The Little Questions (Apella Advisors)

With the digital world growing and increasing its domination of our lives, some have for years been calling time on traditional media; Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once described it as “a dead man walking”.
 
In 2019 digital ad spending overtook traditional ad spending for the first time, and since then the gap has only widened. This matters because the majority of traditional media is funded by advertising revenue. No money... no media; And logically, no media, no media relations.
 
When a carefully crafted tweet can garner a hundredfold more eyeballs than an article in The Times, or a Tik Tok video can go halfway round the world before dear Auntie Beeb has got out of her bed. Does media relations and the PR pro with her Rolodex of contacts matter anymore? Or have changes in the media landscape made our outdated skills obsolete?
 
The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. Joining them to discuss this topic is their Apella Advisors colleague, Janelle Romano.
 
Janelle Romano is a Director with experience working across corporate, B2B, B2C and internal communications briefs in technology, energy, financial services, learning and skills, transport and professional services. Clients have included American Express, Bank of America, Capita, Chicago Booth School of Business and LinkedIn.
 
Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.
 
Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.
 
Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

This time we’re discussing pitches. Not the dark, viscous residue from tar, or the frantic movements of a ship in high seas but the arduous process that companies use to choose their advisors.

They are a (terrible?) feature of our lives, require huge amounts of work from both in-house and agency teams and take up a lot of everyone's time. Agencies are often suspicious that pitches are fixed before they even get in the room. Clients often worry that they are only meeting the pitch team or that the procurement team is forcing them to look at other firms when they are quite happy with their current advisor.

So how can we make pitches work for everyone? How can clients get the best out of every agency they meet? How can advisors make sure that they are putting their best feet forward? What can go wrong with a pitch? How can the pitching process be made less arduous? What can agencies and in-house teams do to set the foundations for a great pitch?

We’d love to hear your pitching stories - the good, the bad and the funny. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of the Little Questions podcast is presented by Anthony Silverman. 

Anthony is an Apella Founder Partner who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Returning to the podcast is Apella Founder Partner James Acheson-Gray, who has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Making his debut on this edition of The Little Questions is Apella Director, Sam Bevans. As an experienced communications director, specialising in campaign strategy and planning Sam has 18 years of experience working across media, technology, healthcare, energy, FMCG, financial services, professional services, and the public sector. Previous clients include AstraZeneca, Capita, The Co-operative Bank, Drax, UBS and Volkswagen.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

After the roaring success of our October “chew through the topical comms cud” we’re back again to cast a critical eye over what was November. 

We are going to have a look at: enquiries, unexpected comebacks, codenames, northern supermarkets and AI.  We’ll attempt to distil a little insight which we professional communicators can take from how these events played out and what, with the magic of hindsight, we might have done differently.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

On this episode of The Little Questions, we are joined by one of our industry's most respected practitioners, Basil Towers. Basil has been advising organisations on how to be trusted for 40 years. He's researched it, he's taught it at Oxford Saïd Business School, he's advised FTSE 100 CEOs on it and one thing he has found in that time is that not all trust is of equal value. 

Join Jenny Scott and Andrew Brown from Apella Advisors, as they chat in depth about trust with Basil Towers on this latest episode.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Jenny Scott.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Apella partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and Advisor to the Governor. Jenny sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

We are big fans of words, they have real, genuine power. But, in the form of a speech, in rhetoric, do they soar to their greatest heights? Are speeches our most powerful form of verbal communication? Do we put as much effort into them as we should, or did? And how can we write better speeches?

When one blends masterful, rich language, with the oratorical techniques of rhythm repetition and silence, uttered by a sonorous, powerful voice you have the means to inspire, to unite, to resist and to change. Be that racism, apartheid, civil war, Mrs Thatcher or even nervy King Philip and his powerful Armada.

So, join us as we explore this fascinating world of words. 

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what your favourite speech is via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

Welcome to the third annual Little Questions PR heroes and villains. This is our excuse to look back over the year that almost was and consider who nailed their comms and who jumped straight into the proverbial pile of steaming.

In previous years we’ve considered caterpillar shaped cakes, Union leaders, ferries taking on German auto giants, some famous pieces of stone, the odd city, a book shop and a veritable confusion of politicians. Indeed, I’m sure you’re already wondering – will Matt Hancock make it three years in a row?! 

Joining me to consider and cogitate are Father and Mrs Christmas of Apella, Matt Young and Jenny Scott. 

This podcast was hosted by:

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Jenny Scott; Former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. 

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. 

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Podcasts are arguably the stand out media phenomenon of the recent years, with the most popular pulling in millions of followers, outstripping mainstream broadcasters in terms of reach and impact.  

But, how do you actually start something with no one there to listen? How do you avoid screaming into the void? What to talk about? Should you have guests? Can you really go 100% DIY or do you need some professional help? The things to ponder are endless.

We’ve an admission to make here at Little Questions Towers. We’ve had a bit of help along the way. 

So, joining Andrew this week, alongside Matt, from the other side of the microphone, making their Little Questions debut are our podcast gurus and erstwhile producers Ben and Rory, from The Podcast Coach.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach

At the Little Questions, we’re always at the forefront of current events – whether that’s the Great Fire of London or the Battle of Hastings, we’re ready to chew the topical cud on all manner of things but, as ever, wearing our PR and comms hats.

Today we're going to talk about:  

• Whether corporations should dictate what words should and shouldn’t be used? 
• 1 in 3 would have ‘complete confidence’ in AI handling crisis comms; 47% would be ‘somewhat confident’. Really? What does this mean for the comms and PR world?
• The corporate back-track. How to do it successfully.
• Marketing and comms joining forces, is it a trend?
• Anne Boden’s comments on men in gilets holding too much influence in business. 
• Proactive versus reactive; are we seeing less proactive PR campaigns? Have media teams become just reactive functions that issue statements on issues? Are we losing the creative edge? Is that a result of businesses becoming too risk averse?

As ever, for you as a listener in the world of comms and beyond, we’ll extract the lessons learnt from all these stories and deliver them in this episode of The Little Questions.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailingpodcast@apellaadvisors.com and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and has worked in the media and politics.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. 

As Comms professionals who aim to provide clarity and understanding in everything, are we failing in that aim with certain generations? Is it time to learn the languages of different generations? Should we be smarter in thinking about the way different generations receive and respond to communications?

Matt Young and Andrew Brown from Apella Advisors discuss this little (big) question this week. However, having a couple of Gen X's ponder on this generational topic and come up with our usual answer “that everyone should just take our well considered advice”, we felt that deeper expertise and relevant erudition was required.

