Category Archives: News

News

Shining a light on our Top 5 B Corps

March 5, 2021 sarahcaddy Leave a comment

As a long-established B Corp (Gong was among the first UK communications agencies to achieve certification in 2017), we have built a healthy network of B Corp ‘friends’. We’re even lucky enough to work with some of them. Here are our top five (though to be honest, we could have made this a much longer list!) in honour of B Corp month:

Volans

Volans is a think tank and advisory firm operating at the cutting edge of regenerative innovation to help catalyse systemic change. It was the first B Corp in the UK and incubated the movement here, so well-deserving of the #1 recommendation slot. It is a great pleasure to be able to work with them to amplify their client initiatives and partnerships in the media. A recent example is Bankers for Net Zero, an initiative that brings together banking leaders and other key stakeholders to accelerate the flow of finance towards net zero-aligned activities. Widespread media pickup, including Yahoo, Reuters and the New York Times, generated new enquiries from further potential collaborators – their network continues to grow.

Unreasonable Group

Unreasonable Group was created out of the desire to have the greatest impact possible on the world’s toughest challenges. They believe that entrepreneurs building scalable businesses are the best bet for solving such challenges, and support them in doing so. You can read for yourself the incredible effect Unreasonable Companies have had here – but the number of lives positively impacted by them – 549,000,000+ – gives you some idea. We’re talking drones positioned to plant billions of trees, converting elements in the air into meat protein, the future of fusion energy, hydroponic farms under the streets of London and so much more.

Danone

Danone needs no introduction, though not everyone may know the extent to which the company is involved in the B Corp movement. Its B Corp profile highlights their One Planet One Health commitment to inspire healthier eating and drinking habits, for example, but we know them best for their collaboration with B Lab.

In December 2015 Danone and B Lab announced a partnership which most recently has resulted in an e-learning and engagement tool to help Danone’s 100,000 employees feel motivated by the company’s commitment to certify its 130 subsidiaries around the world as B Corps. Gong was commissioned to create this tool.

The resulting six bite-size lessons (incorporating engaging video content and more) were rolled out globally in October 2020 and translated into five languages. B Lab is now launching a version of the e-learning tool to make it accessible for the wider B Corp community. Spreading the #BetterBusiness love!

EQ Investors

EQ Investors – another of the founding B Corps in the UK – creates change through the power of investments. In 2017 and 2018 they won a ‘Best for the World’ award for their work on impact investing and their EQ Positive Impact Portfolios allow individuals to invest in companies that are creating solutions to social and environmental problems. This is a pensions and investment firm that is really helping companies and individuals to ‘make (their) money matter’ – another campaign we’re wholly on board with.

ClimateCare

As you know, climate change is a topic very close to our hearts here at Gong. We admire ClimateCare – based (like us) in the UK and Kenya – for its work towards a sustainable future with climate neutral and net zero programmes, using both private and public finance. They even have a handy carbon calculator to help us work out how much carbon we need to offset, as well as 50 ideas for shrinking our carbon footprint.

Who would you add to this list?

News

Solving societal bias with innovative engineering

March 2, 2021 sarahcaddy Leave a comment

Engineering makes a difference in places you wouldn’t always expect. One of the biggest problems in facial recognition systems is bias in the artificial intelligences (AIs) behind them. Incredibly powerful AIs tend to be designed to do a single task, such as predict which of your friends’ posts you will want to see or to identify you in a photo, but an AI can only be as good as the data it is trained on.

Give a new AI a million photos of kittens and it might be able to learn what a kitten looks like from every conceivable angle and identify one in a photo. But AIs designed to recognise and identify human faces have generally been trained using databases containing predominantly white people and far fewer people of other ethnicities. This has led to an inherent bias in the programmes, and a great variety in reliability in identifying people from different backgrounds. This can cause a multitude of problems.

Fortunately, there are people and organisations working to address this imbalance. Take Charlette N’Guessan, for example. This 26-year-old from Cote D’Ivoire and her team have come up with software that uses a phone or computer’s built-in camera and, and in contrast to global AI systems, has been developed specifically to identify Africans. Her initial aim was to solve cybercrime and identify fraud for Ghanaian banks, but like any good feat of engineering, there’s potential for its applications in addressing societal bias globally.

