BackThe Bayeux Tapestry being delivered to the British Museum.
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.”
– J.K. Rowling
I’m writing this week’s newsletter from the departure lounge, waiting to board a flight to Pakistan.
Airports have a habit of making you pause. Between journeys, there is time to catch up on reading and reflecting.
This week, I found myself thinking about the power of words. The words we choose. The words we avoid. The words that help people understand, and those that leave them more confused than before.
Whether in politics, business, or public relations, words don’t simply describe the world. They shape how we see it.
But first, onto this week’s fan-hitters.
BBC Radio 4
Three Fan-Hitters We Covered This Week
The Original Spin Job
If public relations is all about weaving great stories, then the Bayeux Tapestry might just be the perfect example.
This week, David Yelland and I celebrate the comms coup that was 1000 years in the making. The tapestry’s arrival back in the UK was covered and celebrated in minute detail, with hype being generated from the most mundane details.
The British Museum seems to have pulled off a public relations masterclass. But it comes as the museum is still battling to recover its reputation after a series of fan-hitters.
The 100-Page Resignation Letter
The resignation bombshell that’s gone global.
A Chinese project manager at Alibaba has quit, and she didn’t just hand in a brief note explaining she’d serve her notice period. She wrote a 100-page tome that tore into her entire industry.
David and I discuss the reputational risks to both employer and employee.
When Humour Wins
The noble art of dressing up and poking fun at someone.
Count Binface has garnered coverage across the world as he prepares to stand in the Clacton by-election. He’s just the latest in a long line of people who’ve used the absurd as a very effective, not to mention cheap, way of landing their point.
And the tricky thing is, it’s often very hard to counter.
Please do have a listen on BBC Radio 4 every Wednesday at 4pm and Thursday at 8pm.
👉 Catch the extended edition on BBC Sounds, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
“Crap Communications”
This week I found myself listening to Martin Lewis, who has become one of Britain’s most trusted communicators.
Appearing before MPs, he criticised what he described as “crap communications”, calling out the confusing language some water companies use when explaining financial support to customers. His point was simple: if people can’t understand what you’re saying, the problem isn’t the audience. It’s the communication.
I also enjoyed his conversation with Ros Atkins on The Art of Communication, where he explained why he deliberately breaks up technical information with humour. It gives people a moment to breathe before moving on to the next complex idea.
It’s a useful reminder that clarity isn’t about dumbing things down. It’s about respecting your audience enough to make difficult ideas easier to understand.
Listen to the full conversation here
Putting a Value on PR
PRCA’s Beyond Communications report
For the first time, the UK public relations industry has a credible measure of its economic contribution. New analysis commissioned by the PRCA and the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) estimates that public relations contributes £7.1 billion to the UK economy. For a profession that has so often been viewed as a support function, that’s a significant milestone.
It also reminded me of recent research showing the BBC contributes £6.7 billion annually to the UK economy. Seen together, the figures are a useful reminder that communication creates value in ways we don’t always measure.
For years we’ve talked about communications creating value. It’s encouraging to see the evidence increasingly catching up with the argument.
Congratulations to Sarah Waddington CBE CDir ChartPR and everyone involved in bringing this research to life.
The Power of Words
One of the things I’m most looking forward to this month is welcoming the award-winning poet and novelist Mona Arshi to The Baduel Brief for a special Poetry Salon marking South Asian Heritage Month with the keynote by Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable.
People often think poetry and public relations sit at opposite ends of the communications spectrum. I’m not so sure. Both depend on choosing the right words. Both ask us to think carefully about audience, emotion and meaning. And both remind us that how we say something can matter just as much as what we say.
I’m looking forward to exploring language, identity and storytelling with Mona, and hearing how poetry can help us think differently about communication itself.
Writing Your Own Story
At the last ACN event with Preethi Nair
I joined the Asian Communications Network for an evening in conversation with the brilliant Preethi Nair.
Preethi has never followed a conventional path. As an author, entrepreneur, performer and storyteller, she’s built a career by believing in ideas long before anyone else did.
It was a timely reminder that while communicators spend much of their careers helping others shape their stories, we shouldn’t forget to shape our own.
My thanks to Preethi, the Asian Communications Network and everyone who made it such an enjoyable evening.
Until next week.
Originally featured in Substack
