Jack Hutchinson

Do you realise that you’re sat on PR content? Content that will get you into the media- so you can reach more people and build your credibility and visibility through being elevated and celebrated. So often in business we just get on with what we think is normal. Book launches, event planning, thought leadership - we often forget to capitalize on it. The media can amplify your message, it can shine a light on your work, it creates a new level of energy around you when you step into celebration mode What are you doing in your business that you should be celebrating?? I’ll bet there’s something!!!

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This is the first year we've entered the AMEC Measurement and Evaluation Global Awards at Acorn Strategy. We've spent a lot of time refining our process to ensure that what we do produces more than just vanity metrics—it has true impact, with purpose, and drives business results. After watching from afar for years, we've been shortlisted for 3 out of 3 of our entries! This is also a recognition that the best work comes from clients who are true partners. Honest, transparent, and willing to share access to business outcomes, they’re committed to long-term partnerships. Clippings, billboards, website visits—they’re all nice to have, but what have they actually contributed to business objectives and social impact? Very excited to be in such great company. I’ve been crushing on the Specsavers campaign and obviously love our partners at CARMA, but also... Met Gala and Super Bowl 🤩 #AMECAwards #BusinessImpact #TruePartnership #AcornStrategy #CommunicationsStrategy #MeasurementMatters #AMECAwards #BusinessImpact #TruePartnership #AcornStrategy #CommunicationsStrategy #ImpactWithPurpose #MeasurementMatters

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Can you, or should you engage in PR if you don't have regular news to put out? We speak to quite a few companies who quite understandably* think there isn't much point in doing PR if they don't have 'hard news'. They're often talking about funding, or the lack of recent news on that front. Or they might have great partnerships they want to shout about but these are under NDA or aren’t able to be publicly shared for other reasons. Yes, the tech and business media can seem fixated on covering funding and other markers of growth and success like big deals or impressive awards. Yet lots of our clients get regular PR coverage - sometimes 8 or 10 pieces per month, without ‘new news’. They might have instead: 🗞 A company growth, or ‘pivot story’ 🗞 A founder ‘hero story’ 🗞 Industry insight, from their sales team perhaps 🗞 Proprietary data which points to a trend 🗞 A new product, or a move into a new area which points to a trend 🗞 Staff stories - apprenticeships or longstanding members 🗞 Opinion - a new take, a strong view, an honest admission… *they should come to us for a strategy session where our team of PRs and ex journalists can take 2 hours to brainstorm and unearth stories & angles ⭐ #PR #news #marketing #techpr

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Only one more sleep until the PRmoment Agency Growth Forum which features a stellar cast of presenters including yours truly! To all those attending, I look forward to catching up with old friends and to meeting new ones. My 20 minutes will cover: ➡ Positioning - why it's so important to know who you are targeting ➡ Planning - five steps to building a strong pipeline stream ➡ Performance - an explanation of why pipeline management is a numbers game ➡ Practicalities - six actionable tips to help with you pipeline thinking Plus - the added bonus of introducing six great thought leaders who contribute to this space (names BTW - not on stage 😁 ) Sound good? I believe you could still sneak in with an online ticket which could be bought by visiting: https://lnkd.in/ehsXgxJz. But if you can't attend and would still like to find out more about how to build your pipeline, I will happily hop on a call and use my deck as the basis for an informal chat with you. Just DM me and let's go from there. #PRAgency #PR #Agency #Growth

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Have you ever looked at my profile and wondered just what it is that Skout does? This is a great overview from our MD, Rob Skinner that sets out who we are, what we do and our areas of expertise. If any of this resonates with you, feel free to drop me a message and we can arrange a quick catch up to chat about how we can help you reach your strategic marketing goals. #b2bpr #b2bpragency

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I was just talking to someone recently about humans' tendency towards the emotional vs. the rational. (If you want to dive deep into why, how, etc., I recommend Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow.) Adding this episode to my podcast list!

