Protecting brands and reputations
Boxing Clever is extremely experienced at managing issues, crises and sensitive issues in ways that avoid and minimise media coverage and negative impacts.
We have advised high-profile individuals and leaders from business, sports and the arts, helping them navigate and recover from circumstances that had the potential to ruin their reputations and careers. We have developed plans for myriad issues.
Just some of the issues we’ve helped manage include:
- national media stories focused on individuals
- technology transformations and changes
- historic and recent child sexual abuse cases
- unprofessional behaviour in corporate settings
- supporting a Chair, CEO and Board related to investor communication and a potential leadership coup
- high profile regulatory and legal issues
- product recalls
But the best mitigation approach is preparation and planning. We have created detailed contingency and issues management plans and protocols for listed and private companies, and not-for-profits. We have trained MPs, Chairs, Directors, CEOs, Commissioners, Councilors, teams and a journalist, to put their best foot forward when engaging with stakeholders, media and Senate Estimates.
We provided strategic communication counsel to the Chair and Managing Partner of one of Australia’s leading law firms as they prepared for an international merger. Our role included reviewing current messaging, communication practices and protocols and presenting recommendations to the firm’s Board to improve communication and media management. Following that, our Director provided advice and assistance and acted as a sounding board to the firm’s communication team in relation to a number of serious issues related to patterns of behaviour among senior partners, downsizings, rumours and ongoing media scrutiny.
While a Director at her previous company, Anne developed Australia’s first ever ‘whole of Australian Government’ issues and crisis contingency plan – to protect ‘brand Australia’ during the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Consultation with over 40 state, federal and private sector organisations to identify everything that could happen and escalation points to trigger the issues management protocol. The protocol specified how public information was coordinated, cleared, communicated and cascaded to media and the public and who would be lead spokesperson.
It proved highly successful during Games’ time and was a blueprint for other whole of Australian Government projects.
Boxing Clever helped Elanco Animal Health through several issues management projects to support their farm and companion animal health products across Australia and New Zealand. Working closely with Elanco’s local and global teams, we crafted communication strategies and materials to support media and stakeholder relations and protect product and corporate brands. In keeping with Elanco’s commitment to continuous improvement, Boxing Clever was also engaged to undertake interviews with the executive team and staff to develop a new issues management protocol and deliver training to support its implementation across Elanco’s Australian and New Zealand operations.
When Anne worked in public affairs roles in the Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Protective Service in Canberra, she was a media spokesperson and managed media related to counter-terrorism issues, arrests, demonstrations, Greenpeace on the roof of Kirribilli House, and security preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.