Entertaining the World - The Future of Entertainment and Media Through the Eyes of Gen Z

June 14, 2021  /  Ariatu PR

Written by Ella Desewu

Entertaining the world virtual event by Adweek on June 10th 2021 was an insightful conversation on the future of entertainment and media through the eyes of Gen Z. The talk highlighted cultural trends from this generation and spoke openly with members of Generation Z.  

Interactive polls were used throughout the talk to get the audience involved and guess what percentages. A lot of other watchers in the comments were surprised by some of the results. 

The three points of discussion were the three current global trends: the comfort of the familiar, connecting and community, and the demand to discover.

The findings discovered that 61% of Gen Z’s prefer entertainment that is just for fun / mindless; only 50-60% of subgroups within Gen Z agree that they are represented in the media and would like to see content that challenges social norms; they do not want to be labelled as basic and discover new music from social media such as Twitter, Instagram stories or TikTok. However, there is tension between new discovery and what is comforting and familiar.

The conversation expressed that Gen Z is also one of the reasons that brands are now held accountable when they do not interact with social issues or are not diverse, ethical etc. The panel discussed the fact that Gen Z are very socially conscious and trying to better themselves and the world around them.

Veronica Fabiani (Viacom CBS) discussed the idea of Gen-Z as a consumer enjoying the two-way interaction they can have from celebrities, brands and influencers on social media. However, they are hyper aware of apps that take more than they are given; for example, do not like advertisements that use their name and personal information that they hadn’t submitted, and also do not like ads that they have spoken about but haven’t physically searched for on a device. Gen Z prefer TV ads as they view this as part of the TV consumer experience and prefer the quality of the ads.

A quote that summarised the talk well was by Kelsey Kirpatrick (SXM Media) from the panel who said “it’s no longer a 50-year-old white guy in a suit telling you who the song of the summer is, it’s Gen Z”. The panel discussed how Gen Z is the reason so many artists came onto the mainstream music scene so quickly with examples of artists such as Doja Cat and Olivia Rodrigo who broke streaming records due to the way their songs were used on TikTok. 

Reputation & Responsibility: Crisis Management Within Comms

June 14, 2021  /  Ariatu PR

Written by Ella Desewu

The reputation and responsibility webinar held by the UK Black Comms Network on June 9th 2021 was a Q&A panel session regarding crisis management within communications.

 There were three panellists across a variety of sectors within the PR industry; travel, retail and education.

 The discussion was flowing as questions were being asked, different perspectives were great to listen to. It was clear that planning and preparation is key to smoothly dealing with a crisis situation and having pre-built trust within the organisation was a revisited point within the webinar. It is vital to run through a crisis communications document with teams so that everyone knows what to do in these situations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way a crisis is planned for. The panel discussed the idea that it had exposed weaknesses within organisations and created an immediacy of needing a risk assessment unlike before, we have found out that crises have implications other than finance, for example, license to operate and reputational impacts.

 Overall, the webinar was interesting listening to the advice given during the session. It was helpful to understand how to manage crisis situations in specific contexts which the panellist’s spoke about from experience.

 

Speakers on the webinar were:

  • Matt Brown - Director of news and external relations at TFL

  • Veronica Patton-Cemm - Associate Director of Teneo

     

  • Mammy Maguire - Head of Student Communications and Social Media at Manchester Metropolitan University

 

 

Why We Need To Find a Way to Maintain Creative Communication Channels

October 28, 2020  /  Ronke Lawal  /  Source

I was invited to be a “Guest Agency Doctor” by PRWeek in which I highlighted the importance of maintaining creative communication channels post-pandemic. I wanted to focus on how PR leaders and comms professionals can use this time to reflect on new and dynamic ways of working and thinking.

Employees must be part of the communications flow, too, during this season, especially since more and more are ready to speak openly about their experiences of working in organisations that say one thing and do another.

There is also a risk of relying too heavily on only one way of communicating. We have seen, for example, that Zoom fatigue is real – stakeholders were already getting tired of using videoconferencing. As lockdown eases, though, we need to find a way to maintain creative communication channels without feeling the need to lose lessons we’ve learnt from this era and simply rush back to boardrooms.

The What Now? Podcast: The era of the conscious consumer?

August 04, 2020  /  Ariatu PR

What Now? is a vibrant podcast series that brings together dynamic thought leaders from around the world to try to figure out the new marketing landscape in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic.⁠⁠ Every week, David Maher Roberts hosts one-on-one chats with marketers, communications professionals, product managers and entrepreneurs to explore the trends, opportunities and challenges of this new era and share their opinions, thoughts and insights. Ariatu PR Founder Ronke Lawal discussed the era of the conscious consumer and why we shouldn’t be looking for a “new normal” but a “better normal”.