B2B comms agencies can be at the heart of the global movement using business as a force for good

Gong has become the UK’s newest B Corporation and part of a growing core of MarComs companies committed to ‘doing business better’. Following a rigorous assessment of Gong’s governance structures, employee culture and benefits, and our impact on community, the environment and our clients, the agency has successfully joined the ‘Year 2 cohort’ of B Corps in the UK.

B Corp is to business what Fair Trade is to bananas. The global movement is growing fast – with certified B Corporations around the world currently generating combined revenue of $36 billion. Companies like Patagonia in the US and Divine Chocolate and Ecover in the UK have achieved certification and entered a legally binding commitment to act in the interests of all stakeholders – not just shareholders.

Narda Shirley, managing director, Gong Communications said:

“Our core business is building reputations and relationships for clients who are doing extraordinary things for people, profit and planet. We are well versed in delivering effective PR with positive impact, but the B Corp process has formalised many of the things we took for granted as an agency in how we do business.”

Katie Hill, Executive Director, B Lab UK, said:

“B2B communications efforts are essential to the growth of the B Corp movement, raising the profile of the certification among the international business community as well as helping businesses to communicate their purpose to the wider world. It is great to have an award-winning corporate communications agency like Gong fully behind our mission both as part of the movement as well as supporting our own efforts to engage with more purpose-driven companies.”

Gong works with business to business clients of all shapes and sizes across the globe, with particular expertise in professional and financial services, agri-business, health, technology and energy sectors, as well as regional expertise in emerging markets and sub-Saharan Africa.  The agency’s international briefs include sustainability communications, corporate purpose and positioning, employee engagement and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Narda concludes: “What’s more, we will harness the knowledge, experience and networks we gain from being part of the B Corp community to deliver even greater value for the exceptional clients and transformative businesses we work with.”

MORE TO REPUTATION THAN A SHARE PRICE

Nikki Francis-Jones, associate director, Gong Communications

For decades to come, events on United Airlines Flight 3411 on Sunday 9th April and the aftermath will go down in the annals as a ‘how not to’ manage a PR crisis in the digital age.

But before students can get their hands on it Nikki Francis-Jones looks at the lessons that can be learned and what the full scale of the reputational damage might be.

View the full article here

UK PLC: FIT FOR PURPOSE?

Sarah Nicholas, account director, Gong Communications

Will ‘business as a force for good’ become part of UK company law?
 
“Companies should state precisely their purpose – their role in the world from which profit results – in their articles of association and regularly report on the delivery of that purpose.” This is the first recommendation to promote purposeful companies put forward by The Purposeful Company Task Force, a consortium of FTSE companies, investment houses, business schools, business consultancy firms and policy makers at The Big Innovation Centre.
 
Listening to the report’s authors debate with an audience at the London School of Economics last month (podcast of the event here), corporate law was firmly under the spotlight. How likely is this change? And will it really deliver the coveted sustainable long term value for stakeholders that it is pursuing?
 
At Gong Communications, we are firm believers in the power of purpose and how communicating this effectively can help companies to gain a competitive edge. Some question whether mandating businesses to declare their purpose undermines some of its potency. But whether it is written in law or – even better – engrained in company culture, having clarity of purpose can propel a business forward and bring many benefits beyond simply profit, although it has been shown to help with that too.
 
Will Hutton, the co-chair of the Purposeful Company Task Force, said: “The evidence is clear, companies with a declared purpose, adhered to by their leaders and understood by their employees, perform far better over time than their less purposeful peers.”
 
Going through the process of B Corporation certification ourselves, we had the fabulous Scott Drummond of B Lab UK join the Gong London team for a learning lunch and share the story of their successful efforts to define a new type of for-profit entity in the US. A Benefit Corporation, now legislated in 30 States, is a company that has a positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment in addition to profit as legally defined goals.
 
Other countries, such as Italy and Australia are following suit. And with May’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee looking into how modern companies can better serve their shareholders, employees and wider society, it is not hard to imagine the UK being next in line.
 
Bring it on.
 
Look out for a follow-up blog on how stakeholder communications and employee engagement are vital to fully realise the potential of purpose in the private sector.

WHY SLOW BURNS CAN BE THE BRIGHTEST

Amanda Lyons, associate director, Gong Communications

Much as I dislike most of the caricatures about PR folk, the image of the time-poor, plate-spinning, device-juggling communications professional isn’t much of an exaggeration. Whether agency or in-house, the demands of a permanently ‘on’ 24/7 media environment and satisfying the competing needs of multiple stakeholders mean that we constantly run in the fast lane.

 
Although brand building requires quick thinking and speedy delivery, it’s important to take the time to slow down for a moment and appreciate that not all great things happen in a flash. At Gong we’ve been reminded of this over the last few months. Some of our biggest and best ideas have literally taken years to come to fruition. For example, creating an anthology of perspectives from global leaders and a ground-breaking symposium to convene great minds to tackle some of the most challenging food security issues for one client. Both of these were a slow burn to progress from concept to reality – but the results were more than worth the wait.

