and the parent or teacher selling good behaviour to children, the adult selling their attractiveness on the marriage or friendship markets or indeed Facebook.
He wants to close the “dangerous chasm” that is growing between the business and non-business world.
When Viv protested that our human interactions are based on love he said there are good and bad people everywhere but we all act in our own interests be it for profit or for the love of another human being; that we all put on masks and flirt with truth and half-truths and to call it bad in business while ignoring it in our dealings with neighbours, relatives and friends is a narrow and naive mindset.
As he says, the best philosopher won’t feed or house us. When we marvel at Europe’s beautiful medieval cities we should remember they were created for trade.
UK anti-business attitudes to me seems rooted in the old class system that relegated “people in trade”. But today, I see similar attitudes in the minds of sometimes naive youth and journalists who tend to assume that big business is inherently a little corrupt. So it’s good to ask ourselves occasionally, are we allowing deeply ingrained prejudices to create a dangerous chasm?
Kay Williamson
Keep on running
Support, determination and self-belief – three critical aspects needed when training for a marathon. This is what I discovered when I ran April’s Brighton marathon – the same week I joined Gravitas Public Relations as an Account executive.
Preparing for the marathon involved 14 weeks of training, and without the support of others, those 26.2 miles would have been a far more painful experience. Running is quite often viewed as a solitary sport, but on the 15th April I gained 15,000 running buddies, plus several thousand supporters. Talking to other runners on the route and hearing people in the crowd call out your name gave me extra motivation to succeed.
Determination to complete a marathon is as, if not more important than, putting the miles in. I’m a believer that running is 10% physical and 90% mental, and throughout my training I constantly pictured myself running through the finishing line. Without determination, you’re simply putting one foot in front of the other, which gets rather boring after a while.
Finally, a dose of self-belief is definitely needed when training for a marathon. When injuries come knocking, you have to look them in the eye and declare that you will beat them. During my training, I encountered shin splints and a troubled Achilles, both causing agony and doubt. But I knew that with rest, self-discipline and a few spin classes, I could complete 26.2 miles safely and happily.
I completed the marathon in 4 hours 27 minutes and with that gained the marathon buzz. But most importantly, what I learnt during marathon training can now be applied to any situation – after all, a little self-belief can go a long way (26.2 miles, to be precise).
As an extra note, I have raised almost £300 for Cancer Research UK – if you would like to make a donation, you can find my fundraising page at www.runningsponsorme.org/emilycross3
Emily Cross
Ingredients for fruitful PR
Great results are the hallmark of a successful PR campaign, but it’s a strong and productive relationship with our clients that can give us deepest satisfaction.
We support clients in many different ways because they are all individuals with different
needs, pressures and goals. The common theme is a real return on investment, but there the similarities end.
Some set us free to be creative and innovative, taking a back seat. Others prefer close collaboration. Some set strategic challenges, like giving them a clearer voice in a specific sector. Others prefer to see where our efforts can lead across a breadth of sectors and target audiences.
But all say it’s easier and more rewarding having health PR specialists on the team, working as virtual partners. All we ask is return, to make the partnership as mutually fruitful as possible, is that clients offer the following ingredients:
Trust us. We weren’t hired to be a ‘yes’ team, we were hired to advise based on our knowledge and expertise. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs properly if we didn’t disagree occasionally on how to convey key messages, but we will always have our clients’ best interests at heart. So do listen to our ideas – we know the media landscape, what makes a story, the pitfalls and how not to do it.
Challenge. It may be on the strategy we suggest or the strategy we did not suggest, but set your PR team a challenge to achieve excellence. See if we can do it!
Engage. Toss your ideas and suggestions into the creative pot – they can prove stepping stones to crystallising a strong PR campaign or key message.
Honesty. We can take a hint, but if for any reason you are not happy tell your PR team straight so we can set about putting matters right.
Be clear. If we have a clear brief – priorities, objectives and deadlines – we will succeed.
Regular contact. Work with Gravitas to ensure proper procedures are in place and we have a clear chain of command/ first point of client contact. Reply quickly to our calls/ emails – a timely response can be the difference between getting coverage and not. Tell us about news – new contract wins, prominent case studies, products, internal changes, CSR initiatives etc, to feed the news pipeline.
Flexibility. Be ready to react fast. The media is a fast-paced world and they don’t wait for our clients to catch up, so if an opportunity arises we may need spokespeople to drop other things and give us their time there and then.
Swift approval. Many press releases are newsworthy for a limited time period, so please understand if we nudge for prompt approval. It may be that we need to hit the news desks while an issue is ‘hot’, or respond to a journalist request/deadline – and for the client’s sake we do not want to fail.
Key messages. Having access to the client’s experts, product/service literature, internal communications like newsletters and knowledge of business plans, needs and pressures may mean we spot something newsworthy or worthy of in-depth treatment.
Ask what else we do. PR stretches far deeper below the surface than may be realised. And, while we may be providing a good service in one area (and may focusing all our efforts for you here) why not ask us about something else you’ve heard of. We’re probably doing it right now for another client.
Andy Rea
Where insurers can help corporate health
Speak up when leader’s leave of absence risks rumour disease, says KAY WILLIAMSON
Far and wide rippled the relief when Antonio Horta-Osorio resumed the helm at Lloyds.
He declared himself delighted to be back. So were a banking group to which he had brought so much energy and promise, its shareholders, the market and not least the Government, which needs to see Lloyds succeed to get its – or should I say our – money back.
The positive reaction to his return served to emphasise how damaging can be the effect of the loss or absence of a powerful leader, and how serious the dent that can be made in its image and fortunes.
