Even the most time poor executive will find space to attend a well designed and executed event if it helps build or maintain networks and the content is inspiring and worthwhile. Our track record includes developing formats for award winning events spanning internal audiences and public launches. From insurance to retailing, private equity to professional development, presidential inaugurations to flash mobs, we can help devise and execute a memorable event.
Print publications are on the wane, as digital and social media on mobile devices expand to fill every need. It’s not easy to stay on top of the changing media landscape, let alone maintain the necessary relationships.
Working with a professional PR team will ensure that your media communications are of the highest international standards, and that they hit their mark.
If you would like some inspiration when it comes to naming a new venture and a brand identity that will project professionalism, we can help. Or we can refresh your existing logo and revisit your corporate purpose to sharpen your focus.
If you are in crisis and looking for assistance, we can advise on stakeholder communications and media strategy, setting up your frontline press office to filter calls and monitor coverage.
If you anticipate there may be trouble ahead, we can help scenario plan, train spokespeople and provide counsel on the best line of response.
Our team’s experience has been honed on a global stage dealing with issues that include mergers & acquisitions, short sellers, product recalls, unions, NGOs and government enquiries.
Standing up for and standing out for something is a useful way to position your organisation. Having your own data naturally lends more authority. We very often help clients brainstorm what they want to ‘own’ in terms of issues and devise the appropriate research to support it. We can scope the project and find a research partner or pull together a project team to capture, interpret and present the data.
A well crafted video is a powerful way to get your message across. With some careful production planning, your film can be edited to different lengths to be used effectively on different platforms. Whether you are looking for inspiration for a standout investor presentation, or to take your employee engagement to another level, we can help. Our expert teams can operate as easily in Lagos or Kampala as London or New York.
A well produced business book still has the effect of conferring authority on the author, especially when it comes from a respected publishing house and is reviewed in major media. Finding the inspirational spark, the right co-writer (or ghost) and engaging with the right publisher takes time and expertise. Getting the book in front of the right people pre-and post launch to ensure it makes its mark is also crucial for a successful project.
Sara Bonafair, senior account executive, Gong Communications
Up until 2016, I’d never given much thought to toilet paper. That was until I was assigned the task of taking my company through the B Corp certification process. Now I am a stickler for upholding the small changes, like eco-friendly toilet paper, that helped us achieve the highest standard of overall social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability required to become a certified B Corporation.
We set certification as a goal for ourselves in the summer of 2016. I was not familiar with the B Corp movement previously, but what attracted me to Gong in the first place, its mission to help purpose-driven businesses do extraordinary things for people, planet and profit, is exactly what made Gong eligible for certification.
Certified B Corps, which also count Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Etsy among their number, aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. There are more than 2,000 certified B Corporations in over 120 industries and 50 countries with 1 unifying goal – to redefine success in business. To become certified, a company must satisfactorily answer 166 questions covering a company’s business model, governance, workers, community, and environment (that’s where the toilet paper comes in).
The process is rigorous but companies starting the journey may find that they don’t need to change a whole lot. Some small changes for us included switching to recycled printer paper, implementing quarterly company-wide financial performance meetings, and formalising existing practices into company policies, such as client feedback forms, preferred supplier lists, and a diversity and inclusion policy; practices that existed but just needed formalising. Committing ourselves to our values in this way has helped us bake our mission into our DNA.
After about six months of answering questions and making small changes to help us put our best foot forward, we submitted our questionnaire to the reviewers, who would randomly select answers for us to prove. In June of 2017, we finally made it! From beyond the finish line it is easy to see how much the B Corp certification process has helped Gong grow and we now have two non-executive directors to enable us to lead the charge as one of only a handful of marketing and communications B Corps in the UK.
As for me, after diving deep into every detail of how Gong does what it does, and coming out on the other side with an official B Corp certification, I’m impressed with how the team lives out the company values every day, and am proud to have helped create a legacy that will help uphold this commitment for years to come.
Narda Shirley, managing director, Gong Communications
The subject of purpose powered business and the issues that inspire CEOs and entrepreneurs alike have been keeping us occupied for a while here at Gong as we’ve worked on the Purpose Powered Business book for John O’Brien and Andy Cave and joined the B Corps community. Our other big focus is private equity, so it felt natural to think hard about the appeal and challenges of one to the other. Chatting to experts in leadership search and assessment helped crystallise an insight that purpose in business is really a people issue. Read our article here on why we think talent will be the reason that private equity allows purpose to sit alongside profit as one of its key objectives.
Nairobi, Kenya. 6 July 2017
Beverly Amira, MD Gong Kenya
On 6 July Gong Kenya, Moody’s Investor Services and the Business Council for Africa (BCA) collaborated to stage a breakfast event on the subject of ‘Reputation Capital’ in Nairobi. The two speakers, Gong’s Group MD, Narda Shirley and Moody’s Head of Relationships in Africa, Sylvia Chahonyo, were introduced by Michael Monari, the BCA’s East Africa representative, who set out the membership body’s mission to help businesses make valuable new connections in Europe and in Africa among its community of 4000 members. The fifty-strong audience this morning included communications professionals and business leaders from industries as diverse as banking, insurance, technology, travel, real estate, private equity, government and energy. The breakfast discussion centred on the business value of reputation – how to crystallise, measure, manage, and protect it. Gong provided its 10 top tips for best practice in building and defending corporate reputations, giving a special shout out to B Labs East Africa and the certified B Corp community, which Gong has recently joined (B Corp certification is to business what fair trade is to coffee). Third party expert views and customer reviews, awards and accreditations were cited as key in building reputation ‘in peace time’ in the context of developing robust crisis communications strategies before trouble hits your business. Moody’s focused on the role of credit ratings agencies in risk management, explaining to the audience how this role is localised for the African continent. And the event wrapped with insightful questions from the audience on the role of internal communications in building workplace cultures that can withstand crises. Audience feedback was immediately positive to the point that Gong Kenya has already committed to host two more events in the series, one on ‘Cultural Capital’ and the other on ‘Social Capital’.
Download the Reputation Capital Presentation, Nairobi. 6 July 2017 here.
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