 
Achieving industry change or engaging high profile thought leaders in a meaningful conversation is a different model to opportunistic activations to generate a quick win. For us, getting big ideas off the ground is a mastery of helping clients to secure buy-in from internal supporters and budget holders, securing the right people to participate, timing any outreach with the broader corporate strategy, as well as making sure the stars align with what’s going on in clients’ industries and the wider world.

 
We’re also reminded of this in business development. As with our personal lives, timing plays a great part in whether a relationship is going to get off the ground and grow into something beautiful. In January we supported The END Fund to communicate its inspiring agenda at Davos – a client that we started initial conversations with nearly three years ago and hope to work with for a long time to come.

 
So to everyone out there, whether you’re working in a corporate communications agency or building brands and reputations in-house, let’s remind ourselves that there’re more to results than short-term success. When we experience barriers to getting projects over the line or converting an opportunity into an outcome, we need to keep sight of the big vision. Let’s have faith that we’ll achieve it because patience (and determination) isn’t just virtuous, it’s valuable.

WELCOMING FRESH FACES IN TO THE FOLD

Award-winning agency prepares for further growth in 2017

Gong Communications has hired two corporate communications specialists, Libby Wyman and James Deacon, as senior account managers to support the firm’s rapid growth. The pair join at an exciting time for the agency, bolstered by six award wins for its diversity and inclusion work with long-standing client, Lloyd’s of London.

Libby joins from Forster Communications, her focus at Gong will be on delivering global corporate and sustainability communications for international clients and developing the agency’s sustainability and social purpose work. Libby commented: “I’m delighted to be part of such a strong and motivated team at Gong; an agency that clearly punches above its weight to deliver award-winning communications for clients as diverse as challenger brands and multinationals.”

After a successful stint at FleishmanHillard Fishburn, James’ focus at Gong will be primarily on the Lloyd’s of London account, centered around the hugely successful Dive In: The Festival for Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance. He’ll also be working with associate director Nikki Francis-Jones on UK focused marketing for the agency. “I’m thrilled to be joining such an inspiring team here at Gong. Delivering a strategy session with a solar energy social enterprise in Madagascar in my third week here is certainly confirmation that I’m in the right place,” James said.

Gong MD, Narda Shirley, added: “Libby and James bring a great range of experience combined with boundless enthusiasm and passion. During 2016 we did a lot of thinking about who we are as an agency and that has helped us attract two standout people who are drawn to the idea of working on clients with a strong purpose.”

The agency took a conceptual brief in early 2015 to create a festival for the promotion of diversity and inclusion within the insurance market, and has scooped a number of cross-practice awards; PRCA (employee engagement), Marketing Week and The British Insurance Awards (diversity champion), Corp Comms Magazine (best live event), Insurance Day (diversity & talent management initiative of the year) and Insurance Marketing and PR (best insurance event). The work was also shortlisted by Sabre Awards EMEA, Guardian Sustainable Business, Personnel Today, ENEI and Insurance Times.

See here for coverage on Gorkana PR News

CORPCOMMS: DIVE IN WINS BEST LIVE EVENT – INTERNAL

When Inga Beale, chief executive of the Corporation of Lloyd’s, unveiled her Vision 2025 for the insurance business, it rested on eight pillars. Alongside Innovation and Capital sits Talent. For the Vision to be successful, by 2025 Lloyd’s will be ‘a place where talented, diverse and socially responsible employees feel proud to work’.

The Corporation’s steering group, Inclusion@Lloyd’s, is working to highlight the business case for diversity and inclusion. The Festival for Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance, branded Dive In by agency Gong, was designed to show how diversity stimulates innovation, promotes productivity and generates better financial returns.

Targeted at key influencers within Lloyd’s member organisations and employees in the insurance broking market, Gong created a pre-Festival buzz with a dedicated website, activities across internal, external and social media, and branded collateral, such as coffee carts which served 19,000 drinks.

The agency also engaged with communication leaders in member companies, providing tools, templates and content for intranets and email blasts. The events took place across four days within the insurance heart of the City of London, EC3. Each day explored a different theme: Women in Insurance; Cultural DNA: Diversity Now and Always; ‘Out’ in the market and Workability, with speakers ranging from celebrity stylist Gok Wan to former BP chief executive Lord Browne.

The festival comprised a mix of panel discussions, debates and workshops to networking, art exhibitions and dance performances. The front of the iconic Lloyd’s of London building was branded with Dive In. More than 2,000 people registered to attend, resulting in 1,762 visitors.

Importantly, 99 per cent of them said that diversity and inclusion was good for business while nine in ten felt they had a better understanding of the topic as a result of the Festival. And 87.5 per cent said they now knew what to do to improve diversity and inclusion within their organisations.

The Festival generated 40 videos, which are accessible via the Dive In website, which received more than 23,000 visitors during the event. The industry’s trade publication Insurance Times has also agreed to carry monthly blogs on diversity and inclusion.

‘This was a highly creative event which challenged the old ‘pale and male’ images of Lloyds,’ said the judges. ‘It is great that this is now being exported to overseas markets.’