And yet that damage, which had a direct impact on share prices, could have been so much less had there been much greater clarity about the problem that took him away from his desk.
All we had from the Lloyds board was an opaque statement saying that following medical advice he was taking a temporary leave of absence due to illness.
Cue alarm in a financial world never slow to get an attack of the jitters. Just how serious was this illness? With no clue from Lloyds the speculation rapidly grew that the stressed-out chief had suffered a breakdown and, rather than temporary, his absence might turn out to be permanent.
It was only after long days of information void in which the media bandied stress and breakdown as fact that we were permitted to know Antonio had been working over-long hours, that he had been suffering from lack of sleep, and that a change of regime would see him restored to full power.
So – what has all this to do with health insurers? Nothing on the face of it, you might think. But it does prompt the thought that in their discussions with corporate clients they are very much in a position to offer some word-to-the-wise, added-value advice.
It would be that when a key executive takes leave of absence for health reasons, there are implications for the health of the company too.
Kay Williamson
What’s new for the green £
We’ve chosen what we think are the most interesting environmental debates to follow in 2012. But is there a debate out there you find more compelling?
Please post suggestions via the discussion forum below and the best answer – in our opinion - will win a bottle of champagne.
- The cost of green energy to the UK
- HS2 – is it worth it?
- The Daylight Saving Bill – will the Government acknowledge the environmental benefits?
- Energy costs – will the big 6 continue to pass on lower wholesale prices?
- The Thames Estuary Airport – will wildlife conservation arguments get any hearing?
But what of the baker’s dozen?
I’d like to address all those that suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia but I fear (no pun intended) that today they will be unreachable. It is more likely that they’ll spend the day in the safe hands of their duvet. They certainly will not venture to their laptop because in doing so they may encounter a whole myriad of dangers.
Likewise they’ll steer well clear of ladders and black cats; not step on the cracks in the pavement or place new shoes on a table and if nature does call, and the very bravest do dare to leave the sanctuary of their beds, you can bet your bottom dollar that they get out on one particular side…
But what is it about Friday the 13th and the phobia known as friggatriskaidekaphobia, obviously, that spooks us?
Is it because the number 12 is deemed in many cultures to be the sign of completeness – 12 months in the year, 12 hours in the day, 12 gods of Olympus and the 12 apostles of Jesus…and so on. While, the number 13 is often considered as irregular thus transgressing completeness. Some believe that if there are 13 diners for dinner that one will surely die, if we follow events at the last supper.
Whatever the reason, and there are many theories surrounding both the number and the day, friggatriskaidekaphobia has spawned many tales now archived in folklore and many blockbuster movies and novels. I’m ok though because I don’t subscribe to wanton superstition, well, not now that I left my house this morning armed with a rabbit’s foot, sprig of heather and a four-leaved clover.
A friend of mine is a baker, he’s gone to work today but then again bakers laugh in the face of the fear that 13 brings.
Dean Enon
The day health new year resolutions wither
Jan 9 is the day most Brits break their New Year’s resolutions.
Attempts to ditch the smokes, be less of a soak, get to bed early or eat better go out of the window for 75% of us by this date, as our survey showed the world.
Just about every one of the nationals ran our survey-driven story that day, proving that the media will publish a well-crafted survey press release exposing human foibles especially on physical and emotional well-being topics.
So our copy stressed the finding that well-being topped the priority lists for all Brits this New Year over stuff like financial resolutions. It signposted millions of Brits to our client’s web-site – www.allabouthealth.org.uk – reminding the weak-willed majority of this powerful online source of advice and user-friendly tools to stiffen willpower, with advice from running legend Kriss Akabusi and community pharmacist legend Ajit Malhi.
Ajit, our client, trusted media commentator and gentle ‘people-person’ is as good at nudging people into changing unhealthy behaviour as anything emerging from the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insight Team and the so called choice-architects they are encouraging.
Good team-result, I say, between client and our consumer health team.
Kay Williamson
Healthy PR helps kick the habit
New Year is a time for resolutions. But let’s face it, going cold turkey on bad habits or changing your life with big aspirations – at the most depressing time of the year – is… well… hard.
For all the good intent, it is only a week or two later that the majority of us start to wobble or worse. So let’s hope the Department of Health’s latest brainwave has more staying power.
Freud PR has been handed a £1million deal to run all Whitehall health drives. Distinct strands of public health work – such as obesity and smoking – will now be brought into a single campaign.
We’re told the move will increase efficiency by streamlining all communications, but some worry it will mean less grassroots PR at a regional level (perhaps where it could be most powerful). Others have voiced concern that the agency also lists several fast and snack food producers among its clients – Pepsi, KFC and Walkers Crisps for example.
The reality is, the general public is bombarded with billions of pounds worth of advertising for unhealthy products, so there is a real need to fight back with education campaigns – and we believe Freud did this well in its handling of the anti-obesity Change4Life campaign. So well done to them for increasing their workload.
There are also numerous conflicting health messages appearing almost daily in the media, so it is little wonder surveys show the public feels confused and distrusting of such ‘advice’. The danger is that those in most need of help and support are not being reached.
So while the Government expects everyone to look after their own health better, people expect the NHS to be there when things go wrong. The DH spends big bucks trying to prevent problems through a range of communications, yet many feel affronted if it is suggested they should change their lifestyle, so they choose to ignore wise words.
To make public health campaigns work it takes a local, regional thrust and we hope that Freud PR puts as much resources into regional PR as they do national.
Ps – good luck with your new year resolutions!
Kay Williamson
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