60 Seconds with Zoe Sheppard, KPMG

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Zoe Sheppard, who was recently appointed head of press office at professional services company KPMG UK, talks to Gorkana about her new role, her aspirations for her team and why campaigning for diversity with KPMG’s vice chair was a career highlight. 

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Zoe Sheppard

From a comms standpoint, what are the advantages of working for a major brand like KPMG?
The scale of the firm can really help. We’re home to some really niche experts so if a journalist needs a briefing or wants someone to pull numbers for them, we can normally find the right team or person. One of the teams I sit near speaks more than 30 languages between them – we’re home to a talented bunch.

What are your ambitions for the new role?
My main priority is to support the team and help them to achieve their ambitions in their own careers, and offer them the right opportunities.

I’d also like to see us be more creative, and shift to offering more immediate analysis on breaking issues, which would complement the more in depth reports we do.

Do you have any tips for managing a comms team?
Take advice. My colleagues give me a lot of feedback on what’s working, what’s not and share the ideas they have, which I find invaluable. I am also very lucky to have our head of comms to turn to. We’ve worked together for many years and I trust her instincts implicitly.

What, do you think, will be the big issues affecting your role in 2017?
They are the same issues affecting our clients – so the impact of geopolitical and economic events on business and the UK economy, and how we respond as a firm to these.

What are KPMG’s long term communications goals?
Ultimately we need to help the firm win work and establish its reputation in areas with the biggest commercial opportunity, and our PR strategy has to deliver this.

However, I also want us to talk about the incredible achievements of our people and the work we do in our business to be more inclusive. We do so much, but are very modest about sharing our achievements with the wider world.

What’s been the highlight of your career to date?
Working with our vice chair Melanie Richards to increase the representation of women in business. KPMG hosted the launch of the Davies Review and Hampton-Alexander Review with academia and ministers, and it was inspiring to see so many business leaders gather to share their experiences and challenge each other to make great progress.

As well as her work to help other businesses, Melanie also pioneered the introduction of diversity targets in our own firm. She is a great source of support and encouragement, both to me and many others in the firm.

Coconut Chilli briefs Rich Leigh & Company

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Gourmet food company Coconut Chilli has brought in Rich Leigh & Company as its consumer PR agency.

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Coconut Chilli

Coconut Chilli is a British-based, ethical, start-up food business, which manufactures gourmet Indian microwaveable meal pots.

Product recipes focus on ingredients found in the hill station region of Coorg, in Southern India, and head chef KK Anand has worked in several acclaimed Indian kitchens in London, including the Cinnamon Club in Westminster and Mint Leaf, which he set up in Haymarket.

Rich Leigh & Company will provide PR and media relations support for Coconut Chilli, with a strong focus on building authoritative links.

Navina Barlett, founder of Coconut Chilli, said: “Rich and his team were the obvious choice when we were looking for PR support. They demonstrate a clear passion for both creativity and accountability. SEO is ever-important to us and PR is uniquely placed to build links with authoritative sites, something Rich has shown us his team does regularly for current clients.”

Rich Leigh, founder of Rich Leigh & Company, added: “It’s great to be able to welcome Coconut Chilli to the ever-growing Rich Leigh & Company family. The product range tastes incredible and we can’t wait to get out there and start showing it off to both the press and public.”

Three wins for DawBell

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DawBell has won three new PR briefs for ABBA’s 2018 VR reformation tour, British magician Dynamo and Sky Atlantic’s new drama, Riviera. The agency has also been retained by The BRIT Awards and the Isle of Wight Festival.

DawBell ABBA

ABBA

The BRIT Awards 2017 will be the seventh year in a row that the agency has handled PR activity for the awards, and 2017 will see it work on the Isle of Wight Festival for the third year running.

Last week, DawBell was Highly Commended in the Specialist Consultancy of the Year category at the 2016 PRCA Awards.

