Tag Archives: media relations

Royal Academy of Engineering

September 11, 2025 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Programmes are advancing engineering innovation and sustainable development across sub-Saharan Africa.

We were engaged to raise the profile of the Africa Grants and Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, positioning them through a lens of diversity, inclusion, and impact.

Working with Academy stakeholders, we developed a unifying communications framework and toolkit to help awardees and partners share their stories with confidence. This informed a series of thought leadership articles on the value of UK–Africa collaboration. Anchoring activity around World Engineering Day, we secured 387 pieces of coverage in outlets such as Forbes and CNBC Africa, reaching an estimated 350m people in less than two weeks. Ten in-depth case studies, based on interviews with partners and beneficiaries, brought to life the Programmes’ transformative impact on skills and capacity building.

Our partnership has extended to global moments of advocacy. Ahead of COP26, we media trained Academy spokespeople and led targeted outreach under embargo, securing top-tier coverage in Kenya, Ethiopia and across the continent. A coordinated press release delivered a further 1,000 media hits, elevating awareness of the Academy’s leadership in tackling urgent issues such as open waste burning.

Most recently, we are supporting the Academy with strategic communications for the Africa Prize. By profiling 16 exceptional finalists, coordinating photo and video storytelling across seven countries, and preparing innovators for media and public speaking, we are showcasing Africa’s engineering excellence on the world stage. Early results include 388 pieces of coverage, with high-profile features in The Telegraph and BBC News Africa, reinforcing the Prize’s reputation as a catalyst for innovation and impact.

Case Study

AMEA power

September 10, 2025 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Gong was engaged to build the profile of AMEA Power, an ambitious and fast-growing Independent Power Producer (IPP) operating across Africa and the Middle East. At a time when the company was scaling its portfolio and seeking to establish itself as a trusted industry leader, we developed and executed a communications strategy to amplify its voice across influential media channels.

Our media programme delivered measurable impact: securing over 700 pieces of high-quality coverage across pan-African and Middle Eastern outlets, reaching investors, policymakers, and industry stakeholders in key markets.

To strengthen AMEA Power’s thought leadership credentials, we drafted and placed a series of high-impact opinion pieces in tier-one business and financial media, including CNBC and Arabian Business, shaping the conversation around renewable energy investment and sustainable growth.

In parallel, we positioned AMEA Power’s senior spokespeople as authoritative voices in the energy sector, securing broadcast interviews with CNBC and BBC Focus on Africa. These platforms gave AMEA Power an opportunity to articulate its vision for powering Africa’s future, while reinforcing its credibility as a partner of choice in the region.

Case Study

Landscape Institute

February 1, 2023 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Highlighting the role of landscape architects in building landscapes that support health and wellbeing and promote green recovery.

Gong worked with the Landscape Institute, the chartered body for the landscape profession, to highlight the role of landscape architects in building landscapes that combat climate change, support health and wellbeing, and promote the green recovery.

Gong’s sustainability communications team focused on increasing awareness of the Landscape Institute in media by telling the incredible stories of the winners of the Landscape Institute Awards.

After initial discovery work which included reviewing company stakeholders, analysis of the media landscape and conducting interviews with the various winners, we achieved coverage in target titles such as BALI, Horticulture Week, The Landscaper, and Architect’s Datafile.

Gong was re-engaged by the Landscape Institute to support the Landscape Institute Awards 2022, achieving coverage in trade and regional publications such as Specification and London Daily News.

Our sustainability comms specialists also helped the Landscape Institute to launch its Skills for Greener Places research at the body’s annual Jellicoe lecture. After reviewing and identifying key themes that would attract media interest around the report, Gong secured press release coverage in regional and trade titles such as London Daily News and Pro Landscaper, and follow up interviews with Landscape Institute stakeholders in Horticulture Week.

Case Study

DPO Group

April 15, 2021 sarahcaddy Leave a comment

Corporate profiling leading to an acquisition in a landmark deal and one of the largest exits in Africa’s tech sector.

