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Author: Aspectus Group

How to impress an Evening Standard journalist


Written by Sofie Skouras

Last week we launched our first Power of PR event during London Tech Week. The event was about communications, why it matters and outlined tips for startups from the amazing Amelia Heathman, technology reporter at Evening Standard and our very own Sophie Hodgson, head of technology at Aspectus.

It was fantastic to see so many people and for those of you who weren’t able to come due to the event being fully booked, we’ve summarised Amelia’s top tips below. Some of these pointers might seem simple, but the fact she had to make these points highlighted they aren’t followed by all:

Step 1: Do your homework

What platform is the journalist writing for? Is it an online publication or a printed publication? For instance, the Evening Standard paper and website have two completely different teams – similar to MailOnline and Daily Mail – so approaching Amelia with a story for tomorrow’s paper will be of no interest; she writes for the online site.

Also, think about what they write about. Take Amelia. Her interests are tech for good, women in tech, fintech and smartphones – so a company or news that hits any of those areas is going to be much more successful. Useful places to look to understand a reporter’s remit is their Twitter feed, recent stories they’ve written and / or their Twitter bio.

Step 2: Getting in contact with journalists

Interestingly Amelia cautioned against the use of social media when pitching journalists. Personally, she doesn’t like Twitter pitches (bar a couple of exceptions where she said it worked well). But this isn’t a hard and fast rule for all.

Many journalists have their DMs open for that reason. Again, it’s about taking the time to understand the journalist’s interests and how they like to be contacted.

She also encouraged email follow-ups (a first time I’ve ever heard a journalist say this!) She promised the audience she reads all her emails, but due to the sheer volume of them, can sometimes forget to reply. Following up with her first thing in the morning – before her 9am editorial meeting – is the best bet.

It’s also worth noting the print deadline for the paper – which is 11am – so avoid sending anything on the day as it’s unlikely the journalist will have time to cover it. It’s best to get in touch a few days beforehand to give them a heads up on it. Each publication has different deadlines they work to so, do your research to find out what they are and make note of them.

Step 3: Crafting the perfect pitch

You’ve done your research, you know how and when to contact the journalist, next up is figuring out exactly what to say. Amelia, like most journalists, likes pitches to be brief, to the point and using bullet points. The essential things to include are:

  • Who are you?
  • What are you doing?
  • Why should Amelia (or any journalist) care?
  • Any embargo times to be aware of?

The third bullet is arguably the most important, so take the time to think about this point, pulling in the areas of interest the journalist has.

Step 4: During the interview

So you’ve bagged yourself an interview, great. Now it’s time prepare for it, starting with what spokesperson you chose to put forward.

If you put your marketing person forward it can give off the wrong impression – for instance, that the founder is ‘too busy’. But if the founder isn’t comfortable with media interviews, and your marketing person is actually much better placed, then make that clear to the reporter.

Another tip she gave, and something we often tell clients during media training sessions, is to decide what five main points you want to put forward are. Focus on those in the interview rather than reeling off a list of things from a sales pitch the journalist is likely not to use.

And of course, don’t say something in an interview that the journalist cannot print or post online. You also won’t be able to ‘review’ the article after the interview either (unless it’s fact-checking something complex), so don’t ask the journalist for this; it’s not an advertorial piece.

Step 5: Get your house in order

Many companies aren’t making the most of the ‘press’ section of their websites. This should be filled with press packs, contact information, product images (landscape and portrait – landscape images are ideal for the Evening Standard), stock images and any videos. It makes journalists’ lives much easier knowing they can quickly access a headshot without having to chase and lock down one themselves and the likelihood of coverage higher.

Step 6: Manage expectations

The news agenda moves so fast that often stories get bumped. This can happen after the interview has taken place and you’ve spent the time researching and creating the perfect pitch note. If this happens, it’s not the end of the world. It’s fine to ask the journalist what happened to understand in this situation.

And the good news is you’ve still built that relationship with the journalist in the process which is invaluable and means you’ll have a warmer lead next time.

