The Little Questions Apella Advisors

Like us at Little Questions you’re probably keeping, at the very least, a partial eye on how the election is playing out. So, this time, we’re going to focus this episode on said general election. 
We’ll look at messaging, how to deal with unexpected events, how grids are planned and unplanned. We’ll ask whatever happened to the daily press conference? Is this the first ever Tik Tok election? And, outside the big beasts in each party consider those who are having a good and a bad election, and who we may be hearing a lot more from in the coming months and years.  
Of course we’ll talk about debates – do they matter, is the prep for them the same as for a CEO special event – and, as they head into round two, what advice we have for the principles based on their first performance.
Finally, we trawl our fading memory banks and consider what in house comms and corporate affairs teams should be doing now to prepare for July 5th and the days and weeks that follow.
To discuss these and other little questions Andrew Brown is joined by Apella colleagues Matt Young and, not quite fresh from the political lobby, but once a hack always a hack, James Kirkup.
You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review.
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.
James Kirkup has over 20 years in high-profile Westminster roles including Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph and Director of the Social Market Foundation. Extensive experience of thought leadership and advocacy work, with a particular focus on the relationship between business, politics and public policy.  Continues to contribute regularly to national media outlets as a columnist at the Times and Spectator.  
Matt Young has over 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 at apellaadvisors.com.
This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Penny James has a 30 year career at, and leading, some of the world’s largest financial institutions. 
A Chartered Accountant by training, from Chief Risk Officer at the Pru she joined Direct Line in 2017 first as CFO, becoming CEO in 2019. Penny now holds a suite of board positions: Senior Independent Director at Hargreaves Lansdown, Non-Executive Director at QBE Insurance Group and Mitie Group plc. She is also co-chair of the FTSE Women Leaders Review.
Given her long tenure on Boards and range of current Non-Exec roles, this wide ranging interview focuses on how best Corporate Affairs can serve and support the Board, while also ensuring strong relationships with the CEO and Exco. We examine how reputation and stakeholders are discussed at the top table – and yes, we do consider Section 172 for the Companies Act geeks among you. Also, if reputation is so important for the Board, why aren't there more former CADs in NED roles?
Along the way we also chat: 
War and peace – corporately, not the book Why for the CEO engaging with the media is now firmly more risk than reward What she looks for in a corporate affairs leader; and, Why she loves a bit of media training. We do hope you enjoy this special edition of the Little Questions podcast. Check out our back catalogue for other similar interviews with Alison Brittain, current Chair of the Premier League, Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva, Joe Garner, former CEO of Nationwide Building Society, Paul Drexler, the former President of the CBI and, last but not least, our good friend Mark Kleinman of Sky News.
You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and 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. 
Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.
This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

This is another of our topical episodes where two aged, bitter and sceptical Comms practitioners try to make sense of the stuff that’s been making the headlines over the last few weeks. And hopefully we can say something useful to all those 100k people who work in our industry grappling with how to communicate with clarity and honesty in our ever-complex world.

Today we're talking about:  
The SNP & the Greens (and net zero targets) Co-op Live: ‘how to communicate when it all goes pear shaped’ FCA: ‘naming and shaming firms under investigation & how to handle them from a PR perspective.’ PR Week: ‘agencies made double the number of redundancies in 2023 vs 2022. Why and what does it mean?’ Sunday Times editorial on Teneo: ‘has Comms failed when it becomes the story’. Tired, money for old rope advice: ‘time with the editor, journo roundtable’. Has PR run out of new ideas? Have we lost the creative touch?  Why has re-branding become an exercise in removing vowels? 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.
You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and 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. 
Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.
This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

"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 emailingpodcast@apellaadvisors.com 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 emailingpodcast@apellaadvisors.com 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. 

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 podcast@apellaadvisors.com 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.