Posted on What are the skills needed to make a good public affairs consultant, whether they work for an agency or in-house? And how can we use this to think about how we can all improve? It is very easy to think about public affairs as being focused on political engagement. That may be the main aspect […]
Posted on There is nothing worse for any organisation than being called out a Government Minister. It inflicts reputational damage, risks networks and relationships, and comes with the hint of future action. But how can we minimise the chance of it happening and how should we react if it does? There are several pressures that politicians react […]
Posted on By Hayley Coleby. As the coronavirus crisis continued and the UK Government’s historic vaccination programme took shape, concerns were raised around the vaccine uptake among younger generations. With the significant influence of social media over millennials, platforms such as, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube showed a united front by building confidence in the vaccine, tackling […]
Posted on A stakeholder map too often looks simply at decision makers. It maps out a path to power so that engagement efforts can be focused. But this ignores the importance of soft power and the role it ultimately plays in decision-making. Of course, looking at who makes the decisions is not wrong. But to focus too […]
Posted on As we pass the five year anniversary of the EU Referendum, the former chief technical officer of Vote Leave, Thomas Borwick, reflects on digital comms and campaigning, how it’s changed since the referendum and what we can expect politically after Covid. The seismic vote that happened in June 2016 could very easily happen again now […]
Posted on Governments always talk as if they know and understand everything about how business works. But that isn’t the case. The process of educating them remains a key job of public affairs. Governments, and particularly, the Johnson government, do intervene directly in the operation of markets, even if they claim otherwise. That very intervention is not […]
Posted on Moving a bottle of soft drink may not seem like a big deal but when Christiano Ronaldo is involved then the world takes note. And that includes politicians. When Ronaldo moved bottles of Coca Cola, one of the main sponsors of Euro 2020, from view at a press conference, social media went into overdrive. Graphs […]
Posted on The recent European Communication Monitor 2021 Survey showed the importance of digitalising stakeholder communications. But what does the post-pandemic world offer? The Survey brings together data from 2,600 communications professionals across 46 countries and is now its 15th year. There is a good summary of the whole report on Stephen Waddington’s, Wadds Inc, blog. As […]
Posted on Open a newspaper or scroll through social media and you can’t help but fall over a story, thread or post that is really aimed at lobbying the Government. But how can you tell? What are the tell-tale signs? And what could you learn from it? A Recent example The fall-out from the recent, short-lived European […]
Posted on Dealing with a pandemic was always going to be one of the biggest tests any organisation or any individuals will have to face. Learning from the experiences we have been through is vital to ensure that we build resilience and increase readiness for future crises. The National Audit Office’s report published today (Initial learning from […]