So we are delighted that we’re joined for this episode by Dr Eliza Philby. Eliza is an academic, a writer, speaker and consultant. She’s the author of “Mind the Gap: managing a multi-generational workforce in a post-pandemic age”; she’s spoken at  a House of Lords select committee on intergenerational unfairness and has written numerous articles for the likes of the FT and the Times on generational shifts.

In summary, she’s the most qualified person (probably anywhere) to help us consider communications and generational differences.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving a review.

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.

On this episode of The Little Questions, we are talking about team structure and resources.

In previous editions we’ve spoken about starting out in a new role, and what needs to be your priority? More often than not, structure is right up there.

Getting it right early on will set up any leader for long-term success. But what is the right structure for the resource you have? Is there a ‘one size approach that fits all’?

After all the fun in the last episode, you have fair warning that during this one, we get technical and applied.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

If you'd like more information about Apella Advisors, visit apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

New Year’s Resolutions are an exercise in hope, where aspiration meets reality. As Oscar Wilde said: ‘Resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.’ 

In the interests of trying to make 2023 just a tiny bit better, The Little Questions Podcast decided that we would try to help all our friends in the industry, by coming up with some New Year’s resolutions for businesses, sectors and individuals. Basically free PR advice given out by disgruntled middle-aged men. In Mick Herron parlance, the ‘Slow Horses’ of the Comms world.

Let us know what you think via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Christmas is nearly upon us and in the best traditions of the holiday season broadcasters are gathering up all their best bits from the year and packaging it up into a highlights reel. 

We didn’t want to miss out on this more affordable form of entertainment, so we’ve produced our very own Little Questions Podcast highlights.

These are our best bits. Our thoughts on everything from the merits or otherwise of media training to what makes a good or bad pitch; from what a CEO wants in a Corporate Affairs team to why measuring what we do is still such a problem.

Regular listeners will know we’re fond of a short film or TV clip at the end of an episode. At the end of this one, we’ve gathered all those clips together so you can test yourself on identifying where they come from. Send us your answers and if you’re on Santa’s good list we’ll send you an Apella goody bag!

We hope you enjoy the podcasts as much as we do making them. If you have any suggestions as to issues you’d like us to muse upon in the future email us at podcast@apellaadvisors.com

So, from all of us at Apella, to all of you. A very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

Penny James has a 30 year career at, and leading, some of the world’s largest financial institutions. 

A Chartered Accountant by training, from Chief Risk Officer at the Pru she joined Direct Line in 2017 first as CFO, becoming CEO in 2019. Penny now holds a suite of board positions: Senior Independent Director at Hargreaves Lansdown, Non-Executive Director at QBE Insurance Group and Mitie Group plc. She is also co-chair of the FTSE Women Leaders Review.

Given her long tenure on Boards and range of current Non-Exec roles, this wide ranging interview focuses on how best Corporate Affairs can serve and support the Board, while also ensuring strong relationships with the CEO and Exco. We examine how reputation and stakeholders are discussed at the top table – and yes, we do consider Section 172 for the Companies Act geeks among you. Also, if reputation is so important for the Board, why aren't there more former CADs in NED roles?

Along the way we also chat: 

• War and peace – corporately, not the book
• Why for the CEO engaging with the media is now firmly more risk than reward
• What she looks for in a corporate affairs leader; and,
• Why she loves a bit of media training.

We do hope you enjoy this special edition of the Little Questions podcast. Check out our back catalogue for other similar interviews with Alison Brittain, current Chair of the Premier League, Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva, Joe Garner, former CEO of Nationwide Building Society, Paul Drexler, the former President of the CBI and, last but not least, our good friend Mark Kleinman of Sky News.

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and has worked in the media and politics.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. 

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The relationships between a Corporate Affairs Director and the senior leadership of their organisation are arguably the most important they’ll manage during their time in the role. 

Positioning the CEO or Chair in a positive light is more important today than perhaps ever before. Which means that CADs are responsible not only for keeping business leaders out of trouble, but also advising them on a range of issues that can be reputationally damaging, if handled poorly, from Executive pay and Board diversity, to ESG and business risk. 

But with the average tenure of a chief executive in the UK being less than five years, an experienced CAD is likely to experience more than their fair share of leadership churn over the course of their career. And while changes of leadership can be exciting, they can also be challenging, often requiring a change in strategy, different expectations from stakeholders, and often a change in communication style and tone, too.

So, given that it’ll be a rare CAD that gets through their working life without handling a change at the top, today we’re going to be asking: what does a good transition look like? What can CADs do to get on the front foot before a new CEO or Chair starts in role? What kind of impact does leadership transition have on in-house Corporate Affairs teams? And this week on the Little Questions Podcast we aim to tackle these questions and more as we take a look at leadership change.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Apella director, Sam Bevans. Sam has almost 20 years’ experience in campaign strategy and delivery across a diverse range of clients, including AstraZeneca, Capita, Drax Power, Nationwide, UBS, and Volkswagen.

Sam is joined by Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Little Questions regular Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” is often unfairly said about educators. And, similarly, about consultants! In the world of comms and corporate affairs, there is a steady exchange of people between consultancy and in-house roles, with some making the transition several times throughout their careers. To what extent is it desirable for people to switch, both for their careers and their employer? Can you ever be considered a ‘good PR person’ if you’ve never worked for a PR agency?

What is your experience of working with in-house staff or external consultants in the comms and PR world? Do you prefer one arrangement over the other? What are the advantages and disadvantages? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

Our guest on this episode is Apella founder partner James Acheson-Gray, who has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than 10 years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

A panel of industry experts joined us for Little Questions Live in front of a studio audience at the RSA in London. On this special edition of the podcast we discuss the relationship between a CAD and the CEO. The panel were Victoria McKenzie Gould (CAD - M&S), Fiona Thorne (Former CAD - Flutter), Alex Cole (Former CAD - Bupa) and Ed Petter (CAD - BT). This fascinating conversation was chaired by Andrew Brown from Apella Advisors and Matthew Wall from Taylor Bennet. 

During the event there were questions from the audience and our panel discussed a wide range of topics. Ed Petter tells us what he thinks a CEO wants from a corporate affairs director. Victoria McKenzie Gould - CAD at M&S - shares her thoughts on what really annoys a CEO. Alex Cole is the former CAD at Bupa and tells us why she doesn't use the phrase 'brutal honesty', but prefers something else instead (and it's brilliant!), and former CAD at Flutter, Fiona Thorne tells us what annoys a corporate affairs director more than anything else.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

An interview with Paul Drechsler, International Chamber of Commerce UK Chairman.

For this episode we are joined by Paul Drechsler, the Renaissance man of business.

Paul has been at the centre of the interface between business, politics and society for many years. To say he’s done a lot in his time would be a gross understatement: 24 years with ICI; Chair and Chief Executive of the family owned construction firm the Wates Group; Chair of the shipping and marine firm Bibby Line. 

