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This large organisation is looking for a Consumer PR Manager to support their advertising and marketing campaigns, and to focus on driving positive coverage. You must have a consumer background with the ability to work across the media relations agenda, be highly creative and not afraid to challenge how things are done. The appetite and energy to chase coverage is essential. You should be confident and have previous experience of managing relationships with some big personalities.

To apply, send your CV and covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS73.

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Head of New Media
FTSE 100, London with travel, £negotiable

An excellent opportunity to develop and manage a new media team for a FTSE organisation going through significant change. A new media evangelist, this person will have developed and implemented digital communications strategies in a large, complex organisation. Capable of evaluating existing online capabilities, you will have the expertise to improve digital platforms, making best use of current and developing channels and technologies. With the credibility to build the business case to senior management and secure buy-in at all levels, this person will also have strong budget and project management skills.

To apply, send your CV and covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS71.

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Associate
Arts PR, Dubai, £30,000 Tax Free

This well respected PR agency with reowned clients from across the cultural and not-for-profit sectors is looking to appoint a senior communicator to its team in Dubai. Candidates must have experience of working with international teams, and on international campaigns that generate media coverage. Experience of the cultural and not-for-profit sectors is desirable but not essential. A natural networker with enthusiasm and drive, you will be a creative thinker with original ideas for campaigns and new business. Fluency in Arabic is essential. Ref: SS72

To apply, send your CV and covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS72.

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PA (minimum 6 month contract)
London, £17k pro-rata

This niche headhunting firm specialising in PR and communications roles is looking for a PA to the Managing Director. Based near Oxford Circus, it is a very friendly, relaxed office of 16 people. The company has an unusually team-oriented culture and feels very much like one big family. This position is a six month contract, and possibly longer depending on the market.

You must:
• Have excellent written and oral English
• Have a 2.1 or above in any subject
• Be patient
• Have a can-do attitude
• Be IT literate with some knowledge of Word, Excel and email
• Be happy to turn your hand to a variety of tasks

Experience of diary management, general administrative work and use of a database would be an advantage. The MD is very intelligent, energetic and has a great sense of humour. She would be an interesting person to work for due to the variety of her involvements (both inside and outside of work). If you prove yourself, in time there will be the opportunity to move on from PA work and develop into a research role.

To apply, send your CV and covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS65.

36 children and four adults were taking part in the team building game, which involved walking backwards down a sandbank towards the sea, when the sandbank collapsed, causing some participants to slide into the sea. Fortunately a life guard had already seen the party and was on his way to warn them about the unstable sandbanks as the collapse occurred, meaning a quick life-saving operation could be mounted to rescue those children who had fallen into the sea.

Project organiser Bill Fitzgerald (pictured), while admitting some errors may have been made in the planning of the team building game – in particular they'd failed to notice a sign warning people about the unstable nature of the sandbanks – he said that media coverage of the incident exaggerated the risk to his party and the extent of the rescue operation mounted.

While keen to commend the life guards who came to their rescue, he said that a press statement issued by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution claiming they had saved forty people made the story seem bigger than it really was, and fed a news media hungry to lead with 'forty people saved from near death' stories.

According to PR Week, Fitzgerald insists only six children were out of their depth after falling into the sea, and says he is keen to communicate to the press that, without wanting to take anything away from the bravery and skills of rescue workers, a risk assessment undertaken by the charity prior to the weekend also helped ensure the accident wasn't more serious than it turned out to be.

PR Week quote Fitzgerald as saying: "There's been a lot of sensationalism. I can't believe it's the second story on Sky News ahead of swine flu and is making international headlines. Only six children went out of their depth when the sandbank collapsed and only two were mildly injured. The RNLI press release claimed they saved 40 people. I'm not taking anything away from the lifeguards, because they were brilliant, but they didn't need to rescue 40 people".

