All posts by rachel_eaton

News

Gong Communications re-appointed to Diversity festival brief for Lloyd’s insurance market

May 4, 2016 rachel_eaton

GONG COMMUNICATIONS RE-APPOINTED TO DIVERSITY FESTIVAL BRIEF FOR LLOYD’S INSURANCE MARKET

3 May 2016, London: Gong Communications has been re-appointed to manage diversity and inclusion communications for the Lloyd’s insurance market. Following on from the hugely successful 2015 event, Gong will again curate Dive In, the first London insurance market-wide diversity and inclusion festival on behalf of the Inclusion@Lloyd’s steering group.

Pauline Miller, head of diversity and inclusion at Lloyd’s, said: “Gong’s team delivered superb results last year and they were always on hand to help with a busy programme of activity. I’m grateful that we are able to continue our relationship. I look forward to their support promoting the events and engaging with audiences at this year’s festival.”

Dive In – four days of inspirational speakers, workshops, videos, branding and events – has been shortlisted for five industry awards: as a ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ nominee for the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards, ‘Diversity Champion’ for the Marketing Week Awards, ‘Best Insurance Event’ for the Insurance PR & Marketing Awards, in the diversity category at the British Insurance Awards and as lead agency for the event, Gong Communications has been shortlisted for the Sabre EMEA ‘Cause-relatedmarketing’ Award.

Narda Shirley, managing director at Gong Communications, said: “To see Dive In recognised in this way is very exciting and testament to months of hard work, creativity and a very successful collaboration with the Inclusion@Lloyd’s team; our warmest congratulations to everybody involved. We look forward to working closely together again this year as Dive In goes global.”

This year’s Dive In festival will be held between 27^th-29^th Sept 2016 and will include branded events across the globe as well as expanded participation outside the Lloyd’s Market.

Insight, Small Grid

Sarah Nicholas back from secondment with the African Entrepreneur Collective in Rwanda

March 10, 2016 rachel_eaton

SARAH NICHOLAS BACK FROM SECONDMENT WITH THE AFRICAN ENTREPRENEUR COLLECTIVE IN RWANDA

Sarah Nicholas

As I struggle to warm my fingers after a freezing commute through London this morning, it’s hard to believe that this time last month I was spitting distance from the equator. I was in the land of a thousand hills – Rwanda – sharing my experiences as a communications consultant with some truly inspirational entrepreneurs and individuals while on secondment with the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) in Kigali.

Listening to the stories of entrepreneurs and colleagues there, it is clear that innovation is thriving in East Africa. But more than that, AEC’s mantra that ‘all solutions to Africa’s challenges already exist on the continent’ now feels more credible and tangible than ever.

Just one example is Marcel, who, having been orphaned by the genocide that decimated Rwanda in 1994, wanted to harness the main driver and instrument of destruction – media and youth – and turn them into a force for good. Now three years after launching, and with support from AEC, Marcel’s news website Umuseke is the second most read digital media outlet in Rwanda and employs 20 people – not bad for a 25 year old.

Another case in point is Rwanda’s answer to Uber, SafeMotos. The app combines booking software with black box technology to ensure customers are only hopping on the back of the safest motorbike taxi drivers in town, offering valuable peace of mind in a city where 80% of traffic accidents involve motos. Peter and Nash developed a go-to-market strategy with think – AEC’s tech incubator, funded by telecoms giant Tigo Rwanda – and the app now adorns billboards across the country.

But it wasn’t only the vision and determination of AEC’s entrepreneurs that blew me away, the passion and commitment of their own team was infectious.

A social enterprise with job creation as its ultimate goal, AEC is a collection of business incubators and accelerators who support local entrepreneurs enabling them to grow, employ others and make a long-term contribution to the economy. In two years, they have already helped 150 entrepreneurs to create 700 jobs and have big plans to expand to seven African countries within 10 years.

Having a soft spot for the entrepreneurial spirit and our own growing communications practice in East Africa, a partnership between Gong and AEC seemed a natural fit and I was luckily enough to be the first of the team to spend a month offering pro-bono comms consultancy and skills building to the organization and its entrepreneurs.

It was certainly a busy month! I created communications plans and marketing strategies, ran messaging workshops, edited websites, drafted press releases, held media training for a bootcamp full of social entrepreneurs and supported AEC’s launch into Tanzania – on which, more later.

But it wasn’t all work. In just 4 weeks I explored Kigali, met a four-month old gorilla in the Virunga mountains, kayaked on Lake Kivu, tested out my first shaky words of Kinyaruanda, got caught in some spectacular rainstorms, was laughed at relentlessly by market stall holders, flew to the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro in a really small plane, and leapt into a lake fully clothed (there was a reason for it!).

For now, while I immerse myself back into the fray of all important client work back at base, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone in the AEC family that made it such a great experience. I will be back!

