This week on the PRmoment Podcast I’m talking to Frank PR co-founder and Chairman – Graham Goodkind.

Graham started his career at Lynne Franks PR, rising from account exec to MD. He left Lynne Franks when it was sold to Ketchum in 1998. He then became a bit if an internet entrepreneur before starting Frank in 2000.

Here are the highlights of what Graham and I discuss:

• How Graham developed a passion for the media
• What it was like working at Lynne Franks PR, where Graham started as an account exec ended up as MD.
• Where he learnt how to run a profitable PR firm
• How he started the internet start-up Another.com?
• What the genesis was for Frank PR
• Whether it’s possible for a consumer PR firm like Frank to retain an "edgy" market position for a prolonged period of time
• Why there is no correlation between the quality of an idea and the amount of time you spend developing it
• How Frank PR has been able to retain it “talkablility” edge?
• How Frank PR has managed to retain its good margins in a very competitive consumer agency market.
• How Frank has retained its ability to come up with ideas?
• The 3 pieces of advice Graham would give to young entrepreneurs starting up a consumer PR firm today
• How it came about that Graham, in effect, sold Frank and then bought 25% back
• What the structure of the deal was that was agreed with Photon (now Enero) and how it became unstuck
• What’s different about running an independent firm compared to one owned by a holding company?
• What the future hold for Graham Goodkind
• How Graham outranks Jamie Murray in a racquet sport ranking"

This week on the PRmoment Podcast we’ve got Lord Tim Bell.

Lord Bell started his career as a runner in an advertising firm and ended up becoming the one of the most high profile PR people in the world. Synonymous with The Conservative Party of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher and the now defunct Bell Pottinger - it’s been quite a career.

Here are the highlights of what we discuss:

• Lord Bell’s perspective on the demise of Bell Pottinger

• How Bell Pottinger might have survived the Oakbay Capital/Gupta scandal

• How he feels about the PR firm he founded 25 years earlier going into administration

• How he came to make the move from advertising to PR

• The insider's perspective on his role advising the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher.

• How government communications has changed since the 1980s

• What was behind the growth of Bell Pottinger in 1988 to a £27m business in 2016

• What was the rationale behind taking Bell Pottinger out of the wider Chime Group?

• As a big beast of British public relations – looking back on his career what does Lord Bell believe his legacy will be?

• Has the Bell Pottinger Oakbay Capital scandal affected Lord Bell’s legacy?

• Why Lord Bell believes the PR industry is “always taking the wrong path”

• What happened in the factory of Bell Pottinger - the Bell Pottinger London office

• How many cigarettes Lord Bell has a day

Key stats

• There is a huge increase in trust in traditional media (61%), reaching levels not seen since 2012. But it is not all good news, as people are consuming less traditional media and some are actively avoiding it altogether (19%).
• There is a rebound in faith in experts and leaders.
• Only 6% of people now consider themselves part of the informed public – those who consume business or political news several times a week, this is an all-time low.
• News rejecters say the news agenda is too depressing (40%), that the news is too biased, and that the news itself is controlled by “hidden agendas”.
• Trust in government remains very low at 36% and the majority feel as though their views are not represented in politics today.
• When looking at the bigger picture, Britain remains subdued with distrust continuing across the board and Britons are becoming more pessimistic about their economic outlook.
• The biggest concerns for the future of Britain include ensuring the NHS is able to provide care for an ageing and growing population (79%) and the worry of rising political or religious extremism (72%).
• Only 20% feel their standard of living will improve in 2018 and 36% expect it to worsen.

These findings show that business communicators have an opportunity to offer the public better news, especially as there is increasing trust in CEOs.