And then there is his work as Chair of some of the foremost business organisations. He was President of the CBI in the lead up to and aftermath of the Brexit Referendum; and most recently Chair of Business London and the International Chamber of Commerce. He’s sat on the Board of Teach First and Business in the Community. Oh and he was, for a number of years, Chancellor of Teesside University.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Liz Lynch.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Liz Lynch is experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Lizi is the former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. She was previously a Partner at a global communications agency and has worked in the media and politics.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach.

2025 marks our 4th year providing hopefully useful snippets of wisdom for all things Comms, Corporate Affairs and PR-related. Given the New Year, we decided to look forward and consider who has some of the trickiest Comms challenges in 2025 and given, we’re also solution-focused, how we’d go about fixing them.

Some of the organisations and subjects in our Little Questions crosshairs this time include HM Government, NATO, Hollywood, UK housebuilders and infrastructure, Net Zero and ESG, car makers and the London Stock Exchange. 

This podcast was hosted by:

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

This week, on The Little Questions Podcast, we look at the art of storytelling in business. 

For many years, observers have encouraged corporates to embrace the art of storytelling. To drop the corporate rhetoric and comfort of your slide-ware of choice and tie your idea or vision to an emotion, for that is how you truly persuade. But is it that easy? Can corporates ever really become storytellers? Indeed, should they? Isn’t it all just more spin to avoid the truth? And, if it really is the answer, why are so few actually any good at it?

Andrew and Matt aim to answer these questions and more, so … are you sitting comfortably? Good. Let’s begin…

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Why do so many people consider themselves an expert in communication? Is it an art or is it a profession?

Are there too many extroverts in PR? Is buying influence morally acceptable? Is it immoral to lobby?

A mastery of words is an essential part of what we do in communications. We simply must be able to write clearly and concisely and construct a coherent and clear message. However, have we as a profession lost the ability to write? All these critical little questions - any many more - will be discussed on The Little Questions podcast from Apella Advisors. Make sure you follow the podcast in your app of choice so you don’t miss future episodes. We’d also love to know your thoughts. Email us; podcast@apellaadvisors.com

Apella is a distinctive advisory firm established to help clients achieve their long term goals and look to the future with confidence.We are a senior team with a powerful combination of broad in-house and consultancy experience of advising clients with complex communications needs. We are independent advisors utilising a partnership approach which enables us to meet the changing demands of the market and better serve our clients.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Jenny Scott, Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella founder partner Jenny Scott is a former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank's executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Matt Young is also an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience across in Corporate Affairs. He was corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

If you get to the end of your career and you’ve never worked for a firm that has either acquired or been acquired you will very much be the exception. 

This week, on the Little Questions Podcast we're talking mergers and acquisitions, or M&A as its often shortened to.

M&A can be a great way to improve efficiencies, accelerate growth and create value. But when they fail to produce the desired result, a common factor is poor communication, including a lack of information during the pre-merger period and a lack of post-merger cooperation and coordination.

And that has to be an opportunity for the Corporate Affairs team.

How do you approach and plan for such events? How do you ensure you are the one helping define the story to be told? What about stakeholder prioritisation, especially when those you want to tell first may not be the same as those you have to?  How do you best work with other parts of the firm, and counter parties, and of course the sometimes vast array of expensively assembled advisors – lawyers and bankers especially?  And, in what can be long and complex processes, draining at times, how do you maintain morale and stay sane? 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Anthony Silverman and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Our second guest this time is Apella founder partner Anthony Silverman who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

The term ‘doyen’ is overused, but in the case of our guest today, it feels appropriate. For the last 25 years Danny Rogers has been a leading commentator and speaker on the comings and goings of the public relations industry. Now the editor-in-chief of PR Week, Danny started as a journalist with the FT’s Creative Business and the Guardian’s media section, and then he moved to Haymarket group as editor of PR Week magazine. 

An author, his book, ‘The campaigns that shook the world’ shone a light on the strategy behind some of the industry's most powerful work. He’s also the host of the beyond the noise podcast from PR Week. He’s a columnist for the i newspaper and importantly has championed the breaking down of barriers within public-relations. 

Returning to host this edition of the podcast is Apella Founder Partner James Acheson-Gray, who has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Media training is part of the world we live in these days. We’ve all seen those car crash interviews, and many of us have been relieved it wasn’t our CEO giving the disastrous performance. So many interviews, be they with sports stars, politicians or business leaders increasingly verge on the soporific, but is it the personality, the training or something else that’s at fault? No one wants to be the person who gives too much away during an interview and embarrasses themselves or the organisation they represent, but nor do we want to be dull. 

 What’s the solution? How do you strike a balance between authenticity and guardedness during an interview? Do you see the value in media training? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown. 

Apella founder partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Our second guest this time is Apella founder partner Anthony Silverman who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than 10 years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

There's no I in team but there is a me. So goes the schoolboy humour level adage.

We come together in teams because, as the entire sweep of human history has taught us, we can achieve a hell of a lot more than on our own, or scrapping amongst ourselves.

But that doesn’t stop us does it? It's in our nature. Especially when a fair majority of those team members are opinionated, creative, dare I say a tad on the emotional side, extroverts, like you might find in your everyday common or garden in-house corporate communications function.

So how do you get such a diverse team of individuals with a broad range of skills and experience working well together? Is running a comms team any different to a team of engineers or accountants? What do you do if you think you’re in a team that isn’t working, or is perhaps even failing. What do you do if you’ve realised that, but you’re the one in charge?

To answer these questions and more are Apella Advisors colleagues Andrew Brown, Liz Lynch and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Liz Lynch is an Apella Advisors partner and the former Head of External Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency, she has worked in the media and politics.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Apella Advisors Parter, Andrew Brown: "Early on in my comms career I was taught that conflict, strife, disagreement – that’s fundamentally what people are interested in and what helps our journalist friends sell newspapers."

It is hard to get genuine cut through, where everyone knows and has heard of who you are and what you do, especially if you are a small firm trying to make it big. But, one tactic that has worked consistently well over the decades is the art of picking (and winning) a fight.

Having an enemy and picking a fight may seem overly combative, however it can be a mechanism to give you focus: something to push against – letting people know what you are against helps them understand what you are foe.

But how do you make your fight noble and just? How do you decide who, or what, to target? Are their rules to such a fight? If so, how do you play them? And, what do you do if you, unwittingly, find out you are the enemy?

All of these questions and more are discussed on this edition of The Little Questions with Apella Advisors.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

About 15 years ago, frustrated by his inability to persuade his leaders at the time to use real language when communicating financial results, Apella's Andrew Brown tried to find other firms that offered inspiration.

