Article: Communications aim at audience of policy makers

My views for BrandZ's Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands 2020, published in June 2020:

Communications aim at audience of policy makers

As regulators look at emerging technologies, such as AI, tech companies are working to ensure that regulations are in their favor. They believe, probably correctly, that when it comes to creating regulations for the tech industry, they often have greater expertise than the policy makers.

From a communications perspective, we’re seeing more budget allocated to public affairs and corporate reputation work. The communications programs are building on information about products as tech companies speak to an audience of policy makers about the human benefit of these products and their corporate contributions to society.

Published here: 

https://pubhtml5.com/bydd/yeib/basic/272

Campaign: The Gatekeeper's Big Day - cyber-security for kids

My team and I used the insight that many cyber-security professionals struggle to explain to their children what it is they do at work to create a physical book which does exactly that: explain to kids what it is cyber-security professionals do at work.

We worked with French cyber-security start-up Alsid an an amazing kid's book illustrator to narrate the story of a gatekeeper who prevents a thief from stealing the king's treasure. The book was produced in 500 copies each in French and English, which were sent and given to customers and prospects at events and conferences. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and the book was re-printed due to high demand. A sequel is currently being planned.

Here are some reviews of the book in security media:

https://www.professionalsecurity.co.uk/products/cyber/childrens-story/

https://www.scmagazineuk.com/book-review-cyber-war/article/1670798

 

Blog post: We should appreciate Twitter’s decision – and encourage others to follow

Twitter’s move to ban political ads comes as the UK enters a six-week general election campaign, one that will be more influenced by social media than ever before. For various reasons – including the British November and December weather -, online will form a key element for the general election campaigns. This is a trend we have seen in UK political campaigning over the past five years, now with almost half of campaign spending used online. Online campaigning has the benefit of targeted messaging, and Twitter’s decision will make this a little more difficult.

It is the right thing to do though: in a YouGov poll from earlier this year, 80% of people said they are in strong favour of regulating political ads on social media sites. Twitter follows ByteDance’s TikTok which announced a ban on all political advertising a few weeks ago – even if a large part of the platform’s audience is too young to vote.

Blog post: Tech policy and deals outside of Westminster

While Westminster once more turns to the government’s Brexit deal, there have been interesting deals and dealings in technology this past week. US private equity company Thoma Bravo acquired Oxfordshire-based cybersecurity firm Sophos for £3.1 billion. This acquisition can be interpreted as both and bad news for UK businesses. The ability to create a strong company so that it attracts international investment is a good sign of UK competitiveness. But then, a weak Sterling makes UK companies a cheap acquisition target, so there are also concerns. Further takeovers are likely to make the sell-out voices louder.

There was a more muted response when US investor KKR announced its intention to spend £500m on a majority stake in Hyperoptic, one of the altnets – telco providers with the financial resources and technical capabilities to build their own fibre infrastructure. With the government’s announcement to spend £5 billion on a nation-wide full-fibre broadband, KKR’s move makes sense. The political will to overhaul the UK’s connectivity has now also officially confirmed in the Queen’s Speech, and regardless of political developments, it seems likely that both incumbents as well as altnets will see financial gains. All they now need is that the actual laying of fibre cables will become easier.