CIPR Marketing Communications Group
2006 Review2006 was an exciting one for the Marketing Communications Group. We started the year with an ambitious plan to engage with our members by holding six high profile events during the year. We actually managed five as follows:
17th January: ‘The Inside Track… on preparing an award entry’:
With the closing date for CIPR Excellence Awards looming, we invited Jeremy Baker, PR Lecturer at London Metropolitan University and previous CIPR Award panel judge, to give members the inside track on how to prepare that all important entry.
6th February: ‘Body Talk’ Over 40 members and guests attended our popular event at the Guoman Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch organised by Committee Member Maud Davis. Peter Spalton, who is known for his flirting safari workshops, lead the event by taking participants through the three basic steps – feeling confident, showing ‘smiley’ eyes and how to make an approach.
25th April: ‘Politics of Spin’
There was another great turn out for Dr. Liam Fox MP, Shadow Secretary of
State for Defence, who shared his experiences of the British media and drew
on examples of PR best practice in his 2005 leadership campaign at The Spin
Bar at Millbank Tower.
May 10th: ‘The Future for Product Placement’
With Ofcom’s consultation concerning the possible controlled introduction of
product placement into certain categories of programming on commercial
television channels having recently closed, were delighted to get an inside
view from Ofcom Chief Executive, Stephen Carter at this event held at the
CIPR PR Centre.
September 29th: ‘Crisis, What Crisis?’
This was another popular event organised by Committee Member, Richard
Steward at 28 Portland Place. Renowned crisis expert Mike Regester gave
attendees a valuable insight into the rules of crisis handling with the
media viewpoint put by Julian Bishop, a celebrated investigative journalist
and a freelance producer on the BBC 10 O’clock News.
April 2006 saw the launch of the eagerly awaited CIPR Marcomms Group Report,
‘A Marketing Communications Scenario for 2010’. This was the culmination of
an intensive piece of work led primarily by committee member Eugene Bacot
with the special assistance of Vice Chair Anne Curtis who organised and
collated the supporting research.
We were especially pleased to be invited by Elspeth Graham to run a
Discussion Group entitled ‘The Role of PR in Marketing Communications’ at
the CIPR Annual Conference 'Staying ahead of the Game' in November. Philip
Kitchen, Professor of Strategic Marketing at Hull University Business School
and the author of the report’s analysis and conclusions, presented the
session.
Our Committee remained unchanged in 2006 apart for the resignation of Kath
Pooley in July.
Barbara Stopher
Chair, CIPR Marketing Communications Group