He adds that his organisation wasn't given a chance to communicate its side of the story by news agencies, complaining: "We didn't get a chance to get our message across. We are being portrayed as irresponsible, as if we hadn't done any checks". Fitzgerald and his team had checked there were lifeguards in the vicinity, and that there was an adult for each eight children.

He concludes: "Journalists are nice to you on the phone, but then they try to hang you in the article. The way they edit you makes you sound like you said something you didn't. There are loads of inaccuracies".

Action Camp is a Caerphilly-based charity that stages camping weekends for disadvantaged youth from across Wales.

Presenting Berners-Lee with his prize, CIPR President Kevin Taylor said in a statement: "The world wide web enables PR practitioners and organisations to interact directly with their audiences; to engage in meaningful, personal dialogue; and to ensure messages can be heard all over the world. It has revolutionised communications for the world in general and the PR industry in particular. As a specialist in IT and telecoms PR, I could think of no better way of marking my presidency than by recognising the contribution to global communications of Sir Tim Berners-Lee".

A second award, named after one of the founding members of the Institute, Stephen Tallents, is also presented each year, this one for services to the CIPR. And this year that medal went to Professor Anne Gregory of Leeds Metropolitan University, of whom Taylor said: "Anne's drive and leadership was instrumental in the Institute achieving chartered status and this year will see further fruits of that campaign when we create our first individual Chartered Practitioners. It is fitting to mark that milestone with this award to someone with a commitment to raising practitioner standards, to ethical behaviour and to professional recognition. Anne's campaigning for our industry standards has been an example and inspiration to us all".

As previously reported, the NLA provides licences that let those companies who need to make multiple copies of newspaper articles for internal consumption to do so without infringing the copyrights of the newspaper owners, whose permission is needed when making copies of any newspaper article in a commercial context. The role of the NLA and the revenues they bring in for the newspaper industry is, though, in decline as an increasing number of companies forward their staff links to online versions of relevant articles, rather than making physical copies of the printed newspaper.

It was in recognition of that fact that the NLA recently suggested that companies who provide other businesses with links to articles that reference them as a commercial service should be required to have the same sort of licence as companies who traditionally provided hard copies of articles.

That, of course, has a potentially big impact on the PR industry, which makes the most use of media monitoring and copying services, both in print and online. In a letter to PR Week, CIPR president Kevin Taylor said the idea that the NLA licence should be extended to the provision of web links was an "absolute nonsense" noting that under the proposed system: "If I call someone and tell them a web address – no charge. But if I send them the web address by email – that requires an NLA licence".

The proposals could prove to be controversial, despite attempts by the Agency to limit the reach of their licence so that it won't affect search engines and bloggers who primarily provide links to other articles, even though both search engines and bloggers may be commercially benefiting from their link aggregation through advertising sales.

But even with those limits, the agencies most likely to be affected by the proposed new licence, which includes Meltwater and Moreover, are talking about taking legal action to test whether copyright law really gives newspapers control over the distribution of links to their articles. As not actual copy of any real content takes place when links are forwarded, some legal experts doubt the NLA really have a case to force the new licence on the PR industry. Though stranger things have happened. 

MCBRIDE DISCUSSES DOWNFALL
Gordon Brown's former chief spindoctor Damian McBride has given his first interview about the scandal that ended his career at Number Ten and rocked Gordon Brown's goverment.

McBride, who was forced to resign after sending an email to Derek Draper suggesting the spreading of various made up rumours about senior Tories on a new Labour-supporting website, spoke to the Guardian as he prepared to start work away for the political communications world as a business liaison officer for his old school. 

He admitted it was a mistake to ever send Draper the email suggesting various Tory slurs, admitting "I let [Downing Street] down appallingly", and adding "I was brought down by the newspapers, and obviously my own stupidity".

Recalling the weekend when he realised that political blogger Guido Fawkes had obtained a copy of the Draper email and was about to make it public, McBride told the Guardian: "I lost my dad three years ago. He was from a religious Scottish upbringing, very stern, and he would have hated reading those emails. I remember thinking, 'Thank God my dad didn't have to see this', but the way Gordon reacted to me that day, it was as bad as telling my dad. He was just so angry and just so let down he could barely even speak to me".