DPO Group has developed the technology to allow businesses across Africa to process payments, on and offline. Headquartered in Kenya, with presence in 19 African countries, DPO works with businesses of all sizes, supporting the growth of small local businesses, as well as working with large corporations, such as Uber, Booking.com and DHL.

Gong was tasked with supporting DPO in developing its corporate profile and raising awareness of its suite of products to businesses locally, regionally and internationally, with coverage secured in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, the UK, the US, China and France, amongst others.

In August 2020, Gong supported DPO Group in the announcement of its planned acquisition by Network International, in what is a landmark deal for the African payments landscape and one of the largest exits in Africa’s tech sector.

With a modest investment we are delivering outsized results, securing 50 pieces of coverage of DPO’s acquisition alone, including in top tier international titles such as Forbes and Quartz. The estimated reach of this single announcement was over 1.5bn readers.

Case Study

DoctorLink

April 15, 2021 sarahcaddy Leave a comment

Awareness raising and reputation management leading to a 250% increase in active user base for pioneering telehealth platform.

Gong was retained to develop a communications strategy to launch digital triage provider DoctorLink, encouraging uptake by GP surgeries, changing public perception and behaviour around booking GP appointments, and building a corporate brand to support future products and long-term business goals.

We began by conducting extensive stakeholder and market research which informed a brand strategy workshop, during which we analysed corporate brand attributes and differentiators and defined the company vision, mission, values and core market positioning.

We took a multi-channel approach to achieve DoctorLink’s core communications goals, including media relations, social media, industry event debates, thought leadership whitepaper research, case studies, working with medical professional champions and influencers, video and design collateral including infographics.

The product launch was a huge success, with extensive coverage of the white paper research in industry publications, as well as expert opinions published in the national papers. The research was turned into a TED-style talk and used as the basis for speaking engagements at key NHS conferences. Following the launch, we continued to build DoctorLink’s B2B profile alongside a consumer awareness of the product through ongoing media and marketing activity.

In December 2020, DoctorLink was acquired by digital health company HealthHero, having seen a 250 per cent increase in its active user base and 900 per cent growth in video consultations over the nine months prior to acquisition. During this timeframe, the number of GP clinics using the DoctorLink platform had tripled and it reported 10 times revenue growth in 2020, making it one of the largest telehealth companies in Europe.

Case Study

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM)

April 15, 2021 sarahcaddy Leave a comment

Positioning African Infrastructure Investment Managers as the leading sustainable infrastructure investors on the continent.

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), one of Africa’s leading private equity investment managers dedicated to African infrastructure, has been a retained client of Gong’s since 2016.

Our corporate comms brief with AIIM focuses on talking about its extensive infrastructure experience in targeted press, concentrating on positioning AIIM as one of the leading renewable energy investors on the continent.

Activities also included announcing deal news, drafting LinkedIn content and carefully targeted op-ed writing on issues such as: the outlook for renewable energy in Africa, reform priorities in Nigeria’s power sector, the role of the private sector in plugging the infrastructure spending gap, and the importance of renewables in a greener recovery post-Covid.

Coverage has been achieved in international titles such as the Financial Times and Bloomberg, energy trade publications such as Energy Voice, Renewable Energy Magazine and Power magazine, as well as several target investment publications. Potential readership of Gong’s media coverage reaches an average of 55 million people each month.

Our work with AIIM resulted in Gong winning the global corporate communications brief for AIIM’s holding company, Old Mutual Alternative Investments.

Case Study

THE SUNLIGHT GROUP

March 24, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Communicating a value proposition, promoting employment opportunities and championing female STEM experts for Greek energy storage employer.

On a retained basis, we supported Sunlight Group Energy Storage Systems, a world-leading technology company and provider of innovative energy storage solutions, in finding its voice amidst the green energy transition discussions.

Our renewable energy PR team ran a communications messaging workshop to define the company’s three key messages, supported its international expansion and positioned the company as a voice of authority on sector issues.

