Monthly Archives: May 2019

A bit like the final season of Game of Thrones, we’ve all (well a lot of us) been waiting for it with intrepid anticipation for what seems like an age. Well today, after all the hype, mystery, confusion and speculation, it finally arrived. It being the first 5G network to be rolled out in the UK.

EE announced today that it has successfully launched the next generation of wireless technology across Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester, with several other cities to follow later in 2019. The operator, which is owned by BT, is targeting 1,500 locations by the end of the year, including Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

There’s no doubt that this is a significant moment for the telecoms industry, with EE seemingly having won a highly competitive race to be the first to get to market. Vodafone is expected to roll out its own 5G service across seven UK cities at the beginning of July.

5G has long been touted as one of the leading technologies to drive Industry 4.0, changing not just the way we live as consumers but the way we do business too. Exact figures for speeds vary, but the International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020 Standard) indicate speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second. Assuming all is running smoothly, that will enable a user to download an HD film in less than 10 seconds. Latency also promises to be drastically reduced, so much so that it will be practically undetectable to the user.

The debate will continue as to whether or not 5G will eventually equate to revolution or evolution, but what is clear is that the capabilities for improving customer experiences and integrating services across multiple industries are almost endless.

Remote working isn’t new. But there is a case to be made for the value that a remote workforce brings to a company, and on the flip side, what it truly brings to employees who want to work in a different way. The idea can be alien for some employers – I’ve even heard some question how they would know what their employees are doing if they worked remotely. That’s a fairly dated point of view and certainly won’t be helping the business move forward.

From our perspective, Liberty has operated a flexible working approach enabling everyone to benefit from a work from home programme at least once a week, and to set the working day hours that suit them and their personal situation as long as client needs are taken care of. We’ve always subscribed to the idea that members of our team don’t need to be sitting in an office with everyone else to be successful in their role. It’s liberating to be trusted in this way and we’ve found that it has benefited both employer and employees.

Of course there is also a real benefit to have face-to-face time with a team who work closely across client accounts, so we have a central office base as well. In that environment, we’ve also got the ability to work in open spaces, quiet booths and our own team office set-up. The modern workspace is geared up precisely to create this dynamic – and our teams in London and San Francisco have these advantages with us.

In some cases, we even have leaders of the agency based remotely from the office and even from the city or the country where we’re based. It’s an ethos that is totally empowering and we get so much more than the traditional office based set-up. Of course today’s technology allows us all to do this and do it well – and no doubt that’s just going to get better and give us more freedom.

Modern businesses need to change outdated thinking and embrace the remote working paradigm. From our experience, they’ll be glad they did.

Find out more about Liberty and our approach to flexible working here.

Our priority at Liberty is two fold – to deliver exceptional client service and provide a brilliant place to work. It’s what we have prided ourselves on for the last 21 years, and it’s why last year alone 88% of our new clients were secured as a result of recommendations and why our employee churn rate was only 8%.

Historically we have been guilty of not taking the time to reflect on these successes. In fact, it’s often said that where PR agencies ironically fall short is on taking heed of their own advice and championing the work that they’re doing.

But at Liberty we have made a concerted effort to do so this year. And we are proud to say it’s working. Already in 2019 we are delighted to have been shortlisted in three leading industry award programmes – the PRmoment Awards (Best Use of Research), the PR Week Best Places to Work Awards (Highly Commended) and the PRCA DARE Awards (Low Budget).

This is well deserved recognition of the outstanding work our team does in creating both engaging campaigns, as well as the company culture we have worked hard to foster at Liberty as a fantastic place to work.

If you would like to hear more about how we could help you – either as a client, partner or potential team member – do get in touch at info@libertycomms.com. We’d love to hear from you!

The relationship between the PR industry and the media has improved threefold in the last year, at least according to the results of Cision’s latest State of the Media survey, which gathered the responses of nearly 2,000 journalists across 10 countries.

With many journalists continuing to struggle with limited time and frequent deadlines, Cision’s 2019 report highlights how important a role the PR industry can continue to play when working in meaningful partnership with the media.

But what exactly do reporters want from PR professionals? What’s the number one priority? Well despite its much prophesised and publicised ‘death’, it’s actually the press release that is top of the journalist wish list.

Nearly three quarters (71%) of respondents to Cision’s 2019 survey highlighted news announcements/press releases as being the content they most wanted to receive from PR agencies. What’s more, this is the fourth consecutive year it has been the most popular choice.

However, thought is still needed! Informative content with a clear news hook, no jargon and direct relevance to the end audience are unanimous must have’s. Nearly two thirds (65%) of journalists would also prefer to receive a customised, tailored press release than a ‘catch all’ one-mass audience version.

Event invitations came in a close second behind press releases, which considering that the report also revealed that one in five journalists identified staffing and resources as the biggest challenge for journalism in the next 12 months, is perhaps somewhat of a surprise.

As Cision’s report emphasises, PR professionals and journalists are in many ways in the same business – that of storytelling. What’s vital is that both industries continue to collaborate and work together to ensure a meaningful relationship continues to prosper.