Engaging with internal and external stakeholders is a science; despite looking relatively simple, it can often be a complex process. With ever changing environments, such as greater community expectations, financial collapses, environmental impacts or catastrophes, new regulatory requirements or social media dictating change, your organisation needs to be working effectively by mapping and then proactively engaging with those stakeholders.

1Up Communications is familiar with understanding, identifying and prioritising key stakeholders that matter most to your business. We recognise the power and influence of information; to effectively communicate that information is dependent on engaging the right stakeholders. Our research affords you with powerful and cost-effective insights into stakeholders that matter most to you.

We work across multiple sectors, including real estate, property and construction; legal; auditing and advisory; professional services; mining and resources; human resources; hospitality, travel and tourism; and retail, to help you gain and maintain a licence to operate.

We have expertise in:

  • Influencer identification and analysis
  • Digital influencer analysis
  • Stakeholder mapping analysis and workshops
  • Community engagement and consultation
  • Engagement framework development
  • Social impact assessment
  • Landscape and competitive analysis
  • Major project communication
  • Bid support
  • Employee engagement
  • Stakeholder engagement analysis and workshops

When an issue or crisis strikes, you need 1Up Communications standing by your side and willing to fight with you in the trenches.  How a business leads, manages and responds to incidents, is one of the most critical moment of truth periods that you will be judged on.

Often there are many moving parts causing an issue or crisis to be stressful and time consuming. The ultimate reputation of your business will be judged based on your organisation’s response and leadership.

A broad variety of issues – if left unaddressed – can turn into a crisis. For example, types of matters could include but not limited to:

  • Litigation proceedings
  • Mergers, acquisitions and restructuring
  • Proxy contests
  • Corporate white collar crime or other criminal charges
  • Product recalls
  • Environmental issues and product liability claims
  • Government regulatory investigations
  • Data breaches
  • Insurance fraud
  • Labour issues, such as sexual harassment, discrimination and emergency executive transitions
  • Trade disputes.

Prevention is better than cure and we will always advise to have good planning in place. However, there is no way of avoiding every type of issue or crisis eventuating or being foreseen, though if handled correctly through best practice, it can lead to enhanced standing for a business.

The 1Up Communications team guides your company and executives through the maze of potential reputation issues you may encounter, in order to cement you in a stronger position than beforehand.

Time and time again, it has been proven that when it comes to reputation management and recovery, the first 72 hours are the most crucial. There is no substitute for experience; at 1Up Communications we are geared to respond immediately, anywhere and anytime. In those first 72 hours, critical decisions must be made, under the glaring spotlight of media and stakeholders.

Irrespective of the size of your business, there is seldom room for error or complacency with the manner in which you respond to developments, potentially having serious consequences to operations if ignored or miscalculated in severity.

1Up Communications specialises in ensuring delivery of the very best in protection and defence leading to favourable outcomes, with limited (if any) damage to your company’s reputation.

We have expertise in:

Lawyers battle in courts of law – 1Up Communications battle in the ‘court of public opinion’. In fact, time and time again, it has been shown that failure to engage experts to manage a crisis has resulted in the demise of organisations, either before the final outcome of litigation or in the aftermath of an eventual outcome – mud sticks, chaos erodes confidence and perceived ‘sinking ships’ result in stakeholders abandoning.

1Up Communications are experienced in working with lawyers/barristers, defendants and litigants for the public relations component of their legal battles. Traditionally, a lawyer’s first instinct is to recommend a course of action of silence or a ‘no comment’ response until the matter resolves. However, this often leads to public perception of guilt, resulting in a long-term detrimental crisis of faith by those stakeholders a business relies upon to succeed. The reputational impact on the brand may never recover, because in silence, others are filling the information vacuum.

Whether you are under investigation(s) by others or conducting your own internal investigation(s) for suspected misconduct, irregularity, fraud, accidental death, sexual harassment, workplace harassment or other potential breaches of law, it is imperative your business proceeds quickly with a controlled and informed response in partnership with the legal team.

