Julie Hansen, Business Insider
 

Julie Hansen, president and COO of Business Insider, delivered IPR's 54th Annual Distinguished Lecture, "The Modern Newsroom: How Research and Data Insights Have Shaped the Rise of Business Insider." The website is the fastest growing and largest business news source on the web, surpassing Forbes.com, WSJI Network, Bloomberg Group and CNN Money. 
 
Hansen credits the thriving success of the website to the company's culture of data. Analytics are crucial to both the business and editorial side and provide healthy competition between the writers. Each month, data analysts measure each writer's subject and praise writers who generate their own audiences organically through social media and other means.
Her full speech is now available on the IPR website.  
Alexander Laskin, Ph.D., Quinnipiac University

We all have heard about robots replacing humans on the manufacturing floors of factories, but what does it have to do with public relations? No human can compete with the speed of the computer calculating and scanning a lot of data. And as It turns out, robots are great writers, too.
 
Computers simplify the calculations, produce nice charts and graphs, and expedite delivery of information. However, financial analysts immediately call on PR leaders to discuss the implications of these reports. Investors want to see the people who stand behind all these numbers and no computer can be a substitute for that. Read more.
Anne Gregory, Ph.D., University of Huddersfield

What should the response of our profession be to such events as the massacre in Paris, the murders in San Bernardino and the knifings in London? The understandable reaction to such events is to withdraw, to label 'the other' as those to be shunned, to become more divided. But in these situations the need for real public relations is never greater.

It is our declared obligation, according to most of our Codes of Conduct, to serve society. We need to show leadership in supporting our leaders to frame an appropriate response and to lead ourselves in re-affirming the power of communication to build community. Read more.
Michele Ewing, Kent State University, Shawn Engler, US Cotton, and Heidi Modarelli-Frank, Marcus Thomas LLC
 
This post is featured in the latest issue of the Research Journal of IPR.Volume II, Issue II is now available.

How do you get people talking about an unknown brand in a category of undifferentiated products? That's the challenge U.S. Cotton presented to its communications team in 2012. A social media program, the Sleep Naked campaign was implemented to raise awareness for Swisspers' cotton rounds to convince women 18-­-34 to remove their makeup before bed-meaning they would "sleep naked." 
 
The campaigns featured teasers, virtual events, and celebrity competitions facilitated through social media. The 2012 and 2013 campaigns successfully boosted brand awareness for the cotton brand and garnered attention from celebrities and #Swisspers and #SleepNaked trended nationwide. Read more. 
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