Beyond the Noise - the PRWeek podcast

How do you merge PR and communications agencies? PRWeek’s latest podcast takes a look.

On this week’s Beyond the Noise podcast, VCCP Roar chief executive Stephanie Brimacombe (pictured above, left) and VCCP founding partner and group chairman Charles Vallance (above, right) share their strategies on merging PR agencies.

Beyond the Noise looks at some of the biggest communications and PR issues. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen on your favourite platform.

Nine months after the launch of VCCP Roar, the product of the merger of sister PR agencies Good Relations, Harvard and Teamspirit, the duo sit down with PRWeek reporter Elizabeth Wiredu to discuss the process.

Together, Brimacombe and Vallance explain how they united three specialised agencies spanning consumer, corporate, tech and financial PR services.

They discuss the reasons behind the merger, what the biggest challenges were in the process and how they overcame them, and how to maintain agency culture at VCCP Roar. They also chat about the agency’s recent Starbucks account win.

Elsewhere in the episode, legendary adman Vallance discusses the rivalry between the advertising and PR sectors and argues that the PR sector is in a strong position in the current market compared to other disciplines, such as advertising.

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TUI’s comms boss, and the chief of the agency handling the travel firm’s GEO, are the guests on this week’s Beyond the Noise podcast.

Amy Dowling, head of communications at TUI; and Kerry Parkin, founder and CEO of The Remarkables, discuss the latest on GEO and how it continues to disrupt the comms world.

It comes as brands continue to appoint PR agencies for AI discovery briefs; Nationwide and Dishoom have done so in recent weeks. One of the first announcements of this kind came in July, when travel brand TUI enlisted The Remarkables to help boost its AI visibility.

Beyond the Noise looks at some of the biggest communications and PR issues. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen on your favourite platform.

Dowling discusses why TUI partnered with The Remarkables, and what pitfalls other agencies may be falling into when offering GEO services to brands.

Meanwhile, Parkin gives tips for businesses looking to implement a GEO strategy, explaining why she believes PR should take full ownership of the discipline.

The pair share their view that it is not necessary to “buy into the technicalities” of AI in order to increase your visibility, warning PR teams to “try not to get bamboozled”.

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Beyond the Noise looks at some of the biggest communications and PR issues. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen in the browser above or on your favourite platform.

This week we hear how entertainment PR is evolving, with mainstream press coverage no longer being the top priority in many cases.

Gaby Jerrard, who runs entertainment and comedy specialist firm Gaby Jerrard PR, recounts working on campaigns for satirical political candidate Count Binface and controversial figure Amanda Knox within the span of a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Francis discusses the impact of streaming on the work of Premier, which handles global PR and brand partnerships for some of the biggest film, TV and entertainment franchises in the world.

Our guests discuss how to reach fandoms in unconventional ways, particularly on social media – where niches such as ‘BookTok’ are now flourishing.
Elsewhere, the pair speak on ‘cancel culture’, and how public figures can best avoid ‘culture war’ narratives while promoting their work.

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PRWeek gets the lowdown on changes at Good Housekeeping in the latest instalment of the Future of the Media series.

Recorded in July and available now on PRWeek’s podcast feed, the episode sees PRWeek UK editor John Harrington speak to Jane Bruton (Good Housekeeping UK editor-in-chief) and Liz Settle (MD of Good Housekeeping and the Good Housekeeping Institute).

The guests discuss structural overhaul in editorial and how the department works with commercial.

The shift to “75 per cent digital, 25 per cent print” is explained, as is the greater use of video. Our guests talk about how communications is getting “more sophisticated”, and how they like to work with PR professionals.

Speaking from the Good Housekeeping Kitchen in Hearst’s central London office, other topics covered include ‘wising up’ to clickbait; membership models; target demographics; the downside of AI; and imbuing a “culture of impatience”. The guests predict what might lie ahead for Good Housekeeping, and for publishing in general.

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PRWeek delves into more of your comms confessions in the latest episode of the ‘Am I the PR A***hole?’ (AITPRA) podcast.

In each episode of AITPRA, PRWeek will read out your anonymous confessions and our judges – Lynn Advisory founder Shayoni Lynn and Hoffman Agency UK co-MD Richard Fogg – will decide whether an ethical line has been crossed.

Confessions can be submitted via this link.

Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen in the browser above or on your favourite platform.

This week’s confessions include:

Asking a colleague to trigger the fire alarm to halt a damaging media interview.
In a PR job interview, questioning the interviewer who asked if nursery drop-offs would prevent her getting to work on time.
Manipulating AI to appear in AI search as the “best-dressed PR practitioner in the UK”.

The episode is hosted by PRWeek UK editor John Harrington.

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