Stuart Bell, DawBell MD, said: “2016 has been an amazing year for us. Not only have we achieved some incredible new business wins and retained some of the music industry’s biggest events for 2017, we are also incredibly proud of our growing, passionate and committed team who continue to drive DawBell’s success moving into 2017.”

Milton Keynes Council appoints Houston PR for 50th anniversary

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Milton Keynes Council has appointed Houston PR to publicise its 50th anniversary in 2017.

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Hamish Thompson

The one-year project will focus on significant dates in the calendar, including the anniversary of Milton Keynes, one of Britain’s best-known new towns. High profile community events will take place throughout the year.

Managing director Hamish Thompson and co-director James Horne will lead The Houston PR team and report to the Milton Keynes Council communications team.

Hamish Thompson said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed by Milton Keynes to celebrate this key date in the city’s evolution. It is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the many achievements of Britain’s most famous new town in civic life, urban design, culture and technology, and set out the Council’s agenda for the future.”

LEWIS launches employee advocacy product

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LEWIS has launched an employee advocacy product and service named Employee Activate.

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Michael Brito

The new product will enable individual employees to be a part of their company’s wider communications strategy through advocacy on social channels.

Michael Brito, SVP at LEWIS, said: “The purchase funnel is no longer linear. It’s cyclical, dynamic and unpredictable. Consumers and decision-makers look to industry peers before investing in technology products and services. Employees have the opportunity to engage in conversations and influence these purchasing decisions early on.”

Russ Fradin, co-founder and CEO of Dynamic Signal, the technology partner which powers Employee Activate, added: “By now, the value of employee advocacy is well-known and well-documented. Leading brands understand that effectively communicating with employees results in a productive, deeply connected workforce of brand storytellers. The only question is how to roll these things out strategically — and that’s what makes programmes like Employee Activate deliver real business value.”

Employee Activate is the latest addition to LEWIS’ collection of products, which include Observa, a suite of analytical solutions. The agency’s integrated offering includes public relations, marketing, content, digital, research and advertising.

Brito added: “You cannot expect, nor should you want, your employees to just ‘share’ branded content from your company Facebook or LinkedIn page. From a content perspective it’s critical to train your employees to be storytellers and build a content plan for them that is more human, yet aligned to the larger brand narrative.”

Redleaf appointed by alternative financier GapCap

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GapCap, an alternative finance provider for high-growth businesses, has appointed Redleaf Communications.

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Rebecca Sanders-Hewett

Managing director Rebecca Sanders-Hewett and senior account managers Rishi Banerjee and Susie Hudson will manage the account.

Sanders-Hewett said: “We are very excited to be working with the team at GapCap to raise the profile of this forward-thinking business to potential customers and the wider business community.

“GapCap is disrupting the alternative finance market by offering a straight-forward solution to growing SMEs. GapCap allows its customers to remove the issue of irregular cashflows whilst keeping full control of their own businesses. We look forward to driving awareness of GapCap’s offering, and building its profile with a wide range of SMEs.”

Redleaf Communications was recently recognised at the Corporate & Financial Awards.

MyTutor briefs Threepipe

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MyTutor, an online marketplace that matches school pupils searching for a tutor with university students looking for rewarding work, has appointed Threepipe to manage its SEO programme and drive new customer acquisition and brand awareness.

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MyTutor

The MyTutor platform allows parents and students to search for additional support across a database of vetted tutors, before arranging an online meeting to ascertain whether there is a good personal match.

Threepipe’s SEO programme aims to promote the online tutoring marketing place to parents and students searching for one-to-one support for GCSE, A-levels and IB.

Kat Crane, marketing manager at MyTutor, said: “We were impressed by Threepipe’s understanding of our offer and the market in which we are building our business. Their ability to deliver both technical SEO support as well as offsite content outreach was a key factor in its appointment.”

Tony Thomas, co-founder of Threepipe, added: “It’s fantastic to be working with a company that has solved such a big problem by bringing together such a fragmented audience into one vibrant community. Online tutoring is a fast growth industry and we are helping MyTutor to be front and centre of the rising search for additional help.”