1Up Communications is led by one of the foremost experts in Litigation Crisis Management. We work with your legal team; or if they do not have one in place, we have relationships with leading legal experts to guide clients through their practices. We manage a proactive communications strategy to leverage positive opinion to others and defend against negative opinion.

We have expertise in:

  • Litigation and defense support
  • Issues and crisis management
  • Strategic counsel and on-site crisis management support
  • Conducting internal investigations
  • Oversight, investigations and government relations
  • In-person crisis simulations
  • Message development
  • Media relations training
  • Social media relations training
  • Stakeholder mapping and engagement
  • Advocacy before investigating agencies
  • Preparedness planning
  • Media monitoring and analysis
  • Publicity of class actions
  • Design and construct crisis specific stakeholder website
  • Video production
  • Reviewing compliance for other areas of risk
  • Reputation recovery

Dispute Resolution

Disputes are costly, complex in nature and distract from what you do best: growing as a business. Whilst conflicts are all too often common in business, they should not be allowed to drain on your finances, and take away from your time and energy.

At 1Up Communications we work with you to identify key brand-related issues at an early stage, knowing the right questions to ask and steps to be taken to ensure timely advice is given to assist you in being prepared and achieving the upper hand. All too often disputes arise from miscommunication or emotion-driven behaviours. We bypass the noise, so that we can focus on achieving a resolution, rather than inflaming the dispute. Our team of expert negotiators frequently help with alternative dispute resolution, to resolve your issues and recognise the actual issues at play.

Labour & Industrial Resolution

Traditionally, employees have been an overlooked area in the public relations (PR) discipline. Today, employees are seen quite rightly as an organisation’s most important asset, serving critical functions as brand ambassadors and in maintaining strong operations. As such, internal communication can often hold just as much importance as external communication.

1Up Communications is experienced in driving positive employee engagement, as well as in managing those issues or potential crises that may arise. This includes executive changes, workforce reductions, criminal activity in a workplace, labour and management issues and employee dismissals.

We have expertise in:

  • Internal communication audits
  • Labour and industrial resolution
  • Communication and engagement during transactions, mergers and acquisitions
  • Communication and engagement throughout litigation and investigation periods
  • Employee value proposition, talent retention and acquisition
  • Sponsorships driven by employees
  • Social engagement with content creation and amplification
  • Culture and behaviour change planning
  • Competitor analysis
  • Driving employee ambassador activation programs
  • Celebrating major milestones and/or anniversaries

Business Continuity

Our team of expert Counsels bring a wealth of experience; having successfully worked with clients across government, private and public corporations, privately-owned businesses and high-net worth individuals.

We understand the need for your organisation to maintain business continuity; we provide business continuity planning for areas relating to issues impacting on your brand, to mitigate risks associated with disruption to your operations. For matters requiring legal protection or executing an agreement, we know leading lawyers who will offer advice direct to you through their practice. We often work with the same lawyers in tandem to manage the ‘court of public opinion’ for crisis matters.

Planning, prevention and preparation are key measures taken as part of any business continuity process. Understanding internal and external environmental threats to the business and its brand are key, this includes effectively managing the human capital and examining the resilience of suppliers or partners.

Organisational Restructuring

In an age of constant change, organisational restructuring is a necessary activity to position a company for long term growth and to protect against decline caused by technology, competition and changing consumer interests. By nature, corporate restructuring is a highly sensitive issue for both those employees who may become jobless and those who remain. It is for this reason, 1Up Communications are experts in ensuring your organisation’s restructure is handled with delicacy.

We have expertise in:

  • Keeping employees front and centre with internal communications
  • Avoiding pitfalls in restructures
  • Collaboration between human resources and internal communications teams
  • Executive briefings with various stakeholders and ensuring leaders are seen and heard
  • Establishing timelines for employees

Governance & Proxies

1Up Communications understand the intricacies of corporate governance issues and how they are interpreted by investors. Similarly, we have experience in engaging with proxy advisory groups and governance professionals. When necessary, we have professionals available to be briefed on providing expert counsel for boards and other senior executives. Collaboratively, we create a process for communicating with shareholders throughout the year on issues important to them, such as evaluating company, management and board performance.

