Campaigning - the best way of telling your story?

Having a coach in business is a relatively new phenomenon and in Corporate Affairs, arguably even rarer. 

But could having a great coach be what takes you and your corporate affairs team from pretty darn good to stand out brilliant? 

How do you know when you need a coach and what are the signs? How do you go about finding the right one? Could having a coach be seen as an admission that you’re struggling and potentially not up to the job? And, what is the difference between coaching and mentoring?

This podcast episode is here to answer these questions and to do so host Andrew Brown is joined by two special guests well placed to share their experience and insights.

First, Maxine Taylor, a former Corporate Affairs Director at Eli Lilly, Nationwide and King's College London. Maxine is now a full time coach focusing on Corporate Affairs. Secondly, Jake Rigg who is the Director of Corporate Affairs at National Grid ESO.

Host Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

There's no I in team but there is a me. So goes the schoolboy humour level adage.

We come together in teams because, as the entire sweep of human history has taught us, we can achieve a hell of a lot more than on our own, or scrapping amongst ourselves.

But that doesn’t stop us does it? It's in our nature. Especially when a fair majority of those team members are opinionated, creative, dare I say a tad on the emotional side, extroverts, like you might find in your everyday common or garden in-house corporate communications function.

So how do you get such a diverse team of individuals with a broad range of skills and experience working well together? Is running a comms team any different to a team of engineers or accountants? What do you do if you think you’re in a team that isn’t working, or is perhaps even failing. What do you do if you’ve realised that, but you’re the one in charge?

To answer these questions and more are Apella Advisors colleagues Andrew Brown, Liz Lynch and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Liz Lynch is an Apella Advisors partner and the former Head of External Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency, she has worked in the media and politics.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We’re back again for another chew through the cud that is corporate communications.

It’s been a while since our last one so there is much for us to consider. 

Amongst several items of fluff we’re going to muse on: out of touch leaders, ancient and uncool British sports, upcycling, fat shaming and you won’t be at all surprised to hear, the horror and tragedy that was, possible still is, the Post Office from 2003 well, to pretty much to today.

As ever we’ll attempt to use the magic that is hindsight to try and distil one or two lessons we corporate communicators can learn from how these events played out. 

Join Apella Avisors partners and hosts of this episode, Andrew Brown and Matt Young as they delve into the corporate communications topical news items.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

One of the longest running game shows on UK TV was Family Fortunes. For more than 40 years, families would compete for big cash prizes, trying to second guess what the Great British Public had answered in a survey of 100 people.

Just as opinion polling was the foundation upon which this globally successful game show format was based, so too is it used for PR purposes. Scratching around, waiting for your company or client to do something newsworthy, polling is a means of creating news and filling that vacuum.

But, how effective is it? Do consumers and indeed the media really believe the findings of a company sponsored poll? Or is it a means of generating genuinely leading insight and PR gold?

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, James Acheson-Gray and new Apella team member, Mike Granleese.

Andrew Brown, formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

James Acheson-Gray, PartnerLong-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. Over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. Managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019. Consultancy of the Year 2018. Former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Mike Granleese, formerly the Deputy Managing Director of Ipsos Corporate Reputation, Mike has over 20 years’ experience across roles in insights, consultancy and academia. He specialises in helping clients understand insights within the context of their organisation and advising on the actions needed to drive reputation growth and protect license to operate. Previous clients in financial services include Aviva, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and MasterCard. He has also worked closely with Coca-Cola, Heineken, EY, PwC and The World Bank. Mike holds a PhD in economics. 

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.

We all have our Christmas traditions don’t we? That film you just have to watch every Christmas Eve, Carol singing in the village square, setting up the nativity, betting when Great Uncle Albert will fall asleep in the comfy chair. 

At Little Questions towers, one of our Christmas traditions is to take a look back over the year that was. 

With dotage fading our memories and entirely unscientifically, we like to consider our PR heroes and villains of 2023.  

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Jenny Scott and Matt Young.

Andrew Brown, formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Jenny Scott is former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. 

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

After the roaring success of our October “chew through the topical comms cud” we’re back again to cast a critical eye over what was November. 

We are going to have a look at: enquiries, unexpected comebacks, codenames, northern supermarkets and AI.  We’ll attempt to distil a little insight which we professional communicators can take from how these events played out and what, with the magic of hindsight, we might have done differently.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

We've decided to go all topical in this episode. What has been happening in our world of PR and comms? How has our profession been advising on some of the current issues? Would we have handled these differently?

Of course, we're conscious of commenting on current events as the horrific and tragic events unfold in Gaza and Israel. These are times when PR or comms seem inconsequential to what is happening around our world. However, it is at times like this when words matter, or, when the absence of words matter. Communications can bring people together, it can also divide. Getting your words right is critical. Too often, we've seen the consequences when we don't.

Chewing the topical cud (even with a little hindsight) and targeting HS2, Matt Hancock and even VAR are Apella Advisors partners, Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

This week's podcast episode was influenced by a chance remark about a haircut... 

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a CEO of a large corporation knew the corner office was theirs for as long as the shareholders, customers and maybe the government were happy. 

Now, they have to delicately navigate a minefield of social norms. It used to be a pretty rare thing for a chief executive to lose their job over events that were the focus of society at large, rather than just the city. That was the politician's playbook. But times are changing.

A spate of high profile leaders have lost their jobs recently. Different reasons each time. But the common thread is that none of them went because of poor profits or a falling share price. Are we entering a new world, a world where the social cycle is driving the business, political and economic cycles?

This is a really, really tricky area. So it's with some trepidation that Jenny Scott and Anthony Silverman are wading into the debate on the role of comms and corporate values, purpose and social context and all of those issues that are driving so much of business life today. 

This episode of the Little Questions is hosted by Apella Advisors partners Jenny Scott and Anthony Silverman.

Jenny Scott is the former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. 

Anthony Silverman has over 20 years advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs.  Recent clients include Atlas Merchant Capital, Selfridges Group, Deutsche Bank, Pension Insurance Corporation, RBS and Aquiline Capital. A significant client base in Europe and the US. Previously Senior Managing Director at Teneo.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.