Depressingly, he could only really find one. But what a one!

This CEO of a rising star of the FTSE250 (which would eventually become a FTSE50) had that year opened his CEO statement by saying that "it had been a difficult year which would require explanation and context, but he recognised that too many readers don’t get beyond para three so here is a helpful list of six things you really need to know."

It was so refreshing. 

A couple of years later he described the previous 12 months as “the year of the chameleon: quite useful in that they eat insects, but challenging and a bit fickle”.

One year he said that high on his list of worries was the firm not achieving specific financial ratios but second was having a garage full of stuffed toys if a marketing campaign failed. Third, was his wife getting pregnant. He’s also compared results to baked potatoes, pavlovas and seedless watermelons. He also liked quoting Dickens every now and again.

That CEO was Henry Engelhardt. He co-founded Admiral Insurance Group and now joins us on The Little Questions podcast alongside Apella Advisors partners Andrew Brown and Jenny Scott. 

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

Andrew Brown, formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. Email: acb@apellaadvisors.com

Jenny Scott, former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. Email: jjs@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

This week's podcast episode was influenced by a chance remark about a haircut... 

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a CEO of a large corporation knew the corner office was theirs for as long as the shareholders, customers and maybe the government were happy. 

Now, they have to delicately navigate a minefield of social norms. It used to be a pretty rare thing for a chief executive to lose their job over events that were the focus of society at large, rather than just the city. That was the politician's playbook. But times are changing.

A spate of high profile leaders have lost their jobs recently. Different reasons each time. But the common thread is that none of them went because of poor profits or a falling share price. Are we entering a new world, a world where the social cycle is driving the business, political and economic cycles?

This is a really, really tricky area. So it's with some trepidation that Jenny Scott and Anthony Silverman are wading into the debate on the role of comms and corporate values, purpose and social context and all of those issues that are driving so much of business life today. 

This episode of the Little Questions is hosted by Apella Advisors partners Jenny Scott and Anthony Silverman.

Jenny Scott is the former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. 

Anthony Silverman has over 20 years advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs.  Recent clients include Atlas Merchant Capital, Selfridges Group, Deutsche Bank, Pension Insurance Corporation, RBS and Aquiline Capital. A significant client base in Europe and the US. Previously Senior Managing Director at Teneo.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.

How hard is it to say sorry? This week, The Little Questions podcast looks into the world of the corporate apology.

If we’ve done something wrong, or more relevant to our specific discussion, if the firm we represent has messed up, why can’t we just get them to say sorry and mean it; and then move on? This week, James Acheson-Gray joins Matt Young and Andrew Brown to tackle this tricky topic.

Are we all psychologically predisposed to find reasons to delay or avoid saying sorry? The embarrassment and shame of it. Or is it all the fault of the lawyers who hang the threat of litigation as a result of the apology becoming an admission of liability?

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Matt Young and James Acheson-Gray.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Returning to the podcast is Apella Founder Partner James Acheson-Gray, who has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Admin. Forms. Process. Dull, dull, dull. 

It’s what gets in the way of doing the actual job that we all love, right? 

Talking to journalists, coming up with that clever policy idea, pulling together a brilliant new social campaign or perfectly nailing the messaging in a complicated sequence of regulated announcements. The bureaucracy, be it functional or corporate, just slows us down. Or does it?

Is your comms grid really used to plan and activate in a co-ordinated manner or has it become a bureaucratic chore? One that you get the most junior members of the team to fill out each week and then promptly ignore? When was the last time you actually updated your stakeholder map based on your latest interactions? Have you even got a stakeholder map? Are you still religiously logging and tracking all of the conversations you and the media team have with journalists, proactive or reactive? 

These questions answered, pondered over and more on this edition of The Little Questions Podcast from Apella Advisors.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach

It would seem that many of the ills which today befall the UK are apparently linked to how productive or otherwise we are at work, individually, and collectively as a nation. Apparently we're just not as good as we used to be.

With this in mind, we've devoted this episode of The Little Questions to how we as corporate communicators and corporate affairs professionals can ensure we attain and remain at peak productivity. We discuss some of the best tools and sources of information available to us and of course we will touch on artificial intelligence, although this is not an episode specifically about AI.  

We talk about the clunky world of PR in the 80s and 90s – including using couriers to deliver press releases! We reminisce about journalist databases, news feeds and go to news sources, some old school productivity hacks, and the best one of all... meeting for a coffee.

This edition of The Little Questions is hosted by Apella partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young. 

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. 

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Every now and again in the world of comms, the firewall you’ve thrown up around your organisation fails, and something you’d rather wasn’t “out there” gets through. Perhaps the CEO has said something she shouldn’t have in that profile interview that took months to set up. Or a sensitive email has ended up in the hands of a colleague in the media. 

If you’re in this game and you’ve not been there, you will. It’s as inevitable and irresistible a force as gravity.

So. What do you do? Can you stop the piece from appearing? Can you make it less damaging? Or do you just have to accept a bad day in the papers and hope for a better tomorrow?

All these questions and much, much more are answered in this week's episode. 

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Having a coach in business is a relatively new phenomenon and in Corporate Affairs, arguably even rarer. 

But could having a great coach be what takes you and your corporate affairs team from pretty darn good to stand out brilliant? 

How do you know when you need a coach and what are the signs? How do you go about finding the right one? Could having a coach be seen as an admission that you’re struggling and potentially not up to the job? And, what is the difference between coaching and mentoring?

This podcast episode is here to answer these questions and to do so host Andrew Brown is joined by two special guests well placed to share their experience and insights.

First, Maxine Taylor, a former Corporate Affairs Director at Eli Lilly, Nationwide and King's College London. Maxine is now a full time coach focusing on Corporate Affairs. Secondly, Jake Rigg who is the Director of Corporate Affairs at National Grid ESO.

Host Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

It’s an unusual relationship, the one between the corporate affairs director and the CEO. Aside from perhaps the CFO, you get a lot more time with him or her than any other member of the leadership team. As Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc put it in our last episode, what she values above all else is total, brutal honesty. This can result in a difficult relationship if not managed well, so how do you balance the fact you’re there to support both the CEO and the business itself. 

How do you balance the needs of the CEO and the senior leadership team? How do you manage the CEO that wants to be the centre of attention or conversely is a bit of a shrinking violet? How do you advise with brutal honesty yet still maintain a positive, productive relationship? We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Trump is back. And back with a bang.

Be it old age or the fog of Covid but Little Questions had forgotten quite how discombobulating the stream of consciousness from the 47th President of the United States really is. 

From waking up in the morning wondering, what has he said or done now, to then trying to work out what he meant, and if the latest u-turn was a u-turn or not. All before the coffee has properly kicked in.

