Corporate PR – so much diversity

After 30 years of consulting there’s a rich tapestry of experiences to draw on from exposure to the corporate world.

One of the most exciting areas of work earlier in my career was working for public companies where the gambit of work could vary – from Annual Reports, to AGM’s, analyst presentations, IPO’s and takeovers.

For several years I was intimately involved in the formation of the Australasian food company Goodman Fielder – across three countries. Initially I worked for the New Zealand companies that became the foundation of the company. Then in Australia for Goodman Fielder around the actual merger communications after the deal had been consummated. And finally when Goodman Fielder got involved in a share-market stoush with UK-based Rank Hovis McDougall!

I was also involved in many other corporate ‘adventures’ across both the Australian and New Zealand markets involving some major ‘names’ such as Elders, Woolworths, National Australia Bank and Lion Nathan.

In the early 90’s I was one of the first in Australasia to venture into the then new field of investor relations. I helped set up an international investor relations program using specialist investor relations and proxy solicitation firms in London and New York. And in Australia I led some of the earliest work into share registry analysis – all before Investor Relations was even an established field in Australia.

Restructuring is a euphemism for many sins and I’ve seen more than my fair share. In New Zealand I was involved in providing communication support in the meat industry for several years – acquisitions, plant closures etc. And in the last five years in Australia I’ve been involved in more than a dozen for projects for the Australian arm of a multi-national; again plant closures, divestments and acquisitions.

Crisis management is another area where I’ve cut my teeth. My speciality is not in actually handling the crisis, but in preparing for them. For example, for European multi-national Henkel I developed a complete ‘crisis management’ process and plan, ran training courses for their Australasian businesses, and completed simulation exercises at one of their major sites.

Over the years it’s also been interesting inter-acting with internal communications people – some of whom have come to rely very heavily on the head of their agency being a ‘trusted advisor’. This has often led to helping organisations make their internal public relations teams more effective.

One exercise that stands out from the others was my part in helping draw up a complete internal communications structure and plan for the then new “New Zealand Trade Development Board” (the New Zealand equivalent of AustTrade). This project even involved drawing up the job-spec for the person to head the department and being part of the selection panel.

The person eventually chosen to fill the position promptly replaced my agency with his own friendly PR agency. Such is the life of the PR consultant. You can never take anything for granted!