Back in September, it won her the prestigious 2020 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation from the Royal Academy of Engineering, making her the first ever woman to win the Africa Prize.

Given that Gong’s mission statement is “to help purposeful organisations communicate their positive impact”, we are proud to be able to showcase the Africa Grants work of our client, The Royal Academy of Engineering.

And it seems apt to highlight it as World Engineering Day on 4th March celebrates the role of engineers and engineering in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and encouraging more young people to become engineers – especially women – in a bid for greater sector diversity and inclusion.

The Academy nurtures talented engineers by training, supporting, mentoring and funding innovators, researchers and leaders, helping over 7,500 professionals enhance their leadership skills. In Africa, its Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation supports 16 African entrepreneurs by accelerating their businesses, with a final prize of £25,000. Its Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) programme aims to address the engineering skills shortage and showcase engineering’s role in driving economic development in the region. Similarly, its GCRF Africa Catalyst programme aims to support professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa so that they can share best practice and strengthen local engineering capacity.

By 2025, the Royal Academy of Engineering will have helped a million young people – from every background – to explore a career in engineering. They’re investing £180m in engineering talent, innovation and policy advice over the next five years.

We look forward to showcasing the stories of the impact made by Africa’s engineers, as they innovate towards a more sustainable, brighter future.

News

Royal Academy of Engineering appoints Gong for Africa grants programmes brief

March 2, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

2^nd March 2021, London: The Royal Academy of Engineering has appointed Gong Communications to support its sub-Saharan Africa grants programmes: Higher Education Partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) and Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Africa Catalyst.

Following a public request for proposals and a competitive tender, Gong was awarded the brief to increase visibility and awareness of the Academy’s grants programmes across sub-Saharan Africa and to amplify its role in helping to build sustainable societies and inclusive economies.

Gong will deliver the work from its offices in London and Nairobi, working with its partners in other countries in Africa where required.

Meredith Ettridge, Head of Sustainable Development at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said, “As an international programme working in sub-Saharan Africa, it was important to us that the team we engaged with had strong local expertise and knowledge. We were also impressed by Gong’s experience in diversity and inclusion, a key pillar of our 2020-2025 strategy, and its commitment to diversity in its own team.”

Commenting on the appointment, Gong’s Director, Nikki Francis-Jones said, “The Royal Academy of Engineering’s brief combined everything we are passionate about. Its mission to build sustainable societies and inclusive economies that work for everyone spoke to our B Corp values and we are incredibly proud to have been appointed to work on the project. We are looking forward to telling the stories of these fantastic sub-Saharan African programmes.”

News

Top four challenges when preparing for a speech

February 16, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Contributed by Sally Maier, Gong alumni during her time at the company

Outside work, I love public speaking and have been an active Toastmasters member for three and a half years.

For those who don’t know Toastmasters, it’s a public speaking association founded in US with an international footprint in almost every city in the world.

Earlier this week I gave a talk about the preparation and practise of giving a speech to some 30 people in the room and would like to share part of my talk here, as it could also easily be applied to the public relations and business world.

As part of the preparation for my talk, I asked Toastmasters with backgrounds ranging from professional coaching to IT gurus: “What is your biggest challenge when preparing for a speech?”

Challenge 1:

From the responses, one of the top three most common challenges is finding an interesting topic that fits the set objectives.

Likewise, at work, when preparing a speech or a presentation, we may sometimes find it difficult to find a topic that appeals to our target audience – whether they are the media, consumers, NGOs or governments.

When selecting a topic, try out the C-E-O formula. It has worked for my last 15 speeches at Toastmasters, as well as at work.

Connection: Ensure that the topic you select connects with every single individual in the room. This applies to any speech for any situation.
Evaluation: What are the things that you will be judged on? Ask for the criteria before you craft your speech or presentation.
Objectives: What do you want to achieve from the speech or presentation? Is it about selling a product or changing a behaviour?

