Communications & Media Management

When times are good, nobody wants help with Communications either internal or external. At times of sudden change or when a story hits the Media, suddenly 'Comms' becomes important. How will you respond, what will your organisation do when there is a Crisis caused by a howling Media?

We help the Crisis go away.

This is what one client had to say:

"Will was introduced to me when, as a Chief Executive in the NHS, I was facing very damaging national broadsheet headlines about the quality of my hospital. Will responded immediately, demonstrating a speed of thought and delivery backed with clear tactical and legal knowledge of how to address the issues raised with confidence. I felt significantly more sure with Will's 24 hour advice and I know this was shared by own Comms team who were clearly not used to working at the same level of political exposure.

Dealing with Will always gave me the sense that I received excellent value for money, and that it came from someone whose values of truth and public service I could totally respect. Will can and does work with great success on a much wider basis than the remit that I gave him. I believe that his immediate success at media crisis management with my hospital subsequently led to a more proactive role in determining the hospital's future comms set-up, internal appointments and a proactive approach to media relations and political positioning.

He's definitely one of the very best in his field.

Paul O'Connor, Chief Executive, Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust"

Preparation is the key. You should already know what constitutes a Media Crisis for your organisation, have isolated the team to manage it and have simulated your response. You should have a time-tested routine ready at a moment's notice. If you have not, we will help you put a process in place so that you are ready for as many relevant eventualities as possible.

Crisis Management of the Media is one thing. Getting your message across at times of change is another.

When the Crown Prosecution Service in England needed to effectively communicate its new Prosecuting policy to barristers, it asked us to help. The message had to be delivered clearly, in line precisely with the needs of the Director of the CPS and had to be done so effectively. A generation of Lawyers needed a means of cutting through mountains of evidence to arrive at the answer to a question: Should we prosecute? We were central to the delivery of the answer.

The CPS led the content, and we led the delivery of that content. Communicating important information to enable change at a time of crisis or reorganisation should never be taken for granted.

We were delighted to, thereafter, be asked by the Law Society to help them prepare a new Comms message to its members.

Peugeot, Perrier and a major Premiership football club are amongst those who have turned to us to sensitively manage the message they wished to get across to both a mass audience and to key players and partners in their business worlds.

Most recently, we were called in by a major National hospital at a time of 'Media Crisis.' We put a stop to damaging stories and became crucial to the process of re-branding the hospital in line with a new agenda. Internally and externally, we got the message across.

From 2011, we are offering a unique service. Crisis management of the Media is a process which needs to be applied across complex organisations and has to be on-message, on-brand. We have experts both in-house and specially recruited who have advised Government ministers, FTSE 100 companies and high-achieving individuals who simply have to know what to do when they are suddenly the centre of attention.

We have been called upon by top legal firm Eversheds, the Birmingham University Business School as part of its MBA course and by political parties to help mould their teams.

It's rare to be able to access the skillset we are offering and one thing has to be made clear from the start - confidentiality is key and we can guarantee it. Those mentioned here are all on record as using our service and have given permission to be referred to.

The service is led by Will Hanrahan : will@firstlooktv.co.uk and can also draw on the expertise of a hugely respected figure within the National Media. Fore more about the enormoujsly knowledgeable Rick Thompson, see our team members page.

http://www.firstlooktv.co.uk/company-profile/rick-thompson

Unilever, the CBI, the Law Society, the Magistrates Association, the University of Central England in Birmingham, the Centre for Dispute Resolution and a premier League football club have all called on the simple, high-quality, high-production-value approach of HanrahanMedia.

CEDR