He used the interview to apologise to Brown and the Tories he proposed slurring in the email, though he still showed a little bitterness to those that exposed his slip, remarking "as far as I was concerned, those emails went in the bin shortly after they were written ... and that's where they should have stayed".

After his resignation, there was speculation as to whether McBride would find a role in one of the big lobbying firms; though most thought it unlikely given the scandal surrounding his departure from Number Ten, the ongoing belt-squeezing at most major agencies, and the fact McBride's Labour-heavy address book may only be useful for a short time, given next year's General Election is still too close to call. Come next Summer some of those Tories McBride proposed slurring could be in the key positions of power.

It's not clear whether the former spindoctor ever plans a return to politics or communications, though he did admit he'd kept a diary of his fall from grace, so a mini-career as a writer may be on his agenda.

Williams, who originally wrote the document for those managing his department's Twitter account, but who has now shared it with others in Whitehall via the Cabinet Office's 'digital engagement blog', commented: "I was surprised by just how much there was to say ‑ and quite how worth saying it is".

Of course the ability to connect with the public so quickly via Twitter brings both opportunities and challenges for all organisations. In recent weeks we've seen Habitat criticised for using so called 'trending topics' in their promotional tweets so to force them on people searching for chat on certain newsworthy topics, while the office of Boris Johnson was commended for responding fast to tweets about unreasonable heating on London buses, and communicating that action had been taken back via the networking service.

Williams advises that someone in each department's digital media team should take responsibility for their Twitter account, discussing possible tweets at daily press cutting meetings, and consulting ministers by email for thoughts on what should be said. That person should also deal with incoming messages as quickly as possible.

Recognising there is often suspicion of organisations using Twitter as simply a tool to link to existing communications, such as press releases, Williams also recommends including minister insights, and updates on their movements, in a "light or humanised" style on a Twitter feed – ie creating unique communication content for the social networking service.

It remains to be seen what kind of uptake there is of Twitter as a communication tool across Whitehall, and just how successful government communicators prove to be in utilising the channel.

"As Twitter continues to grow in stature and credibility, it's important that public relations practitioners (as well as other professionals in marketing and corporate communication fields) develop a deeper understanding as to what all the fuss is about. If you need reasons why you should be involved on Twitter, here they are - two bunches of fives, right between the eyes!

1. Twitter is an influential medium

2. Meet clever people

3. Build your network

4. Keep up with trends

5. Pitch journalists

6. Pitch bloggers

7. Tactical execution

8.. Get info...fast!

9. Build your personal brand (and sphere of influence)

10. Have a laugh".

PR Warrior Trevor Young talks a little about each of these reasons for using Twitter on the full blog here

"You can always rely on the national media to spin positive stories into negative ones and get the facts wrong. The latest is the Telegraph getting worked up about 'Health officials to spend £30 million on Twitter and Facebook marketing campaign.' The Telegraph has wheeled out the usual suspects to condemn the NHS, so we have quotes from Lib Dem MP Dr John Pugh and Susie Squire of the Taxpayers' Alliance.

I'd agree with them and be aghast if indeed the NHS was wasting £30 million of taxpayers money on PR and marketing on Twitter and Facebook. However, as you'd expect, the Telegraph has got the story totally wrong and has made the fundamental mistake of confusing social marketing with social media. The two are entirely different things. As Wolfstar specialises in both social media and social marketing we know exactly what the difference is.

The correct definition of social marketing is:

"the systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, for a social good."

Health-related social marketing is:

"the systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific, behavioural goals, to improve health and to reduce inequalities". French, Blair-Stevens 2006

Social media is the collective name for a plethora of user-generated online content that could include blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter and social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or dozens of other similar examples. It would never be used in isolation and always needs to be part of a public relations plan within an overall corporate communications strategy.

