The PRovoke Media Podcast

The Holmes Report has partnered with Ogilvy for a multi-part series looking at creativity from a variety of angles. The first in this three-part series looks at the issue of diversity — a critical element for fostering diversity within any workplace. The Holmes Report's Aarti Shah talks to Ogilvy's chief diversity and inclusion officer Donna Pedro on why diversity continues to be a challenge for t...

Ketchum London deputy CEO Jo-Ann Robertson joins the Echo Chamber to discuss the state of the UK election race. A former Labour activist, Robertson also explores the rift in the party and the paucity of strong political communicators today. 

A cross-posted episode from the C-Suite Podcast at our 2017 In2Summit EMEA in London earlier this week. Russell Goldsmith spoke with three of the event's speakers: Gareth Hopley, Head of PR and Communications at Pizza Hut Restaurants talked about Purpose Driven Brands; Brad Staples, APCO Worldwide's CEO discussed how corporate communicators can best navigate a fake news world; and Matt Battersby e...

The latest episode of the Echo Chamber explores unexpected ways that workplace inequalities can happen with two guests who are advocates for more gender parity within the agency leadership. InkHouse CEO and co-founder Beth Monaghan talks about salary negioation, after-hour email bans and other practices that might subtly hold women back. Then Ketchum's global president Barri Rafferty joins the pod...

Two guests for the latest Echo Chamber episode. WE Communications international president Alan VanderMolen drops by to discuss holding groups vs independent networks, why Amazon's Alexa is 'homicide on brands' and the rise of management consultancies in the marketing communications world. Then WARC head of content David Tiltman visits the show to explore lessons from the WARC100 annual ranking of...

M&C Saatchi PR director Chris Own joins the Echo Chamber to relate how addiction and mental ill health almost derailed his career . Owen and Arun Sudhaman discuss how the PR industry is addressing findings that more than half of the UK's PR and communications practitioners have suffered from mental ill health, while the vast majority of industry employers do not have a formal mental health policy....

Holmes Report editors Paul Holmes, Arun Sudhaman and Aarti Shah discuss the winners of the North American Agencies of the Year, which were unveiled at the SABRE Awards in New York on 2 May, and look for the industry trends that link the region's best performing PR firms.   Show notes: North American Agencies of the Year 2017

Rica Elysee is a builder. Based on her personal experiences with family and friends, she saw the need for a community for women that care about a natural hair lifestyle, which is why she created  BostonNaturals . Now she’s built a business in  BeautyLynk , an on-demand marketplace for people to find beauty professionals for at-home appointments. Through both experiences, she found that staying tru...

Former McDonald's South Africa corporate affairs chief Sechaba Motsieloa joins the Echo Chamber to discuss his move to agency side, which sees him now lead Magna Carta, one of the country's biggest PR firms. The new role marks Motsieloa's first experience of agency life and, after a career spent in-house, he has plenty of observations on the divide between client and consultancy.

Weber Shandwick global editor-in-chief Vivian Schiller joins the Echo Chamber to discuss the explosion in fake news, and the different forms and shapes it can take. Schiller, the former president and CEO of National Public Radio, and ex-head of news and journalism partnerships at Twitter, explores how media platforms like Facebook and Google are addressing the issue, and what fake news means for b...

The latest episode of the Echo Chamber explores the big technologies, trends and ideas that emerged from SXSWi earlier this month in Austin, Texas. Cohn & Wolfe's chief innovation officer Chad Latz returns to the podcast to share his observations from the festival on AI, constant connectivity, fake news and more — and what it all ultimately means for PR and marketing.     

In the latest Echo Chamber episode, the head of marketing servies for Globality Gabrielle Tenaglia joins to talk about the platform that brings together small and mid-sized firms with brands — exploring various RFP pitfalls that the platform seeks to mitigate. In the second part of the show, March Communications VP Meredith Eaton comes on to examine the state of thought-leadership campaigns — who'...