There can be no question that his return has encouraged a wider shift to more conservative social and political stances and a celebration of capitalism. Across many sectors, businesses are either doing away with, watering down or simply trying to hide their DEI and ESG programmes – the find and replace function in Windows has surely never been busier. 

Some business leaders have gone further, speaking out on previously controversial issues, no longer afraid of being cancelled.

For some the shift is a breath of fresh air. For others a return to darker times.

How on earth do we Corporate Communicators, the last bastions of common sense in an increasingly mad and angry world, respond? Are we ducking and covering hoping for things to return to normal in four years? Do we pragmatically and gently reposition? Do we rail against the dying of the light and to hell with the commercial consequences? Or do we drill baby, drill?

This episode is hosted by Andrew Brown. Formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review.

And this time we're joined by Apella colleague James Kirkup, former DG at the Social Market Foundation. James spent over 20 years in high-profile Westminster roles including Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph and Director of the Social Market Foundation. Extensive experience of thought leadership and advocacy work, with a particular focus on the relationship between business, politics and public policy.

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We’ve talked about the many great things that Comms and Corporate Affairs professionals bring to an organisation – clarity of message, bringing the outside in, creativity and so on. However, one area that still seems to defeat all our Comms and Corporate Affairs colleagues – inhouse or in the agency world – is to get actionable insight from data.

For some it’s a case of swimming in the stuff and trying to make sense of what it’s telling you. For others, it’s lack of data and where to procure something that adds value to an organisation.

So, this Podcast is all about getting meaningful data that provides insight to inform decision making. Do we have all the answers? Of course we do. This is The Little Questions - probably the best podcast focused on the needs of communications professionals in the world!

Some of today's little questions include; has progress been made in the use of data and insights in Corporate Affairs? What are the challenges CADs face Why do these challenges persist and what can be done about it? To answer these and more are Little Questions regulars and Apella Advisors Partners Matt Young and Andrew Brown and fellow Apella Partner, Mike Granleese formerly of IPSOS.

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Mike Granleese; formerly the Deputy Managing Director of Ipsos Corporate Reputation, Mike has over 20 years’ experience across roles in insights, consultancy and academia. He specialises in helping clients understand insights within the context of their organisation and advising on the actions needed to drive reputation growth and protect license to operate. Previous clients in financial services include Aviva, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and MasterCard. He has also worked closely with Coca-Cola, Heineken, EY, PwC and The World Bank. Mike holds a PhD in economics. 

Corporate Affairs is a key driver of an organisation’s success, when done well. And done badly, the consequences can be all too, painfully, visible. All team members play a critical role in making sure the function is set up for success, none more so than its leader, the Corporate Affairs Director.   

In 2020, Apella’s Andrew Brown and Wayne Reynolds from executive search firm Birchwood Knight set out to understand how some of the most accomplished corporate affairs leaders approached their role, starting. How did they prepare for their first day? How did they go about getting to know the firm? How did they assess the capabilities of their team? Did they have any regrets? Wayne joins us today to help answer all these questions and more, for another episode of the Little Questions podcast.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

It’s that time of year again. The sunshine grows weaker, birds and non-Doms fly south for warmer climes and the political parties gather in seaside towns to moan about the state of the nation and each other. However, there is a shaft of light that cuts through the gloom. Little Questions is back up and running after our summer break. We’re here to cast our critical PR eyes over the issues of the day.

In these topical episodes we look at what’s been happening in the world and get to play the best game of all – how we would have done things differently. Communications hindsight or as perhaps as our brand colleagues would call it ‘lessons learnt’ is a fun and practical exercise for all the family.

This time we talk about the age-old battle of employees vs employers. How should organisations ensure they achieve what they need to without seeming dictatorial? And can PR actually help those needing the biggest 'reset'. We're thinking about HMRC, the Post Office, John Lewis and the Premier League.

We'll also discuss the announcements made by two of the biggest car manufacturers wrestling with decarbonisation. We'll ponder how we might have advised Lee Carsley in tackling the National Anthem and we'll look back in disbelief at the Oasis ticket debacle.

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. You can find out more at apellaadvisors.com

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

In the world of communications, it pays to be current. Whether you are working in-house or at an agency, being the first to say “But have you read that piece in the FT today?” makes you appear as though you have a finger on the media pulse.

This week on the Little Questions Podcast, we attempt to sound like we’re at the cutting edge of public discourse.

Today we’re going to chew the topical cud on:  

• Why have a Budget Statement when everything in it has already been publicised in the press?
• Getting cut through on a story – some contrasting examples from Tesco and Drax. The slugging match that is Huffy Henry Staunton vs Bruiser Badenoch.
• Mary Poppins and the use of inappropriate words.
• An amazing BP insider trading story.
• The nature of the worthless public apology.
• The legal firm Schillings going into PR ‘big time’.
• And a sad story of Flaco the eagle-owl.

As ever, for you as a listener in the world of comms and beyond, we’ll extract the lessons learnt from all these stories and deliver them in this episode of The Little Questions.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and if you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving us a review.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Experienced in corporate communications; public affairs and policy; regulatory affairs and risk; industrial relations; crisis and complex issues management; reputation turnarounds; campaigns, competition; and ESG. Former Head of Public Affairs and Public Policy at TSB Bank. Previously a Partner at a global communications agency and has worked in the media and politics.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

There’s no right or wrong way to define success - it looks different for everyone. What matters is that you're able to define it for yourself.

So, what does it take to get on and succeed in corporate affairs? What should you look to define and focus on, and what (and who) should you avoid? Do professional qualifications help or is it all about learning at the knee of a master? 

When we started thinking about this episode I had the words of Baz Lurman ringing in my
ears - that offering advice is a form of nostalgia, fished from the past, where you paint over
the ugly bits and recycle it for more than its worth. Ouch.

We’ll try not to do that.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach.

The company and agency relationship should be the perfect embodiment of symbiosis. Mutual productivity for the benefit of all. Happy days! For those working either side of the fence, that’s not always the case.

The latest Little Questions Podcast considers all the ups and the downs of the relationship: from grumpy clients providing poorly written briefs to agency leaders who disappear after the first pitch. Apella partners James Acheson-Grey, Anthony Silverman and Matt Young chew the proverbial fat on how to get the best from the corporate / agency relationship.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

James Acheson-Gray has acted as a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. James has over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. He was managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019 and is a former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Our second guest this time is Apella founder partner Anthony Silverman who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

This week, Andrew and Matt chew the fat about the lessons learned after four years of creating the comms agency, Apella Advisors.

And it's after those four years, with a few clients under our belt, a slightly larger team, and perhaps most unexpectedly of all a podcast that people actually listen to! We must be doing something right. 