Ultimately, you have to be in it to win it with comms, and a relentless attitude to these things is absolutely needed.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about how we work with startups or you’re interested in getting comms support: sofie.skouras@aspectusgroup.com

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OpenGamma appoints Aspectus to run its UK communications

London, 14th June 2018 – Aspectus, the specialist communications agency for the financial services, energy, technology and engineering sectors, has been appointed by OpenGamma, the analytics company dedicated to improving returns for derivatives users through capital efficiency, to deliver its UK communications programme.

Focusing on messaging, media relations, media training and content, Aspectus have been chosen to raise awareness of OpenGamma’s analytics offering and the market challenges it addresses around the cost and complexity created by new regulations. Aspectus was selected because of its experience in the market infrastructure and proven track record of communicating convoluted market issues in succinct and digestible way through the financial media.

Peter Rippon, CEO at OpenGamma said: “For us, an understanding of the industry was essential. The complexity of our business meant we needed an agency with the market experience to match. This coupled with a proactive approach to media relations has helped us to secure the coverage we need to support our business goals. Aspectus hit the ground running as soon as we partnered with them.”

Tim Focas, Capital Markets Lead at Aspectus added: “The regulatory landscape has shifted dramatically over the last few of years, altering the way derivatives trading is done across Europe. This means now is an ideal time to work with firms such as OpenGamma who tackle specific issues that compliance change has brought to the market. It’s fantastic to work with such a dynamic firm, and we’ve already seen some great results.”

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Light at the end of the oil barrel perhaps?


Written by Louise Douglas 

If you work in energy and it wasn’t on your radar, you must have been living down a hole since 2014. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the ‘oil price downturn’. Those words have been used in millions of articles, documentaries and whitepapers for several years now. The downturn in itself was horrific for a lot of people, it changed lives and it has changed the industry. But can we talk about the comeback story?

The other side of the coin – low oil prices have resulted in the potential comeback of deepwater projects. It’s projected that the gap in supply by 2030 will create an opportunity for new cost-competitive deepwater projects. Not only that but a lot has changed. In fact, you could say the oil and gas industry has, in some places, transformed itself. If the oil price had remained at US$100 dollars a barrel, would BP be expanding its horizons and looking at other means of energy? Energy transition is now a trending topic and a serious initiative for companies like BP who are renowned for their oil and gas expertise.

The energy transition…

The way in which energy is produced, consumed and distributed is changing dramatically. Even the way we view fuel has changed. If you told any oil worker at the start of the 20th century (the gusher age) that we would be driving electric cars and commissioning wind turbines offshore, their jaw would certainly drop or rattle with laughter. But, you have to be in it to win it. Whether you work in the financial services, tech or the energy industry, times change, things get replaced and if you don’t keep up, you are left trailing behind. Take digitalization as an example. There is no denying the oil and gas industry has a long way to go, but just in the last five years we have seen some fascinating things, from enterprise software platforms calculating risk on an offshore oil platform to throwing out the old Excel sheets and converting to the Cloud.

The ultimate comeback

So how does a leading brand go from producing carbon to being seen as a supporter of a low carbon economy? A creative fresh idea can have a dramatic impact…

I used to look at it, covered in dust, lurking in my Grandparents’ bathroom – Old Spice. Then boom! With the right communication approach, the brand was propelled to the top of its category. ‘Old’ Spice was new again. Who knew a topless man on a horse would change the brand forever? Well, its agency did.

Even closer to home is Statoil. A major player in the oil and gas space rebranded to the name of Equinor, as it moves into the green energy space and, in a bid, to attract young talent. After its rebrand the company did a survey where students found Equinor to be 10 percent more attractive as an employer than the name Statoil. Result.

Whether you are producing an aftershave or hydrocarbons, the way you tell your story can have a dramatic effect in the way your audience feels about your brand. Even in the darkest of places there is always the opportunity for a comeback story.

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PR – know what you want to achieve


Written by Sophie Hodgson and originally published on the EQT Ventures blog 

A few weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a PR 101 EQT Circles event. Along with EQT Ventures Communications Partner, Lucy Wimmer, we were chatting with startups from across the VC’s portfolio – and beyond – about how to know when the time is right to invest in PR, in-house versus outsourced resource, why PR is not a silver bullet and of course, measurement.

