{"id":138916,"date":"2022-03-29T09:06:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T08:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=138916"},"modified":"2022-03-29T10:24:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T09:24:12","slug":"pr-interview-rob-baney-senior-sport-brand-communications-executive-for-the-playbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/pr-interview-rob-baney-senior-sport-brand-communications-executive-for-the-playbook\/","title":{"rendered":"PR Interview: Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive for The Playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Vuelio\u2019s main objectives is to help comms professionals and teams streamline processes<\/a> to allow them to focus their time and efforts on key priorities and projects<\/a>. In a highly demanding industry, it\u2019s not solely a case of time management that creates a successful environment but a line-up of multiple factors. We caught up with Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive at The Playbook<\/a>, a leading communications agency working with a range of global brands, to discuss life as an agency PR professional in 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What have you been working on lately?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a busy start to 2022 at The Playbook\u2026 A couple of highlights: helping NFL UK fans celebrate Super Bowl the British way, including Greg James\u2019 hilarious Superb Owl segment on Radio 1 with The NFL Show pundits Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora \u2013 nothing beats British humour. And heading out to Abu Dhabi in January to support the DP World Tour on the ground with local comms for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny swapped Warner Bros. World for the first Rolex Series event of the year.<\/p>\n

Has this project been typical of the last 6-12 months?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the past 12 months, I wouldn\u2019t say anything has been \u2018typical\u2019 – projects have changed, and continually change\u2026 I felt like I became an expert on UK covid testing and entry requirements ahead of a LaLigaTV press trip to Barcelona last autumn, but that\u2019s all redundant now. Since the turn of the year and even in the past month I\u2019d say it\u2019s become more \u2018normal\u2019 and its exciting to be doing events again. One good example of this was our Sunday with LaLiga where we packed out the Sports Bar & Grill for an ElClasico watch party – it was great to see the passions of fans back in person.<\/p>\n

How important is maintaining a good work\/outside-work balance for employee wellbeing?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s vital. I recently managed to get away to the Cheltenham Festival for a couple of days and had a great time. I went to university in Cheltenham and I always enjoy going back there to catch up with old mates. There are few better places than Cheltenham in race week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say a good work\/life balance is now more important than ever, with everything work-related being an app click away. When you enjoy your work, checking emails and Teams can actually get quite addictive, so it\u2019s very important to force yourself to switch off. Although you might trick yourself otherwise, you do need the break.<\/p>\n

How has the pandemic impacted your work?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s impacted us massively. In all aspects of our job. Obviously, there were times where in-person activations weren\u2019t feasible and while virtual calls served a purpose, there are some opportunities that are far more effective face-to-face, so we\u2019ve had to adapt throughout to service our clients. Having said that, it\u2019s also streamlined a lot of processes and there are a lot of benefits to Zoom (aside from the Hawaiian beach backgrounds<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As we look ahead to the rest of 2022, what trends do you see coming up?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The world is already opening up, and physical activations will come back in full. But it\u2019s virtually we\u2019ll see the most innovation. We recently had a workshop with an expert on all things Crypto, NFTs and the Metaverse. And it\u2019s the latter of these I see real potential for brands activating in this year\u2026 Lots have already jumped in to the \u2018Metaverse\u2019 and I expect more and more to do the same. I\u2019m no way the expert but the way I try to explain it to friends is it\u2019s like a hybrid of The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon & GTA (without the crime); creating your own The Sims-like dream world like, building your entertainment offering Rollercoaster Tycoon-style, and then having you and your mates explore this world in the best clothes and with the coolest car, like your character in GTA. Pardon the pun, but there\u2019s literally a whole other world out there\u2026<\/p>\n

How do you plan to handle extra demand as business grows?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re an agile agency and we\u2019ve got a wider group who can support immediate needs. We take pride in our very successful always-on internship programme where we give on-the-job training to anyone with a willingness to learn, no experience or degree needed. We often have exciting projects come in and have a whole roster of experienced and trusted freelancers to call upon. When we need someone senior in permanent role, we have a thorough recruitment process to choose through the talented applicants. We are always on the lookout for the best talent.<\/p>\n

Within your specific role, what have been your major learnings over the last few years?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of our core values at The Playbook is to \u2018Never Settle\u2019 and I think this is something I consider on a daily basis. There\u2019s a lot of excellent projects we work on, but I\u2019m always thinking: how could we make it better, could we have been more efficient, was the messaging strong enough, could we have had better imagery. There\u2019s lots of different ways to tell a story, and our job is always to tell that in the most compelling way possible.<\/p>\n

What are the greatest day-to-day challenges for agency PRs?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Time \u2013 isn\u2019t it for everyone? Managing your time is so important, we\u2019re always working to tight deadlines, so you need to have a good handle on your time and your colleague\u2019s time so we can achieve everything we want.<\/p>\n

With such a large and varied client base, how do you manage multiple relationships and campaigns?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It sounds cheesy but communication is key. If we\u2019ve got an event on for one client on a certain day and we\u2019ve a clash with another client deadline, then being upfront and honest is the best approach. They trust us to do our job, and they know we have other clients to service.<\/p>\n

PR is playing a more important role in the wider conversation around ESG and CSR \u2013 how will this impact your clients?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If there are compelling and interesting ESG or CSR stories to tell, then we\u2019ll be the first to consult our clients and help tell them in the best way possible. I can\u2019t stress enough the importance of doing something purposeful, without this it\u2019s opening yourself up for criticism. Brands should want to help society, and without getting to deep, in a capitalist world where profits rule, there\u2019s plenty of value for clients to put resources towards helping people.<\/p>\n

How are client strategies changing with regards to the current climate?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Usually I\u2019d say strategies are often based off performance, so if performances are strong the strategy will remain similar but \u2018let\u2019s do that bigger and better\u2019. Having said that, I\u2019ve noticed a lot more clients including influencer activation in their briefs. Previously, this was always a proactive suggestion from PRs, and some clients didn\u2019t have the capacity to truly consider how content creators could fit in to their existing strategies and help them achieve their business objectives. It\u2019s refreshing that influencers are central to business strategy, and it\u2019s good to see the agile influencer tool we\u2019ve developed over several years getting more and more use. As the influencer space continues to morph and change with creators becoming established outlets our tool anticipates this, so we can identify the best creators for different projects, and we continue to grow relationships in this space to help us forge the strongest content and achieve the client\u2019s desired outcomes.<\/p>\n

And finally\u2026 there have been some mixed England performances out in the West Indies over the last few weeks. What do you think is the most important change that needs to be made to ensure the team are capable of regaining The Ashes next year?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fundamentally, we need a team that\u2019s going to bat for time (the runs will come), which they have in the West Indies, albeit on flat pitches. We need to learn to grit it out when the going gets tough\u2026 too often has that batting order folded like a pack of cards. I never thought two of the world\u2019s all-time best Test bowlers in Broad and Anderson were the issue, but that\u2019s a debate for another day. If we\u2019re to regain the Ashes, we need four or five established batters to support Root, and if a quality spinner were to emerge, that would be the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

Connect with Rob Baney via Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Omkar Khot sits in Vuelio’s new business team, specialising in PR & Public Affairs across enterprises. Connect\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more on trends in PR and comms this year, check out our round-up of insight from industry thought leaders<\/a> to help with your content and campaign planning.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Vuelio\u2019s main objectives is to help comms professionals and teams streamline processes to allow them to focus their time and efforts on key priorities and projects. In a highly demanding industry, it\u2019s not …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":138915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,3714,7326],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138916"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149620,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138916\/revisions\/149620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}