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Connect provides communications support to a wide range of clients. Connect Media is a past winner of the Institute for Public Relations's excellence award for our work with the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). Connect was again recognised in 2005 as a finalist in the CIPR excellence awards for our high-profile media and campaigning work with the Association of Police Authorities (APA)...

4 studies:

Association of Police Authorities

Connect was appointed by the Association of Police Authorities (APA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to help secure a favourable funding settlement from the government in 2005/06. Connect devised and implemented a media and public affairs strategy underpinned with strong messages on the threat to local policing and "bobbies on the beat"...

This strategy generated extensive national, regional and local media coverage by organising a major lobby of parliament as a media hook to maximise public, parliamentary and media interest. Through briefing key journalists, providing different angles to the story as 'exclusives', advance coverage was gained in the Sunday papers. Connect Media then built momentum by negotiating interview opportunities with key 'agenda setting' media sources that are known to have most impact on political decision makers.
Interviews took place on the parliamentary lobby day with The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4, the Nicky Campbell Breakfast Show on Radio 5 Live, the BBC 1 Breakfast Show, Sky News and BBC News 24. We also worked with the BBC 1 lunchtime news team for an extended news feature. There was further coverage in both tabloids and broadsheets following the lobby. Connect provided briefings and materials for local police authorities and constabularies. Extensive media coverage was gained in regional and local media. The campaign mobilised parliamentarians, giving the issue a consistently high political profile and forcing the Home Office to delay its announcement by several weeks in order to reassess the position and negotiate for additional funding from the Treasury and across government. It was generally acknowledged that the lobbying campaign had strengthened the hand of Home Office Ministers in these discussions.
In the settlement, funding increased by 750 million, a 6.7% increase when 3% was predicted. Then Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "we have listened to the Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers and are putting substantial extra cash directly into police forces."

British Association for Adoption and Fostering

Communicating through the media was a key component of Connect's award-winning public affairs campaign with the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). It won the Institute for Public Relations' prestigious 'Best Public Affairs Campaign' award in 2003... [Read More] [Close this Study]

The award recognises a campaign that promotes relationships between national and local government, government agencies, opinion formers and the public.
The campaign successfully secured an amendment to the Adoption and Children's Bill, allowing unmarried couples to adopt children. Connect developed a communications strategy to position adoption by unmarried couples as an issue of children's rights and welfare and to distance it from any controversy surrounding gay rights and the relevance of the institution of marriage. Through building contacts with key journalists and communicating our messages effectively, we ensured favourable front-page media coverage, to turn the campaign in favour of our client.
Connect helped BAAF to focus attention on the central issue at stake in the Bill: increasing the number of potential adopters to the benefit of children in foster care. This sensitive media campaign, alongside the briefing of Ministers and officials, shored up support among MPs, identified and developed Parliamentary champions and, importantly, secured a cross-party amendment allowing a free vote on the issue. The initial success in the Commons was overturned by the Lords. BAAF successfully won support from the Government to return the issue to the Upper House for a second vote. Close work with Peers and an eleventh-hour press conference contributed to a well-attended House of Lords vote and, on this occasion, the clause on adoption by unmarried couples was not thrown out.
Connect Public Affairs and Connect Media took the issue, which the Government was initially against, and secured its successful progress through both Houses of Parliament. The Bill now has royal assent and this new provision will benefit a large number of children and will have important implications for the legal rights of unmarried and gay couples.

Dolphin Square Trust Ltd

The controversial sale of Dolphin Square, London's best known housing estate, provoked strong media interest from the outset... [Read More] [Close this Study]

Well known for its handful of politically influential and famous residents, combined with lower than market rents, the square was built to provide accommodation in Central London that was affordable to those who worked in the area. It has remained the home of MPs and Peers, as well as teachers, retailers and those in the entertainment industry. Since 2004, Connect Media has provided strategic advice and day-to-day support for joint lease holder and vendor of the Square, the Dolphin Square Trust Ltd, throughout a complicated and sensitive sale process. Connect ensured that by adopting a well-planned and intelligent approach to media contact, drawing upon the principles of crisis management media activity took careful account of the sensitivity of the issues for, and implications to, current tenants of the square. Behind the scenes, Connect managed complicated relationships with the key stakeholders involved in the sale process including joint vendor, Westminster City Council, the successful bidder, Westbrook, as well as each vendor's sales agent and solicitors. Connect ensured the trust's media messages remained at the forefront through press releases and the media contact pursued jointly between Westbrook, Westminster and the Trust that was stipulated in the conditions of the sale contract.
Connect provided the Trust with a 24/7 point of contact for journalists. Enquiries were dealt with from local, regional, national and trade media. Connect placed a high priority on full consultation with the trust and acted as a liaison with the other two stakeholders to ensure that enquiries were responded to promptly and that the responses effectively conveyed the views of the Trust.

UNITE

As one of the country's largest pensioner organisations, representing over 100,000 members, the long-term aim for UNITE has been to position its General Secretary Roger Turner as a major national spokesperson on pensions and key issues facing its membership... [Read More] [Close this Study]

The challenge for Connect was to ensure that UNITE - which started from a relatively low media profile - was positioned in the media's consciousness at each stage of the process. Because UNITE represents occupational pensioners rather than current employees, Connect worked with the federation to present it as a unique voice on pensions issues. For example, research carried out by UNITE showed that members of occupational pension schemes needed to be saving 16% of their income (through a combination of employer and employee contributions) in order to enjoy a comfortable standard of living in retirement. In the days leading up to the publication of the Turner Report, Connect Media assisted in developing this message, ensuring UNITE had something different to say on a day when anyone with an interest in pensions would be seeking media coverage. Armed with the key messages, Connect presented UNITE spokespersons to journalists from national, local, and specialist media. This resulted in coverage in a range of industry and trade publications as well as the Financial Times and a round of prime-time regional BBC radio interviews. By working closely with UNITE, using the organisation's specialist knowledge to shape messages and to build relationships with journalists, Connect Media established UNITE's General Secretary as a spokesperson on pension and older people's issues.