Now you may ask, how will I get inspiration for the topic idea itself? Here are three ideas for you:

Carry a notebook with you every day. Jot down your ideas as and when you stumble across them. Brilliant ideas often spring to mind when outside familiar office environments.
Talk to the people around you. They are your inspiration. Last time I was due to give a demonstration talk at Toastmasters, I was struggling to come up with a topic. Gilly Cutts, my most inspiring mentor, then gave me the brilliant idea of talking about my quarterly e-journal for my family and friends and that’s how I came up with the speech topic “How to keep your global connections”. Likewise, at work, you are not alone. Brainstorm ideas with your colleagues, or even as a group if you are really stuck.
Think about your recent life events or the news in the media. Don’t underestimate the power of personal stories. None of us live the very same life. People love hearing true personal stories. Likewise, when drafting a speech or presentation for clients, think about what could make your piece of work stand out. Very often it is about small human touches or an emotional connection.

Challenge 2:

“I have too much to say. I am not sure what to leave out.”

If you face the same problem, try out the A-R-M formula:

Audience: It is about the audience, not you. Cross out anything that you think will bore your audience to death!
Revision: Revise your speech again and again until you are totally satisfied with it. On average, I revise a speech at least 10 times. As a general rule, five to seven minutes of speech is around 700 to 800 words, and no more than 900 words.
Message: Have one main, powerful message. Even two messages are too many. Keep it really simple and easy to remember.

Challenge 3:

“Learning my speech doesn’t come easily or naturally. I always feel unprepared.”

Try out the P-P-P formula if you face the same issue:

Plan well ahead. So you know you are not in a rush and you are in control, if the timeline is going to be tight for you, try to reschedule it for a later date.
Practise by yourself. Once you have drafted the speech, practise it at least 20 times – practise it whenever you can, e.g. when you are taking a shower, queuing or walking in the park. Also try to:

– Time your speech and use a recorder if you have one so that you can watch your pace and pronunciation.

– Practise in front of a mirror so that you can watch your movements and body language.

– Practise your visual aids. Sometimes they can be a distraction so be sure to integrate your visual aids with your speech and use them to illustrate or emphasise your point.

Practise with others such as your colleagues, friends or partner so that you are used to speaking in front of an audience. At Toastmasters, for example, I find practising with my mentor is incredibly useful. Before each speech, I have a couple of practices with my mentor on Skype, either on a Sunday evening or early Monday morning, when we are still in our pyjamas! Likewise at work, if you can, practise your presentation with your colleagues before presenting to your clients.

Challenge 4:

“How do I adapt my speech for a virtual audience or webinar?”

In general, the policies listed above also apply when preparing a speech for a webinar. Of course you will need to adapt for a virtual medium:

Be more visual – in a webinar, eye-catching images will help to engage a virtual audience. Think carefully about your image choices – are they landing your key messages effectively?
Find ways to establish a personal connection – at a live event, it is possible to establish a relationship with your audience through eye contact, or a well-timed smile. How can you forge a connection online? Think about asking questions of your audience, taking polls, or gaining feedback throughout your speech.
Be sure of your technology. Make sure you have a secure wifi signal and if in doubt, consider a backup computer. Perhaps a trusted colleague could be ready with a copy of your speech to jump in and finish for you if the worst happens? Prepare for all eventualities.

Remember – voice is always important when preparing a speech, but even more so in an online setting as there are fewer distractions. Monotone voices can inspire yawns, so keep your tone interesting! Think also about your use of pauses to effect – they can work very well just before you land a point, for example.

But overall – if I need to give you one single piece of advice for preparing and practising for a speech or any piece of work, I would like to quote Stephen Covey:

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!”

News

International Day for Education, 24th January 2021

January 22, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

This year, the UNESCO-backed International Day for Education recognises the significant impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on global education. With a mission theme to “Recover and Revitalise”, the call to action is clear: it is our communal responsibility to build our education systems back up. By increasing access to economic opportunities through education, we can hope to achieve gender equality and break the cycle of poverty.

Recent United Nations reporting on its Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) for Education indicates that school closures for Covid-19 kept 90% of all students out of school, reversing years of progress on education. Inequalities in education are exacerbated by Covid-19 – in low income countries, children’s school completion rate is 79% in the richest households, but only 34% in the poorest.