People occasionally ask us if creating this consultancy has changed the way we think about and do comms? Do we look wistfully back at our in-house days or thank our lucky stars that we got away? Would we recommend it as a good career route? And, as is often the case, we say "that’s a great question which would make a really good topic for the pod".

Ready yourself for some bare chested soul searching honesty about what we’ve learned, seen and thought after our four years as PR consultants.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach

We live in woke times. What started as a way to show one's awareness of social and especially racially motivated injustices has itself been culturally appropriated by a myriad of other groups and causes, including big business. Corporate wokery appears to be everywhere. 

At Apella, we are pro purpose and have seen first-hand the transformative benefits a genuine desire to do the right thing can have on the fortunes of an organisation. But when a firm signals its virtue, how do we know if its genuine and not just purpose washing? Is it really the responsibility of a firm to fix the social ills of society?

As always we’d like to hear from you. Do you think it’s important for companies to take a stand on environmental and social issues or should they stick to what they are designed for - generating a fair and reasonable rate of return? Get in touch with us on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

Our guest on this episode is Apella founder partner Jenny Scott. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics she is now trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in Corporate Affairs. He was corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

This week, we welcome Deborah Hulme from Minerva Engagement to the Little Questions Podcast to discuss organisational and cultural change in business.

Communicators are often asked to play a prominent role in supporting organisational change programmes but, as many of us know, they can be complex and fiendishly difficult to get right. Two thirds of transformation projects fail, taking longer and costing more than business leaders anticipate, and change done ‘to’ an organisation is rarely as effective as change done ‘with’ an organisation. 

While communications is never solely responsible for the success or failure of transformation programmes, there are pitfalls to under-communicating a powerful vision for change, just as there are to over-communicating a poor one.

So what makes organisational and cultural change so difficult? And what could we in comms do to help the firms we work in and with do it better?  

We've decided to go all topical in this episode. What has been happening in our world of PR and comms? How has our profession been advising on some of the current issues? Would we have handled these differently?

Of course, we're conscious of commenting on current events as the horrific and tragic events unfold in Gaza and Israel. These are times when PR or comms seem inconsequential to what is happening around our world. However, it is at times like this when words matter, or, when the absence of words matter. Communications can bring people together, it can also divide. Getting your words right is critical. Too often, we've seen the consequences when we don't.

Chewing the topical cud (even with a little hindsight) and targeting HS2, Matt Hancock and even VAR are Apella Advisors partners, Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

Today we consider the extent to which we live in a post-truth age. We are quite literally going to talk bullshit, described by Jon Lovett, a former advisor to Clinton and Obama, as “one of the greatest threats we face”. 

So, the logic goes, we are constantly assailed by partisan rhetoric, industry sponsored research, facile brand messages and spokespeople with their lines that are just true enough not to be a lie - infecting every facet of public life, corrupting our discourse and wrecking trust in major institutions.  Mr Lovett, rightly or wrongly was firmly pointing his finger at you and I dear listener, we the professional communicators paid to spin and obfuscate and draft those clumsy corporate press releases.

Why is there so much bullshit around today? And to what extent are we, the professional communicators, to blame?  Haven’t mendacity and nonsense been around forever? And if it has gone too far, what should we do to fix the problem? Or do we simply have to hold on to the hope that eventually the truth will out, that like any natural system, balance will eventually return?

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young, Jenny Scott and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella founder partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

So what exactly is ESG? The airwaves are full of it, Boardrooms are awash
with it, but no-one really knows how to account for it, and we’re all having to
learn how to talk about it in terms that suit our organisations.

We liken ESG to an ECG, the scan that tracks our vital organ to check all is well, hopefully resulting in a clean bill of health.  The analogy holds for organisations - if the scan detects anomalies, we require treatment or interventions.  So too do companies if the scan picks something up.

But what interventions and treatments work best?  Who prescribes them? And who says when you’re well?  

And does it look into the corporate soul? More on that later in this episode. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Julian Hanson-Smith, Andrew Brown and Jenny Scott.

Apella chair Julian Hanson-Smith co-founded and was the managing director of FTI Consulting where he advised PLCs for over 15 years. Co-founded Iceni Capital, an operationally active private equity firm specialising in business services companies. Julian Led Iceni Capital’s investment in StockWell Communications in 2010. He is a Trustee of The Inspiration Trust.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Apella founder partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Historically, the preserve of dictators, generals, crusties, and politicos, campaigning is now a tool that’s been adopted by marketers, communicators, and every purpose-led business in the land. Or so it seems. 

We explore whether it’s a crucial part of modern communications, or just a load of hot air. 

There’s no doubt that organisations of all shapes and sizes are increasingly expected to take a stand on the issues that matter. And for many, campaigning is one way of showing the outside world that they care. 

But does it really work? Is it right for every business? What does it take to do it well?

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Apella director, Sam Bevans. Sam has almost 20 years’ experience in campaign strategy and delivery across a diverse range of clients, including AstraZeneca, Capita, Drax Power, Nationwide, UBS, and Volkswagen.

Joining Sam to discuss campaigning are Directors Doug Miller and Janelle Romano.

Janelle is a director with almost 10 years’ experience working across corporate, B2B, B2C and internal communications briefs, including work for American Express, Bank of America, Capita, Chicago Booth School of Business and LinkedIn.

Doug is an experienced corporate communications and campaigning director, with substantial experience in developing internationally focused integrated communications campaigns, including work for Lockheed Martin, Enviva, Naftogaz, OMV, and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO)

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This week, we discuss the horrifying world of the cyber breach. Trust and loyalty are fragile at the best of times, but the risks of causing serious damage to your brand, reputation and business are massively heightened should you face a cyber-attack. There were 2.8 billion malware attacks in the first half of this year, so sadly it is often a question of when you will be hit, not if!

A breach really threatens your reputation. It puts your customers at risk damaging confidence and loyalty in your organisation and can prove very costly before you even consider the impact of potential fines. How effectively and clearly you respond often determines its long-term impact.

What’s the immediate impact of a cyber breach? Where do criminals find a way in? What can organisations do now to protect themselves? And why does the number of attacks drop in certain months?

To discuss these questions are Philippa Berry and Tarquin Folliss. Philippa is the Product Leader for CFC Underwriting, a leading cyber specialist insurance company. She recently won the prestigious “most skilled underwriter of the year” award at the Insurance Insider Cyber Rankings.

Tarquin is a former senior diplomat with over 30 years in government service, focused largely on national security policy with a specialism in cyber. He has a particular interest in its human impact. Tarquin has recently taken a new role as Vice Chairman of SASIG.

They are joined by host Apella Partner, James Acheson-Gray; a crisis management specialist and a long-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives.

