Beyond the looking glass: building a case for compliance

The Australasian Compliance Institute (ACI), the peak professional body for compliance, was beginning from the ground up in establishing a strong mainstream media presence, via a public relations campaign, with the view to becoming the thought leader in compliance.

Howorth worked with the ACI to develop a thought leadership platform underpinned by media relations activities – against the insight that in the current economy, it’s not increased regulation, but effective implementation of regulation, that’s important.

Talking points for the resulting public relations campaign were developed around the notion that while instinct by governments may be to increase regulation to restore confidence and stability, this is not necessarily the answer. Rather, it is the responsibility of both government and business to drive economic recovery by demanding professional behaviour that delivers more than black-letter law requirements – this is what compliance is all about.

Howorth has worked to capitalise on this insight to raise awareness of the importance of a trained and experienced compliance/risk professional within an organisation – a role that had previously been little known and understood. In turn, the public relations campaign raised the profile of the ACI as the peak professional body representing these professionals.

By tapping into topical issues, including regulatory reform in the financial services sector, governance in sporting clubs and levels of executive pay, Howorth has communicated the ACI’s point of view through ongoing media relations activities.

The public relations campaign has resulted in prominent Tier 1 media coverage in publications including The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Business Spectator.

Showcasing mission control – Telstra Enterprise and Government

On behalf of Telstra Enterprise and Government, Howorth launched the Managed Network Operations Centre (MNOC), highlighting the customer benefits of its multi-million dollar world class networking facility in Sydney’s CBD. This led to significant top tier media coverage in:

• ITNews
• Two articles on Computerworld
• Sky Business News
• Communications Day
• Voice and Data
• ZDNet

The MNOC is a mission control style ‘flight deck’ that enables Telstra’s 42 network engineers to monitor their network’s ‘health’.

The media launch of the operations centre reinforced Telstra’s dedication to delivering network reliability to its customers.

To obtain positive media coverage of the MNOC launch, Howorth invited top tier technology and business journalists to attend the event. The trade publications targeted were the most relevant media to the C level executives and IT managers of companies that Telstra Enterprise and Government’s MNOC serves.

Key components of the media interaction

• Media were educated on the importance of network performance, the technical details of the MNOC and Telstra’s Next G and Next IP networks
• A tour of the centre and a live demo of how it functions in the incident room
• One-on-one interviews with Nerida Caesar, Mark Gehan and Michael Rocca – key leaders within Telstra responsible for the creation of the centre.