HARPSWOOD WRITES
the first harpsmas client party
It’s been an incredibly exciting two years for Harpswood, and we were thrilled to host our inaugural Harpsmas party last week. Starting a business during the pandemic meant that our first few hires and clients got used to working remotely and in-person parties seemed like a distant memory…
Two years on, our team is in double digits and we’re working with a bunch of impressive businesses who are all making the world cleaner, fairer and better.
HARPSWOOD WELCOMES DEMI ODULANA
Demi Odulana joined Harpswood this summer through the 10,000 Black Interns programme. Its mission is to change the face of British business by placing black students in paid internships to help them realise their potential. We asked her to reflect on her experience:
Comms Voices: Michael Lea Rock
Michael Lea Rock has enjoyed a stellar career in communications.He served David Cameron and Gordon Brown as Chief Writer to the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street before spending four years as a speechwriter at the US Department of State, where his material was used by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Here he talks to Harpswood founder James Clench about how digital communication is causing “news” to be replaced by “views”, which PM failed the football fan test and how whiskey helped him to think differently about speech writing.
Putting the purpose into a CEO profile interview
It isn’t rare to see an interview with a chief executive in the media. But hearing a CEO speak with authenticity, conviction and evidence about the culture and values of their workplace isn’t such a common occurrence.
Flushed out: why privacy beat compliance in home worker software controversy
It isn’t rare to see an interview with a chief executive in the media. But hearing a CEO speak with authenticity, conviction and evidence about the culture and values of their workplace isn’t such a common occurrence.
Comms voices: Jodie Ginsberg
Jodie Ginsberg is a recognised expert on media freedom. She was chief executive of Index On Censorship, the global freedom of expression group, and is now CEO of Internews Europe, an organisation which empowers people worldwide with high quality news and information. Here she tells Harpswood why communicators in countries with limited free speech tend to be better listeners, why Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary is effective at getting his point across… and why organisations should never bury their heads in the sand.
Most powerful PR tactic? Case closed
If you doubt the power of employer PR, here are two words to convince you: Rachael Trigg. Ms Trigg, a 24-year-old maintenance and repairs hire for Thames Water at its Chieveley Sewage Works plant in Newbury, Berks, appeared in five different national newspapers to illustrate a story about the importance of language in job adverts.
The good, the bad and the ugly of corporate communications in lockdown
We take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of lockdown communications and the vital lessons that can be learned from them.
You can’t stall in a crisis, Zuckerberg finds to his cost
Sometimes in business, a hand grenade lands in your lap. You know that grabbing hold of it will be perilous – but you can’t ignore it. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was left such an incendiary problem when Donald Trump posted on the world’s largest social network about the protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
How a PR campaign might just have saved your favourite pub
Coronavirus laid waste to most sectors of British business, but pubs suffered more than most. At the very heart of their pain lay the issue of rents. Many corporate landlords refused to waive rent during lockdown even though their tenants had pulled up the shutters at the government’s behest.
Comms voices: Tom Fletcher
Tom Fletcher CMG spent four years as foreign policy adviser to three Prime Ministers and four more representing the UK as Ambassador to Lebanon. Here, he tells Harpswood about the communications strengths of the different PMs he worked with, the pros and cons of Zoom and why it’s getting easier to pick out phoney communicators like Donald Trump.