Reading list:

Kingdom of Lies - Kate Fazaini 

Rise of the Machines - Thomas Rid

The Hacker and the State - Ben Buchanan

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com and you can find out more about Apella Advisors here.

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

We all have our Christmas traditions don’t we? That film you just have to watch every Christmas Eve, Carol singing in the village square, setting up the nativity, betting when Great Uncle Albert will fall asleep in the comfy chair. 

At Little Questions towers, one of our Christmas traditions is to take a look back over the year that was. 

With dotage fading our memories and entirely unscientifically, we like to consider our PR heroes and villains of 2023.  

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Jenny Scott and Matt Young.

Andrew Brown, formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Jenny Scott is former Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. Advisor to the Governor, sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly economics and politics correspondent for the BBC and presenter of the Daily Politics. Trustee of Pro Bono Economics. 

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

In this episode we consider why it’s so difficult to define a working person (as our government is finding out) and we consider if the days of PRs doing ‘dodgy’ desk research is over.

We'll discuss the praise Macdonald’s has been enjoying in the way it handled the visit of one Donald Trump and how Airbnb has been going into Comms battle with the residents of Primrose Hill, or as it’s better known ‘the place where Paddington Bear lives'.

And of course, it would be remiss of us not to tackle this Autumnal topical episode without mentioning the Budget. Has this Budget been a process that has been more heavily trailed, discussed, dissected, and fought over than any before?

This edition of The Little Questions is hosted by Apella partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young. 

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. 

Find out more at apellaadvisors.com.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

One of the longest running game shows on UK TV was Family Fortunes. For more than 40 years, families would compete for big cash prizes, trying to second guess what the Great British Public had answered in a survey of 100 people.

Just as opinion polling was the foundation upon which this globally successful game show format was based, so too is it used for PR purposes. Scratching around, waiting for your company or client to do something newsworthy, polling is a means of creating news and filling that vacuum.

But, how effective is it? Do consumers and indeed the media really believe the findings of a company sponsored poll? Or is it a means of generating genuinely leading insight and PR gold?

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, James Acheson-Gray and new Apella team member, Mike Granleese.

Andrew Brown, formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

James Acheson-Gray, PartnerLong-term advisor to senior decision makers on the value of harnessing reputation to enhance commercial objectives. Over 20 years’ experience running successful PR/PA firms and major client programmes in Europe and Asia. Managing director of APCO Worldwide from 2012-2019. Consultancy of the Year 2018. Former Board Director of the Queen’s Club.

Mike Granleese, formerly the Deputy Managing Director of Ipsos Corporate Reputation, Mike has over 20 years’ experience across roles in insights, consultancy and academia. He specialises in helping clients understand insights within the context of their organisation and advising on the actions needed to drive reputation growth and protect license to operate. Previous clients in financial services include Aviva, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and MasterCard. He has also worked closely with Coca-Cola, Heineken, EY, PwC and The World Bank. Mike holds a PhD in economics. 

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode was produced by The Podcast Coach.

On this edition of The Little Questions podcast we are out on the road to chat to Amanda Blanc, the Group CEO of insurance giant, Aviva. During this wide ranging interview we discuss her views on confidence being contagious; why good CEO’s need to be good communicators and what she really wants from a good PR. 

Amanda was born and bred in Wales, having grown up in the Rhondda Valley. She started her career as a graduate at one of Aviva’s ancestor companies, Commercial Union. Following success in senior executive roles across the insurance industry, she came back to Aviva as CEO in July 2020. Amanda was formerly Group CEO at AXA UK, PPP & Ireland and CEO Europe, Middle East, Africa & Global Banking at Zurich Insurance Group. She also held executive leadership positions at Towergate Insurance Brokers, Groupama Insurance Company and Commercial Union. Amanda has previously served as Chair of the Association of British Insurers, Chair of the Insurance Fraud Bureau and President of the Chartered Insurance Institute. 

What do you think makes a good CEO? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Christmas and the New Year are nearly upon us and it's the season of TV repeats and compilations. Our chance to laugh again at the things we laughed at just a few months ago. We’re no different at Apella Advisors. With our world leading sustainability commitments, reuse and recycle is our mantra, so we’ve produced our very own Little Questions Podcast Xmas highlights.

This is all our best bits from 2022.

Our thoughts on everything from the merits of having activist investors on your books to thinking about how to consider brain friendly changes through organisational transformations. From what a journalist wants from a Comms team to our favourite PR heroes and villains. 

Hopefully, faithful listener, you’ll agree with our choices. If you don’t, you can, of course, go back and relisten to all our previous episodes at your leisure!

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

It’s time for some honesty amongst friends. Compared to other corporate functions, comms has never really been particularly good when it comes to measuring and reporting on the value of what we do. For too long we relied on our beautifully designed press cutting books and detailed engagement reports, hoping our Advertising Value Equivalent scores would impress our marketing colleagues.

 But the times they are a-changin’. There are firms, large and small, becoming far more adept in how they measure the outcomes of their communication activity.

Yet given the wide array of providers, tools and systems (as well as all that free data) out there in the world wide web, why are more organisations still not measuring much beyond the basic outputs?

Is it the cost that puts companies off? Is it because boards and management teams don’t really care that much? Is it because what we do is a bit fuzzy and hard to define? Or is it because, as 'words' people are we inherently suspicious of anything that has numbers in it? We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance, Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Why are people in the world of comms so misrepresented in popular culture? 

Why do the PRs in TV, movies and books come across as either evil manipulators of the truth or champagne guzzling airheads? 

This really is a first world problem of a third order magnitude and yet, PR does have a PR problem doesn’t it? If for no other reason than we want to continue to attract smart, thoughtful and talented people to our industry, then perhaps we need to have a think about how we are portrayed by our friends in the media.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

This episode was produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

By rights, the fly-on-the-wall workplace documentary should have died a death the moment The Office became a hit. At that time, BBC shows like Airport, set in Heathrow, and Life of Grime about environmental health workers attracted cult followings with their often banal interviews, wobbly camerawork and acerbic voiceover narrations. Ricky Gervais’ masterpiece took these stylistic devices and turned them up to 11 with the fictional Slough-based paper company Wernham Hogg, where “life is stationery”.

Since then almost every conceivable place of work has been considered – from registrars to zookeepers and cruise ships to police stations. Airlines, banks, butchers and bakers even a candlestick maker.

Their appeal lingers. It’s not hard to imagine why: we all work somewhere, we’re inquisitive (ok nosey) animals. We want to peer into others' lives, and imagine what it is like, or thank our lucky stars we don’t work there. 

A question to ask then might be: who in their right mind would invite a camera crew into their business, with unhindered access? With minimal, if any, meaningful editorial control?