Measurement is the boomerang that keeps coming back to bite PR in the derrière and it’s also the root cause of some serious frustrations that startups have with their PR efforts. What was clear from the room was that the general consensus on PR agencies was at best muted, but the predominant feeling was that these companies weren’t getting bang for their buck.

This, said Lucy, is something she hears a lot from companies. The issue, more often than not, is that startups don’t have KPIs in place to measure their agency. This resonated with the room as the majority admitted they had no metrics in place to evaluate agency performance or to ensure the opportunities being secured were in line with the business’ growth objectives. In the absence of metrics, all they had to rely on was a feeling and that feeling was, well, disappointment.

Sitting listening to these founders and comms people, I too was disappointed. Why? As an industry, we should be looking to deliver and prove business value – and the responsibility is on us, not a company that hasn’t done PR before. We need to be an open, honest and transparent partner to startups and businesses of all sizes.

So, when it comes to metrics, what are my tips?

  1. Be clear about what you want to achieve and the role you would like PR to play in that objective. ‘No man is an island’ as the saying goes and the same is true for PR – it’s at its most impactful, and measurable, when integrated with wider activity
  2. The old age adage of quality versus quantity is a well-trodden debate. To know that PR is having an influence, you need to understand your audience and how they consume media – then working with your agency you can be forensic about where comms can add the most value to the sales process. We work with clients to identify the influencers in their industry, the channels we can communicate with them and the right content to get their attention. Based on that, we work back to outline KPIs
  3. Don’t let measurement become the elephant in the room. Explain upfront how important it is to you to be able to benchmark success beyond a good feeling. PR has come a long way since the days when coverage piles were compared with advertising costs, we can be more measurable and no agency should be shy in talking about the different ways they can work with you to measure the business outputs of their activity

Ultimately though, successful PR is about the right partnership. And, whilst that’s harder to put metrics against, you’ll know in your gut if you’re with the right agency.If you are, have an honest chat with the agency about how you want the programme to be more measurable and the different targets you’d like to put in place. It was largely agreed at the event that if you never have the conversation, nothing will ever change regardless of which agency you’re with. As Ed Foreman said: “If you always do what you’ve done, you will always get what you’ve got.”

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Aspectus Group’s energy earnings hit £1m mark on anniversary of Aberdeen launch

Aberdeen and London, UK, 25 April 2018 –  Aspectus Group is celebrating on multiple fronts as the energy, oil and gas practice marks the second anniversary of its Aberdeen office by reporting £1 million in annual revenues, and over £5 million globally.

This milestone represents the third consecutive year of 20 per cent year-on-year growth. Furthermore, increasing revenues are reflected in a growing team of eight full-time specialist energy communications and digital marketing consultants, three of whom are permanently based in Aberdeen.

Laura Iley, Head of Energy, Oil and Gas at Aspectus Group, says: “When we opened our Aberdeen office with just a single employee, the oil price was at a low ebb. But we’ve remained relentlessly committed to the sector and we’re incredibly proud of our growth.

“We never lose sight of the fact that, like any investment, communications needs to deliver a return. When that’s underpinned by an expert team, creative ideas and a unique results-focused approach, it becomes very powerful.

“But we’re not stopping there. This is a truly exciting time in energy and we remain on the lookout for best-in-class talent to help us expand our range of clients across the industry.”

Aspectus Group has a diverse energy, oil and gas portfolio, with 25 clients spanning a range of sectors including cleantech, consultancy and renewable energy. The agency supports businesses at all stages of growth, from start-ups and scale-ups through to mergers, acquisitions and beyond.

Alastair Turner, CEO at Aspectus Group, concludes: “These are very exciting times for Aspectus across all of our core sectors – financial services, energy and technology. We deliver measurable business outcomes for our clients, wherever they are in the world. And by continuing to integrate specialist sector knowledge with broad digital and communications skills, we are confident that we’ll continue to deliver strong returns.”

In Aberdeen, Megain Buchan, Account Director, joined Aspectus Group from oilfield services company ProSep. Louise Douglas, Account Manager, previously worked as a journalist at Red Mist Media and Zoe Poxon, Senior Digital Account Executive, joined the company from Centrica.

– ENDS –

About Aspectus Group

Aspectus Group, the engagement agency, is an international communications agency specialising in financial services, energy, technology and engineering.