So what cause is there to celebrate on this International Day for Education? Let us look to a fantastic example of education-focused entrepreneurship in east Africa coming from the British Council’s Creative Hubs Academy for inspiration:

Zetu Africa and the School Seat Pack

Arnold Mugaga is founder of Zetu Africa, based in Uganda. His design-led company creates innovative bags that pupils can use to carry books and convert into seats during class sessions – inspired by a 2016 report stating that 95 million children in Africa study without classroom furniture.

Innovating throughout the pandemic, Arnold and his team now use locally sourced bamboo to create a lightweight, affordable chair and bag (with mobile writing board) that is also waterproof.

Arnold’s advice to entrepreneurs in the creative economies is to maintain an openness to learning, which can be done through participating in programmes such as the British Council’s Creative Hubs Academy. He attests to the programme’s interest in imparting knowledge to entrepreneurs and supporting them to ensure that they remain relevant, diverse, sustainable, and inclusive.

His is just one bright example of the way in which we can move past the setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This International Day for Education, let us celebrate him and other entrepreneurs like him who are moving us productively towards an inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2020_Page_11

Infographic source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4

News

LOOKING FOR CARBON CAPTURE INSPIRATION? WE HAVE YOU COVERED.

January 15, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

You’ll know from our previous blogs that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is scientifically argued to be the best route to mitigating climate change via a less CO2 intensive world. As a B Corp dedicated to being carbon Net Zero, at Gong we are always on the lookout for inspiring companies.

Here are our top 10 carbon capture, storage and usage innovations to help power a new green economy.

1. Biochar – CO2 that enriches the soil

Finnish company Carbofex turns biomass and organic waste into high value biochar products for soil enrichment, ultimately producing clean energy and permanently removing CO2. The pyrolysis process is explained by carbon removal marketplace PURO.earth as a long-lasting means of storing carbon for more than 1000 years. Other major players: Craig Sams’ Carbon Gold.

2. Green Cement for Africa – using agricultural residues

The production of cement produces vast amounts of CO2 – causing 8% of worldwide carbon emissions. This short video illustrates how researchers and engineers at the Federal Office for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin are developing an innovative solution: a bio-concrete in which cement is mixed with residual materials from cassava shells.

3. Air Protein: the future of carbon-negative foods

The food industry is one of the biggest carbon emitters – even higher than the automobile industry. With synthetic biology, it is possible to transform CO2 into delicious, life-sustaining nutrition. In this article for Forbes, contributor John Cumbers outlines how Air Protein’s process uses many of the inputs of traditional crops but on a lot less land and at a vastly accelerated rate. Essentially, Air Protein has the potential to improve traditional farming efficiency by 3,500 per cent.

4. DroneSeed: replanting forests devastated by wildfires

Wildfire seasons continue to decimate landscapes at alarming rates. Reporting for CNN Business, Rishi Iyengar outlines in this story how DroneSeed has developed a way to replant trees six times faster. Covering up to 50 acres a day, it also cuts the supply chains for getting new seeds in the ground down from three years to three months.

5. Jet fuel reverse-engineered from greenhouse gases

At this stage, it’s just an experimental process, but there’s a team at Oxford University working on turning carbon dioxide into jet fuel. Outlined in this story from Wired.com, lead researcher and founder of green fuel firm Velocys Tiancun Xiao discusses the organic combustion method that could be a climate game-changer.

6. Transforming agri-waste to energy: Sistema.bio

Sistema.bio is a company that creates biodigesters to take organic waste and transform it into renewable biogas and a powerful organic fertilizer. In total, the company has offset 211,000 tonnes of CO2. This blog describes the story of Veronica, from Kenya, who outlines how Sistema’s biodigesters provide farmers with more than renewable energy: they improve economies by cutting costs and enhancing farm productivity too.

7. Direct air capture ‘buries’ CO2

Direct air carbon capture company Climeworks has started construction of a plant in Iceland that will trap and bury 4,000 mt/year of CO2. The plant will run on renewable energy and will capture emissions directly from the air. The company is also powering the plant with clean energy from ON Power’s Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plan, minimising the plant’s impact. It is scheduled to be online in Spring 2021 – read more on Forbes.com, here.

