ANN-MARIE O’SULLIVAN

ACTIVITY Effective communications has been central to business continuity and recovery for organisations since March 2020. Last year we saw continued growth in the areas of issue and crisis management, reputation management and internal communications. In addition, media relations activity picked up significantly, photocalls took place, and we gradually saw the return of events, albeit in a hybrid or virtual capacity.

PR OBJECTIVES Our conversations with clients always start with identifying and understanding their business and communication objectives. Typically this is followed by developing key messages, identifying target audiences and communication channels, agreeing the tactical approach and, finally, measuring and evaluating the results.

EVENTS Hybrid events are now commonplace, with many event management companies diversifying and offering professional and engaging alternatives to in-person events. The main result for clients is that they can still engage with their audiences — be it their customers via webinars, or their teams via virtual town halls.

OUTLOOK There has been an increased investment in communications since the start of the pandemic, and I expect this to continue into 2022. This is partly due to a greater need for internal comms, given that hybrid working environments are likely to continue long-term for many employers. Ensuring teams remain connected to colleagues, and, more broadly, an organisation’s mission, values and culture, continues to be vital. Appropriate communication strategy and channels need to be in place in order to maintain and grow a sense of unity and community within organisations.

‘There is a greater need for internal communications’

ACTIVITY Business has been buoyant as business and brands recognised the need to connect with their customer base and their employees in uncertain times. Digital platforms like webinars, podcasts and social media sites were more in use than traditional media, as lockdown and working from home drove everything online.

PR OBJECTIVES The starting point is identifying who you need to speak to and what you need them to know or understand. This determines so much of the tactical effort, like the media you focus on and how the message is conveyed.

While media coverage is important, a more targeted channel like a dedicated client seminar or a graduate sponsorship may be better to achieve an objective, such as finding new talent. Ideally, you look for a mix, where you can have brand-building coverage in media combined with direct communication channels.

EVENTS Much of our consumer work demands a showcase or experience that is simply not possible online. I suspect that many routine business meetings and inhouse gatherings will remain in the ‘remote’ territory, as people have realised the convenience and efficiency of digital gatherings.

OUTLOOK Communication is the lifeblood of business and I expect investment to increase. There is no point in doing good and delivering the goods if your potential market and significant business associates don’t know about it.

‘We tell the story, you make the news’

‘Communication is the lifeblood of business’

DAVID O’BRIEN

ACTIVITY Brand-building, media relations, messaging, reputation counselling and maximising the value of LinkedIn with rich content have been most in-demand from clients. For clients with limited budgets, our online store, which provides PR content at fixed prices, had strong demand for news releases, LinkedIn posts and media training.

PR OBJECTIVES Data insights, market research, legacy results, cross-platform media engagement, innovation, aligning stakeholders, agreeing messages, and finding avenues to deliver client ambitions is the starting point to build a strategy. Once developed, we’re then ready to deliver our philosophy of ‘we tell the story, you make the news’.

EVENTS Because how we work has changed and executives are travelling less, going forward we expect that major events will be two thirds in-person and one third hybrid.

OUTLOOK Covid has changed how we work and how we interact with media. Options for traditional and digital channels have expanded. Our recommendations for clients to explore new and creative opportunities are being well received.

ACTIVITY Our level of business last year continued as it had for 2020, with ups and downs during the year. The rapidly changing Government guidelines made it difficult to plan even a few months ahead, especially on the events side of the business. All of our business interactions and many of our live events continued using the virtual hosting we had introduced during 2020. This worked remarkably well with few technical hitches, and we intend to continue using this as part of our business post-pandemic.

Our extensive public affairs experience proved particularly useful to several clients who were struggling to attract Government support when their business sectors were particularly badly hit by lockdown, most particularly the travel industry. We assisted the Irish Travel Agents Association in securing €10m in support for licensed travel agents.

PR OBJECTIVES Formulating a client’s communications strategy is one of the key services we provide. It starts with determining the client’s objectives for their campaign. Based on this, we determine their target audience and devise an integrated communications strategy that works towards achieving those objectives.

The value for money metric depends on the campaign and the client’s objectives. In general terms, it’s overall media reach and measuring the sentiment of the coverage.

EVENTS Event management forms a significant part of our business. During the pandemic, several of our regular events were cancelled and many others moved online. The transition was a lot smoother than we expected, and the feedback from clients was extremely positive.

We expect some of these events to continue online, but it’s more likely that a virtual presence will become a standard additional and expected feature of most events in the future. That said, some of our most popular events, such as the Dublin Kite Festival and Pets In The City, are best experienced in person and we look forward to them resuming this year.

OUTLOOK Our client base has taken a battering over the last two years. A significant proportion are in tourism, travel, film, hospitality, and events, all sectors which were shut down almost entirely during peak pandemic. Several of our clients were forced to suspend communications during this period.

Despite this, we maintained an ongoing positive relationship with them all. Having spoken to our clients, they are looking forward to a strong 2022, and are aware that investment will be needed in communications to make up lost ground.

‘Our client base has taken a battering over the last two years’

ACTIVITY 2021 was a momentous year. 360 were acquired by FINN Partners, one of the world’s largest independent marketing and communications firms. We are now 360,

A FINN Partners Company. International acquisitions of Irish communications companies are rare but Peter Finn, FINN Partners’ founder, understood that 360 does things differently. We have a creative and experienced multi-disciplinary team working across industries and we put emphasis on generating measurable, bottom-line results for our clients through our process of intelligent communications.

PR OBJECTIVES What is your overall business strategy? Establish this fundamental first in collaboration with your client and then you have the foundation from which to build a communications strategy. All the creativity, tactical outputs and audience cut-through that follow can generally be traced back to this starting point.

By extension, resist the temptation to chase easy headlines or superficial coverage. Unless a particular activity has the potential to genuinely advance your business objectives, then don’t do it. Such an approach is becoming even more fundamental in a world where people are more questioning, trust is hard-earned and opinions are plentiful. It also lends to more enduring relationships between you and your client.

If someone is investing in 360, we have a responsibility to show tangible, meaningful metrics. We have developed our own measurement framework with up to 28 specific data points under the four key pillars of audience perception, public affairs, digital, and media.

USP My advice to a buyer of PR services is to look beyond the pitch. When you strip everything back, the differentiator is generally culture. Our story, from where we started, to where we are, and what comes next is fundamental to what you get from us. We know what works and, more importantly, what doesn’t. Our clients now have access to local market expertise and skillsets from across the world. That’s of huge benefit to those interested not only in international growth, but also specialist fields.

‘My advice is to look beyond the pitch’