Washington folklore states that a foreign conflict cannot make or break a president unless it dominates on polling day. It’s certainly true that voters have short time horizons and Biden’s saving grace might be that the crisis in Afghanistan has occurred early in his presidency. Biden started his term in the White House by proclaiming that ‘America is back!’ but a withdrawal from a foreign conflict makes his administration look anything but an America in ascendancy. To avoid losing credibility, it will be important for Biden to frame his narrative and his decision to leave Afghanistan in an easy to swallow pill for the American people.
Message House welcomes three new team members
We are delighted to welcome three new colleagues to the Message House team. Anabella Cassinelli, Jeremy Barker and Sean Collier have all joined as Research Executives and share a wealth of experience in a range of relevant positions.
Anabella joins us from a Trade Consultancy in Ecuador. Following her graduation with a BA in International Politics and Policy, she was part of the University of Liverpool’s research on MPs understanding of Parliamentary Sovereignty after Brexit. Anabella’s experience gives her an excellent understanding of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and enables her to contribute to the Message House goal of delivering quality at speed.
Jeremy is an English Literature graduate from the University of Leeds. His research experience covers the transport and charitable sectors and has given him a deep understanding of the practices we employ at Message House. Through university, and in his previous role as a copywriter, Jeremy has developed an interest in how political and business communication uses effective storytelling and narrative structures to make lasting impacts on their audiences.
Sean joins us having previously worked as a researcher for Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons. He has also helped co-ordinate a successful County Council election campaign for the Liberal Democrats. Sean’s political and research experience forms an excellent basis for his role at Message House and gives him a strong understanding of our fields of expertise. Sean holds a BA in Modern and Contemporary History from Bangor University.
Kelly Pinder, Managing Director at Message House, said: “Anabella, Jeremy and Sean are passionate about delivering high quality insights and research. Their experience in research and communications roles, coupled with academic excellence, makes them great additions to our growing team of message testing experts. I’m looking forward to working with them over the coming year as we continue to grow and provide strategic consultancy expertise to even more clients.”
Time to Level with us about Levelling Up
Neil O’Brien MP, appointed by Boris Johnson to lead the charge on the ‘levelling up’ agenda, is due to publish a White Paper on the topic this coming Autumn. As he finalises his work, he might want to consider the role of language and an effective narrative as he seeks to direct change on this issue.
New Research: Majority of the UK public want to keep virtual parliament
We all know the pandemic has had a sizeable impact on the way we work, and some of those changes are things we don’t want to lose once restrictions are lifted.
That’s also true for politicians. We asked the general public specifically about changes to the way MPs have been working during COVID, on behalf of the John Smith Centre which promotes trust in politics and public service.
A majority of the 2,099 UK respondents were in favour of MPs being able to continue to debate and vote virtually as well as in person, as opposed to 35% who thought MPs should be required to take part in person, and 14% who didn’t know.
The benefits of remote working for MPs were also clear – most agreed it would enable Parliament to be more accessible to women and those with caring responsibilities, and it would help MPs whose constituencies are a long way from Westminster to get more done.
Read the views of the Director of the John Smith Centre, Kezia Dugdale, on our research in today’s Times Red Box.
The full details of the research can be found here.
Message House’s Kelly Pinder is promoted to Managing Director
We’re delighted to announce that Kelly Pinder has been promoted to a Managing Director at Message House. Previously a Director at the company, she will join Founder and Managing Director Matt Carter, in leading the company into its next phase of growth.
Pinder joined Message House in 2016 and has been a key member of the leadership team, helping to grow the business, deliver outstanding work for clients and support the rapid expansion of the Message House team. She brings with her over 15 years’ experience as a communications consultant with a proven track record of cultivating talent and using research to develop winning campaigns for her clients.
Matt Carter said of the news: “Kelly is a tremendous communications consultant and researcher and she’s clearly demonstrated her leadership skills since she joined Message House. This promotion is very well deserved and I look forward to working even more closely with Kelly to continue the amazing journey that Message House has been on over the last few years.”
Kelly Pinder said: “I am thrilled to take on this new role. We have a great team at Message House and are delivering some brilliant work for our clients. I look forward to supporting the team as we continue to expand our projects and personnel.”
Prior to joining Message House, Pinder worked at the global engineering consultancy Atkins (now SNC-Lavalin), where she led the internal engagement area of their UK innovation strategy. Previously, she also worked as a Senior Director at PSB Research, moving to London in 2006 to help set up the first international office of the company and developing communications strategies for major global brands.
Message House wins Prestige Award for Communications Consultancy Firm of the Year 2020/21
We’re delighted to hear that we’ve been chosen as Communications Consultancy Firm of the Year 2020/21 for London & South East England by Corporate LiveWire’s Prestige Awards.
The Prestige Awards recognise the importance of small-to-medium sized independent businesses. Their purpose is to identify market leaders, innovators and enterprising start-ups who are expected to champion the best in their respective fields and represent the pinnacle of business achievements.
2020 was not an easy year for anyone but through the chaos and disruption of the pandemic, we had our best ever year, and it’s wonderful to be recognised for our expertise in delivering high quality narrative development and message testing at speed. We have adapted our business from face-to-face research methodologies to purely digital research overnight, grown our revenue substantially, won a range of new clients and expanded our already growing team even more.
We’re really grateful to the anonymous person who nominated us, to the awards’ judging panel for picking us, and to all our clients and partners who have helped us come through the pandemic stronger and better placed to help more clients improve their messaging and communications in the future.
Message House welcomes former Ipsos MORI Director, Helen Stephens to the team
We are delighted to announce that Helen Stephens has joined the Message House team as an Associate Director. Helen has a wealth of experience within the communications research sector, having worked in advertising, PR and comms research for more than twenty years. Most recently she was a Director at Ipsos MORI for six years where she led their communications evaluation research for global brands such as Mars. Since then, she has created her own coaching and wellbeing business.
Matt Carter, Founder of Message House, said: "Helen is a fantastic addition to our team. She's a real expert in communications research, especially large-scale quantitative surveys, and also has a good understanding of internal culture and comms which makes her a great consultant. We're excited to welcome her to the team."
Welcoming two new researchers to Message House’s expanding team
Looking through the longevity lens
At home in lockdown, what were you looking forward to doing most when restrictions started to ease? For one of the respondents in our survey, it was “Renew my Private Pilot Licence, I miss being able to fly.” Not a typical response, perhaps, and would it surprise you to know that the respondent was over 65? In a week when Sir David Attenborough became the fastest Instagram user to reach one million followers, Message House director, Rachel Lloyd, reflects on what’s happening to longevity right now and what it means for our clients.
Five shifts in public attitudes that business should act on
The last six months have seen a shift in public attitudes that has implications for most organisations, large or small – from the expectations of their employees to the demands of their consumers and regulatory stakeholders. Based on research conducted by Message House and data we’ve researched, we highlight five shifts businesses should watch out for.
