What we do
Strategic Narrative & Positioning
For organisations who sense their comms is drifting, inconsistent, or increasingly hard to defend – a project to set and maintain the right course.
A single, compelling, communications architecture – giving you a positioning to achieve your strategic goals, and the guardrails that allow your organisation to communicate quickly without creating risk or requiring senior leadership.
What it is
A focused project achieving two things:
A compelling company narrative (the strategic positioning): what you do, why it matters, why you’re credible, and what you’re building next.
A set of guardrails and evidence (the operational tools): so the whole organisation can communicate consistently, without everything routing through the CEO or Head of Comms.
Who it’s for
Senior buyers
CEO / MD: when the story is becoming a drag on momentum
CFO / IR lead: when scrutiny is investor-led and evidence-led
Corporate Affairs / Comms Director: when consistency and governance are failing
Sustainability lead / General Counsel: when claims, proof and risk are intertwined
Board sponsors: when licence to operate is a strategic constraint
Best-fit organisations
Investment Managers whose public claims must be both compelling and provable under challenge
Transition-facing businesses with external scrutiny (energy, infrastructure, climate, heavy industry transition)
Scale-ups moving from founder story to institutional story
What you get
A leadership narrative that holds together
A clear, repeatable story that connects strategy, advantage, proof, and direction — not just the “good bits.”
A defensible claims and proof architecture
A practical way to calibrate what you can say, what you should stop saying, and what needs evidence to be credible under scrutiny.
A deployable 3-page narrative tool
A short, usable pack (one-liner, 30-second / 2-minute / 5-minute versions, key messages) that travels across the organisation.
Challenge-handling that doesn’t sound defensive
A grounded response set for the tough questions you keep getting (investor, media, regulator, community), anchored in evidence and trade-offs.
Guardrails that reduce sign-off load
Clear boundaries and language rules so teams can speak unilaterally with confidence — and management isn’t the comms router.
Faster, calmer communication across the business
Less improvisation, fewer contradictions, fewer self-inflicted risks — and a noticeable drop in “rewrite loops.”
How it works
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Positioning and Strategy workshop with Senior Leadership to establish strategic goals and realistic limits
Review of existing materials, communications, and channels
Interviews with internal stakeholders - and optionally external
Peer assessment of pre-agreed group to draw out successes and opportunities
Leadership sessions to settle the spine (and the uncomfortable trade-offs)
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Drafting of initial narratives, challenges, and workshop
Iteration with working group, and optional data-led external testing of draft positioning
Creation of toolbox: longform Central Narrative and 3-pager; compliance-agreed rules of engagement
Clear handover: how to use it, how not to misuse it, how to keep it current
Works alongside in-house teams and agencies (we provide the spine; they execute)
[Optional] deployment, training, and ongoing workshop creation
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Principal-led (Tom Rayner), with tight senior involvement throughout
We move as fast as our clients can in terms of iteration and overall project schedule
Clear “version control” approach: what is stable vs what is time-bound
Optional light-touch check-in after delivery (e.g., 6–8 weeks) to embed and refine
Typical moments we get pulled in
“We’re being misunderstood — and it’s starting to hurt.”
“We sound defensive / reactive and can’t get ahead of the story.”
“Different execs are saying different things.”
“We can’t explain what we do simply anymore.”
“Comms is a bottleneck — everything needs CEO sign-off.”
“We keep getting the same tough questions, and we don’t have settled answers.”
Fundraise / refinancing / IPO readiness / M&A where scrutiny will increase
What it’s not
Not a PR agency: we don’t run press offices, place stories, or manage day-to-day media relations.
Not a campaign / creative shop: no slogans-first work, no “big concept” without proof and defensibility.
Not content production at scale: we create the spine and guardrails, but ongoing content is separate.
Not brand design: visual identity, web design, and collateral design sit outside scope.
Not legal advice: we help you build claims discipline and proof logic, but legal sign-off remains yours.
Not a substitute for operational fixes: we will surface gaps and contradictions, but addressing them is a leadership decision.
Commercials
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Fixed-fee project with defined outputs and a clear working cadence.
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5–7 weeks end-to-end (compressible for live moments).
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Limited principal bandwidth; projects run sequentially or in small parallel (to protect quality).
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Quick document intake (strategy, claims, prior messaging, stakeholder materials).
Stakeholder map + “scrutiny list” (what’s actually being asked).
Interview/workshop schedule agreed upfront.
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Light maintenance / periodic sense-check (narrative stays current).
Retained counsel for high-stakes moments where narrative discipline matters
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Project fee set based on scope, urgency, and stakeholder complexity.
Transparent quote, no open-ended time burn.
Explore our other services
Retained Strategic Communications Counsel
Ongoing access to senior judgement, strategic perspective, and decision support. Advisory-led. Flexible. Non-operational.
Comms Function & Agency Diagnostic
An independent, senior assessment designed to surface structural issues rather than tactical noise - so leaders can make confident decisions on people, structure, agencies, and expectations.
Private Market Transactions
Investor-grade positioning for private PE exits – making your portfolio company look and sound like the investment case, and drive interest under diligence scrutiny.
Get in touch
Please get in touch if you would like to know more about our offering.
We will be happy to discuss your context and whether our advisory approach is right for you.