News

Gong Kenya wins The Asian Weekly Award for Garden City launch

March 9, 2016 rachel_eaton

GONG KENYA WINS THE ASIAN WEEKLY AWARD FOR GARDEN CITY LAUNCH

Nairobi, 02 March 2016: Gong Communications Kenya has won The Asian Weekly Achiever’s Award 2016 for Best Product/Brand Launch for the official opening launch of mixed use development Garden City in Nairobi.

The launch of Garden City culminated in a glittering evening event for over 700 dignitaries on 8^th September 2015 at Garden City Mall, with the governor of Nairobi, Dr. Evans Kidero, as the guest of honour. After achieving widespread media coverage the event was nominated by the magazine and selected by the public as the winner for the product/brand launch category, ahead of four other nominees including Samsung and Tata Motors.

Gong Kenya has managed the branding and marketing of Garden City since ground breaking of the project in 2013, and worked in partnership with BrightBlack Events to create September’s grand opening event, including an extensive range of entertainment from live music, dancers, performance artists and models who mingled with guests, to a choreographed light show projected onto the mall’s facade.

Gong Kenya’s managing director, Beverly Amira said: “The Achiever’s Award recognises individuals, organisations and companies that have excelled in their areas of operation and positively impacted the community so this is a great win for Gong and I’d like to thank The Asian Weekly for nominating us. I’d also like to say a big thank you to Crista Mehta and her BrightBlack team for their time and dedication, working tirelessly with us to make sure the event was second to none. We’re looking forward to the next event and a busy and successful 2016 for Gong Communications Kenya!”

Gong Kenya manages corporate communications and PR, including event management, branding and crisis communications for a diverse range of clients in sub-Saharan Africa in sectors such as financial and professional services, retail, energy, construction and human resources.

Insight

Concern Universal on how to make phone calls using a mud oven

February 29, 2016 rachel_eaton

CONCERN UNIVERSAL ON HOW TO MAKE PHONE CALLS USING A MUD OVEN

Narda Shirley

I often find myself banging on to clients about the virtues of bite-sized video as a story telling medium. But I was reminded again of its power when I watched a video about a Concern Universal project called ‘how to charge your phone with a mud oven’. At just 1 minute and 30 seconds long, with only captions to explain what’s going on, the film has had over 20 million views and inspired 62,000 comments.

The ‘Flower Pot stove’ is bucket-sized and made of mud. It is made locally to a tested template, and runs on just a few sticks of wood, roughly a third less than a fire would use. It also produces much less harmful smoke which is an important innovation as the simple act of cooking kills 4.3 million people each year.

Approximately 2.5 billion people living in the developing world burn biomass as a primary energy source; this number is expected to grow to 5 billion by 2050.

Thanks to the clever little thermo electric generator that attaches to the stove, and produces electricity from its heat, people living in rural locations without access to the grid, can generate enough power to charge a phone or power a torch. Mobile phones, now very cheap, can help relieve poverty in so many ways. Remote farmers can get better access to fair market pricing and selling time for people to make phone calls can be a means of generating additional income in a community. Torches mean children can study after dark making more of education opportunities.

Concern Universal, (CU) the charity behind the initiative has a sweet spot for innovation where it improves the lives of women in particular. Its resourceful new Global Head of Communications & External Affairs, John O’Brien has masterminded an event on Tuesday 22 March at the fashion and design emporium, Clerkenwell London. The event, called ‘fashionUP’ will raise awareness and money for the work of the charity which has been going for 40 years and whose work extends beyond Africa into Latin America and Asia.

I’m shamelessly shaking down my friends (and theirs) to stump up the donation price to come along to ensure that Concern Universal gets a great turnout and raises the money it needs to continue with its work. While we are chomping on canapes, downing a few drinks, and taking in the stylish surroundings of the Clerkenwell emporium, it’s affecting to think that all over the undeveloped world, rural families are watching the last glimmers from their cooking fires go out, sinking them into complete darkness. Well done CU for shedding some light on all the issues and with such a clever solution. See you on the 22 March! And check out that film here.

Photo credit: Toby Richards

Insight

Girl Power shone brightly at Economist Energy Summit 2015

November 26, 2015 rachel_eaton

Narda Shirley

A young female delegate at the Economist Energy Summit on 4^th and 5^th November was overheard to remark that the audience in the room was unusually diverse. Energy is one of the industries that still struggles with diversity. Anecdotally it seems, if you haven’t done your time on an oil rig (or other heavy engineering equivalent), it will impact your ability to climb the career ladder. This can be an issue for women, which is in turn an issue for the industry which is desperate to build new engineering talent pipelines.

In our business as comms advisors, it is very often the case that what we learn working for one client, gets applied in other contexts. So it was with the Lloyd’s insurance market Dive In Festival of diversity & inclusion still very much in mind, that I set off for the Honorable Artillery Company to help tweet from day one of the conference on Wednesday.

