I started setting an annual mantra in 2020. A line, a phrase, a word that was my glue, my reminder, my North Star throughout the year. I didn’t do too much hard thinking on them, they were mentioned or seen or heard and I was like: aha, that resonates.
In 2020 I chose #BlessTheMess. How bloody apt. It came off after working in a whirlwind of agencies where there was either too much process, not enough process, an over emphasis on the energy sapping chasing of new business with pitch mania whilst still trying to deliver to existing clients (grow the clients you have kids!).
Someone I love and admire deeply, after hearing my 400th rant about the chaos said to me, “Babe, bless the mess.” And then the true 2022 happened. What a perfect mantra as I dealt with clients losing their minds and all sense of time and boundaries. From someone I did not know wanting to brief me at 10pm on a Friday night, to a client whatsapping me with a non-urgent task at midnight on a Saturday. To taking briefs on a Sunday at 4pm. #BlessTheMess. That mantra kept me sane, kept me kind, and kept me laughing.
My 2021 mantra was #HoldTheLight. I knew it was going to be another hard, hard year. And this wasn't about being a beacon of positivity or littering the meta verse with screenshots of motivational quotes. For me this was about being present. About noticing the light. From dancing light in the bathroom window, to a sliver of dusk light on a wall, to the sun peeking shyly from behind the clouds. They felt like small gifts from the universe to me to say: stop, put the phone down, step away from your desk, notice this small gift of beauty. Some of my favourite moments are here: #HoldTheLight
Which brings us to 2022.
It took me a long time to settle on one. I toyed with #StayWild (after my Wild Wintering of 2021 and this brilliant piece from Brene Brown: Wilderness). I toyed with ‘never live a little, live a lot.’ And even ‘ikigai’ the Japanese version of ‘hygge’. Ikigai is about doing something that brings pleasure or fulfilment. After watching far too much cricket over the holidays and all the umpire reviews, I kinda love the ‘just rock and roll it’ line too (when they ask the camera man to go back and forth over the footage). I though that could be good one for the amount of times I need to rock and roll over a strategy reminder when everyone goes off it and on tangents. Lol.
Then I read about ‘slices of joy’ from Chade Meng-Tan, Google’s former ‘happiness guru.’ And I thought: ooh, that’s what I am going to chase down in 2022: #ChunksOfJoy. No polite slices. Big fat juicy chunks of joy will pull me through. But confession time: if you have seen me on twitter or IG you will see I have referred to 2022 with the snake emojis and that is REALLY resonating with me. I feel like 2022 is really about the shedding: shedding of old skins, old beliefs, old ways of doing things. So while I am celebrating daily chunks of joy, I am going to be looking at those snakes often, and sloughing off and shedding things I no longer want.
I hope this inspires you to come up your mantra for 2022 as we enter a year of revelations and revolutions. Get onto that wild bucking bronco and ride baby ride!
Right. NEXT!
I am so unbelievably chuffed and excited to be on the New York One Show’s PR jury for 2022. Obviously we can’t be in New York (cue Alicia Keys) so it is all virtual (sadly) and a shiteload of work. But it is SUCH brain juice. And you know what I love most? The categories. We did round 1 of early bird judging and there are some brilliant categories such as community building (love!), reactive response (so good!), brand voice (yes!), innovation in PR (wild!) and brand partnerships (right?!). All of which truly show the depth and breadth of PR outside of what it is still generally perceived to be. It is the most delicious experience being on this jury.
Then some random thought sparks from all my reading:
When a client says ‘we need to raise awareness’ ask them why they don’t have awareness …
“The climate crisis is a communications crisis,” David Attenborough …
Stop telling, start selling …
Integrated work builds business and shapes society …
PR was at the centre of 2020/21 - counselling, developing, the heart of communication …
Big agency mindsets: what do I buy? What do I build? What do I break?
Everyone ran to big tech companies, now they are running back to creative shops …
Employee communications is not just a pandemic fad. Employees are your core audience …
“Essential workers” may have been the biggest PR spin of the last two years …
Other thoughts:
In 2022 will we move back to brokers and the personal touch? Are we craving connection again in a world where automation is not creating loyalty?
Why are there businesses out there that are still not prompting me to refill my orders? Because they KNOW when I am running out.
Thrice last year I was asked to work on projects because client is not happy with their current service provider: how do you NOT know that your client is not happy? Have you not checked in with them? Have you lost your appetite for them? Have you gone to them with proactive thinking in the last six months?
The importance of a follow up. I have an IT guy on retainer. It is a small retainer. It certainly does not make him rich. Everything works. And yet every month, regardless, he checks in to make sure everything is working and if I am happy. It’s a simple lesson when you are selling something that just runs, and doesn’t need much interaction.
Learn to invoice. Heavens. I get invoiced late, with wrong dates, spelling errors. It’s shoddy. Money is an energy exchange. It is a sign of respect. Respect yourself by doing it properly. If you follow me on IG you know I light candles and make a ceremony out of invoicing day.
Cost yourself so resentment does not creep in. This is why chemistry sessions are important. This is why projects before retainers are important. So you can get a sense of how easy or difficult the client / agency / process is going to be. And then cost it at that. My rates increase according to your level of chaos and indecision.
Stop half answering emails. It does my head in. That is why I talk in bullet points where possible. And end each one in a question.
“What is your urgent?” - probably the most important question you can ask a client. When you say urgent to someone in PR who does crisis communications, it means now, drop everything. Check in with a client what it means to them, and school your team and service providers on what it means to you. Or just bypass the whole system and add a date and time to when you need a response.
And remember this:
If you can simply deliver, on time, on strategy, and within budget … you are already light years ahead of your peers and competitors. It is as simple as that. 2022. Go do you. We are waiting for it.