As I've said before social marketing is media neutral and could include media relations, word of mouth marketing, events, advertising, experiential, literature and indeed social media. It all depends on the audience you're targeting and what you want to achieve, you use the right tools for the job. Wolfstar has just completed one of several national pilot social marketing projects for the NHS. Ours was particularly challenging as it was to try and check the growth in obesity amongst students. Basically what happens is that when students leave school and start college or university then their weight increases largely due to no longer doing as much exercise and existing on a diet of fast food takeaways and contents of the student union bar.

It's absolutely right that the NHS should be investing in social marketing. It's just part of a strategic government policy to contain the growth of the overall health budget by getting people to take more responsibility for their own health and look after themselves better. In the long term investing in social marketing will save the NHS money. Nor is the £30 million as much as it sounds as it's over three years, more than 50 separate organisations and a multitude of health issues including healthy eating, smoking, exercise, sexual health, drugs and teenage pregnancy.

It's also amusing to see that despite the fact that How-do is a specialist marketing magazine the first two comments on the story make the same mistake and try to defend the use of social media, despite the fact the NHS is investing in social marketing. It's probably not too surprising as lots of people who just do social media, but don't fully understand public relations and marketing communications, make the same mistake".

Read more from the Wolfstar blog here

How did you get into PR?
Like with so many people, my career has really been a combination of being in the right place at the right time and good fortune. My first 'proper' job was working in the marketing team for an international business consultancy based in Edinburgh. Even with a reputation as an international leader in their field, and with over one hundred staff, there was no dedicated media relations person and everybody else had other priorities. So, as the most junior person in the team, it fell to me. It turned out that I actually enjoyed it and within a year I decided I wanted to work in PR instead of my planned business marketing career.

Despite a bold – and somewhat off-the-wall CV – which garnered me plenty of interviews, my lack of interning or work experience in a press office environment meant I was finding it hard to get that first rung on the ladder. By chance, during this period a friend of mine was invited to the exhibition centre where the votes in the referendum to establish the Scottish Parliament were being counted. It was a very exciting evening, and when, a few months later, the opportunity arose to spend a year working in a press office involved in the first Scottish Parliament elections I took a 50% pay cut and decided to take a year out to do it. That was eleven years ago. I meant to do it for a year and ended up staying for a decade.

Your's is a new role at the Fringe Society – created mainly because of problems that occurred when the IT behind the Society's box office failed last year just as the festival was starting. Tell us a bit about the role and why it's been created.
2008 was one of the most difficult years in the Fringe Society's history. In the Autumn a report was commissioned into what went wrong with the box office and how it was handled. One of the central recommendations to come out of that process was the need for a new management structure. My job is part of that new structure.

The Head of External Affairs works with the rest of the team at the Society to make sure that everyone with a vested interest in the work of the Society, from the ticket-buying public to the performers on the stage, know what is happening and why it is happening.

During the summer the bulk of my time is spent handling the enormous worldwide media interest that the Fringe attracts, but all year round I work to represent the interests of the Society and the wider Fringe community to those whose decisions have an impact on us, such as the Edinburgh City Council and the Scottish Government.

Who does the Fringe Society communicate with, and how does it go about it?
The Fringe Society has to communicate with lots of different audiences and these audiences don't all want to talk about the same things. There are some bodies, like the government and the City Council, who the Society talks to about issues which affect the Fringe as a whole. This is different from performers and venues who often wish to discuss practical matters which will have an impact on their ability to attract an audience to their shows. And then there are the public and the media. I believe that the most effective communication is that which starts by thinking about who the audience is. In the Fringe Society we are trying to make sure that we use all the tools at our disposal to effectively communicate our message. I wouldn't say we had it spot on yet, but we are working on it.

Find out about about the Edinburgh Fringe, Neil's role, and how the arts and political worlds compare by reading the full interview here.