We have expertise in:

Product Recalls & Product Introduction

A major product recall can have significant implications on the brand if not managed appropriately. Specifically, the bad press a business receives alone can take away the momentum from your company or worse yet, destroy your strong brand by negative association. Conversely, the timing, messaging and overall strategy used before reintroducing a product is also critically important if it is to be successful.

We have expertise in:

Transactions, Mergers & Acquisitions

1Up Communications advises clients in Australia, the United States of America and Canada, in conjunction with legal and financial advisors, on matters related to equity and debt transactions. The advisory and support services are not limited to the announcement day, it continues throughout the integration process to keep stakeholders aware of the key benefits of the transaction and the milestones that follow.

We have expertise in:

We also work alongside risk experts who can provide external assistance in:

  • Disaster recovery planning
  • Business impact analysis (BIA)
  • Security management
  • Document management
  • Change management
  • Audit management
  • Service level agreements (SLA)
  • Communications Systems

Media Relations

Success in engaging the media is not always determined by charm, personality or even the issues to be communicated. It relies upon extensive preparation and training. 1Up Communications’ strategies are designed to grow all profiles of your business operations, using extensive knowledge and understanding of the media.

Achieving optimum communication and marketing objectives requires activities not being completed ad hoc in isolation. Instead, making the most of your investment means a commitment to razor sharp focus on strategy to reach across the entire organisation and incorporate every interaction with your stakeholders – both internal and external.

An ideal media relations strategy is considered against your business goals and corporate vision – operating ad hoc in isolation otherwise has significant potential detrimental effects upon a business brand.

In the event that issues or crisis strike, the team at 1Up Communications will help you reclaim control of the situation, with the objective of ultimately achieving the best possible outcomes.

We have expertise in:

  • Media insights, strategies and plans
  • Spokesperson training and briefings
  • Media release writing and distribution
  • Copywriting and editing
  • Media placement (advertising schedules, campaigns and placement advice)
  • Media monitoring
  • Social media crisis response plans
  • Corporate communications (newsletters, annual reports, websites)
  • Photography
  • Research

Investor Relations

In partnership with clients’ accounting and legal departments and senior executives, 1Up Communications develops leading strategies and messaging to communicate with investors, shareholders, government authorities and the financial community. Several examples of the type of work we provide include:

  • Financial guidance,
  • Unexpected disclosures,
  • Capital raising, strategic initiatives and other investor-related issues.

1Up Communications are experts at telling stories to build our clients market position, communicate capability of directors and senior management, and at clearly explaining the business strategy, strengths and plan.

We have expertise in

  • Communication support for mergers and acquisitions transactions
  • Investor relations planning and advice
  • Investor communications (announcements, newsletters, updates, briefings and online)
  • Financial press releases
  • Annual reports
  • Executive briefings on responding to analysts, investors and financial media
  • Company presentations, including AGM management, broker presentations and roadshows
  • Design and preparation of annual reports
  • Assisting with product disclosure statements
  • Design and preparation of information prospectus reports
  • Drafting target and bidder statements

Corporate Communication Design

The manner in which design and information-development communicates with stakeholders is critically important, it is for this reason corporate communication design serves as a critical function to most businesses. Market share is often determined by images which are used to communicate value and relevance to stakeholders. High quality design solutions are needed across all mediums of the business, with an emphasis on corporate branding.

Often businesses are found to have advertising that has little regard for their target market and the requirements needed to make an advertisement sell.

At 1Up Communications, we have a solid track record for making clients look good to those that matter. We do this by creating quality brand consistency across every touchpoint of your business, through interesting, long lasting and memorable designs that provoke emotion and makes the audience want to spread the word about your organisation and brand.

We have expertise in: