The Brief
A global brand with a diversified property development and funds management business needed help. Media reports had misplaced the context of a business decision to scale back certain operations as a total market withdrawal. The client was in fact intending a scale up of greenfields areas of opportunity – commercial property development and asset securitisation.
BlueChip was called upon to prepare senior management for a strategically vital interview with a senior business reporter. The interview’s outcome would directly sway market perceptions of the brand, clarify the intentions of the business, and help to retain clients and staff.
Mission critical!
The Response
Previous “media training” cockpit drills and artificial crisis simulation efforts by another provider had failed because in the eyes of the CEO, they ‘did not get it’.
BlueChip training is grounded in acting as guide and mentor to key spokespeople, encouraging them to ‘know what you say, not say what you know’, be authentic, to speak from within and crucially, being mindful of the message and its intended audience(s).
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The Results
- Over several intensive, theoretical and practical half-day sessions, each of the key executive team arrived at understanding the difference between a spokesperson and answerperson. Each developed their own voice. And each had become a confident, articulate spokesperson with awareness of what makes news and how to engage media and its audiences with clear, compelling messages.
- The story was published subsequent to the interview. It proved interesting, relevant and most of all on message. Mission accomplished! A delighted client’s testimonial speaks for itself.
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