The Echo Chamber dives into the frenetic world of UK politics with Total Politics editor David Singleton, exploring Corbyn, Brexit, lobbying and more. Then ICCO president Max Behar drops by to discuss the state of the global PR industry.

WE Communications president Alan VanderMolen returns to the Echo Chamber to discuss how companies are reassessing their stance on Donald Trump's presidential policies, exploring such high-profile examples as Uber, Under Armour and Nordstrom.

Communications veteran Sally Costerton returns to the Echo Chamber to take on alternative facts and what they might mean for the PR world. In conversation with Arun Sudhaman, she also explores how corporate communications departments are responding to Trump's tweet threats and discusses what this new era means for corporate values and low-profile CEOs.

Quartz reporter Jenny Anderson joins the Echo Chamber to preview next week's World Economic Forum in Davos. Against a tumultuous politicial backdrop, Anderson discusses whether the Davos elite consensus remains relevant in an era of populism and if business can actually turn their rhetoric towards addressing major global problems. The Quartz reporter also picks out some of the themes to watch at t...

Paul Holmes joins the Echo Chamber to discuss his annual review of mergers & acquisition activity in the global PR market. Independent firms continue to drive dealmaking, but this year's list is as notable for the firms that are active (including management consultancies) as for the companies that were relatively inactive in 2016 — such names as Teneo, BlueFocus and Omnicom. Holmes and Arun Sudham...

Omnicom PR Group international president David Gallagher joins the Echo Chamber to review the tumultuous events of 2016, including Brexit and Donald Trump's election victory. Gallagher explores the implications for public relations professionals and also casts his eye over some of the key agency trends from the past 12 months, including his newly-created role that involves Omnicom's 10 PR firms.

Bloomberg is a brand of contrasts. It’s simultaneously one of the biggest names in news, while also flying under the radar for those of us who don’t keep up on the latest in business or investment. The Bloomberg Boston office is inconspicuously tucked away on two upper floors of a Downtown Crossing high-rise, but within that space, reporters are creating stories that are read and heard by a huge i...

The Echo Chamber tries to make some sense of Donald Trump's shock election win. Portland head of insights Emily Hunt discusses how the pollsters got it so wrong , and what this means for the 'fetishization' of big data. Then Paul Holmes drops by to offer his observations on media influence, fake news and the post-truth era, following his lengthy analysis of the election .  Show Notes How did the p...

Amith Prabhu joins the Echo Chamber to discuss the dramatic boardroom coup at Indian corporate giant Tata, which has since  devolved into a gripping public relations battle  involving several agencies and communications pros, as India's most important conglomerate looks to preserve its hard-earned reputation for integrity.

The latest Echo Chamber episode explores the highly-unusual rhetoric around the US presidential election, especially from the Republican nominee Donald Trump. Aarti Shah talks to two GOP strategists — Tucker Bounds and David Almacy — about Trump's communications strategy and what Trump's divisive rhetoric ultimately means for the future of the Republican party and how the GOP can rebuild its stand...

Eric Hollreiser, corporate communications head at online gaming giant PokerStars, joins the Echo Chamber to discuss the various twists and turns that have defined the company's recent history, starting with 'Black Friday' in 2011, when the US Department of Justice issued indictments that effectively suspended the three largest online poker websites. After withdrawing from the US, PokerStars conclu...

Arun Sudhaman catches up with WE Communications international president Alan VanderMolen in Hong Kong to talk about the rapid pace of digital marketing evolution in China, following the Holmes Report's  Asia-Pacific In2 Innovation Summit . The former Edelman executive also offers plenty of insight into his plans for WE Communications, and discusses MSLGroup's restructuring within Publicis Groupe,...

Gawker.com is gone. Some people are upset, some people are dancing on its grave. Is there a right or a wrong perspective on Gawker’s demise? Was its fate deserved because of its controversial and confrontational editorial style, or was Peter Thiel’s cash-fueled vendetta an ugly harbinger of what could happen to the state of media if the powerful choose to litigate the free press into non-existence...