In the wake of Labour’s landslide election victory, Citypress has announced the launch of a new Regional Advocacy & Intelligence Unit.
The team will help clients respond effectively to the government’s plans to ‘turbocharge’ devolution and build meaningful connections with hundreds of new MPs and stakeholders following the election.
Labour’s devolution plans promise to be the most significant transfer of powers from Westminster to the regions in a generation, while its industrial and energy strategies set the framework for substantial investment in new and traditional industries across the UK.
Alongside the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, over 50% of England is already governed by a city or metro mayor, many of whom have significantly more influence than other political figures.
Led by group managing director, Dominic Pendry, and senior director, Alice Newsham, the team will specialise in regional campaigning, grass-roots influence and advocacy, local intelligence and insights gathering.
Initially, the new unit will provide four core services:
Regional Policy & Political Landscape Analysis: enabling businesses to understand the new context for their operations via bespoke reports on local economic, social, political and policy dynamics.
Regional Brand Assessment: helping clients understand their salience and reputation with regional customers, communities and stakeholders using an AI-powered research tool developed by Citypress’ award-winning Research & Analytics team.
Stakeholder Social Audit: assessing brands’ spheres of local social influence and identifying geo-targeted influencer strategies.
Local Campaign Strategy & Activation: helping brands show-up and engage communities in a way that’s relevant and meaningful on-the-ground, positively shaping reputation and supporting commercial impact.
Pendry said: “As a national agency headquartered outside London with a regional office network, Citypress has a unique vantage point and a legacy helping many of the nation’s best-loved brands connect authentically across the UK. As we enter a new political era, we will now help clients respond to the rapid devolution of powers, build economic advantage in new industrial and energy clusters, and address customers, stakeholders and political audiences strategically and effectively.”
Newsham added: “Our new Regional Advocacy Unit will expand our offer to clients at a time when factors like localism and the need to demonstrate social impact are increasingly bound-up with people’s willingness to engage with brands. With a more distrusting British public, there’s never been a greater need for the type of nuanced, informed conversations that only community-first comms can bring about. That’s what this team has been formed to do.”
The Regional Advocacy & Intelligence Unit will include award-winning talent from across Citypress’ network in Manchester, Edinburgh and London, including head of public affairs & regional advocacy, Tom Anelay, who has experience delivering strategic infrastructure, housing and commercial property developments, as well as building political advocacy for FTSE 100 brands across the country; head of corporate specialisms, Rory Fletcher, who oversees Citypress’ crisis and issues and internal comms offerings; campaigns director, Joey Ng, who brings a wealth of experience delivering award-winning community-first programmes; head of research & analytics, Chris Hopper, who leads Citypress’ multi-award-winning research & analytics team, and associate director, Alison Tarry, who has developed grass-roots advocacy and influencer strategies for leading British brands.
Citypress is the UK’s largest employee-owned PR consultancy and has teams on the ground in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and London. It partners with clients including Aldi, Arla, British Land, Lloyds Banking Group and Molson Coors.