In our hands communications transforms the way businesses engage with their markets. Our award-winning approach, creativity and market knowledge builds brands, increases sales, attracts investment and supports business growth.

To find out more, visit: www.aspectusgroup.com.

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Acoustic Data hires Aspectus to drive brand growth

London, UK, 19 April – Acoustic Data, a leader in wireless well technology, has selected Aspectus Group to support its next phase of significant growth. Aspectus will commence with a three-month project to boost the Acoustic Data brand globally following the company’s recent closure of an USD $8m investment.

Founded in 2012, Acoustic Data has seen growing demand for its proprietary wireless downhole pressure and temperature gauge technology, the SonicGauge™ System. The funding enables the company to capitalise on the opportunity by scaling its sales and operations efforts, which includes engaging a communications agency for the first time.

Jesse Tolley, Chief Marketing Officer at Acoustic Data said: “The investment is a key milestone for our team and a significant endorsement of our company’s growth potential. To fully realise our ambitions, we needed a partner that truly understood the oil field services sector. Aspectus has specialist expertise, but also a track record of creating awareness of next-generation, innovative technologies in the industry. We knew that by collaborating with their team, we could immediately hit the ground running.”

Laura Iley, Head of Energy, Oil and Gas, at Aspectus Group, said: “In the oil and gas sector, we’ve helped many companies weather turbulent times and, as a result, strengthen their proposition. With the oil price recovering and competition increasing, this is an excellent time to invest in communications. Acoustic Data is ready to shift into a higher gear and our project will deliver a hard-hitting campaign to really get them noticed.”

In the initial project, Aspectus will deliver content strategy and media services. It will lead the project from its UK offices in London and Aberdeen, leveraging its global media connections to expand the campaign internationally.

– ENDS –

About Aspectus Group

Aspectus Group, the engagement agency, is an international communications agency specialising in financial services, energy, technology and engineering.

In our hands communications transforms the way businesses engage with their markets. Our award-winning approach, creativity and market knowledge builds brands, increases sales, attracts investment and supports business growth.

To find out more, visit: www.aspectusgroup.com.

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Impact investing: tackling the doom and gloom!


Written by Alex Knight

Reading and watching the news at the moment can be a concerning endeavour. If it’s not the latest Russia-related diplomatic crisis, or Trump’s flamboyant tomfoolery (as I imagine his British doppelganger Boris might say), then it’s Facebook’s ongoing data scandal.

However, most people would also agree that the last few years have seen a spike in humanitarian and environmental concern:

Electric vehicles are on the rise, particularly in light of the Government’s recently announced 2030 goal, gender equality is being discussed and (to some extent) addressed, there’s also a growing anti-plastic movement and a tax on sugary drinks has even just come into effect in the UK.

In many cases, these are brought on by public awareness championed by a few key organisations and individuals; Tesla legitimising electric vehicles, Sir Attenborough for the plastic pollution problem and I guess Jamie Oliver for the UK’s sugar tax…

Get the mob on board

Anyway, if anything, these examples are evidence of one thing: if something draws the public concern enough, it’ll catch on. (Particularly when it makes long term economic sense like electric vehicles or recycling).

Impact investing is the practice of investing capital to generate a positive social or environmental benefit alongside a financial return. Impact investing can capitalise (do excuse the pun) on these growing popular trends – it’s a potential solution for many of these issues.

The term is catching on now faster than ever before, but it’s critical that momentum is maintained.

Bringing the practice more directly to the attention of the masses will inevitably increase support and engagement for the industry, both on an institutional and retail level.

So what can we do?

Most are simply unaware that a good deed can also generate a financial return. You don’t have to just give it away to a faceless bank – you can invest in causes you want to support.

We need to reinforce that key message and get it out there in front of all potential investors.

As outlined by a recent UK Government report, PR and the media will need to play a role in the up-take. We’ve definitely seen a growing level of media interest recently – something I have noticed working in the space over the last year – but the practice should be brought to a mass market.

We’re also on the brink of a major change in wealth allocation: wealth is trickling from baby-boomers to millennials who might soon have more capability to invest.

