Insights.
Ideas, methods and perspectives for communications leaders.
Our analyses are currently available in French. Translated summaries help you explore the topics in your language.
European public affairs: evidence that earns a hearing
Six analyses connecting European policy developments with business decisions, verifiable commitments and meaningful stakeholder engagement.
Made in Europe: what evidence should a company provide of its European contribution?
A credible European presence is demonstrated through activities, capabilities and commitments that can be checked.
AI Act: how should a company communicate when the regulatory timetable changes?
When the AI Act timetable changes, a business needs to explain what applies to its actual uses, what has changed and which safeguards it will maintain.
CBAM: turning a carbon requirement into credible industrial dialogue
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism brings production data, import responsibilities and commercial explanations into the same conversation.
EU budget 2028–2034: making a useful contribution before the decisions are settled
A useful contribution to Europe’s budget debate explains a shared need, documents a barrier and proposes a realistic mechanism.
Critical medicines: moving from sovereignty promises to evidence of availability
An announced manufacturing capacity does not prove that a medicine will reach patients when needed.
Water and industrial investment: connecting European strategy with local dialogue
An industrial project needs to explain water use at the scale of the place hosting it.
Leadership, decisions and evidence
Eight guides to sensitive situations, executive communication and verifiable corporate commitments.
A new CEO’s first six months: building a credible communication programme
A new CEO immediately becomes a reference point for interpreting a company’s direction.
Sale rumours: communicating before a transaction is confirmed
When a potential sale becomes the subject of speculation, employees and business partners want answers before the company may be able to confirm an outcome.
A confidential announcement leaks: organising the first hours
A leak creates several urgent tasks: verify the material, protect affected people, assess obligations and prepare an accurate response.
Shareholder activism: preparing corporate reputation and communication
A shareholder campaign tests a company’s ability to explain its choices.
What does a reputation audit useful to an executive committee look like?
A reputation audit should help an executive committee choose an action: clarify a promise, prepare a sensitive decision, improve dialogue or assemble missing evidence.
Global headquarters and the French subsidiary: who decides in a sensitive situation?
Headquarters protects group consistency; the French subsidiary understands local facts, stakeholders and responsibilities.
Your first press conference in France: a guide for international companies
A first press conference in France should give journalists information they can understand, verify and place in the context of their audience.
Can a company’s commitments be verified? A practical evidence checklist
A commitment is verifiable when a reader can identify what is promised, who or what it covers, the relevant period and the supporting evidence.
Choosing your adviser
Eight guides to compare methods, teams and evidence.
Independent consultancy, integrated agency or international network: which partner should you choose?
Choose the operating model that fits the decision, the skills required and your ability to coordinate the work. The people assigned to the account, decision rights and contractual commitments matter more than the agency’s size alone.
How to choose a public affairs consultancy in France and Brussels
Look for a partner that connects your business issue to a specific public decision, explains its timetable and documents a transparent approach. A contact network cannot replace analysis, evidence or a credible position.
Media relations: how to assess an agency beyond its contact list
Assess a media relations agency through its understanding of the issue, the evidence it can help assemble and the quality of its editorial judgement. The size of a journalist database says little about those capabilities.
CEO advisory: what should you expect from an executive communications adviser?
An executive adviser should help a leader decide what to say, when to intervene and how to answer difficult questions. The work combines strategic judgement, organisational understanding and demanding preparation, beyond speechwriting.
How should a foreign company choose a communications partner in France?
Choose a partner that can connect headquarters’ objectives with French audiences, institutions and local realities. Assess adaptation, approval design and evidence gathering rather than translation alone.
Agency fees: how to compare two genuinely different proposals
Compare total cost against a common scope: advice, production, seniority, coordination, availability and expenses. Two prices become meaningful only when responsibilities and exclusions are explicit.
Client references and anonymised cases: what evidence should you request from an agency?
A useful reference explains the situation, the team’s role, outputs and what can be verified. A logo or an impressive result without a measurement method does not establish suitability for your assignment.
After 90 days: how should you evaluate your communications partner?
Use the 90-day review to compare objectives, outputs, working arrangements and early observable effects. It should produce decisions about what to continue, correct or stop, rather than treating activity as progress.
Crisis communications: ten situations, ten responses
Practical analysis for initial decisions, information for affected people and follow-through on commitments.
Explore the ten analyses ↗
GEO: a new responsibility for communications leaders.
How to make your organisation visible, accurately represented and credibly sourced in AI-generated answers.
Read the article ↗INSIGHTS / 8 pages / FR · EN · ES · IT · 中文
The executive committee briefing
Five eight-page dossiers connecting sector challenges with decisions about communication, reputation and influence. Each includes an executive briefing, scenarios, governance tools and a 90-day plan.
Explore all five dossiersIndustrial transition: governing the commitment
Dependencies, evidence and territorial dialogue: decisions that protect credibility.
Read the dossier ↗AI and cybersecurity: trust in real-world use
Align technological promise, product limitations and response capacity.
Read the dossier ↗When service stops, trust is on the line
Operational resilience, sensitive decisions and coordination of financial speech.
Read the dossier ↗Health innovation and the evidence imperative
Explain uncertainty, preserve trust and link science, access and reputation.
Read the dossier ↗Major projects and mobility: decisions with local communities
Collective utility, lived impacts and continuity: linking the story to the experience of audiences.
Read the dossier ↗87 publications
How to choose a communications consultancy
A communications consultancy should understand the decision you need to make, explain its method and make its contribution assessable.
M&A communications: before, during and after the announcement
M&A communications begin before the press release and continue after the announcement.
Restructuring or site closure: communicating responsibly
Restructuring affects people before it becomes a reputation issue.
A deepfake targeting a business leader: how to prepare and respond
When suspicious content is attributed to a business leader, the priorities are to verify the facts and limit the consequences.
Product recalls: coordinating consumers, distributors and the media
A recall notice must help people identify the product and understand what to do.
Investment funds and portfolio companies: building a coherent reputation
A fund’s reputation is also shaped by the decisions of its portfolio companies.
Data centre development: building dialogue with local communities
A data centre project needs to be explained through its local characteristics, not just the general value of digital infrastructure.
Industrial transition: what can be promised before results are visible?
Process transitions, strategic dependencies and new sites commit a business for the long term. Employees, communities, partners and public institutions need an explanation supported by evidence appropriate to each stage.
Article in FrenchIndustrial sovereignty: explaining dependencies credibly
Process transitions, strategic dependencies and new sites commit a business for the long term. Employees, communities, partners and public institutions need an explanation supported by evidence appropriate to each stage.
Article in FrenchWhen an AI promise becomes a reputational risk
Technology claims create expectations about reliability, data and responsibility. A business needs to explain its use cases, limitations and expertise, including when an incident or an inaccurate AI-generated description challenges its reputation.
Article in FrenchGEO: making a technology company’s expertise verifiable
Technology claims create expectations about reliability, data and responsibility. A business needs to explain its use cases, limitations and expertise, including when an incident or an inaccurate AI-generated description challenges its reputation.
Article in FrenchBanking and insurance: explaining unpopular decisions while preserving trust
Sensitive decisions, service changes and digital incidents test trust. Communications need to connect institutional commitments, customer experience and employees’ ability to provide accurate answers.
Article in FrenchCyber incidents in finance: coordinating customers, media and employees
Sensitive decisions, service changes and digital incidents test trust. Communications need to connect institutional commitments, customer experience and employees’ ability to provide accurate answers.
Article in FrenchHealth innovation: connecting scientific evidence and corporate narrative
Research, innovation and controversy require communication that distinguishes results, hypotheses and decisions. Professionals, patients, institutions and the media have different information needs, with the same need for precision.
Article in FrenchHealth: communicating when scientific knowledge changes
Research, innovation and controversy require communication that distinguishes results, hypotheses and decisions. Professionals, patients, institutions and the media have different information needs, with the same need for precision.
Article in FrenchMajor infrastructure projects: building dialogue before the announcement
Major projects, construction and disruption change how people use a place. The challenge is to make choices understandable, organise dialogue and provide useful information throughout the project or incident.
Article in FrenchMajor travel disruption: information that helps passengers decide
Major projects, construction and disruption change how people use a place. The challenge is to make choices understandable, organise dialogue and provide useful information throughout the project or incident.
Article in FrenchPrice, origin and environment: keeping commitments consistent
Price, origin, sourcing and environmental claims meet in a business’s public commitments. An operational change can affect several promises at once and raise questions from employees, consumers, the media or public institutions.
Article in FrenchChallenged claims: prepare the evidence before responding publicly
Price, origin, sourcing and environmental claims meet in a business’s public commitments. An operational change can affect several promises at once and raise questions from employees, consumers, the media or public institutions.
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GEOGEO becomes part of the communications department’s mandate
Who describes your organisation when the answer no longer comes from you? A practical approach to managing how AI represents your business, with the same standards of evidence as corporate communication.
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Communications leadershipCommunications leadership: turn access to management into influence on decisions
A seat at the table is not enough. To shape decisions, communication must contribute before they are made, assess likely reactions and ensure its warnings receive a response.
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InfluenceThought leadership: build authority through substantive work
Executive thought leadership earns attention through a clear perspective, evidence and practical implications. How to organise this work without reducing it to a publishing calendar.
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Communications leadershipThe first 100 days of a communications leader: defining your mandate
Listening, prioritisation and governance: turn the first hundred days in a communications role into a clear mandate and a realistic set of priorities.
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Communications leadershipReputation audits: the questions to ask before commissioning research
Define the audiences, compare evidence and connect the findings with a decision: the foundations of a useful reputation audit.
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Communications leadershipWriting a communications brief that makes proposals comparable
A strong brief explains the decision, constraints and evidence required. It gives advisers the information they need to develop proposals that can be meaningfully compared.
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Communications leadershipCorporate narratives: build a register of evidence before choosing your words
Connecting each promise with verifiable facts makes the corporate narrative more coherent, useful and able to withstand scrutiny.
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Communications leadershipCommunications budgets: make the trade-offs explicit
Connect spending with strategic priorities, make trade-offs explicit and protect the communication capabilities the organisation needs most.
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Communications leadershipA communications brief for the executive committee: inform a decision
Move from observation to decision: write a concise leadership note that sets out the options, risks and consequences of a public statement.
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MeasurementMeasuring stakeholder trust without reducing it to a single score
Trust depends on a particular audience, relationship and commitment. How to measure it without turning it into a single reputation score.
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Reputation & crisisIncident or crisis? Define your escalation thresholds
Message volume, the seriousness of events and affected audiences: set escalation criteria that distinguish a genuine crisis from background noise.
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Reputation & crisisApproving crisis messages without slowing down the response
Clarify who checks the facts, who assesses risk and who decides, so the organisation can respond quickly without releasing unreliable information.
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Reputation & crisisSensitive questions: prepare answers that stand up to scrutiny
A useful Q&A addresses difficult questions directly. It connects answers with facts, decisions and the limits of what is known.
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Reputation & crisisSpeaking under uncertainty: what a spokesperson can responsibly say
Acknowledge uncertainty, provide useful information and maintain a consistent public position as the facts evolve.
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Reputation & crisisAfter a crisis: track commitments to rebuild trust
A crisis is not over simply because media attention fades. Credible recovery requires evidence, clear responsibilities and sustained engagement with affected audiences.
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Reputation & crisisReputation monitoring: turn weak signals into useful alerts
Useful monitoring connects new information with organisational exposure, a working hypothesis and a decision. It avoids both blind spots and constant false alarms.
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Reputation & crisisCriticism or disinformation? Choose a proportionate response
Understand the nature of a challenge before choosing a response. Preserve dialogue and avoid making unsupported accusations of disinformation.