Then we set about securing CEO interviews and company profiles in international business titles including Reuters, Forbes, NY Times and Bloomberg. We also managed thought leadership articles with leading trade publications including Warehouse & Logistics, Energy Storage News and Batteries International, on the topics of battery innovation and industrial applications. Profiles and opinion pieces were supported by regular product and company news announcements covered by titles such as Yahoo! Finance, El Pais, Il Sole 24 Ore and Handelsblatt.

Through a PR & marcomms campaign, our renewable energy communications consultants helped Sunlight Group to communicate its employee value proposition, promote its employment opportunities within Greece and champion its female representatives within the STEM sector. We told these stories through a series of Life at Sunlight videos, blogs and social media assets, backed up by a solid media relations campaign in key engineering and energy titles such as PV Magazine, FinanzNachrichten and FocusTechnica.

Case Study

British Council

February 10, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Sabre Award winning branding and reputation for this educational and cultural institution.

Our brief from the British Council was to encourage a priority audience of 18 to 35-year-olds to want to learn about, protect and value Kenya’s cultural heritage in order to engage and benefit from it more fully.

With tight budgets and a young demographic, who were mostly to be found online, we developed a digital-first strategy which we called #CultureGrows.

To generate engagement, we posed the question ‘Who’s your Cultural Hero?’, launched to coincide with World Day for Cultural Diversity, with an entertaining explainer video developed for social media.

Cultural organisations and creative enterprises were invited to input to the long list of heroes, with the nominees starring in a specially commissioned photography exhibition held at one of Nairobi’s most iconic cultural institutions, the McMillan Library. The nominees embraced the hashtag and shared key messages on their social channels to communicate their place on the list.

With the winners announced on Mashujaa Day (Heroes Day), we engaged media with a press conference attended by 25 choice journalists, and two media releases generating extensive local coverage.

This work was recognised by the PR industry’s most prestigious global awards, The Sabre Awards 2020, for superior achievement in branding and reputation in the educational and cultural institutions category. Gong subsequently won the pitch to manage communications for the British Council’s East Africa Arts programme across the region.

Stakeholders and consumers who have shown an interest in cultural heritage will be able to continue the conversation online after the pilot phase, following a series of digital training sessions we have delivered around cultural heritage.

Case Study

Global Parametrics

February 9, 2021 rachel_eaton Leave a comment

Sharing how to protect livelihoods in the face of natural disaster and extreme climate events.

Gong’s brief from Global Parametrics was primarily media relations-focused, with the aim of raising awareness and understanding of the role of parametric products in protecting livelihoods, in response to natural disaster and extreme climate events.

We used our comms methodology to arrive at a ‘Strategy on a Page’ that would drive clarity, support the team in communicating consistently and enable us to refresh the website.

As well as refreshing the web copy, we helped GP to launch a climate-insurance scheme, stewarding the conversation around a highly technical subject matter into a narrative that was accessible to a range of media, including business, insurance, sustainability and development outlets.

With a modest investment we have delivered outsized results, securing coverage in top tier international titles such as the Financial Times, The Economist and Reuters, as well as regional African broadcast channels and key vertical media targets like Development Finance and Insurance Day.

Third party engagement with the media coverage across social channels from funders such as FCDO and KFW has highlighted the opportunities for further investment within this field.

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Programmes are advancing engineering innovation and sustainable development across sub-Saharan Africa.

Highlighting the role of landscape architects in building landscapes that support health and wellbeing and promote green recovery.

Corporate profiling leading to an acquisition in a landmark deal and one of the largest exits in Africa’s tech sector.

Awareness raising and reputation management leading to a 250% increase in active user base for pioneering telehealth platform.

Positioning African Infrastructure Investment Managers as the leading sustainable infrastructure investors on the continent.

Communicating a value proposition, promoting employment opportunities and championing female STEM experts for Greek energy storage employer.

Thinking on the future of work for this leading international executive search firm.

Sabre Award winning branding and reputation for this educational and cultural institution.

Sharing how to protect livelihoods in the face of natural disaster and extreme climate events.