Sky Arts hires Margaret

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Comms agency Margaret has announced its biggest win to date as the retained creative comms agency for Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated TV channel for the arts.

Sky Arts

Sky Arts

Margaret has been briefed to develop an integrated comms strategy to champion Sky Arts as the UK’s “super channel for culture”.

Sky Arts’ portfolio of programming includes shows such as Landscape Artist Of The Year, Treasures Of The British Library, live rock concerts, opera and original dramas and it plans to feature new shows, both produced in the UK and in conjunction with Sky Arts’ European production hub in Italy.

The agency will work across traditional and digital PR and manage content across all of Sky Arts’ social media channels.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “Sky Arts is more than just a channel, it is an investor in the arts dedicated to bringing to life the rich stream of stories that culture, in all its myriad forms, so naturally produces.

“We were looking for an agency that understands this and is as passionate about the arts as we are. I’m excited to see what we can achieve with Margaret over the coming months.”

Margaret founder Olly Dixon added: “We’re thrilled to be working with Sky Arts; for us it’s a perfect synergy. We thrive at developing culturally relevant, creative campaigns that connect brands with early adopters. Now we’re in the beautifully rich position of joining forces with Sky Arts, the UK’s most dynamic broadcaster and investor in the arts. It couldn’t get better.”

60 Seconds with Jon Aarons, FTI Consulting

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Jon Aarons, FTI Consulting’s senior MD, talks to Gorkana about the firm’s international growth, its affiliate network and his own personal career highlights. 

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Jon Aarons

FTI recently formed a network of affiliate companies, what was the thinking behind that?
As today’s world markets grow increasingly interconnected, investors are compelled to travel further in search of value. Business leaders find themselves accountable to a more complex international array of regulators, stakeholders and customers than they ever imagined.

Financial communications, corporate reputation and public affairs have risen to the strategic agenda. FTI has a strong presence in the world’s key financial and regulatory capitals, but clients also seek our support when they have to manage change or mitigate risks in other parts of the world. Our affiliates are typically the most highly regarded independent leaders in their respective markets.

What are the outcomes you expect to see?
Above all, we aim to serve the needs of our clients wherever they do business around the world, especially at those moments when events are moving fast and when local market expertise and insight are at a premium. Across large parts of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America, capital is flowing and the business environment is developing in distinctive and complex ways. The most successful companies are highly skilled at navigating regional issues and expectations, but we anticipate continued strong growth in the demand for globally coordinated advice and support.

How are you going to measure those outcomes?
Over many years, we have tracked the globalisation of client demand and can see very clearly that cross-border work is growing. Our affiliates are highly motivated by the opportunities that we can bring them from our global client base, and by their own ability to connect clients with FTI’s deep expertise. We recognise that these independent firms have a choice and they have chosen to align their business with FTI by joining our network. Going forward, we are therefore confident that the scale of collaboration will keep developing.

What does the future hold for FTI?
Given the seismic political events that we have witnessed this year, prediction is a risky game. We must also be conscious that FTI Consulting is a publicly traded NYSE stock, so there are regulatory restrictions too.

But, we are pleased with the ongoing progress we are making towards becoming, on a multi-year basis, a real engine for growth. Our corporate goal is to become the number one firm that companies turn to when they have to manage significant change or mitigate a substantial risk.

As you expand, how do you ensure that all of your outposts stay true to FTI’s principles or defining features?
Each market presents its own particular challenges and FTI has consciously developed its network model to respond flexibly to the individual characteristics of different territories. It’s important that we maintain the agility to support our clients with solutions that fit the market, but we also understand the rising expectation for consistent worldwide standards.

We are rigorous with our due diligence and are investing in actively supporting and integrating the network, for example with a learning and development curriculum to help develop professional capacity.

