Chris Talago, VP PR & communications, JAPAC & EMEA at Oracle on the PRmoment podcast

This week, on the PRmoment Podcast, I’m interviewing Chris Talago, VP PR & communications, JAPAC & EMEA at Oracle.   Chris started his career in the British Army before moving, fairly randomly it has to be said, into PR. He started his career in-house before moving agency side with jobs at Text 100 and Hill and Knowlton. He then moved in-house to AMD before tacking back agency side to become general manager EMEA at Waggener Edstrom (now WE) before taking the Oracle job in 2016.  Here is a flavour of what Chris and I discuss:Why Chris always wanted to be a soldier in the British Army 1.30 minsWhy he chose to become an infantry soldier 2.02minHow his father’s time in the Polish parachute regiment during The Second World War shaped Chris’s career in the Army 2.25 minsWhether Chris saw action during his time in the Army 3.25 minsWhy Chris spent the first Iraq War in the North of Scotland! 4.30 mins Why Chris left the British Army 5.30 minsHow Chris got his first job in PR when he left the Army 7.00 minsWhat it’s like being a veteran coming out into civvy street 8.00 minsWhat can be done to help veterans coming out of the services find employment 11.10 minsWhich two jobs had a huge influence the rest of his PR career 15.30 minsWhy Text 100 gave Chris a GM role in South Africa when he had no previous agency experience, had only worked in PR for four years and had never been to Africa before 17.30 minsHow Chris became an expert in change management 18.45 minsWhy Chris moved to the US just after the dot-com boom in 2001 19.50 minsHow during the dot-com crash there were multiple firms going into Chapter 11 each month How the Text 100 Boston office halved within six months of the dot-com crash Why the IBM pitch meant that Text 100 suddenly became ‘the only hirer in town’ in 2000 24 minsWhy Chris left New York and came back to the UK 26.40 minsWe discuss Chris’s time as EMEA head at WE (Waggener Edstrom) 26.50 minsThe challenges of taking a PR agency from a media-relations shop to a new world of social, digital and SEO. 28.30 minsThe challenges of getting different internal buyers to buy from the same agency 29.40 minsAs a buyer of PR what is Chris looking for when he purchases PR services? 31.02 minsWhy Chris believes it is a difficult difficult time for PR agencies 33 mins Why Oracle is now buying services from a broader range of agencies 33.33 minsThe difficulties of plugging the specialist agencies workflow into your retained firm 34.15 minsWhy there is now more than ever an emphasis on in-house teams to be an intelligent buyer of marketing services 35.33 minsWhat advice does Chris give to young leaders on public relations? 37.15 minsChris’s top three challenges for PR and communications people right now 41.48 minsIf you can't sell an idea you are going to have a limited life span in PR 42.12 minsWhy as an in-house PR person Chris is only as good as the impact he is able to demonstrate his team is having on the business  45.45 minsWhy Chris always wants to separate the “church from the state” when it comes to the agency doing the measurement 46.15 mins