At Zephyr we know that expertise comes with experience and with that comes knowledgeable fresh thinking – the route to making sure your audiences take notice.

conversationsdesigningsolving problemsroisimple works best

Creating conversations

The McCleod Review 2009, commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, established a direct correlation between employee engagement and organisational success and made recommendations for how effective engagement is sustained.

One of these recommendations signposted the ongoing conversation organisations need to develop with employees. They described what it takes to create an effective and empowered employee voice:

'Employees' views are sought out; they are listened to and see that their opinions count and make a difference. They speak out and challenge when appropriate. A strong sense of listening and of responsiveness permeates the organisation, enabled by effective communication.'

At Zephyr we know giving employees a voice isn't a one-off event. Employees need regular encouragement to make themselves heard and decent recognition when they do. So our philosophy on conversations is be open, make them buzzing and communicate the outcomes of taking the time to talk.

Creating opportunities

Every project presents its own unique challenges. As keen problem solvers this is an essential element of job satisfaction for us. So when thinking about new projects, to consider the tough economic landscape or budget restrictions a is simply part of the brief.

Armed with the confidence of our flexibility and the belief that good ideas overcome limitation, we prefer to start thinking about the opportunities right from the 'off'. Perhaps there's an angle you haven't thought about for instance. After all that is teamwork.

Simple works best

We think annual reports need to start communicating again. Following ten years of corporate scandals, changes in regulation, a financial crisis then recession, and the dominance of so called 'best practice', annual reports have become bulky manuals that obscure their straightforward, intended purpose: To answer the question, why invest?

The Financial Reporting Council in its discussion paper, Louder than Words, proposed that annual reports should be driven by four principles of communication. They should be:

We couldn't have put it better ourselves. We will work with you to make your report well-structured, accessible, insightful and substantiated, straightforward and frank.

Designing for business

In The Cox Review of 2005 it defines design as linking creativity and innovation. It shapes ideas to become practical and attractive propositions for users or customers.

Creativity deployed to a practical end. Zephyr's design process is exactly this, but we don't do it in a vacuum. Before looking at industry best practice and the relevant benchmarking, we explore creative concepts without constraint.

We will generate ideas in their simplest form, pencil on paper, and develop them through consultation with you, to be sure they work. Simply, we create and we design with you to ensure that the practical and attractive propositions we bring you deliver your promise.

Invest in your ROI

We're sorry to have to break the silence on this one but we don't know many organisations that actively measure the impact of their communications. But particularly now economic times are tough, even greater emphasis is being placed on demonstrating communication spend is a must.

Let's be clear, we're all for measuring whether we're good at what we do but we want to go about it the right way, defining what we really need to know, how best to access this information, implementing the research and analysing the results. And to really know what our communication has changed, we'd also like to know what people did and thought before we got started.

The alternative is relying on Zephyr's instinct, ability and experience of what's worked in the past. But whilst feedback is really positive about the difference we make, we'd like to take that measurement further with you.