Quite a few firms it would seem. 

Clearly the Corporate Affairs Directors who signs off on this (or perhaps even came up with the idea in the first place) see more upside than down.

So. Why would you? And why would you not? And if you do manage to persuade your boss, and your ExCo and your board what do you need to think about? What controls need to be in place? What might cause you sleepless nights? 

These questions are answered, and more, on this edition of The Little Questions. Hosted by:

Andrew Brown; formerly Director of Communications and Public affairs at Ageas Insurance, Andrew has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global, listed, multifaceted firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors. He has considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management as well as reputation sentiment analysis and insight. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Matt Young has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. 

You can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com and please consider leaving us a review. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Much of the work done by the corporate communications function goes unnoticed. But there is one piece of activity you can be sure will grab people's attention… the set piece leader profile.

Get a full page spread in a Sunday paper with a cracking photo and you can be sure everyone in the organisation, and beyond, will read it. Get it right and you can have your CEO come across as a visionary, yet down to earth leader successfully delivering a great strategy. This can become a genuine moment whereby people sit up and take note. But get it wrong, have them come across as someone who is not quite on top of things and perhaps a little bit ‘unusual’, well those risks are amplified. 

Given these are not exercises in plumping Sir’s ego, what are the things you need to do to ensure success? How best should you prepare? How do you work out what story to tell? Where should you actually do the interview from? And in this digital age is the Sunday print still the right place? 

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

For every Atticus Finch and Han Solo, there’s a Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader.

Who doesn’t love a great hero or a terrifying villain? They are the protagonists that sit at the heart of every great story, of how we demonstrate the values that matter, define our morals and learn valuable lessons.

Arguably you can only become a great hero if you have a compelling villain against which you can strive: Without Voldemort, Harry Potter is just another young wizard; Without the Joker, Batman is just an angry ‘trustafarian’ killing time.

And given it's getting to that time of the year where we like to look back, we thought we’d have a look at our PR heroes and villains of 2022!

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Jenny Scott and Matt Young.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Apella partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Elizabeth Mobed, Senior Associate - Apella Advisors

Elizabeth joined Apella as a Senior Associate in November 2023. She has extensive capital markets communications experience, advising on financial calendar communications, international M&A transactions and IPOs with FTSE 100 and leading private equity firms. She has also advised clients on reputation management, advocacy campaigns and crisis communications. Before Apella, Elizabeth worked in the Financial Communications team at Teneo. She previously worked at FTI Consulting's Strategic Communications team, joining as a Graduate. She holds an BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Matt Young, Partner - Apella Advisors

Matt has 25 years of experience across media relations, public affairs, regulatory development, employee engagement, brand development, competition and CSR. Group corporate affairs director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We’re back again for another chew through the cud that is corporate communications.

It’s been a while since our last one so there is much for us to consider. 

Amongst several items of fluff we’re going to muse on: out of touch leaders, ancient and uncool British sports, upcycling, fat shaming and you won’t be at all surprised to hear, the horror and tragedy that was, possible still is, the Post Office from 2003 well, to pretty much to today.

As ever we’ll attempt to use the magic that is hindsight to try and distil one or two lessons we corporate communicators can learn from how these events played out. 

Join Apella Avisors partners and hosts of this episode, Andrew Brown and Matt Young as they delve into the corporate communications topical news items.

Matt Young is an Apella Advisors partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Andrew Brown is an Apella Advisors partner, a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

On this edition of The Little Questions we’re talking to Alison Brittain, the Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread - a company known for owning brands such as Premier Inn, Bar + Block and Beefeater.  

Today the Little Questions Podcast has an interview with Mark Kleinman, SKY News’ Business Editor. Mark is a well-known and respected business journalist, a columnist for CityAM and winner of the 2021 British Journalism Awards. He's also picked up the London Press Club Business Journalist of the Year award not once, but twice.

We ask Mark about his role, his amazing ability to get exclusives and his frustrations with some in the PR world.

You can find The Little Questions Podcast on our website or on the usual podcast platforms.

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is hosted by Matt Young. Matt is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

The joys of the annual financial reporting season are upon us.

This is something that most of us in Comms get involved with at some point – whether that’s setting up media calls, fretting over internal messages, or just working out which picture of the CFO to use.

For many of us, financial reporting is the equivalent of the PR hamster wheel. You never really get off. Once the ink is dry on the analyst notes or the media commentators have passed judgement, you’re on to the next cycle. It’s all a bit breathless.

We’ve talked about financial reporting before on our Podcasts. But as it’s the season for many PRs – inhouse and agency – we thought we’d delve into the subject again. And this time we’d like to dig a little deeper into the cottage industry that brings together PR, Comms, Finance, Legal and Secretariat to work in perfect harmony – or not.

Joining Matt Young on the reporting hamster wheel are fellow Apella Partners, Andrew Brown and Anthony Silverman.

Please leave us a 5 star review if you enjoyed this episode or let us know what you think via social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and guests Andrew Brown and Anthony Silverman.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Our second guest this time is Apella partner Anthony Silverman who specialises in advising global boards and executive teams with complex reputational needs. Recent clients include RBS, UBS, Atlas Merchant Capital, Nomura, Pension Insurance Corporation, FirstRand and Nando’s. He is also a former Senior Managing Director at Teneo in London.

Host, Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This episode has been produced by The Podcast Coach.

The climate crisis 'is a communication problem', says academic and environmentalist Roc Sandford. Involved with Extinction Rebellion before it started, including a chaining or two, Roc’s thinking has featured in pretty much every major media outlet. From the UN to Davos and ministers and boards, Roc delivers an uncompromising message of emergency and the need for rapid climate and biodiversity repair.

Roc is also the very essence of the change he wants to see living an almost hermit-like zero carbon life on a remote Scottish island.

Join Jenny and Andrew from Apella Advisors, as they chat in depth to Roc on this latest episode.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown and Jenny Scott.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

Apella partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing podcast@apellaadvisors.com

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UK-based consultants were placed in the national spotlight for ties to Russian entities.

The press focused on how consultants in the law and PR for example, had made millions, on the ‘Caviar Express’ through ties to Russian oligarchs.
For many years the PR industry has been accused of having a grubbier side, looking to unduly profit by reputation washing those less than savoury characters with large wallets.

An easy target now, but Bell Pottinger was very much of that ilk, operating at the very edge and all too often crossing the line, resulting in its demise.
And yet, if people, and firms deserve their day in court, to put across their version of events, then so too do they in the court of public opinion. And just as they need their legal experts, so they need communications advisors. Surely that is the sign of a fair and well-functioning democracy?

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. 

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email podcast@apellaadvisors.com

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

This podcast was produced by The Podcast Coach