The Little Questions – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

‘Content is king’ has been our clarion call on many a podcast. What we often leave out is the equally important point of how you say something, as well as when you say it and where.

As Corporate Affairs and Comms professionals we are often the director of the presentations our spokespeople give to key audiences. The ‘stage’ could be a physical stage at a conference, or a virtual results presentation. It could be sitting in a TV or radio studio. Or even just a speech to employees at a town hall. 

In many ways, Corporate Affairs practitioners need to be a Trevor Nunn, an Arlene Phillips and a Stephen Spielberg rolled into one with the occasional need to be a Tom Hanks as well.

This episode is about the power of performance. How to make your content come alive, to stay memorable and even repeatable. 

This is often where Comms professionals realise they need specialist advice. If only they could get access to someone who has been an actor, has been classically trained at somewhere prestigious like RADA, and has worked with CEOs and business leaders to extract the best of performances. Luckily at Little Questions we have just such an expert who is happy to give away some that valuable performance-related stardust on this episode.

David Solomon is our guest for this podcast. He originally worked in the City, but left to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and spent the next ten years as a professional actor working at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. 

This episode is hosted by Matt Young.

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

David Solomon, Executive Coach - Sun & Moon Training

David's professional journey is a testament to versatility and excellence. He began with a BSc in Maths and Statistics from the University of Exeter, followed by a year in the finance sector in the City. His passion for the arts then led him to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he trained and subsequently spent a decade performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. David's career evolved significantly as he became a Business Development Director in Corporate Video for prominent clients such as BP, Goldman Sachs, Heinz, HSBC and UBS Warburg. In 2003, David combined his corporate expertise and professional acting experience to become a Facilitator and Coach. Over the years, he has conducted skills training courses for organisations within the private and public sector, including London Business School, Cisco and the NHS. David is an accredited Executive Coach and a certified practitioner of MBTI and DiSC. 

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.

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.

The world is changing. There appears to be an increasing reluctance amongst CEOs and senior leaders to engage with mainstream business and financial media.

From the corporate world’s perspective, you can see why this makes sense. Why have your carefully crafted messages interrogated by a grumpy intermediary from the press when you can go direct via your owned channels?

From the journalist’s view, this is disintermediation laid bare. If we believe the role of the fourth estate is to give an independent and critical view, then companies and individuals must engage with the press. It is all part of a democracy in action.

So, what’s driving this shift? Is it the growth in owned channels? Has the pressure on
journalists to cover more and write more, led to a denuding of expertise? Has that made CEO’s more reluctant to engage with a journalist who has limited understanding of their sector? Is it a trend or just a passing phase?

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 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.

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’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

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.

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.

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

Everyone loves a party don’t they? A gathering where you can have a good catch up with those you haven’t seen for ages. Make new friends, trade gossip, learn something new and perhaps even let your hair down. But not too much!

Parties, or events as we like to call them in the corporate world, come in all shapes and sizes - conferences, seminars, AGMs, award dinners, product launches, journalist trips, internal and external, virtual, hybrid or in person.

When you list the activities of “corporate communications”, events rarely gets a mention. As many events professionals know, given the latitude to excel, they can create those critical moments of re-appraisal that genuinely change the way your stakeholders view your firm. Something that will be talked about and remembered for years. 

Conversely, under resourced, and done half-arsed, your bash will still be remembered, but for all the wrong reasons. And we’ve all been to one or two events like that haven’t we?

Do we simply see events as booking the venue and ensuring there’s enough to drink? There's a little more to it than that, surely?

To discuss this often forgotten aspect of the corporate communications world are Apella Advisors partners Andrew Brown and Matt Young. 

Andrew Brown is 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.

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.