Sara Bonafair

Kick the habit of ignoring advice given by parents and career advisers, just this once, and take it from a peer – internships are worth your time. As a recent grad, I know the feeling of having just barely survived another round of exams and essays. The last thing you may feel like doing is researching, applying for and doing an internship – especially, if you are young and lucky enough to still consider career pressure a distant prospect. Nonetheless, I believe you can never be too young to embark on the trial-and-error process that will lead you to a career in an area you will enjoy in the years ahead.

That’s not to say that we don’t all change between the ages of 17 and 20 something, but if you start the learning process early, it can grow with you. Starting now takes some of the guesswork out of deciding where to direct your focus when you graduate and minimizes some of the stress of committing to your first job. Internships are an integral part of understanding what you want to do, how you want to do it, who you want to do it with – and, crucially, what you don’t want to do.

I took the advice of my career adviser, when pressure and my resume were still pretty non-existent, and ‘playing professional’ seemed almost exciting. From the age of 17, I explored every interest under the sun, from art to financial services, navigating the ocean of opportunities offered to students searching for experience. I worked for small firms, large firms, start-ups, and corporations, making my mantra ‘you never know until you try’. By my last year, a process of elimination allowed me to be able to say with conviction that I wanted to work in the communications industry.

In my last year, I tried advertising in a small firm and while I enjoyed the personal mentorship that was possible in a close-knit team, found advertising wasn’t for me. I tried PR in a large firm, on a B2C team, I enjoyed the type of work, but found the lack of opportunity to slow down and ask questions to understand the bigger picture and strategy frustrating. This learning process was essential to understand what I was looking for – a small PR-firm.

Soon I discovered Gong, which was not only what I was looking for in terms of being a small award-winning corporate communications agency in London, but also what I was looking for in terms of combining my personal and academic interests in my daily work. The supportive and collaborative environment that Gong cultivates had become an important criterion for me. Sitting next to project heads, I was able to really understand everything necessary to produce Gong’s marketing and communications services to its clients, feeling no hesitation in asking how to do things and why. As I developed my skills in the nuts and bolts of PR, I felt I was, at the same time, contributing to impactful work on client briefs that I was proud to be part of.

I can imagine why employers are just as keen as experience-hungry students to offer internships. They give the management team the invaluable opportunity to witness prospective recruits in action rather than relying on intangible words on a CV and an interview.

In short, internships permit you to first realise the industry you want to be a part of, then to envision your ideal role and the environment in which you want to perform it. Internships can also be a ‘getting to know you’ period, for yourself and your future employer. It’s a quick way to learn how to perfectly position yourself after graduation for a rewarding first job to kick off your career. So my advice is, at the end of term, instead of a week of box-sets in bed to take your head off exams –get out there and get an internship!

GONG’S CSR IN PRWEEK

Gong Communications received a mention in PR Week as winner of the “Good chap of the week award”

“Christmas, Flack hears, is a time for giving, so congratulations to Gong Communications for setting up a programme to support Holy’s Home for Children, a small charity constructing an orphanage to support up to 30 vulnerable children in rural Ghana.

It might not sound anything exceptional for an agency to start this sort of thing – but Flack was impressed to hear not only that the charity was founded by senior account manager James Deacon, but that he secured the opportunity for his charity in a Dragon’s Den-style contest pitching to his new colleagues, on his very first day at the agency last month, against several other charities.

Bravo, James – and Bravo, Gong, which will make a monthly donation to the charity, in addition to other support throughout 2017.”
PR Week, 09/12/2016

Read the full article here

BEYOND DIVERSITY: THE BUSINESS CASE FOR DEVELOPING AN INTERNAL CULTURE OF INCLUSION

Philip Dundas

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) are on the agenda for most organisations in terms of recruiting a broad talent base. But it is increasingly recognised that the diverse and inclusive perspective you get from that workforce can enrich the internal DNA of a company. This helps to shape its strategic goals beyond the thinking of senior leadership across the whole organisation. In the global marketplace the most innovative companies recognise that to impact on their strategic goals, diversity isn’t just about the range of people within an organisation but the diversity of thinking that reflects.

Equally important as an organisation is how inclusion connects to diversity: your ability to reflect the world around you in your workforce is just the start. The 2014 Deloitte report Global Human Capital Trends, clearly defines ‘diversity of thinking as a business imperative’. Diverse teams draw out better ideas, smarter conversations and ultimately better business decisions.

Lots of organisations have identified inclusion as a bedrock of innovation and to that extent drive and foster the diversity and inclusion agenda across their sectors, seeing how it can shape and transform their organisations and their people. It’s not always in the most obvious places that D&I shapes the way businesses function. Well-managed and effectively implemented D&I policies emerge through a much wider range of issues; from how to adapt the built environment for workability and getting the most from a cross-generational workforce to understanding the implications of working globally and the importance of inclusive leadership.

The benefits of D&I go way beyond compliance into every aspect of a business. From senior leadership right down to graduate entry employees, an inclusive organisation relies on the diversity of thinking from an ever inclusive workforce to be ahead of the game.