Programme

People costs account for more than half of almost any agency’s revenue. During the pandemic, evet agency learned how to deliver services with its people working remotely. Now, agency leaders face possibly the biggest choice they will make for many years: work from home? Return to the office? Or adopt a hybrid system?

Julian Boulding, Founder of thenetworkone, will share new research from 170 agencies worldwide, on what is actually happening in offices around the world; and provide a digest of academic and other learnings on best practices, past and present.

Then, a panel of independent PR agency owners and CEO’s from Canada, USA, UK and Germany will share their individual experiences of the different ways of working they have now adopted, with practical applications which every PR agency professional can learn from. 

The amount of data generated last year was estimated to be the equivalent of each human on earth generating 1.7 MB of data -- per second. As data about target audiences continues to grow at an explosive rate in 2022 and beyond, it poses a real opportunity to transform and elevate the communications function within the organization and the larger space shared with advertising and marketing. Explore the shifting role of data analytics in communications, the possibilities emerging from tying earned media to business outcomes, and the type of structural and mindset shifts communicators need to make to adopt more data-driven approaches to demonstrating business value and alignment with their organization’s overarching business goals.

Amid the rising discussion of stakeholder capitalism, new research reveals a critical yet largely unspoken business stakeholder in today’s new geopolitical era: home country.

This session will explore the new reputational risks and requirements for business leaders as competing national priorities fracture a global economy and pressure multinational companies to navigate diverging values and interests across their global footprint.

Join Weber Shandwick Executive Vice President of Geopolitical Strategy & Risk Michelle Giuda in conversation with Matt Swift, Co-Founder and CEO of Concordia, and Jay Wang, Director of USC’s Center on Public Diplomacy as they discuss new approaches for organizations to navigate and succeed amid the collision of business and geopolitics. 

Though the concept of using data to guide communications strategy is not new, our ability to mine the right data—and to do so in real time—is. A crisis can unfold in the time it takes to click “re-tweet,” which is why the most valuable data sources to a PR professional are those that can gather and deliver intelligence as quickly as possible. Thanks to a number of new data solutions in the market today, we are now able to see things like the rate at which a negative story is traveling or whether a statistically significant proportion of consumers is aware of the problem impacting your client. But can having this intelligence really help you manage a crisis more effectively? What experience, expertise and resources do you need to turn data insights into effective crisis management decisions? Join leading data and PR experts as they discuss the opportunities for and limits of data as it applies to crisis management.

Today's executives are navigating a myriad of challenges while creating resilient companies that can thrive in any economic, social, political, or technological environment. Accordingly, there is no established playbook for the myriad of issues that corporate communications teams are now grappling with as they seek to navigate changing stakeholder expectations while advancing the business interests of their companies.

Edelman’s recent research reveals that the role of the corporate communicator has forever changed. Given the new expectations and rules of engagement, the role of communications has become more materially important to CEOs, Boards and the C-Suite. There has never been a more inspiring time to be a part of the profession.

Join Provoke Media’s Executive Editor Aarti Shah as she moderates a conversation with Jim O’Leary, Edelman’s U.S. Chief Operating Officer & Corporate Affairs Practice Chair and Adam Collins, Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer for the Molson Coors Beverage Company. They’ll discuss recommendations to ensure your teams are designed to meet the new demands of communications.