It’s been a big year. Half the world headed to the polls in elections that will have consequences for more than just their local populations. Human rights have been lost and those fighting to protect them have faced backlash and punishment. War has caused tremendous suffering in too many places to mention, and climate change has wreaked havoc on millions of people.
Yet in the midst of all the trauma and challenges, there has been much to celebrate. People have used their power to vote, protest and take action in support of others and shared values. Arrest warrants have been issued for leaders believed to be committing war crimes. Millions of pounds have been invested in clever technologies designed to protect the environment, save lives and strengthen livelihoods. And all over the world, charities, NGOs and trade unions have been steadfastly and expertly creating positive social change.
We’re honoured to have played a role in this important work. Over the course of 2024, we have helped our clients achieve some ambitious goals. From bold approaches to comms strategy and narrative, to new brand identities and inspiring creative content, our team has covered a lot of ground. And along the way, we’ve secured global media coverage, dealt with comms crises and implemented new ways of working that have strengthened skills and confidence across the board. It’s been epic.
We couldn’t have done any of this without the trust of our clients and the dedication of our team. Thank you. What follows are some of our highlights and a celebration of our joint effort and shared commitment to creating sustainable social change. We’re looking forward to seeing what we achieve together next year.
January
With elections on our minds, the year kicked off with a focus on how our clients could influence political manifestos. In particular, Matt Ball, Vic Barlow, Adi Bloom and Bec Haack worked with members of the Society of Radiographers to shape their policy asks, complemented by some 18 media stories to raise awareness among politicians and the wider public about how the shortage of radiography professionals impacts on waiting lists.
February
Friends of Agenda were offered the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on one of our favourite subjects – understanding how people’s hard wiring influences their views of the world. Becky held an ‘In conversation with...’ session with Dr Jennifer Fraser, author of ‘The Bullied Brain,’ and neuroscientist David Bovis, exploring the impact of trauma and ways to heal it. Valuable funds were raised for sick and disabled children thanks to extensive local and regional media coverage, placed by Catherine Cooper, our senior associate for PR, on behalf of Tree of Hope. Our media activity continued throughout the year, securing more than 100 pieces of coverage for dozens of families.
Meanwhile, families of children born with rare conditions gained easier access to information and support via MPS Society’s new website created by our digital wiz, Duncan Robertson.
March
Throughout the spring, Agenda used its international reach and experience to engage diverse groups of people in civic society. With an eye on the EU elections, our European team, including Becky Slack, Shamik Das and Paulina Lainez Miccolo, were on hand to share insights and expertise with charities and membership groups based in Brussels, while in the UK, Matt Ball shared his decades of experience of UK and EU political cycles with Unions 21.
April
The media can be a powerful tool to engage your target audiences. Defining who can deliver your organisation’s objectives, where those people get their information and news, then developing stories which capture the media’s attention is a priority for many of our clients, including Alzheimer’s Research UK. Vic and Duncan helped the comms team build a new media strategy to raise awareness of the disease and the charity’s work for a cure. We developed a content calendar/project management tool and defined five key performance indicators to deliver and measure the team’s activities.
May
Learning how to deal with conflict was the focus of our ‘In conversation with...’ event featuring author Ian Leslie. He shared insights and practical tips from his book, ‘Conflicted: Why arguments are tearing us apart and how they can bring us together’. Top tip: "The best disagreements neither reinforce nor eradicate a difference but make something new out of it. Finding a new solution that meets the goals of both parties is an essentially creative task requiring 'brilliant inventiveness'."
Using the power of the media to find new business and inform the public about the challenges of delivering aid in areas of conflict was the focus for Catherine throughout May as she secured coverage for Thrive Mental Wellbeing and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Meanwhile, our design expert, Justin Shill, put his creative eye to good use for National Energy Action (NEA) by producing new logos and brand assets for use by their different branches and sub-brands.
June
If civil society is to successfully influence attitudes and behaviour, we need to understand more about how people respond and react to new information. It was this premise that anchored the programme for our new event, ‘Changing hearts and minds’. Some 60 people gathered in London for a day of learning by thinking and doing, using insights on:
Why people turn against each other and how to bring them together, by Alison Goldsworthy, leading expert in polarisation.
How to mobilise emotions within campaigns, from Ailbhe Smyth, co-director of the ‘Together for Yes’ referendum campaign.
Dealing with disinformation and communications crises with Celia Richardson, director of communications and marketing at the National Trust.
Why facts alone don’t change people’s minds from David Bovis, neuroscientist, behaviour change expert and founder of Duxinaroe (UK).
How experience, prejudice and expectation alter the way we see the world with Dr Daniel Glaser, of the Royal Institution.
July
Labour’s landslide, a tense vote in France and concerns about the changing demographics within the EU demanded political expertise from our teams in both the UK and Europe. Strategies and campaigns were adjusted to reflect new challenges and opportunities arising from the many elections taking place throughout early summer.
Meanwhile, at Gesher, Jo Lamb helped with fundraising proposals to secure additional resources for this special school, and Vic and Sarah Younger offered advice and ideas to improve their website and LinkedIn content – all with the aim of increasing and improving engagement with decision-makers who can enhance SEND provision and learning.
August
Becky and Vic had a week of creativity and deep thinking in France where they considered how to combine years of in-house and agency experience to best meet clients’ needs. It resulted in The Agenda Way, a methodology that will ensure a consistent quality of service for all clients across every area of our work.
With support from Martin Reid, Matt, Duncan and Vic, train drivers’ union ASLEF began a comprehensive audit of its comms channels as part of the union’s member engagement project, looking to understand what’s working well and what could be better, especially when asking under-represented groups to step into rep roles.
September
Successful influencing depends on strong relationships. Nurturing and building connections were a core focus for September, most of which took place at the Labour Party conference where Becky and Vic were chairing events for the ‘New Statesman’ on topics ranging from the transition to net zero to housing to finance and everything in between.
Choosing the right CRM for your organisation is essential. Get it right and systems and processes can be streamlined, data-rich reports can help you make better decisions and the member experience can be strengthened. Duncan was pleased to help airline pilots’ union BALPA with its tender process for a system to replace its nearly 20-year-old member database.
October
Human stories that showed the harsh realities of Israel’s assault on Gaza were the focus of a film made by Becky Allin and Becky Slack in partnership with Medical Aid for Palestinians. We were incredibly proud of this work, which involved complicated logistics and careful narratives.
The redistribution of power and the framing of development activities in the global south were among the topics discussed during our ‘In conversation with…’ Deborah Doane, author of ‘The INGO Problem: Power, Privilege and Renewal’.
November
How organisations can position their work in a way that strengthens their profile and secures impact is the main aim of our Comms Lab offer, which combines academic research and discourse analysis with expert insight and user testing.
Two core themes came under the microscope in the Lab throughout November: education policy and the frames that teachers’ union NASUWT can use to enhance its brand and influencing activities; and how to tackle extremist narratives following the shift to the right across the West. We’ll be sharing many of these latter insights with friends of Agenda in the coming weeks and months – sign up to the newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out.
December
Following a session at Air Ambulance UK’s conference on managing reputation and risk by Vic, the Agenda team spent their last reserves of energy on strategy presentations, tying up loose ends and reflecting on all that has been achieved throughout 2024.
Our goals of delivering more impact for clients while also strengthening our own business so that we can think bigger and be bolder for everyone next year have been achieved. And so it was with a somewhat tired but very happy ‘cheers’ at our team Christmas party that we signed off. Thank you to everyone who worked with us and for us – it’s been a blast!
