Over the past decade, social cohesion, community resilience and preventing violent extremism have been priorities for governments around the world.

When one of Australia’s largest state governments wanted to develop a campaign to respond to these issues, it turned to Civic. From conception to completion, Civic developed a campaign that brought together research, communications, media, stakeholder and community relations, web, social and digital, events, public relations, TV, radio and print advertising and issues management in to one integrated strategy built around the concepts of belonging and contribution.

Tracking research showed that following campaign implementation, there was a significant increase in the proportion of people who considered the contribution of multiculturalism and diversity. Pleasingly, there had also been a significant increase in respondents indicating they felt a sense of belonging.

Since 2017, Civic has acted as public affairs adviser of record for a major Federal Government owned not-for-profit organisation.

Operating in a contentious area of public policy, the client works with a national stakeholder network that includes all levels of government around Australia.

As an embedded public affairs adviser, Civic has advised on communications, stakeholder engagement and media relations during a period of extraordinary change and growth in the organisation and its work.

Civic provides communications risk management advice on major national communications campaigns and has developed and implemented national stakeholder engagement programs to support multi-million-dollar funding programs.

Working together with the client’s executive and board, Civic provides advice on all aspects of communications, from speechwriting and copywriting, to issues and reputation management, creative campaigns, government and stakeholder engagement and internal communications.

Civic was the driving force behind a national advocacy campaign to secure increased funding for the treatments of one of the nation’s most common life-threatening diseases in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election.

The relentless advocacy of medical practitioners, patient advocates and local communities, supported by Civic, helped secure tens of millions of dollars to build treatment centres in locations across regional Australia.

Following the re-election of the Government, ongoing engagement with communities, doctors and members of parliament continued to help raise awareness of the benefits of therapy and reinforce the essential role it plays.

After a star athlete’s contract with the national team / players association was torn up after posting religious scriptures on social media, Civic was engaged to support him as he took his unlawful termination case to the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Circuit Court.

Subject to intense media scrutiny, a need for the athlete to speak directly to supporters was identified. Content for social media and a dedicated website was created and combined with a proactive approach that saw the story run across all national news networks and mastheads rather than just the sports pages.

By taking control of the narrative, Civic was able to galvanise the athlete’s support base in the face of a well-resourced PR campaign run by his former employers.

In December 2019, a confidential settlement was reached. According to the Australian Financial Review, the Civic-led PR campaign was pivotal in turning “a weak legal hand into a strong suit” that ultimately led to the athlete “extracting a huge payment and apology from rugby authorities”.

For more than 10 years, Civic has provided strategic advice and communications support and services to one of the nation’s most prominent developers of inner-city apartment and office towers, residential and industrial estates.

Civic provides communications and engagement services to support the lodgement of a planning permit application through to the public launch of a completed project – and at every milestone along the way. These projects have ranged from high-end offices on Melbourne’s Chapel Street to broadacre developments in regional Victoria and South-East Queensland.

Once a project is approved, Civic designs and implements tailored public relations and content strategies to generate leads and drive sales for each project. This work often includes securing widespread media coverage including project profile stories, market commentary-based pieces and interviews with the developer’s management and leasing agents.

In early 2020, an NDIS registered disability support services provider detected a cyber intruder had accessed two of its email accounts and potentially launched a phishing attack targeting more than 2,000 case managers. The provider’s legal counsel called on Civic to provide communications and issues management advice.

Civic worked with legal counsel to develop a communications and stakeholder engagement strategy that included a notification and recovery plan that would ensure the National Disability Insurance Agency, as well as those whose privacy had been breached, were notified of the incident and kept informed of the investigation. Care was taken to ensure emails, scripts, statements and customer service FAQs were drafted in a way that met the client’s legal obligations, mitigated reputational risk and aligned with the client’s brand voice and communication style.

Once the notification process was complete, Civic was engaged on an ‘on-call’ basis to provide ongoing counsel and communications advice on the client’s recovery and positioning strategy.

A Civic client found itself in the centre of a media storm due to allegations of wage underpayment and other questionable employment and business practices.

Civic advised the company on engagement with regulators and participation in investigative processes exploring these allegations, as well as providing media management services that ensured accurate reporting during an evolving and sensitive situation. With an eye on the ongoing position of the business and its brand, we also worked with the company to implement new business processes and practices, enabling the company to rebuild its reputation on a solid foundation and look forward to future success.

An Australian-listed global biopharmaceutical company developing and commercialising treatments for patients with genetic, metabolic and life-threatening disorders turned to Civic for better positioning in local and global markets.

Civic developed and delivered a program built around raising awareness of key regulatory milestones, such as FDA and other global market approvals, and the commercialisation of life-saving drugs.

With a booming share price a reflection of increasing market awareness, Civic focused on communicating the company’s plans for future growth and repositioning senior management in the media and the market, resulting in positive coverage in the lead up to the company’s AGM.