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BUT FIRST, A THOUGHT
'Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.'
Sun Tzu, The Art of War


Good public relations and communication is about saying the right thing, to the right people, in the right way, at the right time. Crucially, it needs to be part of your organisational plan, and rooted in clear and measurable business objectives. This is what being strategic means.

If you haven’t established your business objectives (you’d be surprised how many organisations haven’t), we’ll help you set them. If you have a comms strategy but it’s not really working, we’ll redesign it. If you’re not sure about any of this stuff, we’ll advise and guide you.

We are not about light-touch support or tactical communications – we become part of your team. By drilling down into your organisation and understanding every aspect of what you do, where you’re heading, and what you want to achieve, we set you on the right path. And we’ll walk it with you, if you want us to.

HOW TO WORK WITH US

One-to-one Consultancy

we work directly with the chief executive or board chair, or the entire leadership team

BOOK A CONSULTATION

Extension of your team

sometimes your own team needs guidance and extra support

LET’S TALK

Workshops and Hack-sessions

we provide external perspective and facilitate workshops to help you achieve results quickly

BOOK A SESSION
WHAT WE DO

• Board and Leadership counsel and support

• Communications strategy development

• Communications audit

• Campaign planning

• Brand narrative, messaging and positioning

• Stakeholder engagement

• Regulatory and governance communications

• Multiagency press conference coordination

John was fantastic when it came to developing and delivering our senior management media training. We all feel better prepared for our next media interview thanks to John and his team.
Huw Jakeway, South Wales Fire and Rescue
John be his team left no stone unturned and helped develop a thorough communications plan that navigated the difficult waters of coordinating responses on behalf of all partners. John is very hands on and their expertise provided great reassurance to our most senior officers in a highly pressurised and potentially career defining environment.
Neil Jones, Torfaen Council
John’s media training for board members, directors and, most recently, for the CHC senior team, has always been extremely well received. He is also a regular contributor at CHC conferences and events, leading popular seminars and workshops on crisis communications and reputation management. He is knowledgeable, engaging and passionate about communications and the sector.
Edwina O’Hart, Community Housing Cymru
We engaged John’s services to help us layer our corporate brand into a need for strong business continuity planning. John has a great way of understanding your needs, getting close to the business to try to understand the outcomes you’re trying to achieve. His style of training is engaging, effective and grounded in reality, and I would highly recommend him.
Chris McVeigh, Hodge Bank
I’ve worked with John on a number of projects. He’s my go-to Comms resource, and with his experience of social housing and governance he offers much more than just PR advice to my clients. Equally at home working with housing staff and board members, John is reliable, caring, collaborative and calm under pressure. Whether it’s routine comms or a strategic response that’s needed John always does a great job and is a pleasure to work with.
Stephen Cook, Bluefrong Consulting
I asked John to come in to run a media training day for our Exec team and a couple of our senior management. Despite the varying levels of experience (and nerves!), John provided a fantastic overview, covering a number of scenarios with a mix of theory and practical sessions. John's knowledge of the media and the housing sector is second to none, which was hugely beneficial for us. All attendees thoroughly enjoyed the day and left feeling much more confident.
Nia Rolfe, Cadwyn
John has been very hands on, proactive and positive in his work with the National Adoption Service. His understanding of adoption and ability to approach and support people to tell their story was a real asset and meant that we were confident in his capacity to sensitively manage our campaign.
Suzanne Griffiths, National Adoption Service for Wales
John grasped quickly what was a complex set of issues and gave insightful and effective advice and support from the outset. His knowledge of the Welsh media & civic landscape is particularly invaluable on both reactive, reputational and more positive, proactive projects.
Neil Ingham, Pobl Group
John has so much energy and enthusiasm for his work. He ensures he fully understands a client's and this impacts on the results. John is professional and delivers quality results each time - a pleasure to work with.
Linda James, BulliesOut
John’s service is comprehensive, efficient and highly professional. He gets to the heart of an organisation very quickly and will give you excellent advice. I would wholeheartedly recommend John and wouldn’t hesitate to work with Scruffy Dog again.
Dr Jamie Smith, Hafod Housing
John is extremely knowledgeable and experienced in all aspects of communications.
He quickly gets to grips with complex issues, and presents information simply and clearly to a wide range of audiences. He clearly understands the requests and needs of journalists, and is confident when dealing with even the most challenging of them!
John quickly became a part of the team, and I enjoyed working with him.
Justine Wilcox, housing comms manager
John and his team helped me with a launch event for my recently published book and to gain some related PR. John and his team achieved what we set out to do and more. John has boundless energy which is infectious and is great fun to work with.
Alison Love
OTHER SERVICES
The Academy
The Academy
Reputation & Risk
Reputation & Risk