For my money, the two stand out speakers on the agenda on day one were women. Dorothy Thompson, CEO of Drax Power spoke to the Economist’s Energy Editor, Edward Lucas about the wood pellet-based renewable energy side of the business, Drax Biomass. She made a compelling case for biofuels, explaining where the wood for the pellets comes from, the advanced technology in the supply chain that compresses and transports the pellets and the parity of the fuel with coal in terms of performance.

The final slot before drinks went to Dr. Michal Meidan of China Matters, an energy consultancy. She gave a masterclass in the use of data points that consistently supported her comments and observations, keeping the session bubbling along as she discussed China’s energy mix in consumption terms and the future for gas, with her own engaging energy and style.

Of course it’s not only gender, but cultural diversity and age that can bring new perspectives to foster innovation. Two entrepreneurs stood out in particular on both counts. Mytrah’s CEO Ravi Kailas gave a compelling interview about how his wind power business is creating new capacity for the national grid across 6 states in India. And young entrepreneur and Bio Bean founder Arthur Kay (who was studying architecture when he had the idea) explained how waste from coffee is being used to generate power in his innovative UK based business.

Over drinks, conference sponsor BP offered delegates the ultimate ‘millennial’ young gamer innovation experience, the chance to try on Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets for an immersive experience of their exploration and R&D. As you can see from the photo, it was an offer I just couldn’t resist.

The Economist Energy Summit 2015 certainly helped the industry present a more than usually diverse face to the audience. It will be interesting to see which stories and spokespeople get picked up in the final round-up of the reporting to see if the media also found merit in the diversity of voices and views on offer.

Event

Economist Energy Summit

September 25, 2015 rachel_eaton

ECONOMIST ENERGY SUMMIT

Dates: November 4^th – 5^th 2015

Location: Honourable Artillery Company, Armoury House, City Road, London, EC1Y 2BQ

The Energy Summit 2015 will bring together senior representatives from the supermajors, the smaller independents and national oil companies with executives in the power, utility and renewable sectors; together with policy makers, economists and academics to discuss and debate the future of the energy business and provide some clarity on what it will look like 15 years from now.

www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea/energy-summit-2015

Event, News

Agri-Comms Drinks

September 25, 2015 rachel_eaton

AGRI-COMMS DRINKS

Dates: November 3^rd 2015

Location: Near Portcullis House, Westminster

The next instalment of our monthly meet-ups to bring together all those involved in communications, media and PR focused on food security, nutrition and agricultural issues.

Event, News

FT Water Summit

September 25, 2015 rachel_eaton

FT WATER SUMMIT

Dates: October 27^th 2015

Chris Brown, Global Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Environment Manager at Olam International is speaking in the afternoon session ‘In conversation: Managing water through complex and fragmented supply chains’

www.live.ft.com/Events/2015/FT-Water-Summit

Event, News

Dive In

September 25, 2015 rachel_eaton

DIVE IN – THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FESTIVAL

Dates: September 29th – October 2nd 2015

The first market-wide festival for diversity and inclusion in insurance

The Corporation of Lloyd’s, the Lloyd’s Market and insurance in general must innovate and adapt to stay relevant.

Technology, globalisation, climate change – these factors are just a glimpse of the challenges ahead. Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) can help.

A diverse workforce and an inclusive culture are magnets for talent. When people feel valued and included at work, they achieve their full potential. Research proves both that diversity fuels growth and innovation, and that inclusivity boosts productivity and performance.

Dive In festival is specifically designed for people working in the Lloyd’s Market to discover more about the business case for diversity and inclusion.

It’s free to attend, with events running in venues across EC3 from 29th September to 2nd October. Each day has a specific focus and theme – starting with Women in Insurance, followed by Multicultural, LGBT and ending with Workability.

Dive In is an initiative of Inclusion@Lloyd’s, a collaboration between the Corporation of Lloyd’s, IUA, LIIBA, and the Lloyd’s Market Association, whose aim is to pool resources, widen perspectives and share best practice in diversity and inclusion to effect change faster.

www.diveinfestival.com

Insight

From inception to opening: Building Nairobi Garden City

June 3, 2015 rachel_eaton

Managing a mixed-use real estate development on the scale of Garden City – 200 homes, 25,000 sqm of office space, a hotel, a 3 acre park and the largest retail mall to date in East Africa – means dealing with a complex community of suppliers. So, when it came to PR and marketing support, the Garden City team were looking for a simple and complete solution.

Gong’s ability to field a combined team of PR specialists and design from Gong Creative, based in both London and Nairobi, enabled us to partner with Garden City on all its mar-comms requirements.

We refreshed the Garden City logo and created a striking new slogan and visuals to capture the sheer variety on offer. A new website and social media channels mean Nairobi residents have been able to watch the buildings rise from the ground as well as find out about letting and sales opportunities.

At the end of May 2015, the long-awaited shopping mall finally opened, to great acclaim. On-the-ground, Gong secured front-page trailed Financial Times coverage as well as extensive local media news for the event. The FTreported that Garden City provided the perfect location and was the “right partner” for shopping giant Walmart to finally enter the Kenyan market – previously “a prize beyond its reach.”