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Reputation & crisisChoosing crisis advisers: test how support will work in practice
Availability, team structure, access to facts and coordination: the practical questions to settle before appointing a crisis communications adviser.
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InfluenceExecutive thought leadership: choose topics you have earned the right to address
Choose a leader’s speaking topics from their responsibilities, experience and available evidence, before deciding which formats to use.
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InfluenceAn editorial committee that brings expertise into the open
Make the editorial committee a place to select worthwhile questions, credible evidence and distinct perspectives, with clear ownership for every piece of content.
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InfluencePublishing qualitative research without overstating its findings
Anonymity, methods, emerging patterns and limitations: publish interview findings without losing their richness or overstating their significance.
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InfluenceWriting an executive opinion piece: a thesis, evidence and objections
Build a persuasive executive opinion piece: define a precise argument, examine the evidence and address the strongest objection.
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InfluenceAn executive LinkedIn presence built on a clear editorial position
Select credible topics, develop the supporting evidence and organise the leader’s involvement to build a coherent LinkedIn presence.
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MeasurementMeasuring thought leadership: assess its usefulness, not just its reach
Look beyond views to assess whether people understand the argument, use its ideas and engage in substantive discussion.
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GEOA GEO audit needs a reproducible protocol
Questions, AI services, sources and factual accuracy: define the protocol before producing a GEO assessment for communications leaders.
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GEOHow to address inaccurate AI descriptions of your organisation
Identify the error, trace the sources and clarify public information before producing more corrective content.
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GEOMake your evidence usable: build clear reference pages
Precise, contextualised and accessible information is easier to use. Design reference pages that help both readers and search systems.
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GEOSEO and GEO: define the communications department’s responsibilities
Search visibility, accurate representation and supporting evidence: assign responsibilities across communications, subject experts and web teams.
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GEOBuild a GEO question panel around stakeholder intent
Separate questions about the organisation, questions about methods and searches for advice to measure the AI answers that matter to communications leaders.
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GEOMedia relations and GEO: understand the role of independent sources
Connect media relations, evidence and reference content while respecting journalists’ independence and the distinct purpose of their work.
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GEOWriting for SEO and GEO without weakening editorial quality
A clear answer, developed reasoning and accessible sources: make articles useful to readers and understandable to search and AI systems.
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GEOMultilingual GEO: maintain a coherent account of your organisation
Adapt content to each language and context while keeping the organisation’s identity, activities and commitments consistent.
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MeasurementGEO measurement: separate visibility, accuracy and citations
Distinguish brand presence, factual accuracy and cited sources to understand what is actually changing in AI-generated representations.
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GEOChoosing GEO advisers: what your brief should require
Compare GEO advisers through their protocols, source analysis, evidence standards and stated limitations, with reputation and expertise as the priorities.
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Transformation & AIAn AI roadmap for the communications department
Start with actual work to select AI applications, plan safeguards and measure gains that account for the time needed to verify outputs.
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Transformation & AIAn AI policy that communications teams can actually use
Data, sources, authorship and approval: turn AI principles into practical rules that communications teams can understand and apply.
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Transformation & AIReviewing AI-generated content: a practical verification protocol
Use a review protocol to identify weak factual claims, unsuitable sources and unintended commitments before approving AI-assisted content.
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Transformation & AIChange communication: make room for unresolved questions
Separate decisions already made from open questions, and explain how dialogue will work, without creating false certainty about the transformation.
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Transformation & AIOrganising communications: clarify responsibilities before adding tools
Map decisions, expertise and coordination points to reduce rework and preserve the team’s capacity to advise the organisation.
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GeopoliticsA geopolitical briefing that supports communications decisions
Connect international developments with the organisation’s exposure, then turn the analysis into scenarios, sensitive questions and communication options.
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GeopoliticsShould a company speak about an international conflict?
Assess organisational exposure, affected people and consistency with actions before choosing a public position or a targeted response.