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Back in the early noughties these types of ‘formula’ were a handy tool for PR folk looking to secure coverage for all sorts of brands. Remember the formula for calculating the ‘beer goggles effect’?! Out of curiosity, for a bit of fun, I asked ChatGPT to come up with a mathematical model that quantifies the impact of thought leadership and visibility on investment appeal. I won’t share the whole thing, but this is the headline formula it came up with. II = B + (wV×V + wC×C + wP×P) + ϵ Here’s how it works: 🔎 Visibility (V): Increasing the public presence of the CEO or founders—through media appearances, conference engagements, and social media—raises the company’s profile among potential investors. 🤝 Credibility (C): Demonstrating a solid track record, supported by peer-reviewed publications, industry awards, establishes the company’s reliability and expertise. 🧑‍🔬 Perception of Leadership (P): These efforts culminate in a stronger perception of the leadership team, which is crucial for gaining investor trust. (Mathematician connections - feel free to challenge this! 😄) But there’s a much easier way of demonstrating my point: Visibility = Investment. You really don’t need to have a complex understanding of algebra to see that making your founders more visible - showing their leadership, their expertise, their strategic thinking - makes your life sciences business more investable. #ChatGPT #ThoughtLeadership #ExecutiveVisiblity #LifeSciences #MakeBusinessSocial 😁 I'm Chris 🗣️ Partnering with life sciences companies to raise their profile, visibility and authority Liked this post? Want to see more? 🔔 Ring the bell on my profile 🚀 Follow me ➡️ Connect with me

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Thinking about starting a podcast? Worried about how much time it'll take? Here are 9 things to consider when creating your podcast concept that will save you time later on: 1. Why are you creating a podcast?  2. What does podcast success look like for you?  3. Why should listeners tune in?  4. Is your audience likely to listen & share?  5. Who do you want to speak to? 6. What do you want to say?  7. Who will host your podcast?  8. How are you going to find and book guests?  9. How frequently will you publish episodes? More on this via: https://lnkd.in/epAnew5E If you'd like our help to set up your podcast, just DM me or the team at Fallow, Field & Mason #entrepreneurship #startups #growth #motivation #podcast #communications #storytelling #founders

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This article on PR Week yesterday offered nothing new in times of the PR recruitment market. It is hard. It has always been hard. Attracting and retaining the best talent is a constant challenge for PR agencies. Never in my 20 years' in the industry has there been a "easy" time for hiring. It has typically always been skewed to candidate led or client led. That said some of the challenges of course have changed, both with attitudes of candidates and agencies but also methods of hiring. I remember having to ring prospective candidates at their work desks to headhunt them, well before people would just send off generic messages! What I always say to candidates and clients is it is always evolving and always changing. The lows don't last, but nor do the highs for either side. Retaining your best people is always your first step in also hiring the best. Hiring for attitude and aptitude over "perfect on paper" almost always works better. Listen to your people, what are their priorities? Actually action things you discover. Listen to your recruitment partner, we have a huge amount of insight into the market and what candidates want, which processes are working and where people want to work. Oh and above all else. If you want to have the best teams, hire diverse talent. It makes commercial sense, you will do better work that reaches wider audiences and to top it off "a diverse and inclusive culture" regularly comes up high on priorities for my candidates. Yes times are tough right now but "this too shall pass". https://lnkd.in/eSBsQ-95

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As discussed during the PR Moment Agency Growth Summit last week, awards contribute to reputation and awareness which in turn are key drivers for your pipeline in 2025. So if you are looking to get a head start on your growth ambitions for the year ahead, now's the time to start capturing the great work your team and your agency have done for clients. Keep in mind that clients buy from agencies who do great work and who can demonstrate expertise in solving the problems they are facing. If that's not a reason to hit the PRmoment Awards 2025 early entry deadline of 13th December, I don't know what is!! #growth #agency #agencynewbusiness #PR #PRAgency

