Brennan Young Ltd

Since 2012 I've worked as an interim comms lead at HSBC, Vodafone, AMS, Britvic, Paysafe, AstraZeneca and Unilever through my own company, Brennan Young Communications Ltd. I'm open to interim contracts as well as fractional and consultancy engagements.

Independent Consultant

Axiom Communications Ltd

I work on a diverse range of client-facing projects with Axiom as a freelance consultant. These included running leadership conferences for AstraZeneca; developing change communications assets for Capita and writing the values and behaviours guide for the Square Kilometer Array Organisation.

Communications Consultant

HOLLIS & BEAN

I take on regular projects as a thought leadership specialist and speechwriter for Paris' top English-language communications agency.

Copywriter

ISCOM

I teach the course on 'Trends & Society in the 20th Century'. From the A-bomb to Zuckerberg, we cover how brand communications - particularly advertising - has evolved in response to political events and social and cultural trends since 1945.

Visiting Lecturer

Shell

Each year, Shell employees and contractors around the world drive almost 1 billion km in more than 70 countries – a distance equivalent to 70 times around the world every day. Shell's High-Risk Transport team is charged with the responsibility of making sure they do this as safely as possible.  

I led communications, change and engagement for HRT's deployment of Active Fatigue & Distraction Detection devices in Shell's tankers and staff transport fleet. These AI sensors can detect when a driver is tired or distracted, automatically setting off an in-vehicle alert, flagging it to the driver's journey supervisor and uploading a few seconds of relevant video footage to a secure server.  

This was a complex change programme across multiple countries and business units, which meant not only working across multiple markets, time zones, languages, and legal frameworks, but also with multiple technology and haulage vendors. This was also a very high-profile programme, with the CEO himself championing the technology. A case study about the project featured in the company-wide Safety Day communications campaign.

Alongside the AFDD change programme, I ran trainings for the HRT Team on how to communicate more effectively and get better buy-in from stakeholders by telling better stories and delivering more effective presentations. I also created a training portal for colleagues filled with resources like books, articles, podcasts and videos on how to develop their non-technical skills, like communications, leadership, self-management and cognitive abilities.

Transformation Change Manager, High-Risk Transport

Unilever

Unilever Operations (UniOps) runs all Unilever's technology and business services. A newly-formed organisation when I joined, I helped the Chief Enterprise Technology Officer and his LT communicate their business change agenda at the same time as their Covid-19 response. My job was to engage our own employees, influence senior stakeholders, foster stronger partnerships with suppliers and manage external media coverage. 

I also oversaw change communications activities for multiple simultaneous tech transformation programmes to make Unilever's systems faster and more resilient; streamlining processes to to free up resources and supercharging the company's data and analytics capabilities.

Global Communications and Change Lead

Don Lee & Company

Don Lee & Company is one of Korea's leading English-language teaching organisations. I coached Korean executives from companies including Astra Zeneca and Google 1:1 via Zoom to improve their English language skills and progress in their careers.

Executive Coach 

AstraZeneca

When I joined the Leadership Team of the newly-created Science IT group as interim Communications Director I had two clear objectives.  

First, to deliver a Communications strategy that would engage our own people (~900 employees in six global hubs), drive awareness of our contribution to the wider business, and establish credibility with senior stakeholders.  

Second, to develop an EVP for our team which would attract top tech talent to fill the vacancies in our new organisation, in alignment with AZ's overall Employer Brand strategy. 

My initial contract was repeatedly renewed as my role expanded and over the next 18 months I also took on responsibility for communicating: 

💥 The team's mission, vision, and strategy 
💥 Major senior leadership changes 
💥 AZ's digital transformation 
💥 The Cambridge team's relocation to a new office 

I was also in charge of: 

💥 Training and coaching teams on how to communicate more effectively
💥 External personal brand management for the VP. This included coaching him on his social media presence and preparing him to deliver the keynote speech at Women of Silicon Roundabout 2018, Europe's largest conference for women in tech. 

This all took place within the comms framework of AZ's award-winning strategy development campaign, AZ2025, and the company-wide rollout of Workplace by Facebook.  