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GeopoliticsGeopolitical scenarios: prepare for consequences, not predictions
Use contrasting assumptions, observable signals and prepared decisions to explore geopolitical scenarios without confusing them with forecasts.
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GeopoliticsSanctions and partners: communicate from verified facts
Clarify facts, responsibilities and responses when international measures may affect the organisation’s activities or partners.
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GeopoliticsSovereignty and dependencies: explain what your organisation can substantiate
Define the scope, document dependencies and explain trade-offs to communicate credibly about sovereignty and resilience.
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Media relationsA media relations strategy built on angles and evidence
Turn the organisation’s expertise and developments into useful stories for newsrooms, supported by evidence and available spokespersons.
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Media relationsPresenting a study to the media: make the method visible
Prepare the findings, limitations and challenging questions so a study can attract media interest without its conclusions being overstated.
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Media relationsPreparing executives for challenging interviews
Prepare for interviews through facts, angles and objections. Media training should develop precise judgement as well as confident delivery.
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Media relationsA press room that journalists can use as a reliable reference
Organise information, sources and contact details to make the organisation easier to understand and its news easier to verify.
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Public affairsPublic affairs mapping: start with the decision process
Understand stakeholders’ responsibilities, interests and arguments to prepare institutional dialogue that is useful and transparent.
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Public affairsA public affairs position paper that stands up to scrutiny
A shared problem, policy options, evidence and objections: structure a public affairs position paper that makes the organisation’s reasoning clear.
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Public affairsPublic affairs and communications: organise shared governance
Coordinate institutional positions, public commitments and communication to keep the organisation’s messages and actions coherent over time.
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Ransomware crisis communications when your usual systems are unavailable
A cyber incident response must help affected people act even when normal email and business tools cannot be trusted. Communications connects technical evidence, management decisions and practical information.
Industrial accident communications: support protection without outrunning the facts
During a site accident, communications must make validated protective information accessible. Causes, responsibility and the timetable for restarting operations are separate questions requiring separate evidence.
Environmental incident communications: explain measurements and uncertainty
An odour, release or contamination raises immediate questions about exposure and responsibility. A credible response separates observations, available measurements, hypotheses and protective decisions.
Strike and labour dispute communications: inform without replacing dialogue
Labour dispute communications should preserve the possibility of discussion while providing reliable information about operations. It cannot negotiate on behalf of the parties or remove disagreement through wording.
Allegations against an executive: credible governance communications
An allegation involving a senior leader can undermine confidence in the company's controls. Communications must preserve the ability to establish facts without declaring a verdict or discrediting affected people.
Corporate disinformation campaigns: correct the record without amplifying manipulation
Companies must distinguish legitimate criticism, error and coordinated misleading activity. The right response depends on evidence, exposed audiences and potential harm, not message volume alone.
Geopolitical crisis communications across headquarters and subsidiaries
International tensions can affect people, operations, partners and reputation differently across countries. Communications should start with the company's actual responsibilities and confirmed decisions.
Supplier crisis communications: explain your responsibility without speculation
A supplier alert can challenge business continuity or social and environmental commitments. Calling the issue external does not explain how the company will respond.
Major service outage: keep customers informed while recovery continues
During an outage, customers first need to know whether they are affected, what alternatives exist and when they will hear more. Communications must reflect the actual condition of the service.
Greenwashing allegations: test the evidence before defending the narrative
An environmental controversy often concerns the gap between a public statement and its supporting evidence. Start with the exact claim, its scope and what an audience could reasonably understand.
Headquarters and French subsidiaries: govern decisions, not every sentence
A common fact base, clear local authority and a usable escalation route help international communications teams act consistently without waiting for headquarters to approve every reply.
Community dialogue for an industrial investment in France: show how questions affect decisions
An international investment needs a local explanation of its effects and a traceable response to concerns. A launch event or a supportive meeting does not establish community consent or regulatory approval.
New guides and practical tools
Analysis to inform decisions and tools to put them into practice.