The Comms Chat

In this episode of The Comms Chat, Chloe sits down with Phil Eyre, founder of Leaders, to explore how values-led leadership can foster stronger business partnerships and long-term success. With deep experience coaching senior leaders across the Channel Islands and beyond, Phil shares why purpose and culture alignment aren’t just moral choices, they’re powerful commercial assets. He and Chloe discu...

In this episode of The Comms Chat , Black Vanilla’s internal events team sit down to reflect on the planning, delivery and impact of Guernsey’s 80th Liberation Day celebrations. With nearly 20,000 people on the seafront and activities reaching far beyond town, our team reflects on the months of preparation, the unexpected hurdles, and the incredible feedback received. With a focus on accessibility...

In this episode of The Comms Chat, Senior Account Manager Chloe Chescoe spoke to our two newest senior recruits - Sarah and Katy - who have finished their first few months at Black Vanilla. The ladies discussed their career journeys and time at Black Vanilla so far.

In this episode of The Comms Chat, Account Manager Krista Osborne spoke with Adam Parry, founder of Event Sustainability Live, about the complexities of sustainable events, exploring the challenges faced and the innovative solutions to overcome them. With a focus on transparency and honesty, Krista and Adam explore how organisations can navigate the intricate landscape of sustainability in event p...

Hear from Black Vanilla's newest recruit in the latest episode of The Comms Chat.  Alec joined the BV team back in September as a JAE and has been supporting both the PR and events teams.  Having finished his degree in Sports Journalism in 2023, Alec has a keen interest in writing and communication and has slotted into agency life seamlessly. 

On this episode of The Comms Chat, Senior Account Manager, Chloe Chescoe, spoke with crisis communications expert and PR consultant, Chris Tucker. This episode delves into Chris’s journey within the industry, the psychology behind crisis communications as well as trends and recent challenges of the changing media landscape.   Chris shares some eye opening experiences which remind us to be open min...

These last few weeks, we’ve seen the latest inflation figures in Guernsey and families are feeling the pinch, but so are businesses. Over the economic ebb and flow of Black Vanilla's director, Nichole Culverwell's 30 year career, she's seen how companies often cut their marketing budget first as an ‘easy budget win’, but is that short term thinking? Hear more from Nichole and messag...

On this episode of The Comms Chat, Nichole spoke with IoD Ambassador and chartered public relations practitioner Sarah Waddington about her latest research project.  The Role of Public Relations in Strategic Planning and Crisis Preparedness is a joint report by the Institute of Directors and the CIPR, looking at ways in which organisations can best employ public relations to ride market turbulence...

In our latest episode of the Comms Chat, JAE’s Anna and Abbie speak about their first three months at Black Vanilla.  Speaking with Account Manager Chris, our latest recruits detail their experience starting a career in the PR and events industry, what they do outside of work, and their goals for the future.  

Ahead of International Women's Day this year, Director Nichole Culverwell caught up with Deloitte Guernsey's Jo Huxtable, Digital Greenhouse's Lucy Kirby, IoD Guernsey Branch Chair, Wendy Dorey and Principal of The Ladies' College, Daniele Harford-Fox to discuss this year's IWD theme - #EmbraceEquity

Junior Account Executive Chloe Price caught up with Kareena Hodgson of Leaders Consultancy to talk about all things comms and leadership and how this may differ when working with the third sector. 

Since passing his AMEC Evaluation and Measurement certificate, Black Vanilla's Chris Leaman spoke to course tutor, Thomas Stoeckle, about the history and future of measurement in PR in the latest episode of The Comms Chat. Thomas is a tutor for the Bournemouth University and the PR Academy, a Partner at Dot I/O Health and also hosts the SmallDataForum Podcast. The pair also discusses the hist...

Committed to doing things the right way, Ben is a seasoned communications professional with a results-driven mindset. A creative and strategic thinker with 15 years' industry experience, working with household names across the technology, food and drink, healthcare and lifestyle sectors. A passionate content writer, Ben is a CIPR Accredited Practitioner, a Trustee for Wiltshire Youth for Chri...

Account Manager Chloe Chescoe spoke with two of Black Vanilla's latest recruits on their journey into the PR industry while facing the difficulties of the Covid19 pandemic.

We caught up with Ben Verinder about the CIPR #PRInAPandemic report which his company, Chalkstream, conducted the research for. 

Michael is a Director at Roxhill Media, the leading, real-time media intelligence tool for PR professionals. With over 20 years’ experience working within the communications industry, Michael has covered the whole comms spectrum, from agency to in-house roles, including a director position at Gorkana, where he headed up its corporate PR offering. Michael made the move to Roxhill Media with Founder...

Today we are speaking with Kyan Frith of CentricalCyber; a cyber risk consultancy aiming to help business leaders move beyond ‘cybersecurity equals IT’, gain the support of key stakeholders and manage risk in a holistic, company-wide manner. We will be speaking about risk, reputation management and cyber security gaps in the Guernsey financial services industry.

In this episode we are joined by Rob Thurner, digital strategist and executive education facilitator specialising in Digital Transformation.   Rob is the CEO of Burn the Sky, a platform offering digital transformation training to a network of digital experts, learning design and delivery specialists, partners, and alumni from around the world. He runs digital training courses for clients like Goog...

After a short break, we are back… and today we are talking to Ben Verinder. Ben is a founding-chartered PR practitioner, a lead-chartered status assessor and market and reputation research and consultancy director of Chalkstream Limited. Chalkstream is a specialist consultancy leading in reputation and comms research, public relations and communications training, strategic communications and strat...

Dr Heather Yaxley has over two decades’ experience in vocational education. She has lectured in PR, is a course leader for the CIPR as well as a published author.  Heather is an expert in strategic public relations, management capabilities, sustainable careers and professional reflective practice. She actively researches, writes, teaches and works with clients to support personal development.   Sh...

Kerry Sheehan has extensive experience in the world of PR, data and artificial intelligence. She has been a leading industry voice on how artificial intelligence and data is used in the PR industry, the pitfalls and opportunities it brings, and how we need to navigate the ethics of communicating in our ever-changing world.