Celebrating 20 years of communicating your business

 In this day and age, it’s an enormous privilege to have had the opportunity to start my own PR agency. It’s an even greater one to see it grow and develop into its 20th year!

Time flies

It seems almost surreal that 20 years have passed since I started Kendal Hunt Communications – ‘KHC’ – in March 2002 with one anchor client, a second-hand computer and a genuine desire to use my skills and experience as a writer and PR to help companies to communicate better!

Two decades of intensely hard work followed, as we ‘lived’ our company tagline and motto of ‘it’s our business to communicate yours’: early mornings, late nights – all night if required! Local and international media tours and events, and many hundreds of ‘woman-hours’ spent interviewing clients, media networking and liaison, writing, editing, training our KHC team.

Crisis management, mergers and acquisitions PR, websites, social media content and much more besides!

Throughout these incredibly busy, dynamic years, we have firmly established ourselves and our reputation as a sought-after boutique engineer and industrial PR agency, known and trusted by our clients to provide them with high-quality communications strategy, editorial content and media liaison.

Highlights

• Sole PR agency representing General Electric (GE) on the African continent and holding the account for 8 years.
• Representing 3 NYSE-listed global market leaders – GE, Air Products and Pitney Bowes
• Thought leadership and media interviews liaised for global and local leaders
• Representing well-established local clients, many of which – like First Cut, Bolt and Engineering and Dekra Industrial have proud industry track records of 3 – 6 decades and more
• Extensive pan-African experience (Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia and Angola)
• Extensive vertical sector communications expertise (engineering, steel, energy, non-destructive testing, food and beverage, oil and gas, fabrication, manufacturing, health care and many more)

Decades of change

The past 20 years have also seen PR move from a slower, print-based industry to one which is fast-paced, digital by nature and very much at the dictates not only of social media, but also a radically new way of working and communicating since the pandemic.

To survive – and thrive – we’ve have had to ‘pivot’ at warp speed in the past 2 years, adapting in a chameleon-like manner to rapidly changing circumstances, so we can remain relevant and able to guide and champion our clients as they face similar challenges.

Thank you for the ‘music’

In the immortal words of 20th century super-group ABBA: thank you – clients, suppliers, media partners and KHC team members – past and present – for the ‘music’!

In KHC’s case, the ‘music’ being the opportunities, all your support, your hard work, and your faith in KHC’s ability to excellently and consistently communicate key messaging and profile our clients effectively.

Onwards and upwards for KHC and all those within our circle of influence, as together (to quote Henry David Thoreau) we ‘go confidently in the direction of our dreams to live the life we have imagined’.

All the best,

Kendal

If your clients, staff and suppliers are your lifeboats in this stormy new sea, then I strongly postulate that consistent, strategic communications with those 3 key stakeholder groupings are the lifeline connecting you to them, and by definition also to one another.

Much has undoubtedly changed – but some things have thankfully remained the same. Human beings have been story-tellers since the earliest times; and that innate desire to ‘tell stories’ – and thereby create personalities, reputations and even legends –  can all be summed up as the need and desire to communicate.

Therefore, no matter how bad the economy currently is, I challenge companies to resist the urge to indulge in ‘knee-jerk’ reactions, cutting all perceived non-essential services.

Stop! Think! Consistent communication of your brand, strategy, key messages and value proposition to key target markets is essential! Don’t be tempted to convince yourself that the Sound of Silence is your clients’ favourite song!