HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU 🎄

We’d like to wish all our readers a very happy Christmas and a sparkling start to 2019.

As it is the season of giving, we urge you to donate generously to two charities we’re proud to support:

• Reporters Without Borders – which defends media freedom and journalists’ safety.
• The Lenaic Fund for Quality Journalism – which helps female graduates kick-start their journalism career.

We look forward to working with you in 2019 to make the world a clearer place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US 🥂

“When I started Clear Europe five years ago this month I had never run a company, thought USP was a delivery service and had yet to discover the delights of Excel spreadsheets. Now, we are one of the largest media and communication training companies in Europe, offering 20 courses for clients ranging from Generali to Greenpeace.”

Read our Managing Director Gareth Harding’s thoughts on why he set up Clear Europe, what values drive the company and what new courses we have planned for 2019.

WELCOME ALI

We’re delighted to welcome Ali Colwell to the Clear Europe team as our Marketing and Communication Manager.

Before joining Clear Europe, Ali worked in marketing and communication roles for financial technology and software companies, both in New York and in Belgium.

Born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, she moved to the Midwest to earn her Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri. She fell in love with Belgium after a semester interning in Brussels and after graduating moved back to earn her Master in Marketing Management from Vlerick Business School.

Ali is passionate about clear communication, design, travel, politics, bourbon and all things digital.

Learn more about Ali here.

POPE SPEAKS AT NEWS & BOOZE

Thanks to Hugh Pope, Communication Director of International Crisis Group, for leading a stimulating discussion on NGO rebranding at our latest News and Booze meet-up for NGO Communicators on 17/12.

Among Hugh’s tips on how to rebrand your organisation successfully:

– Have one internal coordinator
– Get the right external agency (preferably pro-bono!)
– Ensure full leadership backing
– Set a hard deadline to complete the rebrand

You can find a full write-up of the event by Chloé Mikolajczak here.

Thanks to European Environmental Bureau – EEB for hosting the event, which we organised with Julia Ravenscroft and Joanna Sullivan.

SOCIAL MEDIA LIKES

• Ever wondered which EU countries have the highest share of social media users? This infographic clears up any doubt.
• When pitching a story to journalists, don’t send generic emails. Read what the reporter has written before and find an angle that connects. Here’s an apt example from Politico’s Ryan Heath.
• Instagram has become the fastest-growing social network among world leaders and ‘digital diplomacy’ is on the rise. Find out more in the BCW Global report.
• It’s hard to communicate about sensitive subjects in an original way. This powerful short film on young people living with HIV by our storytelling coach Danny Scheinmann and Sarah Sutcliffe shows you how.
• There’s been a big rise in Twitter and LinkedIn use by EU trade associations, according to this Cambre Associates report.