Daily Scoop

The New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin, UPS makes uniform policy more inclusive, and NFL’s Houston Texans fires female PR head

Also: PlayStation offers customized Twitter ‘like,’ how many PR pros’ roles encompass content marketing strategies, a sculpture restoration fail in Spain goes viral, and more.

By Beki Winchel
@bekiweki
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Hello, communicators:

The National Football League’s Houston Texans are receiving blowback after firing the team’s vice president of communications, Amy Palcic. She was the only woman to head an NFL team’s PR department and has been received accolades for her work, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Twitter:

Many reporters and PR pros came to Palcic’s defense on social media, but though criticism toward the Texans has been growing, the team has largely remained silent about the firing.

The Houston Chronicle reported:

‘It was definitely my call,” Texans team president Jamey Rootes told the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson. “I gave her the role a number of years ago and just felt the need to make a change. Leadership is sometimes a very lonely job and from time to time you have to make a move that impacts people that you care about deeply. This was one of those unfortunate times.”

Palcic tweeted:

What do you think about the announcement? Share your thoughts with us under the hashtag #DailyScoop.

Here are today’s top stories:

The New Yorker cuts ties with Jeffrey Toobin 

Condé Nast’s chief people officer, Stan Duncan, announced to its employees that The New Yorker journalist Jeffrey Toobin was “no longer affiliated with [the] company.” The move follows an investigation into an incident in which Toobin exposed himself to co-workers during a Zoom call. Toobin, who maintains the incident was “an embarrassingly stupid mistake,” was suspended immediately after it happened.

Toobin announced the news on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JeffreyToobin/status/1326644658991140866

The New York Times reported:

In his memo, Mr. Duncan wrote: “I want to assure everyone that we take workplace matters seriously. We are committed to fostering an environment where everyone feels respected and upholds our standards of conduct.” 

Why it’s important: With increasing pressure to cultivate diverse and equitable workplaces with inclusive company cultures, organizations must react quickly to crises that could put those efforts—and the brand’s reputation—at risk. Prepare your strategies now for addressing and avoiding crises like this with employee training and updated policies. Your efforts—and crisis responses—should emphasize your organization’s mission and values.

SOCIAL BUZZ

Sony’s PlayStation launched its new video-gaming console, the PS5, and encouraged engagement with a custom emoji for Twitter users tweeting the hashtag #PS5. The company also had a surprise: Twitter users who “liked” PlayStation’s tweet can see the heart symbol morph into the same emoji—a PlayStation controller.

It’s another way that Twitter is boosting revenue opportunities, and brand managers can add this to the list of social media engagement tactics for upcoming campaigns.

MEASURED THOUGHTS

WednesdayRelations and YouGov released a report, powered by Talkwalker, which revealed the state of the PR industry in 2020. The report noted that PR offerings are widely expanding from traditional strategies such as media relations, with 77% of respondents saying social media management are under PR pros’ purview, along with content marketing (77%), influencer marketing (67%) and link building to support search engine optimization efforts (56%):

Content-Marketing-Responsibility

 

Image courtesy of WednesdayRelations.

As PR pros’ offerings expand, so must their skill sets—especially around digital content and supporting strategies. Nearly half of respondents (48%) said creating visual and audio content falls to PR teams, and 69% turn to PR pros to craft content strategies:

Image courtesy of WednesdayRelations.

You can view the entire report here.

CRISIS LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Looking for more insight on how to address the current global crisis and lead your organization into a strong recovery?

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Join Ragan’s Crisis Leadership Network to network and brainstorm with peers, get the latest intelligence and research and start to strategize for the future of your organization.

Learn more about this exclusive membership here.

UPS ends beard and hairstyle ban

The company reversed a long-held uniform policy and is allowing employees to sport facial hair as well as natural Black hairstyles, such as braids and Afros. UPS is also ditching gender-specific rules. 

NPR reported:

“These changes reflect our values and desire to have all UPS employees feel comfortable, genuine and authentic while providing service to our customers and interacting with the general public,” the company said in a statement.

