Even before the pandemic, skincare was booming — and rather than taking a hit when the world moved online, its demand accelerated as people sought to look their best on camera. In this conversation, Aarti Shah speaks to Caitlin King, assistant vice president at CeraVe and Lisa Wolleon, EVP at Coyne PR, about the intersection of self-care and skincare and the complexities of communicating self-care, a topic that is both inherently universal and personal. 

In this episode of the PRovoke Media podcast, Aarti Shah talks Beth Haiken, EVP at Method Communications, about the firm's journey from being an office-first culture to one that prioritizes finding and keeping great talent, no matter where they are based. Haiken talks about how this change shifted the agency's focus from the number of hours to the quality of the work — and brought a more intentional focus on culture, creativity and collaboration.

After working for the likes of Activision and Amazon, UCLA’s Mary Osako became her alma mater’s first vice chancellor of communications in September 2019, with the goal of maximizing the impact of the university’s new strategic communications division. In this podcast, Osako talks to PRovoke Media’s Diana Marszalek about how she forged ahead with her goals while unexpectedly also managing Covid communications targeting nearly 50,000 students.

Maryellen Royle is partner and global head of operations of Evoke Kyne, PRovoke Media’s 2021 healthcare PR agency of the year. In this podcast, she talks to Diana Marszalek about what it takes to create content that matters amid a plethora of information, and how effective communications can positively impact public health.

As Shutterstock’s head of creative, Flo Lau oversees creative output for the global provider of stock photography, stock footage, and stock music. In this podcast, she talks to PRovoke Media’s Diana Marszalek about how Covid changed the way brands think about content creation, and the long-term impact on the process.

This episode of the PRovoke Media podcast looks at the complex interplay between the tech companies/PR teams and the media, including the emergence of techlash and what's driving momentum against the tech companies now. Our guest Nirit Weiss Blatt, PhD is author of Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication and a USC Center for Public Relations research fellow. Blatt recently published an OpEd on techlash in Newsweek.

If the media always seems to be in crisis, it’s because, well, it is. As the number of global crises mount, quality journalism continues to be threatened by a seemingly unending barrage of media closures, layoffs, and furloughs. This, and its ultimate implications, was the topic of the latest episode with Gabriel Stricker, CCO at Emerson Collective and on the board of directors for The Center For Investigative Reporting, and NewsWhip CEO Paul Quigley. 

To hear more from this conversation, listen or watch below:

4:30     Misinformation vs disinformation

7:38     How the decline of local journalism is changing society

15:06   Who should decide whether news is reliable? 

21:10    Should objectivity really be the objective? 

26:05   How cellphone footage has changed the narrative.   

36:51   Should journalists unionize and do paywalls work? 

43:42   How did The Atlantic respond to attacks on Jeffrey Goldberg? 

48:37   Is it even possible to predict the news cycle?

There’s been an explosion of interest in women’s health recently. The category, deemed ‘femtech’ by some, is currently a $700m market that’s expected to boom to more than $1 billion by 2025. Of course, women’s health isn’t new, so what, exactly, is different about today's momentum? That’s the question we asked in the latest episode of  “License to Accelerate: Perspectives on the Future of Health” that features Jess Graham, chief marketing officer at Hologram Sciences; Bulbul Hooda, brand creator and chief marketing officer at Vella Bioscience; and Michelle Webb who leads the health practice at Allison+Partners. The conversation is moderated by PRovoke Media executive editor Aarti Shah. 

06:38      Why we should examine the use of ‘femtech’ 

07:21      Medical terms vs. euphemisms for women’s health 

10:16      Social media restrictions on feminine health 

13:49      How to build trust around such intimate offerings 

17:48     Inclusive storytelling on women’s health

21:26     How data is driving storytelling on women’s health 

24:16     Combating ageism against women 

27:10     Where is the conversation headed?

29:40     How to stand out in such a crowded, buzz-generating space? 

Being Human in a Tech-Enabled World is a four-part video series from PRovoke Media in partnership with AxiCom. In this series, PRovoke and AxiCom invite in-house communications leaders and experts in their field to join the conversation on how different aspects of life and work – as humans and communicators – have changed since we were thrust into a virtual world  and how they might change again in the future, now the power of technology has been realised.

Martin Guerrieria, global director of Kantar’s annual BrandZ research into the world’s top 100 most valuable brands, talks to PRovoke Media’s EMEA editor Maja Pawinska Sims about the findings of the latest study, including the impact of the pandemic, the biggest brand success stories, and key takeaways for PR and communications professionals.