Messaging Lesson for Pros from a Mango Parfait Box

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

As I ate a rather delicious passion fruit and mango parfait recently, my reading of the dessert’s packaging got me thinking about the flawed nature of corporate ‘key messages’. These little nuggets of carefully crafted joy are brought by executives to our media training. They usually come in threes (it seems to be a rule …

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How Old Media Is Still A Challenge For PROs

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

During our media training, we tell participants that a free media should be respected as a cornerstone of democracy - speaking truth to power and asking awkward questions of governments and the powerful. For all the changes wrought by social media, this week we have had two reminders of why traditional media still has its …

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A Tale Of Two Airlines

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

The answer is probably not what you think but whose reputation is most negatively affected by their contrasting response to the same problem? A new media training reputation case study perhaps? British Airways – I receive an email stating that my flight is cancelled due to Covid. I ring that day to claim a refund. …

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Why Has Richard Branson Had Such A Torrid Covid Time?

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Way back in the timeline of this pandemic – you know, just a few weeks ago – it was Sir Philip Green, Mike Ashley and JD Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin who were the Covid villains in the business community. Who would have thought that everyone’s favourite billionaire, Richard Branson, would be the focus of such criticism …

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How You Can Get Cut-Through For Your Stories During The Coronavirus Crisis

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

For weeks, the top ten most-read stories on the BBC News website have been almost exclusively related to Coronavirus. As we enter phase 2 of the crisis, with the government making plans to ease lockdown restrictions and businesses making cautious plans to re-open, on what is the media focused? Talking to our media training journalists …

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HOW COMMS PEOPLE CAN HELP BUSINESS LEADERS FROM MAKING CORONAVIRUS MISTAKES

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

This is a tale of two companies with very compelling and emotionally engaging corporate stories that sustain their reputation. And that we at Electric Airwaves have previously used as case studies in our media training – Waitrose and Hiscox Insurance. Both have blundered this past week. One acted swiftly to reset itself behind its story; …

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3 WAYS TO HOLD YOUR EXECUTIVES FEET TO THE FIRE DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Sometimes it is only the Communications team that sees things clearly. Used to putting ourselves in the shoes of our audiences, rather than only the operational or financial detail of the business, here are three aspects of the current crisis where Comms people can make a difference: 1. Reminding executives that Covid 19 is first …

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Delivering Great Down-The-Line Media Interviews Over Skype During The Coronavirus Lockdown.

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

With travel and social distancing restrictions, face-to-face media interviews are a thing of the past. Instead, broadcasters want you to undertake them over Skype and FaceTime. Most participants during our media training sessions find this form of interview the most difficult – it does not feel natural to stare at a camera lens and you …

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QUESTIONS YOU MAY FACE FROM JOURNALISTS ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATIONS’S RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

To help you in your communication preparations, we hope you will find helpful the list of questions below that our team of journalists are typically putting to businesses and organisations they are interviewing at this time. Our journalist training team is available for Skype/ telephone training to help you and your spokesperson prepare and communicate …

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PRO Priorities When Responding To The Pandemic

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Because we media train so many clients across the private, public and third sectors, we know that communications people are immersed in coronavirus planning and communication. We thought we would share what we hear they are prioritising: Being an internal advocate of the primary importance being the wellbeing of employees and their families. As …

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Let’s talk about language

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Let’s talk about language - which we always do in our media training. Not just getting rid of jargon – the weed in the garden of language – but using meaningful analogies, examples and phrases that resonate with the audience and facilitate effective and persuasive communication. And avoiding words and approving of behaviours that may …

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Mike Ashley defends his strategy

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

If only billionaire entrepreneur, Mike Ashley, would agree to some media training from Electric Airwaves. Then maybe he would avoid making unnecessary gaffes, tell a better story about himself and see his reputation improve. He once told a Parliamentary Committee that he considered himself “untrainable”. But that’s a state of mind not of being - …

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Why Three Key Messages Don’t Cut It Anymore – & What To Do About It

Corporate Story, Media Training, Reputation Management / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Have you ever surveyed your audience to see whether people can recall your three key messages after your spokesperson has been in the media? Because you did have three key messages, didn’t you? It’s like ... a rule of PR. Three key messages. But when you’re down the pub, are people actually talking about organisations’ …

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How To Explain A Complicated Thing Like Blockchain In A Media Interview

Media Training, Presentation Skills / By andrewcg

How do you communicate complex or technical topics like Blockchain in a media interview simply, easily and in layman terms? This is the type of challenge we address in our media training. At the heart of good communication lies simplicity. Which is not the same as 'dumbing down'. Simplicity allows the audience to understand you …

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Should Company Spokespeople Expect More Hostile Media Interviews In 2018?