8. Carbon-negative Vodka

Brooklyn company Air Co has developed a process for making vodka that converts carbon dioxide into alcohol. The distilled alcoholic beverage is made with a process that uses electrical energy to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol – according to Air Co, the first time it has been used for large-scale production of vodka.

We can all drink to that!

9. AirCarbon – pellets that strengthen other materials

Newlight uses a microorganism-based biocatalyst to extract carbon from methane or CO2 and strings it together into a long-chain bioplastic molecule, called AirCarbon. Following polymerization, AirCarbon is converted into a pellet for downstream use, including in extrusion, cast film, and injection molding applications. Watch their XPRIZE video here.

10. Mangrove restoration

Mother nature of course, can’t be bettered. And mangroves are even more effective than rain forests at sequestering carbon. The world’s mangroves sequester about 24 million metric tons of carbon in soil per year. A mangrove forest on the Pacific island of Kosrae, in Micronesia, can store as much carbon annually as a tropical rain forest in Panama. This organisation is helping countries all over the world to restore their mangroves as a nature based solution and carbon sink: https://coastalresourcesgroup.org/

News

FIVE TOP TIPS FOR STARTING A NEW JOB IN LOCKDOWN

January 5, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Starting a new job can be nerve-wracking: meeting colleagues, learning about new clients, getting to grips with a new work landscape – but doing it all completely remotely makes it so much harder.

2020 was a tumultuous year globally. At Gong we’ve been fortunate to expand despite the pandemic and we’ve had to adapt quickly to support remote-working employees bed in to an internationally focused job. Here are our top tips on starting a new job during lockdown 3.0 in 2021.

Tip one: Communication is key

Working remotely means that it is all too easy to go through your to-do list without extended interaction with your colleagues. When it happens from the start of a new job, it can leave you feeling isolated and distant from the company that you’ve joined.

Our new colleagues have been quick to push for regular interaction with managers and clients. Establishing a weekly routine of whole-company video meetings, interspersed with client-specific catch ups and regular content and best practice sharing has imbued people with a stronger sense of purpose and inclusivity.

This doesn’t just apply to individuals. In times of crisis, businesses need effective communication more than ever, to align corporate purpose, manage stakeholder relations and reassure customer, clients and employees. Our clients in a broad range of sectors are feeling the benefits of quickly and consistently reacting to the challenges and changes brought about by COVID-19.

Tip two: Celebrate your successes with your team

Sharing ideas and celebrating achievements is part of working in a fast-paced corporate communications agency. When starting a new job in lockdown, this has the added benefit of increasing your sense of accomplishment and work as a team-player.

“There’s nothing like the buzz of getting blanket coverage for your client’s stories and sharing that success with your colleagues. It’s even more fulfilling when you work for clients such as ours, which are changing the world for the better. My highlight of 2020 was when we secured coverage across the board for the launch of the Bankers for Net Zero initiative, followed by a story from our client Sunlight about its role in the green energy transition. Both stories hit within a week of each other, which made for an exciting month!”

Hannah Hughes, Account Director

Tip three: Make technology work for you

Even prior to COVID-19, Gong had adopted flexible working practices, with the whole team fully set up on Zoom and Microsoft Teams with client files securely in the cloud. All of this has proven invaluable when the pandemic hit and is essential when starting a new job in lockdown.

Sara Viglione, Senior Account Manager said, “Starting a new job from home is challenging. You forget how much you naturally learn through general office conversations. However, the team is extremely responsive so I can Zoom with any of my colleagues and nine times out of ten they’re available to speak.”

Tip four: Value your clients

Due to the international nature of our client base, we are an experienced video conference crew. The team uses that client face time to go the extra mile, always probing for thought leadership ideas and media hooks rather than simply providing updates.

Another new Gong starter, Jo Hooke (Account Manager) reflects on how well virtual connections work when properly managed: “While I’m a firm believer that nothing can ever replace face to face contact, switching to more regular check-in calls with clients is working extremely well. It’s all about ensuring regular contact and developing conversations in new ways.”

