FTI Spotlight Series: Andrew McClenaghan

How do you feel that the communications landscape has changed over the past two years, either as a result of COVID or anything else?

I’d say authenticity has become the most important factor over the past two years. Prior to that, the focus tended to be on execution and getting content as polished as possible to catch the audience’s attention, but now it’s less about having a high-end high-impact piece, and more about having an honest message. Whether it comes from a senior leader, or anyone else at the company.

For example pre-COVID, we might have filmed a CEO in their office with a whole production team, but now a CEO can record themself from their home office on their laptop and share it through their personal channels. Expectations have changed, especially as leaders have needed to find new ways to engage investors, media and more during lockdown, but it’s a shift that seems to be here to stay.

What unique solutions can FTI bring to help clients navigate that changing landscape?

I’m sector agnostic, but there’s a lot of people within FTI that aren’t. We have an extraordinary breadth of expertise across the business, and that means our clients can rely on us to build them a team with the perfect blend of digital best practice and deep sector expertise. Whatever the vertical, topic, market or platform.

In doing this, we ultimately deliver programs with real business and reputational impact, not just shiny execution. We take holistic view of the client’s company from the inside out and can continually adapt as their needs change.

Can you describe the way that primary research and data science has informed creative and digital campaigns for clients?

Put simply, our data and insights offering allows us to lay the best possible foundations for our clients. There are no assumptions – instead we build a full and detailed picture of the conversation surrounding the business and its peers, and understand whether current approaches and messages are really gaining traction.

We take a data-first approach to every single brief that comes through the door, and a suite of specialist tools we employ to break down our understanding of the industry and landscape. For example, we worked with a major UK utilities provider recently that wanted to better understand the impact of their ESG communications. We ran quite a detailed analysis looking at where they sat in relation to their competitors and peers, looking at all the key topics related to ESG in the utility space. This allowed us to help them see where there was still opportunity and where they might be falling a bit flat, and really it was the data that gave us the backing to be able to do that credibly.

What piece of advice can you give companies or brands who are beginning to consider using primary research and data science or creative and digital to reach their stakeholders?

Reputation can be quite a tricky thing to measure, but social media and other digital platforms such as Glassdoor present a really rich source of data and analytics. So, even if you can’t generate an exact answer or give yourself an exact reputational score, there are a lot of metrics we can use by proxy.

The best companies track and review those analytics on an almost daily basis to continually enhance their strategy –  layering their research into things like CEO communications are the ones that are creating impactful and authentic stories for their stakeholders

What advice would you give young career professionals who are just starting out in this line of work?

With digital and insights, I’d start with immersion. So much of what we do is about being proactive, so start by joining some of the big industry groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. Then find individuals or leaders who do social really well, and follow them. Same goes for brands – consider the way they tell stories and how they address big issues. Understanding the landscape and new trends will give you a great foundation to start building your own expertise as a consultant.

What have you personally learned the most from your time at FTI?

It’s a constant learning curve. Often my job is different every single day as we’re constantly having to ask ourselves “how do we respond to this?” “what is the data telling us?” The fact we’re always working with different sectors means we have to adjust and react and learn on-the-go, which is the best bit for me because it never gets old!

What’s the last book you’ve read or show that you’ve streamed?

I read a book called Democracy For Sale by Irish journalist Peter Geoghegan. It’s all about dark money and dirty politics, and takes a closer look at social media’s influence in recent global elections. It’s a really interesting, if slightly frustrating topic!