Think Like A Media Company with David Pembroke

Think like a media company with David Pembroke - The New Way Podcast with Dr Kate Byrne

Is the way you’re engaging stakeholders and citizens right now working?

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that your engagement communications can make or break your change program.  


Change communication strategies and plans that comprise mainly a matrix of uninspiring emails sent out by the Senior Responsible Officer just won’t cut it anymore.  Your communication efforts need to be prioritised right from the outset, considered, planned, funded, and impactful.  These days you need to think like a media company. 


My guest today is David Pembroke, who established the government communications agency ‘contentgroup’ in 1997 and is well known for his government and public sector communication expertise. David is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of government through building public sector communication and engagement capability.


Contentgroup’s mission is to help government strengthen communities and improve the well-being of citizens through effective communication and engagement. 


In this episode, David explains his theories about the digital transformation of communications, the changing value placed on Corporate Communication teams in the public sector, and how thinking like a media company is the key to effective communication. 


We explore the trends David is seeing in government communications, what’s working now and how we need to think strategically through a media production lens to react and distribute information quickly within the current context. 


David is an absolute wealth of information on this topic, and I loved our conversation. He shares so much gold here, and I know you’ll find tremendous value in this episode. 


Listen in now!


TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:

[1:04]: Your engagement communications can make or break your change program. 

[3:36]: The way communication has been impacted by digital transformation, social media and the way people receive information. 

[4:46]: There are not enough resources available across organisations to drive change. There’s a big need to build capability in the communications space so they can support themselves. 

[5:21]: Citizens want information quickly and don’t want to wait so digital communication skills are at the cutting edges of organisations. 

[7:20]: Change is about understanding and influencing people. 

[8:17]: There’s a huge part of digital transformation about government explaining policy, programs, services and regulations. 

[9:04]: Digital transformation has democratised the factors of media production and distribution. 

[9:32]: Every government department, agency, and NGO has the ability to create video, audio, stills, text and graphics and put them in the format to be distributed throughout all the digital mediums. 

[10:00]: The mission of Content Group is to help the government pick up this opportunity and build it into their work processes so they can become more like a digital media company. 

[13:41]: We need to think strategically through a media lens. Context is massively important in communication and having the capability to react quickly to distribute information. 

[15:45]: It’s mindset, skills and facilities. For very minimal investment this capability can be built. 

[18:03]: David highlights how the government is faring with acting like a media company and telling a story internally, externally, and creating value for stakeholders. 

[20:04]: Comms need to be at the beginning. Due to covid, comms has gone from an end of the line function to a beginning of the line. 

[23:36]: Comms teams around the government are measuring the impact and value of what they do much better. 

[24:38]: Data is going to become far more fundamental to communications areas. 

[27:44]: How do we understand how people operate and think? People act digitally and think digitally so how do we best use that? 

[29:45]: Where to find Content Group.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

CONNECT WITH DAVID

Website: https://contentgroup.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contentgroup/

CONNECT WITH KATE

Website: https://www.everchange.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ever-change-and-communication

Kate Byrne