By Sophia Anderson, Digital Strategist
A fabulous MSL U.S. crew attended the 2024 PRovoke Global Summit in Washington, D.C. This year’s event addressed critical issues facing PR and communication professionals such as AI, the intersection of business and politics and building corporate resilience through reputation, with an array of impressive speakers including Axios co-founder Mike Allen, NYT’s Kara Swisher and Washington Post’s Chief Communications Officer, Kathy Baird.
One clear highlight was the MSL x PRovoke Media’s MSLearning Track. Twenty students from all over the world joined us, gaining invaluable experience meeting with MSL U.S. CEO Diana Littman and EVP of Marketing and Communications Natasha Vuppuluri as well as asking Senior Account Executive Mary Jane Hughes, Digital Strategist Zoe Hawryluk, and myself about starting out and advancing our careers in PR. Throughout the conference, these students fearlessly asked questions and brought a valuable Gen-Z perspective to a room filled with many senior voices.
There were many other meaningful learning moments over the two days— here’s what I found to be most enlightening and exciting:
- Finding common ground with consumers: Panelists offered advice on navigating corporate communications in the midst of an election year. One panel examined how to shed partisan affiliation and harness consumer support when discussing climate change and DEI initiatives. The panel pointed out that even if most consumers support common climate commitments (e.g. reducing pollution), messaging around these topics can be divisive. Even though more than half of all consumers associate terms like “ESG” and “DEI” with a progressive agenda, over 50% of Republicans favor companies that promise to invest in clean energy sources and reduce their environmental impact. Referring to initiatives as “responsible business” practices can shed partisan affiliation and reduce polarization, and stakeholders can more readily support initiatives combating climate risk when there’s a clear connection to business and bottom-line risk, rather than political ideology.
- The importance of human relationships in an AI world: Some of the most interesting takeaways about AI included the growing importance of human relationships in a rapidly evolving media landscape, and how we can use AI more effectively in our work. Harry Hope, Chief Technology Officer at Business Insider, shared his belief that AI will never supersede human-to-human interaction and connection, and in fact, human relationships will be all the more valuable as AI becomes more pervasive. Allison Murphy, Chief Operating Officer at Axios, shared a similar sentiment, arguing that genuine relationships with reporters will still prevail in a world of AI-generated pitches. Biases and ethics of AI usage was also discussed at length.
- Chief communications officers: Think like CEOs: One panel examined how to enhance the CCO and CEO partnerships to provide greater business impact. It’s critical that communications leaders always think of the business first, develop performance and metrics insights, talk to all constituencies regularly, partner across the C-Suite and sharpen expertise on growing communication topics – in addition to the CCO’s prowess of blending hard skills with human intelligence and people skills. Within 2-3 years, CCOs are likely to be expected to have greater knowledge and perspective on business strategy, financial acumen, performance measurement and hiring and talent development. This may be an incredible range of topics, but a CCO’s ability to impact outcomes is directly proportional to when and how they get involved. By taking this comprehensive approach, they can maximize their influence.
Overall, the 2024 PRovoke Global Summit delivered a wealth of knowledge to help PR and comms professionals navigate the end of the 2024 and prepare for 2025.