Public Affairs & Comms

Strategic. Incisive. Influential Downtown In Business

Naturally...

It’s a natural fit – Downtown designers, through to marketers in Business providing tailored and corporate affairs specialists, public affairs and comms we have in-house and associate support, not just to members, teams who do what comes but also to a wider range of naturally to them. organisations. If you need a campaign to With a strong presence in change opinion, help to the North of England and the improve government policies, West Midlands, with offices or intelligence to support a in Liverpool, , development we can deliver for Manchester, Leeds, and you. Birmingham, and now establishing ourselves in It’s only natural that you’d want London, we have the reach to to learn more, so please do get help organisations across the in touch. country.

Senior counsel giving strategic advice, experts Frank McKenna in communications and Group Chairman & CEO crisis management, graphic Downtown in Business

2 Downtown In Business Leadership DIB public affairs and comms are directly led by Frank McKenna and Simon Danczuk. Between them they have several decades of experience in government, policy, politics, communications, and campaigning.

Totally Frank… Simon says…

During his twelve years in politics Frank was the Deputy Leader of As a Member of Parliament, Simon sat on the Communities and Local Lancashire County Council, the Chairman of economic development Government Select Committee and was a Parliamentary Private Secretary agency Lancashire Enterprises Ltd and the Leader of the North West in the shadow Business, Innovation and Skills team. He was a councillor Regional Assembly. He also served as a Parliamentary Assistant for seven on Blackburn with Darwen Council in the 1990s and co-founded award years. winning Vision Twentyone in 1999, a consultation and communications agency. In 1999 he was described by leading business magazine Insider as “the most influential politician in the Northwest”, whilst the On winning political campaigner of the year, from the Political Studies referred to him as “’s man in the north.” Association in 2014, he was praised for “taking on extremely difficult and sensitive issues and dragging them into the light.” The following McKenna established Downtown in Business in 2003, named this year as year, City AM’s Opinion column said: “Danczuk has taken on the British one of the most influential business organisations in the country by the establishment and risked his own career by challenging it. He cannot be Sunday Times business team. silenced or bought off. For that, he must be applauded.”

He sat on Economic Recovery Boards in 2020 in Liverpool and Manchester and is a member of business advisory groups engaging with Local Enterprise Partnerships across the Northern Powerhouse. 3 Downtown In Business Services

Intelligence Strategy It’s all about being prepared. What are you trying to achieve?

Knowing who the influencers and key decision-makers are, having Honing the aims and objectives, working through what constitutes a full understanding of the competition, what is the context in an outcome is all about getting the strategy exactly right. which this is happening? These, and more, are the questions, that need answering. We’ve devised strategies on a whole host of topics, working with some of the brightest individuals and organisations around. And And it’s not just knowing what information can be collected and we bring that learning and experience to you. from where. Most importantly, it’s about how to interpret it – turning information into intelligence. This is what we excel at. We provide:

We provide: • Senior counsel. • Strategy development. • Stakeholder mapping. • Project management. • Scoping exercises. • Positioning and messaging. • Media and political monitoring. • Crisis management. • Research and consultation methods.

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Campaigns Engagement Establishing credibility, creating a sense of truth, Connecting with stakeholders, whether it’s the winning people over. public, customers, politicians, policymakers, or

We’ve won major awards for our campaigning, not just using big media contacts – this is what public affairs is all budgets, not with loads of advertising spend, but by simply using about. creativity, combined with hard work. Our experience is grounded in speaking with real people. From knocking on thousands of doors to chat with voters, through to We provide: hosting business events and seminars, to running focus groups and citizens’ juries, there are few who know how to engage better • Campaign strategies and plans. than us. • Consultation and involvement exercises. • Community and stakeholder engagement. We provide: • Media and public relations support. • Social media and online campaigns. • Public involvement events and programmes. • Design, print and distribution. • Event and exhibition management. • Political liaison, hosting, and conference support. • Focus groups, surveys, consultation exercises. • Online engagement and facilitation.

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Communications Business It’s all about getting your message across. development We deliver the full range of communication methods and techniques, across all platforms, for every audience. People buy from people but only if they notice

Whether it’s writing content, developing your key messages and them. brand, promoting, and communicating what you want to say, Winning new work, or retaining it, is obviously important. Hours, or helping you deal with enquiries and requests, we have the days, weeks, and months can be spent pursuing opportunities in expertise to deliver for you. the wrong way.

We provide: Coming from business, and from our experience at Downtown, we know what works and what doesn’t. From helping you position • Media relations support for all eventualities. yourself or your business in the market, through to helping spot • Writing and producing creative and impactful communications the opportunities, to preparing your submission to win the work, content for print, broadcast, and online channels. we are here to help. • Corporate communications support. • Profile building and thought leadership assistance. We provide:

• Market positioning. • Lead generation. • Bid management. • Bid development. • Bid writing. 6 Downtown In Business

Training Instead of learning from your mistakes, learn from us. Developing skills and knowledge in the areas in which we specialise can help build a legacy within your organisation, improve performance, reduce mistakes, and increase revenues.

We can deliver training around the whole range of subjects and services described in here.

We provide:

• Bespoke training events designed around your needs. • Online training and modules specific to your requirements. • Assessment, feedback, and analysis of learning needs and experiences.

7 Downtown In Business Case Studies

Emerging markets Smart cities bid Free and fair elections

This large international company wanted A new US based business wanted to An opposition political party, in a to use a major reconfiguration of its respond to an invitation to tender from a developing country, needed to do all it business to understand its markets more major UK local authority. Over just a few could to ensure their forthcoming General and identify opportunities. We delivered a weeks, we developed, wrote, and designed Election was free and fair. Commissioning detailed analysis of every country, against a substantial proposal, submitting it before us, we organised their approach to UK a variety of criteria, combined with internal deadline, and supported them in the politics, encouraging Parliamentary data on sales and marketing. The findings shortlisting process. Questions, keeping politicians regularly provided intelligence on where their informed, and briefing those with an emerging markets are for the years ahead. interest.

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All-Party Parliamentary Education, Education, Groups (APPGs) Education Downtown in Business has been An FE institution wanted to enhance its organising and hosting a series of events commissioned by private companies reputation with local decision-makers with leading regional and national and public sector agencies to support and stakeholders, whilst improving its politicians and securing places on key policy a number of APPGs and act as the engagement with the business community. making boards for members of its senior secretariat. We recruit parliamentarians, management team. help identify and research issues, host We supported them by developing a events inside and outside Westminster comprehensive communications strategy, and raise the profile of the Groups in the media and to the wider community.

9 Downtown In Business Sectors

Local, regional, Transport, Housing, planning, High streets, and central infrastructure, and regeneration towns, and cities governance and energy

Health, Business Politics, trade, environment, and Culture, media, Processing and international education and sport Outsourcing (BPO) affairs

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Get in touch

Frank McKenna Simon Danczuk

Call: +44 (0) 7919 592 218 Call: +44 (0) 7798 742 015 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Twitter: @downtownfrank Twitter: @simondanczuk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-mckenna-a0805b2/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/simon-danczuk-1b608925

Main Office

Suite 303, 3rd Floor, Cotton Exchange, Bixteth Street, Liverpool, L3 9JR.

Call: 0844 7550127 www.downtowninbusiness.com 11 www.downtowninbusiness.com