The communications briefing: Trump champions his 'gorgeous chest'

PR news this week, with thanks to Early Morning Media

Political

Trump champions his 'gorgeous chest'
Donald Trump tweeted a "photoshopped" picture of his face on Rocky's toned boxing body this week, claiming that a doctor who performed his physical had praised his "gorgeous chest". The US President shared the mocked-up snap of Sylvester Stallone in his 1970s' prime in an attempt to liken his battle against the Democrats to the heroics of screen boxing legend – and rank outsider – Rocky Balboa. Trump also revealed that his public relations team had asking if he was alright after the media had reported that he had been suffering with heart problems.

The Sun
Labour and Lib Dems dwarf Tories in online spending battle
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are pouring hundreds of thousands of pounds into Facebook and Instagram ads, spending more than £165,000 and £190,000 respectively in the week leading to 23 November, according to Facebook. The Conservatives, meanwhile, spent little more than a tenth of what Labour has spent in the most recent week for which there is data, at just over £17,500. 

Meanwhile, a joint investigation by watchdogs in Canada and British Columbia has found that Cambridge Analytica-linked data firm Aggregate IQ broke privacy laws in Facebook ad-targeting work it undertook for the official Vote Leave Brexit campaign in the UK’s 2016 EU referendum. The probe found that AIQ did not have proper legal consents from UK voters for disclosing their personal information to Facebook for the Brexit ad campaigns.
Financial Times Tech Crunch

Industry

Tell the truth and have no fear of the press, says Sean Cassidy
Sean Cassidy, president of New York-based PR and marketing firm DKC, discussed the new rules of engagement in image-making – and protecting – for individuals and corporate brands. The challenge is to stay vigilant in watching what is being said out there in social media, he asserts, knowing when to sit back and when to respond. "One of the misconceptions about the media is that the press is the enemy and you shouldn’t deal with them because they’re out to get you," Cassidy revealed, adding: "The press is there to get at the truth. As long as you’re comfortable telling the truth, there’s no issue."
Variety

How advertising can predict a recession
Alex Hesz, group chief strategy officer at adam&eveDDB, wrote that the advertising industry is the barometer and engine room of recession and recovery, and is able to accurately forecast when the economy is likely to take a downturn, and when it will subsequently spring back to life. “What we look for are three measures of confidence which correlate with historic recessions: corporate, consumer, and creative”. At present the news in the corporate sphere is positive, he said, with total ad spending predicted to rise 5% next year to £24.7bn. At the same time however, consumer confidence has plunged from zero to minus 14 in the years since the Brexit vote, according to GfK. The final measure, creative sentiment, is more subjective, and is apparent when marketing campaign play it “safe”, focusing on less critical work, such as corporate social responsibility campaigns and one-off PR stunts.
City AM

Have Brits reached a subscription limit?
The majority of UK consumers (60%) won’t pay more than £20 per month for TV streaming services, with £10 the maximum monthly amount for a quarter (26%), according to new research by The Trade Desk. The study, published as Apple+ joins Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the competition for UK viewers, also suggested that streamers would welcome advertising as a way to manage the cost of streaming services, while also creating a lucrative source of additional income for TV companies. “With numerous new services set to enter an already-saturated market over the coming months, I believe that the ad-free subscription model currently favoured by many of the big players simply won’t generate the capital needed to create the content viewers crave”, said Dave Castell, GM of Inventory and Partnerships at The Trade Desk …”I think consumers are clearly turned off by traditional methods of serving ads, so companies must be creative and innovative in how they incorporate advertising into the digital viewing experience”.
Net Imperative

Ann Bartling joins FTI Consulting’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Team within strategic comms
Ann Bartling has joined FTI Consulting as a Senior Managing Director, bringing more than 25 years of communications experience to the Company’s Healthcare & Life Sciences team in the Strategic Communications segment in London. Ms Bartling has more than two decades of experience in the healthcare and life science sector, including a 13-year tenure at Edelman, and a spell on the board of Health Unlimited, a global health consultancy.
Global Newswire

#Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry
Twitter says it will "pause" its plans to disable inactive accounts after a backlash from users. The social network said it now would not remove accounts until it had a process for "memorialising" deceased users on the network. The firm said it was taking action on inactive accounts to comply with the EU data privacy law known as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). "We apologise for the confusion and will keep you all posted," the company said in tweets posted yesterday. On Monday, Twitter had begun contacting users who hadn't logged in in the past six months, warning them that they would have their accounts deleted unless they signed in and agreed to the firm's latest privacy policy.
CNN The Verge BBC News

Reputation

Can the arts flourish without big oil?
As protesters target the British Museum’s new Troy: Myth and Reality exhibition for the institution’s links with BP, the Telegraph’s Chris Harvey asked if the UK’s art galleries can live without oil money. Last week, activist group BP or not BP enacted its 37th performance in the museum, to protest against its continuing to accept money from the multinational. The British Museum, along with the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Opera House, is one of the last arts institutions in the UK to maintain a relationship with the oil industry; the Southbank parted company with Shell in 2014; BP and the Tate terminated their partnership in 2016, after 26 years; and the RSC has just ended its sponsorship deal with BP two years early, after a threatened boycott by young climate strikers and the resignation of actor Mark Rylance. "There's a reason why a major oil and gas company is spending its money that way," said Ed Collins of the non-profit think tank InfluenceMap. "It's an investment in its social licence." Greenpeace spokesperson Mel Evans, the author of the book Artwash, argued that cultural institutions “have a key role to play because they are cultural leaders, they do shape culture and they do have this opportunity to say, this is OK, this is not OK." Bendor Grosvenor, the presenter of BBC Four's recent Britain's Lost Masterpieces, says the proliferation of such protests will lead to an “across-the-board” reduction in corporate sponsorship of the arts.
The Daily Telegraph

Legal

Lawsuit claims Ben & Jerry's is misleading consumers
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington claimed Unilever violated customer trust by saying its Ben & Jerry's products were made with milk and cream sourced from "happy cows" on Vermont dairy farms. The complaint filed by environmental advocate James Ehlers said only a minority of the cream and milk used in the ice cream comes from such farms. "The remaining milk and cream originates from factory-style, mass-production dairy operations, exactly what consumers who choose Ben & Jerry's products would like to avoid," the complaint alleges.
USA Today

Campaigns

Royal Navy aims to transform the way it operates in 1,000 days
Havas is working to help the Royal Navy transform the way it operates, improving efficiencies, identifying cost savings, and increasing operational capacity. The program is being led by Bristol-based data science company Techmodal. Gareth Vaughan, director at Techmodal, said: "Winning this work is a fantastic outcome for Techmodal and our partners”, which also include creative agency Karmarama, PA Consulting, Pwc, and Deloitte.
Plymouth Herald

New Renault Clio ad has viewers in tears
Renault’s new Clio advert, a two-minute video following the romance of two women who meet as children before falling in love and reuniting as adults, has drawn an emotional response from viewers, with social media users suggesting it's a rival for John Lewis’s traditional Christmas offering. The advert features an acoustic cover of Wonderwall by Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne. Adam Wood, marketing director of Renault UK, said: “We wanted to humanise and celebrate, not just thirty years of progress of the Renault Clio, but also the progress made within culture, society and life in that time”. Dave Monk, executive creative director at Publicis Poke added: “Britain has had a love affair with the Renault Clio since the 90s halcyon days of Papa & Nicole and wind up windows. Many things have changed in those thirty years. While technology, design, attitudes and culture will always shift and change, one thing will always stay the same as long as humans have hearts: the love story. This is a simple and universal tale of two souls on their own enduring journey of life, love and passion”.
The Sun, The Independent

This briefing has been prepared by Early Morning Media.  If you are interested in a customised bespoke news briefing for you or your client across any vertical, please contact Charles.Webster@earlymorningmedia.co.uk