Tip five: Keep a strong sense of corporate ethos

When starting a new job during lockdown, it’s easy to lose sight of your new company’s ethos. As a sustainability focused PR agency in London and a registered B-Corp we not only want to make sure we have the best people for the job but we also want to build a team that is equally passionate about Gong’s commitment to excellence, people and planet.

By reinforcing our values during catch up meetings, we have secured our new team members’ commitment to these attitudes and behaviours, despite the fact that they started working remotely:

“When I saw Gong’s portfolio of clients I was really impressed. Gong and Gong Kenya have a wealth of experience and a strong track record with clients across the B2B market in Africa. As a Zambian myself, I feel a huge commitment to Africa and making sure I leave a mark that leads to the betterment of the continent – at Gong I knew I could do this” said Vinesh Parmar, an Account Executive starting work remotely.

Annabel Bailey, another Account Executive who began work during the global pandemic commented, “What really stood out to me when starting my job was the way that Gong helps businesses communicate their positive impact. I’ve been working on accounts such as battery manufacturer Systems Sunlight and search consultancy specialist Granger Reis and their commitment to sustainability and net-zero targets has been extremely refreshing and inspiring.”

Starting a new job from home whilst everyone else is also adjusting to this new way of working can make it slightly more difficult to hit the ground running but our new recruits are doing a sterling job.

With a promise of a vaccine, 2021 is looking to be an encouraging year for our health and for a greener, diverse and equitable future. We may be working remotely for some time to come, but armed with these top tips, starting a new job in lockdown need not be as daunting as it seems.

MEET OUR LATEST RECRUITS

Sara Viglione: Senior Account Manager

Jo Hooke: Account Manager

Vinesh Parmar: Account Executive

Annabel Bailey: Account Executive

News, Small Grid, Uncategorized

Gong Impact Report

December 22, 2020 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

As the year draws to a close, we’ve used the opportunity to reflect on the year we’ve had and the impact we have made. Labelling 2020 as ‘turbulent’ would be an understatement at best. Yet for all the wicked problems that have faced our society and our planet this year, there have been many brilliant lights that have shined brightly and given us reason for hope. At Gong we’ve been fortunate to have been working with many of those bright lights, which we see to be our clients solving some of the world’s most wicked problems. For our part, we’ve used our expertise to accelerate their impact and help them shift the needle through communications.

As a B Corp, we are required to report on our impact. This report reflects the impact we have made this year, both through our client work and through our own commitments to society, environment, our suppliers, our people, and how we operate as a business – our governance. We hope you enjoy reading what we’ve been up to as much as we’ve enjoyed doing everything in this report.

If you’d like to get in touch and find out more about our work, get in touch info@gongcommunications.com

View full report here

News, Small Grid, Uncategorized

Africa Net Zero: Elizabeth Chege

December 10, 2020 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

To kick off Gong’s new #AfricaNetZero series, we talked to Elizabeth Wangeci Chege @Betz99Kesh CEO and co-founder of @WEBLimitedGroup who was recently honored by @WorldGBC in recognition of her 20-year commitment to green building in Africa and her pioneering work in the sustainable construction sector in Kenya.

Following World Green Building Week 2020, we caught up with Elizabeth to hear her thoughts on green building in Africa and the Africa net zero conversation. We talked about the influence of Covid-19 on future green building, diversity in the sustainable construction sector, regulation and financing and public vs private net zero commitments.

Thank you, Elizabeth Wangeci Chege, for sharing your views with us!

News

Carbon transformation leader Puro.earth extends brief with Gong Communications

November 19, 2020 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

After a successful project in which we helped announce its commercial launch and global rollout, carbon marketplace Puro.earth has extended its brief with Gong.

Puro aims to scale carbon transformation by matching companies looking to achieve NetZero, such as SwissRe and Shopify, with innovative climate tech businesses that capture and store carbon for the long term, effectively removing carbon from the atmosphere.

Gong is working with Puro to increase brand awareness by building on coverage already achieved in international business press (such as Forbes) and sustainability trades (such as Greenbiz), as well as through a targeted social media campaign.