I absolutely loved working at AZ and am extremely proud of what we achieved during my time there.

IT Transformation Communications Director 

Paysafe Group

I led employee communications at Paysafe for ten months, a momentous period for the company during which it recorded several major milestones. These included:
 
💥 Paysafe's delisting from the London Stock Exchange and $3bn acquisition by private equity giants Blackstone and CVC Partners 
💥 The $470m acquisition of Texas-based Merchants Choice Payment Solutions (MCPS) 
💥 "Plug into Paysafe", a comprehensive corporate rebrand  
💥The launch of partnerships with Help for Heroes, the Barbarians Rugby Football Club, and racing driver Zachary Claman deMelo in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar series.  

I led employee communications for all these projects in addition to the ongoing delivery of BAU activity. Paysafe set a high value on employee engagement, so running regular Town Hall meetings, manager briefings, employee recognition programmes, and communicating learning & development strategy programmes also formed an important part of my role. 

By any measure, the results were exceptional. Paysafe boasted consistently high (>80%) employee engagement ratings in Pulse surveys, matched by industry-low employee turnover rates and outstanding productivity and profitability metrics. 

In 2017, while I was leading internal communications, they ranked #2 in Canada's Best Places to Work listings, and CEO Joel Leonoff won Glassdoor's Employee's Choice Top CEO award in Canada, with a 98% approval rating. 

Unlike other pay-to-play engagement award programmes, both these awards are based on verified employee ratings - so I'm especially proud of them.

Head of Internal Communications

BRITVIC PLC

Whilst establishing the employee communications function, and leading the editorial process for Zest, Britvic's employee magazine, I planned and delivered all employee communications activities for major business initiatives including:

💥 Sponsorship of Wimbledon, the Rugby Football Union and the UEFA Champions League 
💥 Commercial launches for new products including Fruit Shoot Hydro and Robinson's Refresh'd
💥 The acquisition and integration of ebba, Britvic's Brazilian subsidiary 
💥 The introduction of the SDIL (Soft Drinks Industry Levy) in the UK in 2018 
💥 Annual and Half Year Results - content creation and logistics for Town Halls (both live and online)
💥 New sustainability initiatives, moving to more sustainable packaging in our supply chain 
 
I handed over this role in Spring 2017, taking a short break to travel before moving on to take on my next role at Paysafe.

Head of Employee Communications 

I joined Britvic on a short-term assignment to lead employee communications for the "One Britvic" business transformation programme. All Britivic's corporate functions like HR, Finance, and IT - which had previously operated independently within the remit of country-level Business Units - were combined into centralised global teams. This meant an extensive people change which needed to be communicated, working closely with business leaders, HR and the change programme team, under highly confidential conditions. 

As part of this programme, Corporate Communications was restructured and for the first time, Global Head of Employee Communications role was created. I accepted the invitation to take on this position on an interim basis while Britvic recruited the right permanent candidate for the role, overseeing the delivery of business-critical employee comms campaigns, and beginning the work of setting up the Internal Communications function.

Change Communications Lead

For over 15 years, I have helped world-class organisations to communicate strategically and achieve their objectives.  

How? By: 

💥 Designing strategies that build trust, engagement, and energy. 
💥 Delivering campaigns that connect with your audience's head, heart and hands. 
💥 Developing strong personal brands for leaders, from speechwriting to social media. 

What else do I do? 

💥I am a trained executive coach. 
💥I regularly run communications skills sessions for in-house teams. 
💥I teach about the History of Advertising at ISCOM, the top media and PR academy in France.

You should contact me if: 

💥You need ghostwriting support for your business or brand. 
💥You need flexible, fractional or project-based communications support. 
💥You're looking to fill a full-time London-based, hybrid or remote contract. 

Anything else you should know? 

💥 I have the right to work in both the UK and France.  
💥 I speak fluent French, some Spanish and (very) basic German.
💥 I help my clients do great work, make an impact, and build brilliant careers. 

What should you do next? 

👉 Send me a DM and let's talk about how I can help you.

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