Public sector

We have extensive experience of working for and within complex organisations undergoing change.

nhs Foundation trust

Communications review and strategy

Think Communications worked with associates to undertake a review of a major NHS Foundation Trust's communications strategy and function to assess whether its existing communications activity and resource were best placed to deliver support for the Trust’s then-forthcoming organisational five year strategy.

The main output of the review was a full written report, followed by a presentation to the Trust's Board.

RESULTS

Our recommendations included changing the size and structure of the communications function, and we proposed a range of options with different budgetary implications for the Board to consider. These were presented in the context of a benchmarking analysis among similar NHS Trusts, relating communications expenditure to turnover.
The review also made recommendations on overall communications strategy and narrative, on internal communications and on stakeholder relations.

middlesex university

Running a large, trail-blazing in-house marketing communications department.

As the University’s first Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications, Julie was responsible for global reputation management and marketing communications. Her tenure witnessed unprecedented public funding cuts which opened higher education to genuine market forces for the first time, necessitating major organisational change. She established and led a team of over 20 professionals delivering corporate brand and publications; website and online communications; media and stakeholder relations; staff engagement; student (customer) engagement and alumni relations.

Results

Shifted delivery model from reactive service to in-house consultancy. Secured 100 proactively generated media articles per month (up from 2 per month); introduced YouTube channel; grew social media following including over 40,000 Facebook fans; introduced programme of Executive engagement events including annual staff conference; ongoing experiential and traditional campaign activities on campus contributed to best ever student satisfaction scores and record participation in National Student Survey; redesigned and migrated website and intranets onto new Content Management System; rolled out new brand identity; remodelled Alumni Association to deliver greater volunteer engagement towards student recruitment and employability targets.

department for work and pensions

Behaviour change and reputation management

At the height of the credit crunch, Julie was seconded to DWP for 12 months in order to lead and expand its new in-house PR and campaigns team - the first of its kind within a Government department. She was tasked with influencing job-seekers' behaviour and managing the reputation of Jobcentre Plus. Drawing upon market insight and ONS unemployment statistics, she used a variety of tactics including facebook campaigns, supporting industry-backed initiatives, radio days and feature pitches to reach a range of different demographics including so-called NEETs (young people Not in Employment, Education or Training) and the over 50s.