Knowing millennial trends, impact investing could be a popular way to go…

The aim is simple

Like with Tesla, Sir David and Jamie Oliver – impact investing needs pioneers to bring it to the front of dialogue!

There are existing organisations such as the Global Impact Investing Network (an Aspectus client) and Omidyar Network who are taking on that role, but there’s still scope for someone to come and capture the public imagination.

Now is the time to align private capital with that growing public consensus – it shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of government and charities to improve lives, businesses have a role to play and impact investing is the glue which can stick it all together.

With impact investing, we’ll get to read more of that positive news we all like reading.

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Did no one tell the London Stock Exchange that digital life would be this way?


Written by Tim Focas, Capital Markets Lead at Aspectus

“Oh…my God…” #DavidSchwimmer is the new London Stock Exchange (LSE) CEO! Cue a truck full of Friends related gifs memes and gags this morning.

That’s the weird and wonderful of Twitter for you, but did anyone tell the LSE or Schwimmer’s (no not that one) former employer Goldman Sachs? You could forgive corporate communication departments for going “on a break” this morning. But when it comes to something as surreal as a senior finance chief sharing a name with a famous actor trending what, if anything, should financial institutions do from a comms perspective?

It is always difficult to gauge how people will react, and with something as inoffensive as this, it is hard to imagine shareholders getting too hot under the collar. That said, Twitter has been around long enough now for businesses to know about the sort of bizarre things people latch onto. It is a simple fact of modern day communications life that you have to prepare for all situations. Some comms bod may well be saying “I told you so” as we speak. If so, good on them. The point is not so much that there is a pressing need for the LSE or Goldman to react, more that it should have been on the agenda as part of the official Schwimmer media announcement. Twitter needs to be treated in the same way as a traditional news outlet. Any media strategy includes info on the angles that Financial Times or Financial News reporters are likely to take on any given story. Today, views from @John33 also need to be tracked in order to have full control of your brand.

Twitter serves up a constant stream of updates as unpredictable trends progress. The good news is that the overtly vocal nature of micro blogging means other people, often working in comms, tend to immediately correct these errors. While this is not the case with #DavidSchwimmer, it could well be for future announcements. These days, regardless of their size, financial institutions need to be as obsessed with what’s being said about their brand on social media as Ross was with dinosaurs!

When you ask the wrong #DavidSchwimmer to be new CEO at London Stock Exchange and ask him how he sees the day’s share prices ending…https://t.co/ZuhbnW4QyM pic.twitter.com/v29re3vQZF

— LOVE SPORT Radio (@lovesportradio) April 13, 2018

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A focus on wellness


Written by Amy Morley 

Aspectus has always been a company that cares deeply about its employees. Its benefit package which includes comprehensive medical insurance, subsidised gym membership and up to six months fully paid maternity pay, is, I believe the best in the business. Caring for our people is embedded in our company culture and our values and it is one of the main reasons I have worked here for over a decade.

However, we have until now never had a policy on mental health. While we are proud of the comprehensive support we have been able to provide colleagues and friends in an informal way, statistics on mental health are truly shocking. And we felt compelled to put more rigour behind our approach. According to a survey carried out by the PRCA last year 59% of PR and communications practitioners have suffered from mental ill health. A similar study by Mind found that after being diagnosed with a mental health condition fewer than half of employees told their bosses. This suggests that most employees fear that admitting a mental health condition will jeopardise their position at work. Less than half of employees (41%) said they would feel able to talk openly with their line manager if they were experiencing stress.

We want to ensure that all our employees, no matter what their position feel comfortable speaking to someone within the company about any mental health challenges they may face.

Today we launched our mental health charter and guide to demonstrate our commitment to creating a culture that promotes positive mental health and fully supports employees who do experience mental health problems by helping them to manage these. We will also be running training sessions for managers to help to increase awareness of mental health problems and ensure these are handled appropriately when they do arise.

We all have mental health and just like physical health it can fluctuate on a spectrum from thriving to poor. The good news is that in many cases an individual can have a serious mental health problem but with the right support can still thrive at work. As well as putting measures in place to ensure we spot the signs of mental health problems early we want to ensure anyone at Aspectus who does suffer from a mental health problem feels fully supported.

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