UPS told employees the changes were part of part of an effort to “celebrate diversity rather than corporate restrictions,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The policy change comes after the delivery giant hired its first woman chief executive officer, Carol Tomé, and as companies are more focused on racial and other social issues.

Why it matters: Tomé said the changes came after UPS “listened to feedback from employees and heard that changes in this area would make them more likely to recommend UPS as an employer,” The New York Times reported. If you’re looking to enhance your employer brand and overall reputation, especially to attract top talent, look at your culture as well as your DE&I initiatives. Follow in UPS’ footsteps by asking for feedback—and then respond by meeting your employees where they are.

 SOCIAL BUZZ

A botched restoration on a sculpture adorning an office building in Palencia, Spain has gone viral, with social media users snarking at the statue’s unfortunate updates.

According to Associated Press’ Aritz Parra, the work was completed years ago, but was recently noticed by a local artist, whose Facebook post quickly made the rounds online:

Associated Press reported:

The poorly done restoration drew immediate comparisons with an “Ecce Homo” fresco in the northern Spain town of Borja. A local amateur artist decided the circa 1930 depiction of Christ at the Sanctuary of Mercy church needed restoration, but the face she produced in 2012 immediately drew comparisons to a monkey.

However, her work turned into a Borja tourist attraction. It remains to be seen if the Palencia job will have the same effect.

WORKPLACE WELLNESS

As communicators face unprecedented challenges around crisis management, shifting consumer behaviors and more—and as many work to connect, engage and support their employees as the workplace landscape dramatically changes—well-being has become an important focus.

Welcome: Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Insider. Our new offering is a treasure trove of research, guidance and insights for wellness, employee communications and HR pros. Get the help you need through our website, newsletter, Slack group, research, complimentary reports and more showcasing trends and revealing how organizations are addressing and managing their employees’ wellbeing.

Subscribers also receive discounts on workplace wellness conferences, award entries and Ragan webinars, for additional takeaways and insights to help power your initiatives and strategies.

Learn more here.  

EDITOR’S PICKS

Social media and digital content has become an essential tool across all industries as communicators seek to engage both consumers and employees during COVID-19 and beyond. That means an already crowded digital media landscape has become more noisy with information and brand messaging. You must be savvy to stand out—and having the right tools can help deliver social media wins.

via GIPHY

Consider these helpful tools and services:

WHAT YOU SAID

We asked how much of your communications efforts focus on wellness and wellbeing, and 27% of you have added a few mentions, while 27% have offered employees some resources, such as an app or webinar. Though nearly 14% of you have overhauled your messages to focus on wellness, almost 32% haven’t focused on the initiative at all:

Is there a question you’d like us to ask in an upcoming poll? Let us know!

SOUNDING BOARD

What’s the best channel for reaching and engaging with journalists?

Share with us below and under the hashtag #DailyScoop, and we’ll share in tomorrow’s roundup.

 

 

 

Editor’s note: Ragan Communications may earn a commission through our affiliate partnerships when purchasing items in our content.

 

COMMENT

No Responses to “The New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin, UPS makes uniform policy more inclusive, and NFL’s Houston Texans fires female PR head”

    Ronald N. Levy says:

    Cutting off your nose to spite your face would be bad enough but firing Toobin is like cutting off a much more important organ.

    The most important consideration in deciding whether to fire him should be not “what does he deserve for exposing himself online” but “what’s best for the readers?” Whether we judge Toobin or Dan Abrams to be America’ top legal affairs journalist, are the readers better off—or worse off—with Toobin fired?

    Toobin doesn’t need the money since he may have tens of millions from his best seller books plus money from all his other writing and his TV reporting. But may New Yorker need the money that Toobin has been helping to bring in from readers and advertiser? . Do readers deserve the best legal journalist New Yorker can provide even if he revealed not only whatever we can guess it was but also four more views of it, maybe top, bottom, left profile and right?

    Being a boss can go to ones head. But might the New Yorker, the readers and the advertisers all be better off if the boss who fired Toobin had let his boss status go not to his head but to an entirely different organ?

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