Case Study, Media Training, Reputation Management / By andrewcg

Hostile media interviews. Was the Peterson-Newman Channel 4 interview a watershed moment? Business has an image problem. Whether the focus is on its role in society, levels of executive pay, the privatisation of public services or the alleged behaviour of some of those attending the Presidents Club charity dinner, corporations are under greater scrutiny than …

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Tackling The Fallacy That 93% Of Communication Is Non-verbal

Expert Guide, Media Training, Presentation Skills / By andrewcg

So Many Trainers Get This So Wrong Many people misunderstand Albert Mehrabian's research if they think he concluded that people’s first impressions are based 55% on how you look, 38% on how you sound (i.e. the 93% total) and only 7% on what you say. If someone was to give you the spoken instruction “Evacuate …

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Is There A Legal Duty To Maximise Profit?

Expert Guide, Help For Communication Directors, Media Training / By andrewcg

Let us examine the oft-repeated claim that the directors of (especially listed) companies have a legal duty to maximise profit and to minimise tax for the benefit of their shareholders. Under Section 172 of the UK’s 2006 Companies Act, company directors merely have a legal duty to promote the success of their company. Specifically, directors …

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Expert Guide: How to Practise Good Crisis Communications

Crisis communications, Expert Guide, Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

A crisis is defined as: “an intense, unexpected and unstable state that disrupts normal operations and risks highly undesirable outcomes that requires extraordinary measures to restore stability”. Crisis communications management therefore involves the extraordinary measures that are taken to restore stability. A crisis may arise when an issue is ignored or issues management fails or when …

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Expert Guide: How to survive ambush or doorstep interviews

Crisis communications, Expert Guide, Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

The key thing about surviving doorstep interviews is to take control. Running away makes it look as though you have something to hide. If you do not know what you should be saying If you do not know what they are talking about or do not want to answer any questions at all, say “I’m …

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Expert Guide: How to run a Press Conference

Expert Guide, Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

In Advance Your invitation to the press conference should be brief: why it’s taking place, who will speak, where and at what time. There should be contact numbers on the notice. Journalists need to eat too so the offer of good food and drink afterwards cannot go amiss and gives you the opportunity for one-to-one …

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Expert Guide: How to handle on or ‘off-the-record’

Expert Guide, Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Electric Airwaves is the UK’s largest communications training company and the most frequent question we are asked by participants on our courses is whether they should ever go ‘off-the-record’. Implicitly linked to this is the question ‘do journalists honour such conversations?’ So is there such a thing as ‘off-the-record’? The answer is – ‘yes’ with …

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Expert Guide: How to Manage ‘Down the Line’ TV Interviews

Expert Guide, Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

As broadcasters’ resources are stretched, ‘down-the-line’ TV interviews are increasingly common. Interviewees in one location talk to a camera, listening via an earpiece to the journalist who is questioning them from the studio. The most difficult type of interview Spokespeople often find these interviews unnerving. It is unnatural to be talking to a camera rather …

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Expert Guide: How to devise soundbites and get quoted

Expert Guide, Media Training, Presentation Skills / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Many participants on Electric Airwaves’ media training courses ask how they can ensure that they don’t get unfairly edited by a journalist and can get their soundbites broadcast or published. Why was I misquoted? For busy journalists in a busy newsroom, confronted with something new, a few minutes on Google can often be the totality …

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Media Training for Receptionists & Security Guards?

Media Training / By Andrew Caesar-Gordon

Watching the extraordinarily cack-handed response of Ask.FM to the suicide of Hannah Smith following her being cyber-bullied on their website, have a look at this video clip from Sky News doorstepping an employee of Ask.FM here. http://news.sky.com/story/teen-suicide-site-refuses-to-answer-questions-10437918 When covering your organisation's issue or crisis, journalists will try to speak with senior executives. If your organisation …

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