What has been the highlight of your career to-date?
That’s a tough one. It’s hard to avoid a cliché such as “there’s a new one every day” or “the best is yet to come”. Two key events definitely stand out for me personally: the day in 2000 that I joined a single office firm called Financial Dynamics, and the day in 2006 that we joined forces with FTI Consulting. A decade later, the crystallisation of a truly global network feels like a big moment, but we’re really only just getting started.

Opinion: What corporate brands should learn from Trump’s victory in a world of rebellion

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Aside from the fate of the pollsters – who should be looking for new careers after three strikes on the bounce on calling the big things wrong – one assured outcome from the Trump victory will be the microanalysis of how the hell he did it, says Richard Medley, head of corporate at Frank PR.

Donald Trump

“This is a man who is consistent, who speaks in plain English”

The fool, the braggart, the foot in mouth king, and the next president. Universal W. T. F.

But parking the emotional side of perhaps the most emotional vote ever, and trying to look beyond the message appeal that bordered on the fanatical, there is of course a communications mentality here behind his victory – as there was in terms of smart channel use when Obama first mobilised social media like never before eight years.

This was a toxic brand that won (albeit against another toxic brand) so what did the swing vote go for in the mix? It wasn’t all policy, and wasn’t all politics – or else the polls may have been right rather than wrong.

I would venture it’s brand transparency.

This is a man who is consistent, who speaks in plain English, who understands what his audience wants to hear and who would say the same thing  – heart on sleeve – to whichever sub group he was talking to. Clinton would tailor words to audiences, and when that was reported, she looked manipulative. Corporate. Not genuine. She missed the fact there are no walls in communications and that silo messaging is in the past.

And when there is genuine lack of trust on either side of the fence in a world that feels broken from street level up, people will go for the voice that is genuine and real, not over manipulated or crafted. And in Trump’s words, in a ‘bigly’ way. Messages are not unimportant, but are they not the only consideration.

And that’s the same scenario for brands, exemplified by the muffled sounds and defensiveness of BHS, Sports Direct and other well-documented corporate headline grabbers.

When you start from a position of people mistrusting you (Reality TM), you have to work extra hard to curry favour. Language, willingness to engage, big picture values clear and to the fore, and a willingness to disrupt in how those thoughts are communicated are all important. How many corporate brands would take the Trump approach and pick up the phone to media to engage in a debate one on one on something important to them?

This is positive unpredictability. It’s not part of the establishment. And clearly people liked it.

So there is the corporate brand challenge. And if you don’t like the sound of that, then think back to Brexit. The last UK election. The mentality of Arab Spring. The establishment isn’t working, and people are actively challenging those who stay fixed in that spotlight.

Is your business heart ready to reinvent, to follow the audience shift, embrace transparency as the mantra and build a corporate brand that isn’t afraid to be less… corporate?

It’s front foot forward time. Don’t wait to be asked, that’s always too late.

And if and when bad stuff comes your way, you’ll have credit in the bank as an open communicator with those who raise the big questions. Not every audience is so split as on ‘The Donald’/Hilary level, but whenever disgruntlement is in play, transparency will be a key factor in diffusing it and winning over (or back) some hearts and minds.

We’ve always championed the positive disruptive spirit at Frank, as much in the corporate ‘Francis’ side of things as in the consumer space. So let’s not build walls or hide behind emails and lets do something disruptive and head turning for the better.

  • Richard Medley is head of corporate at Frank PR.

For more on the PR lessons of Trump’s campaign and victory, read …

Did Trump create the perfect PR campaign?
Back in July, Lord Sugar’s former publicist, David Fraser, said Trump’s campaign for the US presidency was arguably one of the greatest PR campaigns in recent years. Fraser, who is now MD of PR and SEO agency Ready10, said that when it came to communications, Trump’s campaign was “poetry in motion”. What do you think?

The US Election and when influencers don’t influence
Nina Sawetz, head of editorial at Bottle, on why celebrity endorsements didn’t create a landslide win for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the new era of ‘audience voice’ that looks past a recognised elite.