The Little Questions

"The brand is our promise, our reputation is how well we live up to it. Or not."

Is that really the case? Is it that binary? Isn't branding all about design and badges – the colours and shapes we can and cannot use as defined by the infamous brand police? Oh, and the odd expensive ad campaign or three?

Isn't influencing and curating the firm's reputation what we comms and corporate affairs people do?

Let's accept that every organisation does need a brand and that brand needs to be managed. The little question is then; how can we comms people best work with and help our always snappily dressed brand colleagues down the corridor with their coloured pencils and fancy computers?

To discuss this little question are two Apella Advisors partners, Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing[email protected] and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review.

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. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and 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.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

At the Little Questions, we're always at the forefront of current events – whether that's the Great Fire of London or the Battle of Hastings, we're ready to chew the topical cud on all manner of things but, as ever, wearing our PR and comms hats.

Today we're going to talk about:

• Whether corporations should dictate what words should and shouldn't be used?
• 1 in 3 would have 'complete confidence' in AI handling crisis comms; 47% would be 'somewhat confident'. Really? What does this mean for the comms and PR world?
• The corporate back-track. How to do it successfully.
• Marketing and comms joining forces, is it a trend?
• Anne Boden's comments on men in gilets holding too much influence in business.
• Proactive versus reactive; are we seeing less proactive PR campaigns? Have media teams become just reactive functions that issue statements on issues? Are we losing the creative edge? Is that a result of businesses becoming too risk averse?

As ever, for you as a listener in the world of comms and beyond, we'll extract the lessons learnt from all these stories and deliver them in this episode of The Little Questions.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing[email protected] and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review.

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. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and 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.

This episode is produced by The Podcast Coach

Five years ago, a number of us came together to launch a new strategic communications firm, Apella Advisors. We'd either led large consultancies or held senior roles as corporate affairs directors at some large organisations. But we saw an opportunity to do something a little bit different. So as we reach this five year mark, we thought we'd use this edition of the Little Questions podcast to lift the lid a little on the running of our business. The ups and downs, the do's and don'ts. As always, we'll ponder the little things. This episode is hosted by Apella Partners, James Acheson-Gray and Anthony Silverman. Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review. James Acheson-Gray has been a long-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. Anthony Silverman spent over 20 years advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include Aquiline Capital, Atlas Merchant Capital, Deutsche Bank, Selfridges Group, and Pension Insurance Corporation. A significant client base in Europe and the US. Previously Senior Managing Director at Teneo.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

In the world of communications, it pays to be current. Whether you are working in-house or at an agency, being the first to say "But have you read that piece in the FT today?" makes you appear as though you have a finger on the media pulse.

This week on the Little Questions Podcast, we attempt to sound like we're at the cutting edge of public discourse.

Today we're going to chew the topical cud on:

• Why have a Budget Statement when everything in it has already been publicised in the press?
• Getting cut through on a story – some contrasting examples from Tesco and Drax. The slugging match that is Huffy Henry Staunton vs Bruiser Badenoch.
• Mary Poppins and the use of inappropriate words.
• An amazing BP insider trading story.
• The nature of the worthless public apology.
• The legal firm Schillings going into PR 'big time'.
• And a sad story of Flaco the eagle-owl.

As ever, for you as a listener in the world of comms and beyond, we'll extract the lessons learnt from all these stories and deliver them in this episode of The Little Questions.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected] and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review.

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. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and 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.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

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 [email protected]

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

The world is changing. There appears to be an increasing reluctance amongst CEOs and senior leaders to engage with mainstream business and financial media. From the corporate world's perspective, you can see why this makes sense. Why have your carefully crafted messages interrogated by a grumpy intermediary from the press when you can go direct via your owned channels?

From the journalist's view, this is disintermediation laid bare. If we believe the role of the fourth estate is to give an independent and critical view, then companies and individuals must engage with the press. It is all part of a democracy in action.

So, what's driving this shift? Is it the growth in owned channels? Has the pressure on journalists to cover more and write more, led to a denuding of expertise? Has that made CEO's more reluctant to engage with a journalist who has limited understanding of their sector? Is it a trend or just a passing phase?

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.

Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and 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 [email protected]

This episode has been 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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.