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Thank you Ben Smith and PRmoment for another excellent Agency Growth Forum. This is a really standout event in the calendar which champions and empowers independent agencies when it comes to driving growth, with a stellar line-up of speakers. Sifting through pages of handwritten notes, there were too many insights for one LinkedIn post but some key themes emerged 👩‍💼 Prospects want to know who they'll be working with. Both Andrew Bloch and Joe Walton highlighted the pivotal role AMs and ADs play in the pitch process - we should not underestimate the value of a prospective client getting to know the person who will be their day-to-day contact 🥇 Good enough is not good enough. Joe Walton discussed the importance of creating a culture of high-performance, while Rachel Bell reflected on how passion drives energy, which in turn drives momentum and growth 🕰 Don't leave pipelines to chance. Andy West encouraged us to manage our pipelines "obsessively" and reminded us that this is a long-term game. We should have a two year horizon, and recognise that if we take our foot off the gas, it can take six to nine months to rebuild 💡 Small is beautiful. A number of speakers reflected on the fact that smaller independent agencies are increasingly winning out against larger networks. Joe Walton described how Covid acted as a leveller when agencies were reduced to "squares on a screen". The importance of rapport and ideas won out over bells and whistles 🤝 Building connection is key. Both Andrew Bloch and Sharon Bange reflected on the importance of developing multiple touchpoints throughout a pitch process and the importance of a tissue session to stress test ideas. And it goes without saying, that a lack of willingness from a prospect to engage in Q&As should be seen as a red flag Thank you to all speakers and PRmoment for a really informative day #pragency #agencygrowth #agencylife

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PR insights: This video will appeal to those with responsibility for generating media coverage for their organisations. You'll know the difficulties in getting coverage, so watch for insights into how to turn this around in your favour: https://lnkd.in/eiemMuzd #pr #mediarelations #mediacoverage

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There is so much more that goes on in PR beyond just coming up with an idea and pitching it out. This morning, in our group chat, there has been six separate pieces of news shared that have relevance to our clients and the industries they operate in. We do this to support the activity we undertake in a number of ways, such as; ➡️ Newsjack - is there an opportunity for us to provide a follow up piece or add extra insight? ➡️ Use data to back up campaigns we have in the pipeline ➡️ Identify relevant journalist contacts to support with media outreach ➡️ Support ideation for future activity ➡️ Develop knowledge of our client industries to allow us to be proactive rather than reactive Keeping on top of the media throughout the day takes time, especially as we need to read beyond the headlines, but it adds value to what we do, and it helps us to get the results. PR (done well) extends far beyond simply writing a press release and pitching it out. #PR #PublicRelations #BrandAwareness #BusinessGrowth

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Here’s what’s (sadly) noteworthy in PR this week: massive media job cuts. What does this mean for PR? And what does this mean for journalists? Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the job cuts, and we stand in solidarity with our friends and colleagues in the media who are struggling during this time - whether you’re facing a job loss or trying to keep your head above water with a significantly reduced team. #publicrelations #PR

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Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like a bit of refreshment. I also like brands getting hold of something and owning it for the long term. I love and admire the discipline of advertising too, but am sometimes left bewildered by a brand's choice of what it should 'own', and how that pulls through in creative. Take this that I walked past today. I had to double check myself. OK, I get the 'refreshment' piece (but honestly, how many drinks brands try and own this space? You know the answer.) And I'm not sure whether it's designed to be generalist and regionalised by White Claw Seltzer Co (i.e 'Grimsby weather calls for refreshment like no other'!) ... but I still find it baffling. An hour later I have absolutely no idea why 'London weather calls for refreshment like no other' (it's currently tipping it down) and find it a curious piece of creative ownership and delivery. And copywriting. If you're going after a territory to own, it should be unique to a brand, relevant, timely, culturally strong, emotionally rich and er, simply understood. It's what we love doing at Launch - and have done in the PR arena for over 23 years, for some incredible brands and organisations. So, if you're after 'refreshment like no other' with your PR, do get in touch. #PR #creative #marketing #OwnIt

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70% of the PR sector got a pay rise in the last year. This is down from 79% in the previous year. A survey of over 400 UK in-house and agency corporate communications professionals from The Works, found that 82% of in-house and 76% of agency employees were “feeling OK to very happy” with their pay. This is an increase of 4% and 13% respectively, on the previous year. The Works said this highlighted how a soft market and companies tightening their comms budgets had “taken their toll” on the industry as the reason for the drop in pay rises. It’s really interesting to see the comparison between in-house and agency professionals salaries, bonuses and pay rises.

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